Valley of the Sun Suzuki Association

A couple of weeks ago, I had the opportunity to meet the folks with the Valley of the Sun Suzuki Association. Members of the VSSA are Suzuki teachers and parents and have organized bi-weekly group lessons for Suzuki students during the school year. Every two weeks they get together to play recitals, rehearse ensembles and encourage one another in their musical journeys. It's really a great program because the kids have a chance to meet other Suzuki students and teachers from around the Valley and they are able to play for each other and practice performing together as well! For younger students, there are sight-reading classes and movement classes for the littlest ones. There are violin students and cello students (we really need to make the cello and viola programs grow!), but the majority of cello students come from the Queen Creek area. I'm hoping to really get the Mesa and Chandler area cellists out there! This is a great program because it really allows us to get a larger picture for Suzuki students and families and build a community and learn from each other and grow in our love for music. The group classes and community aspect was so important to Dr. Suzuki and it's so great to see it alive in the Phoenix area! For more information, check out the VSSA Website.

The Music Store

A couple of weeks ago, I went on staff at The Music Store on Baseline and the 101 (Price Freeway). I am excited to have a new place to work where I'll meet new students and music teachers! Note to musicians: The Music Store recently acquired a new location and a bunch of stuff and have a clearance going on for bulk items! Check out their bargain bins for some good deals.

Check out my bio at The Music Store Website .

Meet My Students!

(above) Betsy's lesson with Beth Goldstein-McKee at the 2009 Suzuki Festival in Lima

Giving Betsy a lesson

After our Christmas concert in 2008

Cellist Picture!
Gillian, Keyla, Diana, Betsy and me

I taught cello in Trujillo in two different locations: the Regional Conservatory and a local NGO (non-profit) project on the outskirts of Trujillo. With the non-profit project, I gave private and group lessons to beginning students (new-2 years) and at the Conservatory, I taught beginning students, intermediate students and upper level conservatory students who were earning their certification in music. In the NGO, we worked primarily with Suzuki methodology and were able to take the kids (my cellists along with a group of 15 violists and violinists) to the Suzuki Festival in Lima in 2009, where they were able to meet string players from all over Peru and Latin America! My students made friends with a girl from Brazil and made very good friends with her! It was the first time they had ever met another kid their age from another country. They learned a bit of Portuguese and taught her some Spanish and exchanged email addresses at the end of the festival. They were so sad to leave her and are still in touch to this day. At the conservatory, I worked with cellists of all levels and cellos of all levels. In Trujillo, there are no luthiers and few musical supplies (strings, instruments and accessories) for string instruments, so when something breaks, we sometimes have to get VERY creative! I had an upper-level student working without an A string for weeks because no one even had an old one they could lend her (I had already lent two of my old A strings to other cellists in the orchestra). I had several students playing on cellos too small or too big for them, many with missing fine tuners or broken pegs that couldn't be turned, and rock stops were very hard to come by! I will never forget the day I saw one of my 6 year old students, Rosita, arrive on her lesson on the back of her dad's motorcycle....and her cello tied to the back (unfortunately, I had no camera at the time)! To my knowledge, no damage has ever been done to the cello, but you can imagine my shock seeing it for the first time - her cello tied to the back of her dad's dirtbike! In any case, the kids are happy to play and when I go back to visit I always try to bring donations of things that are most needed: bow hair, strings, rock stops and other accessories. Although there are many cultural differences and realities, cello is the same in any language. I hope to go back some day to have my American and Peruvian students meet!

Suzuki Festival Lima 2010

(above)Suzuki cello students from all over Latin America learning and connecting...

(below)Book 1 Cello Teachers from all over the Americas!

Suzuki Certified

Dr. Tanya Carey and little Violeta

4 year old Violeta practices string crossings from Perpetual Motion

I attended my second Suzuki Festival this January in Lima, Peru. This year, the Suzuki Association of Peru celebrated 25 years of Suzuki Festivals, and to celebrate they assembled a orchestra of kids from all across the continent! The orchestra included 180 Suzuki students from different regions of Peru, Mexico, Uruguay, Paraguay, Chile, Bolivia, Costa Rica, Colombia, Brazil, Argentina, and the US! The program included classical repertoire and traditional music from the participating countries and the students performed in their countries' traditional costume. It was so moving to see children from so many countries making music together. Whereas last year I only observed the Cello Book 2 class, this year I registered for Philosophy (Every Child Can!) with Caroline Fraser and Cello Book 1 with Tanya Carey. Every day we observed Tanya's classes with a 4 year old little girl from Argentina named Violeta. It was so beautiful to watch them interact through music since neither of them really spoke the other's language and so amazing to see how much Violeta could accomplish! Many conceptual activities we practiced in class were much easier for Violeta than they were for the cello teachers! What a wonderful experience. I am so excited to return home to Arizona and share all of the things I learned with my students!