Upcoming Events
It's Spring Recital Season!
May 27th Studio Recitals
Centretown United Church, 507 Bank St, Ottawa, ON K2P 1Z5
11:00 AM John and Janice
12:00 PM Jonah
1:00-2:30 PM Brandon/Marion
May 28th Senior Solo Recital
Emmanuel United Church, 691 Smyth Rd,
Ottawa, ON K1G 1N7
Tuning 1:00
Recital begins 1:15 PM
Centretown United Church, 507 Bank St, Ottawa, ON K2P 1Z5
11:00AM to 12:45PM Carol
1:00PM to 2:30PM Margaret
June 4th Studio Recital
Orleans United Church, 1111 Orléans Blvd,
Gloucester, ON, Canada
2:00 PM Judy
June 10th Guitar Final Concert
McNabb Recreation Centre, 180 Percy St, Ottawa, ON K1R 6E5, Canada
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SuzukiMusic is funded by
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| City of Ottawa Arts Funding |
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| Please support our Sponsors! Click the ads below. Let them know you saw it here! Advertisements 
 
Thank you to all of our Sponsors!
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Week of July 17 to 21st, 2017
Canterbury HS
Summer Headstart Brochure
Summer Camp Brochure
Summer Headstart Registration Form
Summer Camp Registration Form
What does SuzukiMusic Summer Camp offer your children?
-high quality music instruction
-the motivation and joy of making music with friends
-the chance to expand on music learned with fiddling classes and ukulele classes.
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classes for our youngest campers
-physical activity and games
-arts and crafts
-friendship and laughter
-mentorship by reliable Teens
-memories to last a lifetime
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Spotlight on This Years SuzukiMusic Scholarship Winner!
Ian Wooltorton
Congratulations to Ian Wooltorton, this year's SuzukiMusic Scholarship winner. It was a difficult choice between the essays and reference letters to review this year and we applaud all our scholarship nominees.
Here is an excerpt from Ian's essay:
A small, green jedi master once said, "Truly wonderful, the mind of a child is," and I believe that he and Shinichi Suzuki would have gotten along marvellously. Both seek to harness a child from a young age and teach them their art, both imprint lifelong lessons that can be carried on into all dimensions of life. I was four when I started the Suzuki experience and at that time I couldn't have had a clue that it would go on to be such a defining part of all aspects of who I would become.
I think the Suzuki method is a great way to consistently make strong and passionate musicians but more importantly to build good citizens. Even if it isn't always about the music. I attribute many of my positive qualities; dedication, memory skills, high attention span, general manners, appreciation of arts, empathy, mental and physical dexterity and sense of respect, to the series of lessons I have learned, and continue to learn, since the beginning of my Suzuki "career." Through the Suzuki music program I have learned from several extremely adept cellists, one charismatic uke master and the most patient and adaptable pianist I believe I will ever meet. All of these people have left their marks on me and have been crucial in my development as a person. Of course I have also learned with and from the people closest to me: my parents, which is what Dr. Suzuki wanted.
All in all the Suzuki philosophy is one I can appreciate for a plethora of skills, mentors and experiences, each a little piece of glass in the grander mosaic that is me. It has taught me from a young age through repetition and encouragement to always do my best and to never give up, and that is music to my ears.
Congratulations Ian, we wish you all the best for the future.
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Dear families,
As another school year comes to an end, I would like to thank each of you for the support and dedication that you show our students. SuzukiMusic would not be the same without the generous and caring families that form our Suzuki community.
As the Artistic Director, I see music students as part of a bigger whole, whether it be their neighborhood, their sport teams or their schools. They are not only participating in a group class or a recital, these young boys and girls are also playing important roles in other environments. As Shinichi Suzuki said; "Teaching music is not my main purpose. I want to make good citizens. If children hear fine music from the day of their birth and learn to play it, they develop sensitivity, discipline and endurance. They get a beautiful heart."
This past year, we have been celebrating Canada's 150th anniversary with our "Canada Day in November" Play-In, our 150 performances challenge, and our Canada themed Viva Suzuki. Our artistic theme, Musical Mosaic in Canada, has definitely been represented with our students' performances in retirement homes, festivals, community events, family concerts, and performing for peers and friends. Suzuki's values and wish to make good citizens resonate from far and wide through our students' involvement and hard work. Their skills and unique styles make music that is rich and colourful, a true delight for their audiences.
I wish you all a restful summer,
Michelle Iznardo
Artistic Director
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ONLINE Registration
2017/2018 School Year
Brand New students - Welcome!! Once you have connected with your new teacher he or she will send you the links for registration.
Returning students - Your teacher has sent or will be sending you an email shortly with access to registration for the coming school year. You will be given a link to your teacher's specific web page and an access password. Once in, simply follow the steps to complete your registration!
Please email our IT volunteer, Rolly Aubrey, at
[email protected] i
f you encounter any problems in the process of filling out the form.
After completing the online registration, you will receive a registration confirmation email from the school. Please print that out and bring it along with your payment to your teacher by no later than
Saturday, June 10th.
After that day, a late registration fee will be applied.
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Volunteer Commitment Cheques/ Volunteer Hour Logs
The deadline for handing in your volunteer hours forms in order to have your commitment cheque returned is Monday May 29th. Cheques will be deposited on June 1, 2017.
You can do so by emailing me a jpeg of the form or pdf of the form or mailing it to our mailing address listed above. When you send me the form please let me know whether I can email you a photo of your torn up cheque as proof of destruction or whether you'd prefer to have it mailed out to you.
Click
here
to download the volunteer hours log.
Thanks to all volunteers for helping our school run so smoothly!
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Instrument Rentals
If you have a rental instrument from our rental fleet they are due back after your studio recital, unless you are renewing your rental for the 2017-2018 school year. Please contact Susan at
[email protected]
to arrange return or send new rental agreement and payment to our office (address listed above left) by June 10th, 2017.
Click
here to download new rental agreement.
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Kiwanis Update
Congratulations to all Participants!
A special congratulations to our
Senior Guitar Ensemble who were invited to perform at the Kiwanis Highlights Concert for the third year in a row!
Congratulations to:
Guitar students Rebecca Iznardo and Maya Farrell and
Violin student Mandela Laverdure who were selected for Kiwanis Provincials this year.
Violin student Maluki Laverdure who won the Richard Casselman Trophy.
Violin student Mandela Laverdure who won the Provincial Representative Award.
Cello student Tuuli Olo who received the Paul Hahn Fund for Young Cellist award (strings, intermediate level)
Cello student Chris Pak for winning the Ida & Jack Blander Memorial Scholarship and for placing first in the senior cello sonata class.
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Our Volunteers of the Year for 2016-2017
Every year we have the task of choosing our Parent and Community Volunteers of the Year. Our school could not function without the volunteers who help out with a myriad of tasks, big and small, some front and centre, others behind the scenes.
This year the winners of the Aubrey Parent Volunteers of the Year Award are
Laura Lee Balkwill and
Kevin Cooke! Congratulations and Thank you for your years of service!
These two parents are so giving of their time. Laura Lee has spent countless hours creating beautiful posters for our Faculty Benefit and Viva Suzuki Concerts and creating the Viva Suzuki Program. Kevin is always willing to jump in and pinch hit for an empty volunteering spot on a group class Saturday and volunteers as Stage Hand at multiple concerts a year. He is often seen stopping in at the volunteer corner of the Front Desk to check in and say "How can I help?" "What do you need to me to sign up for?" Thank you Laura Lee and Kevin for your loyalty and dedication to our music school!
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| Laura Lee and Kevin and their son Sawyer have been part of our school for many years as this photo from March 2012 demonstrates. |
As parents we have a vested interest in ensuring our children's music school's success. It is all the more remarkable and a testament to a spirit of volunteerism when community members come forward to give of their time to help our school thrive.
This year's winner of the McKerrel Community Volunteer Award is our own Board President, Alycia Niles.
Alycia joined our Board of Directors back in October 2012, and has been our Board President for the past 3 years. Alycia has dedicated countless hours to our school and is a personable and level headed leader of the ship.
She has attended countless meetings and school events and has even taken up the ukulele, attending our Adult Ukulele Class. We thank her for all her hard work in developing and streamlining
processes to make our school function more smoothly. Congratulations and thank you for your sense of volunteerism!
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| Here is Alycia volunteering at our Parent and Child Expo Booth this past Spring. |
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Viva Suzuki 2017
Musical Mosaic in Canada
This year's Viva Suzuki Concert took us on a journey through the music that contributes to Canada's cultural mosaic as we capped off our year of celebrating Canada's 150th birthday in our school wide events. Many thanks to our community volunteer and Board member Krystal Valencia for taking on the role of MC for our concert. A huge thank you goes out to every single volunteer who helped make Viva a success, to our Faculty for supporting and guiding our students, to our accomplished collaborative Pianist, Liko Yamane, and most importantly to the students who put on such a lovely end of year show for us.
Thank you to our volunteer photographer Graham Ashford for the beautiful photography.
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Parent Education Corner
Summer and Suzuki's Growth Law:
"Begin early, go slowly and never stop."
The long summer break will soon be here. What are your plans? Swimming, picnics, outdoor play? Hiking, biking and fun in the sun? Visiting family? Ah, those lazy, hazy days of summer. Don't Skimp on Practicing.
The Law of Growth, which is succinctly stated in the title, demands that we never stop. Dr. Suzuki has got to be kidding! It's vacation! Truly, Dr. Suzuki is not kidding. He tells people to practice on any day that they eat. This is the Law of Growth. Ponder the following:
Americans have made a science of rushing around. In the 1950's the iconic McDonald's hamburger became a national feature in town after town. It was great. No longer did people have to take more than five minutes to eat. They could drive by the restaurant, picking up a quick meal and be off onto the next event. Little attention was paid to the price paid, and I am not talking about dollars, but the price to the person's mental and physical health. Sitting down with family and friends is of utmost importance for mental health, and the high salt, high fat diet of fast food is not good people fuel. Of course another method of rush control is to skip a meal altogether, perhaps making up for it later with a big pig out. Neither method takes into consideration the physical needs of the body. One can't over fill the gas tank of the family's car today because it ran out of gas yesterday. Nor is it realistic to use lighter fluid to fuel the car. Our digestive systems are like gas tanks. So is our acquisition of skills. The Law of Growth must be obeyed. Still an occasional fast food meal doesn't hurt one too much and is better than a growling stomach and low blood sugar.
In the summer it is easy to get and stay out of a routine and some weeks are awfully busy. So there may be days when you only have time for a McDonald's style practice. Here are some ideas for those days. Many of these things even a young child can do on their own. Caution: These are for emergency practices only. They will not suffice for a regular diet.
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A five minute practice is FAR better than no practice.
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Listen to the CD. Daily. This is the super charged vitamin.
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Review. You are not there or have time to guide learning new songs so review.
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Give concerts to family, stuffed animals, pets. What Grandma wouldn't listen daily?
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Keep the instrument out, perhaps covered with a cloth for dust protection. Then the child can "drive through"
not taking time for the long meal (er-practice) preparation.
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Driving? Listen to the CD. Bow in the air. Hum the songs. Make up words. Make bow holds on whatever
child can find in car and hold for a timed interval.
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Flying? Take the CD and listen. Bow and finger on imaginary instrument.
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Play along with the CD.
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Play the Tortoise Game. Put out cards of sections/units and play them s l o w l y.
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Use cards on the floor with a treat on each, or at end. Label cards with songs/parts.
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Siblings play together. An orchestra!
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Hide cards with songs/parts on them. Child must find them and play.
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Make up songs (good positions required.)
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Videotape one song and watch it. Child critiques. Best to focus on one thing.
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Be creative.
Whatever you do, keep on keeping on. Nourish your child's skill acquisition by feeding it day-by-day, bit-by-bit. Don't starve over the summer.
Hugs and Kisses, Aunt Rhody
© 2010 Susan A. Sommerville
All rights reserved
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