In the next few weeks, we want to talk to you about our home, the
Guelph Youth Music Centre. We will be publishing a series of articles and interviews about the centre. Here is the first instalment in this series:
The Centre for Youth Music
By Daphne Hughes, founding artistic director of the
Suzuki String School of Guelph
As you walk through the door of the GYMC for your weekly
lesson or group class it probably doesn't seem at all special: this is just where you see your teacher, where you share music with your friends, where you feel at home. We all take it for granted and perhaps don't really think about the importance of this space, its influence on our musical experience, its impact on our lives.
In the early days of Suzuki teaching in Guelph, lessons were held in church basements - Dublin Street, St. James, and, later, Norfolk Street United and the Reorganized Church of the Latter Day Saints and perhaps some others that I've forgotten. We will be forever grateful to the ministers and members of those churches for opening their doors and ears to our young musicians. But what an incredible difference the GYMC has made, allowing us to build a truly special community, nurtured by love. Our teachers have access to clean, bright rooms where they can be assured of uninterrupted time to focus on each precious student. There are spacious rooms for group classes, and a wonderful recital hall with excellent acoustics. We owe an enormous debt of gratitude to the Suzuki parents who many years ago spent hours searching the city for a suitable space, and then quietly and efficiently and without fanfare helped to make it into a place where love and music can flourish. They have indeed changed the world for our Suzuki families and allowed us to build a special community where our children and their parents can share the challenges and the joys of music-making, where, as its name implies, youth and music are indeed central.
If you would like to know more about the history of the Guelph Youth Music Centre click on this link:
https://gymc.ca/about-us/#history
. Can you find Daphne Hughes on the picture on that page? Daphne and her husband Bill Hughes are on one of the portraits on the Wall of Fame at the GYMC. See if you can find them!
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