Our Suzuki community offers an encouraging atmosphere to
nurture every child's full potential and love for music.
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News from your National Capital Suzuki School of Music |
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Life follows cycles, and so does our school. We say goodbye to our beloved Carol as she retires and we said hello to Erik and Ursa as they joined our faculty this year.
Still thinking on cycles, on May 5th, 2023 the World Health Organization (WHO) announced the end of the pandemic emergency state. Even though we know our lives have changed, this is a milestone in this long cycle of rethinking our school as this incredible community. Each person was an essential part of this musical landscape.
I am very happy with this school year and all that we could do together. Without you, we would not be here today. Thank you to all teachers, parents and community members that made this possible. And we can do even more.
We were together, we are together.
See you next year!!!
“The heart that feels music will feel people.”
“Perhaps it is music that will save the world.” S. Suzuki
Your AD, Keite Gularte
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Congratulations Carol Deaville! |
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A few short years ago Carol Deaville received her B.A. in Music Education from St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota. From 1996 to 2006 she taught at the Brantford Suzuki String School. And then in 2006 Carol joined our school (our school's lucky day!) and she has taught here ever since, sharing her love of music and inspiring countless students over the years with her embodiment of the Suzuki philosophy. Her students repeatedly commented about her kindness and her patience and how they will miss having her teach them.
Recently, at Carol's final studio recital, all her students played their absolute best in honour of their beloved teacher and at the end of the recital former students joined her current studio to perform Amazing Grace for her. It was a special moment and we thank her daughter and many parent volunteers who worked behind the scenes to give Carol a memorable send off.
Carol's current and former students collected $500 in honour of her retirement and are donating it to SuzukiMusic to be used for our Student Bursary. We thank them for their thoughtfulness.
Carol, we wish you all the best as you begin your well deserved retirement and hope you stop in to visit at some of our future events. Thank you for inspiring so many young musicians over the years; some of whom have taken up music and teaching careers. With you as their role model they are sure to be sharing your wisdom with the next generation of young musicians.
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Congratulations Anne McKerral! |
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We wish to thank Anne McKerral for her dedicated service to our SuzukiMusic school for the past THIRTY YEARS!
We are so grateful to Anne for sharing her expertise with us as treasurer since 1993 and wish her all the best in her retirement.
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We've been Nominated!
CommunityVotes
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Our music school has been nominated in this year’s CommunityVotes Ottawa campaign.
We encourage everyone to add to that nomination - top nominees move onto the voting phase which begins on June 28th with winners being announced on August 2nd.
Simply click the following link:
then find SuzukiMusic-National Capital Suzuki School of Music.
and click "nominate."
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Saturday May 13th our whole school came together to celebrate the year with our annual Viva Suzuki concert. A huge thank you goes out to all our amazing volunteers and faculty and of course all our students for all their hard work in putting on this big event. From our littlest Headstart students to our senior graduates everyone did their best and gave us a beautiful concert. |
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SuzukiMusic Volunteers of the Year |
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In 2010 we established two awards to recognize exceptional examples of the spirit of volunteerism at our school. The awards were named after the inaugural winners.
The Aubrey Family was a cornerstone family at our school, guiding their five children from pretwinkle to graduation and involved in volunteering at all levels from helping out at group class to taking on the role of President of the Board. They won the award in 2010, had their youngest child graduate from SuzukiMusic in 2022 and continue to volunteer with IT help as needed to this day.
Anne McKerral won the McKerral Award for outstanding community volunteer back in 2010 and is just now retiring from her volunteer position as treasurer this year, 2023.
Both give us big boots to fill and we thank them again for their generosity of time and spirit.
This years winners are:
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Aubrey Award for outstanding parent volunteer: Karen and Abdul Afghan
Karen and Abdul Afghan have been unwavering volunteers over the many years that their daughters have attended SuzukiMusic. They can be counted on to help wherever and whenever needed, helping out many more hours than the minimum 6 hours requested. Always pleasant and friendly, they are efficient and reliable in getting the job done. They’ve helped at multiple Viva Suzuki performances in various roles and especially with stage coordination. They’ve helped at Play Ins and Ensembles concerts and at many of the group class duties over the years. We thank Karen and Abdul for the time and energy they have given the school and we are glad they will still be with us a few more years as their younger daughter continues her studies with SuzukiMusic.
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McKerral Award for outstanding community or student volunteer: Anna Afghan
The volunteer awards are a family affair this year! Anna Afghan, a grade 12 student and senior violin student has volunteered every single group class these past two school years - showing up before the first group class of the day to help set up and working through the whole school day, first volunteering with the younger classes and then participating in the senior ensemble. This past school year she taught a book 4 class when the teacher was unavailable. Her dedication to the school and the spirit of volunteerism is greatly appreciated and we know these qualities will serve her well as she takes on her next adventure.
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Congratulations to our Pawel Szymczyk-Marjanovic Scholarship Winners |
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This year's scholarship winners:
First Prize: Anna Afghan $250,
Tied for Second Prize: Noah Linson-Hudson and Kyle Young $125 each.
Anna and Kyle are off to university next Fall. Anna will be attending Queen's University and Kyle is still deciding. Noah will be continuing his cello studies at SuzukiMusic next year.
Here are some excerpts from their winning essays.
Anna
SuzukiMusic has helped me to develop into the person l am today. It has taught me how to be a part of a community working towards a common goal, and to appreciate the value of daily practice. I have been volunteering for the school for full days helping with group classes and this has taught me compassion, patience and kindness, and has helped me realize my passion for teaching and music.
Kyle
During my journey as a Suzuki student, I have learnt that music teaches much more than making the dots on a page sound pretty. First, music learning is based around repetition, hard work, and dedication, as many of my teachers have said “practice, practice and practice”. Secondly, as already mentioned, playing in groups and performing with others helps build social, collaborative and communication skills that are incredibly important throughout life. A big part of those is knowing to respect your peers no matter their level. Additionally, public performances such as recitals and music festivals provide great opportunities for performing under pressure and eventually become an enjoyable part of being a musician. Lastly, playing music can improve lives by creating realisable goals, and as a result, can improve the community at large.
Noah
The SuzukiMusic school and teachers' studios quickly became a second home to me. My Suzuki teachers helped me to grow through kindness, respect, and profound training to play with an admirable heart. My years as a Suzuki student have impacted my growth and maturity in many ways. The skills I learned through repetition and practice, listening and imitation, and public performance have transferred to my daily life, helping me to develop discipline, perseverance, creativity, improvisation, confidence, stage presence, and communication skills.
Congratulations Anna, Kyle and Noah!
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On June 3, 2023 we had our first Senior Solo Recital since 2019. Senior Solo Recital is a chance for our senior students to showcase their hard work and skill. Its a great opportunity for younger students to come listen to what happens when you work steadily at your music education goals. It is tradition that we give medals to our students who graduate Book 4 and Book 8. Its also a chance for us to hear our graduates perform one last time before they head off to their next adventure. Congratulations to all performers for giving us a beautiful afternoon of music. |
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Kiwanis Music Festival 2023 |
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Congratulations to our SuzukiMusic students who performed at the Kiwanis Music Festival this year.
Guitar
Level 6
Cameron Singh
Tristan Valencia - Bronze medal
Level 7
Safal Bhullar - Silver medal, invited to provincials
Ivan Wang - Gold medal, invited to provincials
Cameron Singh - Silver medal, invited to provincials
Level 8
Mark Niu - Gold medal, invited to provincials
Ian Morris - Silver medal
Mathilde Cabasson - Silver medal
Level 9
Eric LeDain - Silver medal, invited to provincials
Julia Afghan - Silver medal, invited to provincials
Level 10
Melanie Kung Gold medal, invited to provincials
Cello
Meredith McCabe
- 2nd Place, Lower Strings Grade 10 Concerto
- 1st Place, Lower Strings Grade 9 Unaccompanied
Torin Gauld - 2nd Place, Lower Strings Grade 9 Concert Group
Violin
Andrew Yu - 2nd place, performed Liebesleid( Fritz Kreisler) and Gigue( Veracini).
Samuel Wang
- 1st place, Upper Strings Grade 7 concert group
- 3rd place, upper string Grade 7 concerto group
- nominated for final trophy class and invited to provincials representing Ottawa Grade 7 violinists
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Congratulations and Best Wishes to our Graduates |
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Anna Afghan - Violin
"Next year I will be going to Queen's University for Music Education. I'm planing on pursuing a career as a music teacher in whatever setting I can. As a kid I struggled with the motivation to practice but now I can appreciate even the small amounts of time I have to practice. The teachers at Suzuki are amazing and I will never be able to express how much I have appreciated their work."
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Bridget Furey - Guitar
"Thank you for all the memories, the group classes and the Viva potlucks!"
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Melanie Kung - Guitar
"Being part of Suzuki has been a great experience. I'm extremely grateful for all the people I've met and the things I've learned on the way. I hope that the future students may have the same experience and learn to love music as much as I do now."
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Eric LeDain - Guitar
"Playing guitar in the suzukimusic community has been an experience of a lifetime. I am so grateful to Daniel, my teacher, for supporting and teaching me all these years. From
helping me master twinkle twinkle little star to seeing me through my last Kiwanis festival he has been my inspiration guiding me through my guitar career. Although a superb guitar player, he is an even better teacher.
Playing guitar has driven me to strive for the best version of myself. I have learnt to organize my time, make the most of my practice and be consistent when mastering a new skill. (It took me many stressful Monday nights before my Tuesday lesson cramming in all the practicing for the week to learn these skills)
Next, I’d like to thank my parents for driving me every Tuesday night to my lesson, group classes and concerts. I have been very lucky to have so much support from my family through all these years of guitar.
Although I will graduate high school this year and be moving away for university, I will always hold the memories I have made over these precious years close to my heart. The
suzukimusic community will forever be dear to me and playing guitar will always be a part of my life.
Daniel, I cannot thank you enough for all these lessons we have had together and the memories we have made. You are an inspiring mentor and a caring teacher."
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Ian Morris - Guitar
"After 10 fun years of Suzuki, Ian is taking his guitar with him to Brock University in September where he will study Computer Science. He will continue to play his guitar for fun, maybe perform, and search out others to play music with. Ian wishes to thank all his instructors, Chela, Daniel, Gary, and Gabriella, who he feels are the BEST in Ottawa!"
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Samuel Walker - Cello
"I have been studying with my teacher Margaret since I was 5 years old. I am moving to Los Angeles this Fall to start my degree at the University of Southern California, School of Cinematic Arts, Film and Television Production. I love composing music and I hope to also work on film-scoring. I will miss my friends in the Ottawa cello and music world. Special thanks to Margaret and Liko for their teaching, coaching, and mentoring over the past 13 years!"
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Ivan Wang - guitar
"Thank you Daniel for working with me through so many years. Thank you for adapting your teaching style to best fit me. Thank you for being patient with me for when I was struggling and when I had a lot going on in my life. Thank you Daniel. I had a great time learning from you." - Ivan -
"Daniel is an awesome guitar teacher who wins hearts from his students and their parents. He is patient, knowledgeable and dedicated. We are so lucky to have him as my son's guitar teacher and wish to know him earlier. Daniel is exactly everything you want in a teacher. Daniel, thank you so much for teaching my son!!!" - Lin -
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Kyle Young - Violin
"Music has given me a clear goal to focus on for my whole life. I know that with the ending of my Suzuki training, I will be left with a large space to fill that comes from being a part of ensembles and my school music community. I am forever grateful for all the time and patience of the teachers that I've had over the years. Even though I'm unsure of where violin will fit into my future, I know I will always look back with pride at everything I've done in music. "
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Congratulations to our SuzukiMusic Graduates! We wish you all the best in your future endeavours!
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Emma Grant-Zypchen's Cello Studio gathered last week for a Jam Session and Picnic in the Park. It was a fun way to celebrate the end of the year with some music making and social connection between families in Emma's Studio. |
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On Saturday June 17th from 12 to 1 Emma's Studio will be presenting a casual outreach performance at a local Children's Fair. Families are welcome to attend the Fair and enjoy the activities. |
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Creative Strategies for Effective Review—a Survey of Favorite Activities from within the Suzuki Triangle
From Parents as Partners Online 2016.
My name is Rafael Videira, and I am a Suzuki viola and violin teacher. Today I would like to talk about ways to make reviewing the repertoire fun and effective.
The activities I will suggest were taken from articles books, training materials, forum posts and conversations with parents in my own studio. I tried to gather tried and true strategies that will help you and your children to get the most out of your repertoire review time. This means that probably none of this information is necessarily new, but it is rather a review of review options.
Review is one of the most important components of the Suzuki method. It solidifies the skills through repetition, it facilitates the learning of new skills and gives the student a sense of accomplishment by performing well music that was hard a while ago. It is also one of the parts of practicing that’s easily ignored or not done correctly. It’s easy to concentrate only on the new stuff or to just play through the old pieces without much thought.
We should bear in mind that as Dr. Robert Duke defines, “Skill acquisition is a process of developing habit’s strength through consistent repetition over time.”
Effective review goes way just beyond playing through a list of music. In order for it to help the students improve, there needs to be a purpose. For example, enhancing the musical aspect of a given phrase, or technical mastery of a specific skill. My hope is that these activities can be used to create or highlight such purposes.
One thing to keep in mind is that more advanced students should play earlier pieces as the accomplished players they are now. For example, a book five student should play book one pieces with the technical and expressive tools that he has gained since learning that repertoire. Always play old pieces in a new way.
Often, teachers will be very specific assigning review routine. In these cases, following the teacher’s assignments, hopefully, will yield the desired outcomes. To go beyond just those one or two assignments and keeping progress going, it is necessary to create a routine that can be implemented regardless of specific goals.
Some ideas to make review enjoyable for students are:
- Ask the student to portray different emotions through the music. For example, “Play it like you are the happiest person in the world.” Or just the opposite, “Can you make it so sad that everyone in the room will feel like crying?”
- Tell a story with the music. You can create a story to go with this one specific piece or a group of pieces. Then, tell the story through the use of different dynamics and sound colors in the repertoire.
- Play a recital for your toys. Don’t just make it an improvised event. Schedule it for the end of the week, and prepare for it during everyday practice. Choose one or two performance aspects to focus on during practice. Also, make a nice reception afterward with some of the child’s favorite treats to celebrate the effort.
- Videotape the review parts of daily practice, and watch it so the student can see his own progress in a given skill during the week. Smart phones, tablets, they are all very good for this kind of recording, and you can see the instant result right there.
- Use a die to decide which will be the next piece to practice. Use another die to decide a specific point of focus on the practice. Vibrato, ringing tones, bow placement, phrase endings, hand position, breath control, you name it. There are many things that can be the point of that review. Blank dice patterns can be downloaded online using your search engine of choice.
- There is a variation on the dice process. Use multiple bowls or bags, to place slips of paper with the repertoire. You can separate it by book, by mood of the piece, by teaching points, many ways you can decide it. And you can use another bowl, for the specific points of each piece. You choose one paper from each bowl to practice.
Again, I want to stress the importance of playing the review pieces with a purpose and with care. I believe it was William Starr who said, “Mindless repetition breeds mediocrity.” No playing just for the sake of playing, but playing with a purpose and a goal.
I wish to thank the many Suzuki teachers who shared their ideas in many formats and classes, as all the families of my studio who helped me with this project.
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Rafael Videira, DMA, enjoys a prolific and multifaceted career as a pedagogue, performer, and conductor. He taught and performed across the USA, Mexico, Brazil, and Germany.
Dr. Videira holds a Doctoral degree (DMA) in viola performance with emphasis in violin/viola pedagogy from the University of Oregon and a Masters degree in performance from the University of New Mexico, where he completed his Long Term Training in the Suzuki Violin method with Prof. Susan Kempter.
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