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3
Chairman’s Column
Martin Rüttimann
possible way to make this event the
success it was.
We now are definitely ready to host
an even larger convention which will
be open to all Suzuki Teachers in
Europe. Looking back to the moment
where the ESA Board decided to limit
this event to Suzuki Teachers
Qualified to Level 3 and above, it was
a precaution but definitely a wise
decision.
As Suzuki Teachers, we have devoted
our professional lives to teaching
children and to be a part of their
education. In constantly nurturing
and inspiring others, we as teachers
also need opportunities to be
nurtured and inspired ourselves.
Furthermore, we claim to be models
for ongoing and continuous learning,
therefore
regular
professional
development is an essential part of
our career.
It is my sincere hope that all qualified
Suzuki Teachers use as many
opportunities as possible for their
own professional development. This
can entail observation at workshops,
attending local and national teacher
meetings; it can simply mean
attending a colleague’s concert and
listening to students of other Suzuki
groups and orchestras, or observing a
colleague’s classes. In addition to
this, I strongly believe that going
forward, it is one of ESA’s core tasks
to organize Teachers’ Conventions on
a much more regular basis. There are
two aspects to this - on the one hand,
it just may not be possible to attend
all the Suzuki conventions and events
which are held in any one year; on
the other hand, with more frequent
Teachers’ Conventions there is soon
another opportunity to attend.
Times have changed radically since
the 1980s when Dr. Suzuki came
nearly every year to Europe and all
European Suzuki teachers met in the
country he was visiting. We cannot
replace those visits of course, but we
can build something new - we can
build platforms where everybody
feels welcome: a platform where
experienced teachers and young
teachers alike can participate in
lectures and discussions; a platform
where all teachers can go and leave
with a feeling of being inspired and
being nurtured with ‘new ideas’, and
even more with ‘new old ideas’.
Looking forward in our diaries to July
2015, we see the upcoming 10
th
European Suzuki Convention 2015 in
Davos, Switzerland. The organizing
committee expects more than 600
children from all over Europe as well as
participants from overseas. With great
pleasure, we can see that an
outstanding International Guest Faculty
has been put together in order to build
more bridges with the other four
regions - the SAA, the PPSA, the TERI
and the ASA. In addition to this, it was
the intention to have a good mix of
experienced and younger teachers in
the ESA Faculty to begin preparation
for the next decades of Suzuki Teaching
in Europe. The 9
th
European Suzuki
Convention took place in 1990 in St.
Andrews, Scotland which was the first
Suzuki event in Europe to be organized
with the help of computers and the last
time Dr. Suzuki came to Europe. I am
sure that we all agree that after Davos
2015 it should not be another 25 years
before the 11
th
European Suzuki
Convention takes place.
The 2015 Convention in Davos is
divided into two different events - the
Teachers’ Convention on 14
th
& 15
th
of
July with various lectures and practical
sessions for all ESA accredited Suzuki
teachers and the Children’s Convention
which starts on 15
th
July with
Registration
and
the
Opening
Ceremony and ends on 19
th
July 2015
with Instrumental Concerts in the
morning and the Closing Ceremony in
the afternoon.
I hope to see you all in Davos and I wish
you all a successful and enriching year
of Suzuki teaching with lots of
inspiration for many years to come.
F
or the ESA, the biggest event of
the year 2014 was its fifth
‘Teachers’ Convention’. The title of this
event has changed a bit over the years
– in 2002, it was The
ESA Conference
for Teacher Trainers and Instructors
Developing Teacher Training;
in 2004
,
The European Teachers’ Conference
which was open to all Teachers
;
in 2007
it was
The ESA Leadership Conference
Organising and Teaching
for Teacher
Trainers and Instructors; in 2010
The
ESA Leadership Convention
Constantly
Modernising whilst Respecting our
Legacy
for Teacher Trainers and Level 5
Teachers
and this year we hosted ‘
The
European Teachers’ Convention’
Back
to Basics
for all Suzuki Teachers with an
ESA Certification of Level 3 and
upwards.
For the ESA Administration it was
definitely a challenge to see if we, as an
association, are capable of organising a
convention on a larger scale. I assume
that all participants of this event would
agree that ESA most definitely is
capable. This is, therefore, the ideal
moment to say once more ‘Thank you’
to all who contributed to a successful
convention - first of all the Organising
Committee - Wilfried van Gorp and
Marco Messina; our Administrator Sue
Wimpeney who not only took care of
the whole of the Registration, but who
always had an ear for the smaller and
bigger problems of the participants;
mostly, however, to all Lecturers and
participants who contributed in every
Back to Basics
Continuous Professional
Development
10th European Suzuki Convention