6 European Suzuki Guitar Convention, Italy 2023 Elio Galvagno I n telling you something about these thirty years of Chitarrissima and thirty-six years of the Suzuki School in Saluzzo, I do not intend to celebrate or underline something of its history, but only to offer sincere thanks. Sincere thanks can be felt, perceived, recognized, and disƟnguished from those of mere convenience. ‘Thank you’ is a word with a high impact - it has real power when it reaches us. This is, then, the thanks I address to those who have accompanied and helped us over these thirty years. How lucky to have spent these years with the children! Every day before starƟng the lessons, Dr. Suzuki would meditate to raise his level of sensiƟve, emoƟonal, and creaƟve ability - in a word he tried to connect to the sense-ability of children. For him they were his true teachers. Giacomo Leopardi in Zibaldone states: ‘Children find everything in nothingness, men find nothingness in everything’. From this quote by Leopardi, we can beƩer understand the general vision of the path indicated to us by Dr. Suzuki: ‘Create beƩer ciƟzens, thanks to music’. Over the years, I have gradually learned how to focus on this objecƟve, how to be able to see in every lesson that behind the guitar, first, there is a child. Today, I believe that proposing music to young people as a lens through which to observe the world can contribute to their future, consƟtute a point of reference and a possible source of hope. Indeed, can a human being resign himself to accept the world in which he lives., if every day, thanks to music, he experiences beauty, dialogue, listening, comparison, paƟence, harmony, and concord? At the same Ɵme, is this lens of music sufficient to guide us in everyday challenges? Unfortunately, not, even if its indispensable presence in our lives is now underlined by everyone, it is not enough! '"First character, then (musical) ability'" stated Maestro Suzuki who noƟced this by listening to the various performances of his students, asking them to start including acts of generosity in their days and making themselves useful in some way. He wanted them to learn to give without any reward. Only with such a sensiƟve and renewed heart would they be able to get to the heart of Mozart and Bach's music and perhaps become good ciƟzens! Thirty years ago, with these intenƟons we dropped anchor on the ‘beach’ of these lands which today are called ‘Terres Monviso’ and among which there is also Saluzzo - an extraordinary territory which welcomed the parƟcipants of Chitarrissima coming from many Italian regions, many European naƟons, and the United States. This territory is ready to give even more wonders.
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