9 British Suzuki Gala Concert, UK 2023 Helen Brunner “cheaƟng educaƟon”.’ My pupil spoke with other former Suzuki students at the school: they told her they never dared menƟon the word Suzuki in their lessons… She decided to leave.! In 2023, is there a UK Conservatoire brave enough to include a Suzuki Junior Department, where parents are welcomed into the lessons, recordings are listened to at home, and regular group lessons enjoyed, as they are at the Juilliard School, CurƟs or Eastman in USA? Where are the UK universiƟes with Suzuki Teacher-Training departments, where graduates can do post-grad in-depth study to become trained Suzuki teachers, as in the University of Antwerp, Belgium? Suzuki students typically become Suzuki parents, as evidenced in my own studio. Some become Suzuki teachers and professional violinists, some become skilled Suzuki Teacher Trainers; BriƟsh Suzuki Music AssociaƟon has excellent Teacher Training programmes in the UK for violin, viola, cello, piano, flute and recorder. It is a long training, but a powerful one. In Suzuki Method we are trained to find the potenƟal and finest quality in every child, and in their parents. We start with rapid notes on one pitch unƟl they sound good. The students have listened to recordings of the music they will play so many Ɵmes that the sound has been internalised and is now absolutely part of them. With careful teaching, students match what they are playing to the music which is inside their head, forever self-correcƟng. Music is a performance art. It exists in the transference of beauƟful sound from the heart of the composer to the heart of the listener. The Royal Welsh College of Music announced recently that every undergraduate will now have three solo concert opportuniƟes a year. In Suzuki Method children concerƟse all the Ɵme. We rejoice that our recording arƟst for Suzuki Violin Books 1, 2 and 3 is Hilary Hahn, another grateful former Suzuki student. I travel a lot with my violin for my work, so I am a siƫng target for people who want to tell me how they used to learn the violin/ guitar/piano/harmonica and then gave up. When I ask why, it is usually the same: ‘I was rubbish’; ‘my Dad said I was no good’; ‘the teacher asked me to leave’; ‘the noise was horrible’. The number of students who learn an instrument in the UK, give up and never play again is a shameful and wasteful aspect of this country’s music educaƟon. It is almost as if teachers and families expect that to happen. Why? Photography by Bill HiskeƩ First published Summer 2023 issue of Music Journal by the ISM
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