16 2025 Teacher Trainer Appointments David Zipperle GUITAR, SWITZERLAND I immediately began to put what I had learned into practice. Suddenly teaching became much easier: clarity, step by step, focusing on the essentials, and believing in the power of beautiful sound. Gradually, I was able to concentrate my efforts on the music school in Zug, Switzerland. Today, I have a full workload there with a dedicated Suzuki Guitar class, weekly group lessons, and a preparation group for the very young ones, ‘Clapping Class’. A few years ago, Elio Galvagno told me at a cafe that he saw me as a future teacher trainer. I was happy to follow his call, went through the process, and was appointed teacher trainer at the end of March 2025. I am now ready to begin teacher training, with my first course starting on 18 October in Zug, Switzerland. Unfortunately, I was never able to meet Dr. Shinichi Suzuki in person. However, I have heard many stories from Elio Galvagno, Peter Rüttimann, Helen Brunner, and Christophe Bossuat about their encounters with him. It is wonderful to have so many inspiring colleagues and to be able to exchange ideas with them, sharing the same values and ideals. In 2023, I was invited to teach at a camp abroad for the first time. Drieëtte Reesinck invited me to the Suzuki Guitar Weekend in Baarn, the Netherlands. Since then, I have returned three times. It is incredibly rewarding to see how, over the years, a bond develops with the children, young people, and families through teaching courses. I am really looking forward to the next international assignments: the National Suzuki Workshop in Horsens, Denmark (8th to 9th November 2025), and the European Children’s Convention in Istanbul (3rd to 7th April 2026). Ultimately, the most important thing is our sense of community, which I would very much like to carry forward—by getting to know more of you. began violin lessons with Martin Rüttimann at the Suzuki School in Zurich in 2006. I was 27 years old at the time, had been working as a guitar teacher for a few years, and was deeply committed to teaching at various music schools across Switzerland. What was new was that we, as parents, were immediately involved in the process. My wife attended the lessons with our son, and I practised with him at home and of course, we had a ‘new soundtrack’ in the house: CD 1! At first, I played along on the guitar, until I realised that the violin would support the bowings much more directly. That was a real gamechanger; as a trained musician, it was important to me to appreciate how it felt to play the violin for the first time. At weekends, we all accompanied our son to the group lessons. Then to top it all off, there was the camp in Emmetten. It was immediately, clear to me that everything was so well thought out. It worked wonderfully. I wanted that for my students too. So, in 2009, I began my training with Elio Galvagno in Saluzzo. It was a fantastic group with many inspiring colleagues from all five levels, giving me an immediate overview of the entire Suzuki Guitar world. The human warmth I experienced from Elio Galvagno, right from the start, was remarkable. He remains a role model for me today, especially when it comes to initial contact with children, parents, and trainees. The first phase of the training involved a great deal of study, commitment, and energy, as well as the cost of travel and accommodation. But among the trainees, we enjoyed wonderful dinners with rich antipasti buffets, starters, main courses, and, of course, house wine: I was lucky that my training was in Italy. My first contact with the SUZUKI METHOD™ was when our son
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