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Happy Birthday Dr. Suzuki!

On October 17, 2021, the BKCM Suzuki Community celebrated Dr. Shinichi Suzuki’s birthday with cupcakes, snacks, and music performed by our faculty members!

Cupcakes for. Dr. Suzuki’s Birthday! Photo by Pam Wong

Families gathered to celebrate and even sang “Happy Birthday” to Dr. Suzuki.

Some of our Suzuki families enjoying some snacks. Photo by Pam Wong

Paloma Ferrante, one of our Suzuki Cello Faculty members performed some solo Bach for our families.

Paloma Ferrante, Suzuki Cello faculty. Photo by Pam Wong

Here is Shayna Dulberger, our Suzuki Bass teacher performing “Go Tell Aunt Rhody”, a Suzuki classic.

Shayna Dulberger, Suzuki bass faculty. Photo by Pam Wong

And some of our Violin and Guitar faculty teamed up to perform some Telemann Violin Concerto for four violins. Ty Citerman gave this piece a new sound by jumping in and performing the fourth violin part on guitar!

Nora Friedman, Julianne Carney-Chung, Rebecca Chaqor, and Ty Citerman, Suzuki Violin and Guitar faculty. Photo by Pam Wong

We hope you all had a great time, and look forward to celebrating Dr. Suzuki’s Birthday again next year!

Suzuki families celebrating Dr. Suzuki’s birthday. Photo by Pam Wong

Johnson String Instrument delivery

Johnson String Instrument delivery is scheduled for Wednesday, September 11. If you need an exchange, let them know by noon, Tuesday, September 10 at the latest.

 

Johnson String Instrument this Thursday

Johnson String Instrument is scheduled for this Thursday, March 14, to deliver/ pick up any exchanges, returns as well as drop off any orders that have come in. If you need an exchange,  let them know by Wednesday, March 13th at the latest.

The next two visits will be  Thursday, April 11th, and Thursday May 9th.

Two Exciting Suzuki guitar events

1.  On Thursday March 14, Suzuki Guitar Teacher Trainer Andrea Cannon will be with us to teach the 4:30-5:30pm Group in rm 35!
She will also teach a group for any available Bk1 or Bk2 students who would like to come from 5:30-6:30p in rm 32.
Space is limited, so please RSVP to Michele if you would like to take advantage of this special opportunity.
2.  On Sunday April 7, 2-4:30pm we will be performing at Barbés on 9th St!  Bar Toto will be catering food, and parents can enjoy drinks.  Students are invited to come at any point within the two hour window and perform your polished review pieces with the big kids!  Invite your family and friends!

Friday Faculty Feature

Join us THIS WEEK for Friday Faculty Feature at 6 PM!
The great Emile Blondel will perform first on the program, a piece written by his former teacher Kenneth Frazelle called The Road Up, depicting an exhilarating journey up a mountain road throbbing with bird calls and pulsing greens. BKCM Faculty Tom Chiu and Lyndol Descant present two subsequent sets that promise to be intriguing, inspiring and fun!

Violin Listening: A FREE GIFT From German violin teacher trainer Kerstin Wartburg

Violin Listening

A FREE GIFT From German violin teacher trainer Kerstin Wartburg,
to all Suzuki violin teachers, their students and their parents.

During the last four decades I have been working with great interest and passion to create materials that support the learning of music according to the philosophy of Shinichi Suzuki. Dr. Suzuki showed us that children learn music in the same way they learn language—by listening! I have personally believed for a very long time that it would be extremely helpful for children and their parents to have a variety of listening sources available to enrich their learning environment.
ARTISTS’ RECORDINGS of the violin repertoire can serve to inspire and demonstrate the highest levels of expression, tone, and interpretation. However, it is also necessary to model and demonstrate (through recordings) the PEDAGOGICAL APPROACH TO LEARNING, and clearly demonstrate the steps a student might progress through on their first learning of the repertoire.

Suzuki himself had planned to make a written version of his entire violin school along with practice cassettes. Because of the work involved in continuing to develop his method, as well as his involvement in the world-wide spread of his ideas, he was only able to accomplish this for the beginning level. These works were published (in Japanese) in 1953 under the titles: “How to Study the Violin” (book), and “Practice with me” (cassettes). Suzuki asked me to continue with this important work and adapt it for present-day students and teachers.

During the last two months there have been several articles published in international periodicals such as the New York Times, the Washington Post, and The Strad about the violinist featured in all volumes of the Revised and International Suzuki violin recordings.
https://www.thestrad.com/news/cleveland-concertmaster-accused-of-sexual-harassment-in-washington-post-expose/8041.article

On social media and also on the SAA website, I have recently observed a very important conversation taking place about additional recordings for the Suzuki Violin School.

In the light of the actual situation, I would like to share with all of you another resource for violin recordings of the first FIVE VOLUMES. These recordings present a clear PEDAGOGICAL EXAMPLE of the violin literature and their learning steps. These recordings were made during the testing phase of my Step-by-Step and Recital Training series, and I would like to now share some FREE EXAMPLES from the first, second and fourth volumes with any interested teachers, parents, and students.
The complete repertoire of VOLUMES 1 – 5 are available for download in the IMTEX Media Library for all members at a very low and reasonable cost.

Happy Listening! Happy Practicing!

—– Kerstin Wartburg —–

Here you find our personal FREE GIFT with more than 100 MP3 files with Play Lists (PDF)
https://www.imtex.info/istex/mediathek/
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EXCERPS of Violin Books 1 / 2 / 4
Edited by Kerstin Wartberg
Rudolf Gaehler, violin
Gino Romero Ramirez, djembé (african drum)
David Andruss, piano and piano arrangements for all recorded pieces
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EXCERPS of
Violin Book 1, Part A, Play Along in 3 Tempi

The Tuning Notes

Lightly Row
in performance tempo (violin & piano)
in slow practice tempo (violin & piano)
in medium practice tempo (piano accompaniment)
in performance tempo (piano accompaniment)

The Grasshopper Exercise

Song of the Wind
in performance tempo (viola & piano)
in slow practice tempo (viola & piano)
in medium practice tempo (piano accompaniment)
in performance tempo (piano accompaniment)

Go Tell Aunt Rhody
in performance tempo (violin & piano)
in slow practice tempo (violin & piano)
in performance tempo (piano accompaniment)

Oh Come, Little Children
in performance tempo (violin & piano)
in slow practice tempo (violin & piano)
in performance tempo (piano accompaniment)

May Song
in performance tempo (violin & piano)
in slow practice tempo (violin & piano)
in medium practice tempo (piano accompaniment)
in performance tempo (piano accompaniment)

Long, Long Ago
in performance tempo (violin & piano)
in slow practice tempo (violin & piano)
in performance tempo (piano accompaniment)

Play List (English/Spanish/French/German)
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EXCERPS of
Violin Book 1, Part B, Play Along in 3 Tempi

The Tuning Notes

Minuet 1
in performance tempo (violin & piano)
in slow practice tempo (violin & piano)
in medium practice tempo (piano accompaniment)
in performance tempo (piano accompaniment)

Minuet 2
in performance tempo (violin & piano)
in slow practice tempo (violin & piano)
in medium practice tempo (piano accompaniment)
in performance tempo (piano accompaniment)

Minuet 3
in performance tempo (violin & piano)
in slow practice tempo (violin & piano)
in medium practice tempo (piano accompaniment)
in performance tempo (piano accompaniment)

Happy Farmer
in performance tempo (violin & piano)
in slow practice tempo (violin & piano)
in medium practice tempo (piano accompaniment)
in performance tempo (piano accompaniment)

Gossec Gavotte
The Rapid Passage in the Gossec-Gavotte
in performance tempo (violin & piano)
in slow practice tempo (violin & piano)
in medium practice tempo (piano accompaniment)
in performance tempo (piano accompaniment)
Play List (English/Spanish/French/German)
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EXCERPS of
Violin Volume 2A (Pack 1)

EXCERPS of The Tuning Notes

Chorus from “Judas Maccabaeus”
in performance tempo (violin & piano)
in slow practice tempo (violin & piano)
in performance tempo (piano accompaniment)

Musette
in performance tempo (violin & piano)
in slow practice tempo (violin & piano)
in medium practice tempo (piano accompaniment)
in performance tempo (piano accompaniment)

Hunter’s Chorus
in performance tempo (violin & piano)
in slow practice tempo (violin & piano)
in medium practice tempo (piano accompaniment)
in performance tempo (piano accompaniment)

Long, Long Ago
in performance tempo (violin & piano)
in slow practice tempo (violin & piano)
in medium practice tempo (piano accompaniment)
in performance tempo (piano accompaniment)

Play List (English/Spanish/French/German)
____________________________________________
EXCERPS of
Violin Volume 2A (Pack 2)

The Tuning Notes

Waltz
in performance tempo (violin & piano)
Exercise for crescendo (violin & piano)
in performance tempo (piano accompaniment)

Bourrée
in performance tempo (violin & piano)
in slow practice tempo (violin & piano)
in medium practice tempo (piano accompaniment)
in performance tempo (piano accompaniment)

The Two Grenadiers
in performance tempo (violin & piano)
in slow practice tempo (violin & piano)
in medium practice tempo (piano accompaniment)
in performance tempo (piano accompaniment)

Play List (English/Spanish/French/German)
____________________________________________

EXCERPS of
Violin Volume 4A (Seitz 1)

Friedrich Seitz, Concerto No. 2 in G Major, Op. 13, 3rd Mvt.

Tuning notes
Slow practice tempo (violin and piano)
Medium practice tempo (piano accompaniment)
Performance tempo (violin and piano)
Performance tempo (piano accompaniment)
Preparatory exercise

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EXCERPS of
Violin Volume 4A (Seitz 3)

Friedrich Seitz, Concerto No. 5 in D Major, Op. 22, 3rd Movement

Tuning notes
Slow practice tempo (violin and piano)
Medium practice tempo (piano accompaniment)
Performance tempo (piano accompaniment)
Performance tempo (violin and piano)
Preparatory exercise 1
Preparatory exercise 2
Preparatory exercise 3
Preparatory exercise 4
Preparatory exercise 5
Sheet music

How Suzuki changed music teaching paradigm

This interesting article discuses how Dr. Shinichi Suzuki’s approach changed the paradigm of music teaching. Did you know that before him, it was considered a standard that they children should play “childish” music only? Or that all the teaching was left to teachers?

Read more.