SuzNews 13.2

SuzNews Vol. 13.2|November 17, 2022

Our Suzuki community offers an encouraging atmosphere to

nurture every child's full potential and love for music.

News from your National Capital Suzuki School of Music

Here we are near the end of our Fall Group Class session, gearing up for winter recitals, winter break and holiday time with friends and family. We've had our official first snow fall of the year. Some of us are waiting anxiously for the chance to get out there and enjoy all the winter sports and others of us are looking forward to cozy evenings indoors, perhaps in the glow of the fireplace. Either way we wish you all a happy and healthy start to our long Ottawa winter. And we hope music helps keeps your spirits up throughout the cold and snowy days ahead.

Thank you Faculty! Thank you Audience!

On Sunday October 16th our Faculty, collaborative pianist Liko Yamane, and guest cellist Ethan Mitchell performed together to give the audience a delightful hour of varied and lovely music at our Annual Faculty Benefit Concert.

All performers donated their time to rehearse and perform in order to raise money for our Student Bursary program. This Bursary allows students whose families are dealing with financial challenges to continue with lessons at our school.

Thank you to all who attended this special event and to all who donated to support the Student Bursary Fund. It's not too late to donate! If you would like to make a donation to this worthwhile cause you can send an e-transfer to [email protected]. Please type Bursary in the message section of your e-transfer. Thank you!

Special thanks to photographer, Graham Ashford.

Ursa Meyer, MC and percussion

Janice Mah, violin and Liko Yamane, piano

Judy Olmstead-O'Regan and Carol Deaville, violin

and Liko Yamane, piano

Keite Gularte, viola and Liko Yamane, piano

Erik Johnson-Scherger, violin

Ethan Mitchell, cello

Emma Grant-Zypchen, cello and Liko Yamane, piano

Sonya Matoussova, cello and Liko Yamane, piano

Ensemble Finale Performance

The Return of the In Person Play In!

We are looking forward to our first in person Play In since November, 2019.

The Play In is a chance for all the students to perform together for parents, friends and family, in a relaxed setting.

The Play In takes place in the Canterbury HS cafeteria.

Doors open @9:20am

Tuning start @10am

Play-in start @10:30am

Because of the increased concern of respiratory viruses, the overcrowding of CHEO and the request of the Chief Medical Officer of Ontario, we encourage all participants and guests to wear masks. We will not have our usual treats potluck after the Play In this year in order to reduce risk of sharing viruses. We are keeping our fingers crossed for 2023!

Holiday Gift Ideas available at

our Play In, Saturday November 26th.

Why not stop by the Strings and Things and the Birch Bark Coffee sales tables before or after the Play In on Saturday November 26th? Tables will be set up in the Canterbury Lower Lobby beside the cafeteria.

Louise from Strings and Things will be set up in the cafeteria lobby with her pop up shop - a great opportunity to pick up some stocking stuffers and holiday gifts. You can also browse her website at stringsandthings.ca and send any questions, requests or orders to [email protected].

Bags of Birch Bark coffee will be available for purchase. Medium and Dark Roast in whole bean and ground will be available. Each bag is 18$ with a portion of proceeds going to our school and 1$ from each bag sold going towards bringing clean drinking water to homes in Indigenous communities.

Birch Bark Coffee is Indigenous owned, organic, fair trade coffee and it is delicious!

Studio Spotlight - Judy's Studio

Judy’s students are busy brushing up their Jingle bells for this years’ December recital. This year we will add a new carol, God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, followed by the jig version. Guitar chords are included so give it a try!

God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen with Guitar Chords

Here are 2 versions of Jingle Bells to try. One is a basic, easy version and the other for more advanced violins. Have fun!

Jingle Bells Easy

Advanced Jingle Bells Page One

Advanced Jingle Bells Page Two

Is it Time for a New Instrument?

If you are looking for a fractional instrument for a student, remember to check our SuzukiMusic Community Marketplace. We currently have a number of violins and cellos listed.

Headstart 2022-2023

If you have a preschooler or have friends with preschoolers who are interested in Headstart, email Liko at [email protected] to register for available spots in Term 2 and 3 and/or to get on the waiting list. Headstart is a great introduction to music and the Suzuki philosophy before starting music lessons. Check out the website for more information at https://suzukimusic.ca/headstart/

Giving through the

United Way/GCWCC Campaign

The Government of Canada Workplace Charity Campaign(GCWCC) is on now and is a great way for SuzukiMusic members and friends who are Public Servants to support our school.

Through the GCWCC, public servants can support any registered Canadian charity of their choosing, including our school.

Our special thanks to those of you who have chosen to direct your donations toward SuzukiMusic.

SuzukiMusic is a non-profit corporation and registered charity. 892776378RR0001

Parent Education Corner

Practice Tips

by Carrie Reuning-Hummel

Carrie Reuning-Hummel gave the parent talk at the recent SAO conference in Kingston.

She began the study of the violin at the age of five, was one of the first Suzuki students in the U.S. and studied with Shinichi Suzuki on numerous occasions.

Carrie is very active as a Suzuki teacher and a registered Suzuki Teacher Trainer. She has taught at hundreds of institutes and workshops throughout the continental U.S. as well as in Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Canada, Mexico, Bermuda, and Israel. She has written a book called “Time to Practice: A Companion for Parents.” Her website is www.soundcarries.com.

Here are some tried and true practice strategies for families to use at home.

LISTENING and REVIEWING: These are the magic ingredients for good progress. When placed in first priority order, they greatly decrease tedious learning of notes and lead to excellence.

CONSISTENCY: Try to practice at the same time each day. Some successful times can be between dinner and dessert, in the morning before school, or immediately after school (after a snack) before other projects. Some families have great success splitting up the practice. For instance, they might review in the morning and work on newer material in the after-noon. Try not to skip days, do not use practice as a punishment, do not reward by skipping practice (for example: since it is your birthday, you don't have to practice). Some days practice will only be 5 minutes and that's ok - 5 good minutes is much better than none.

MOOD PREPARATION: This is important for you and your child before both practice and lessons. First, take a couple of minutes to remind yourself why you are making this effort for your child. Look at your child as an important person, separate from yourself, whose self-esteem will be strengthened by the small steps of Suzuki study. Then take a few quiet moments with your child to discuss some of the important points of the lesson. Perhaps listen to a tape of the lesson, or a tape of the piece being studied. On the way to the lesson you can do the same things or listen to any music and discuss how it makes you feel, what color it reminds you of, etc.

MODEL THE PRACTICE AFTER THE LESSON: I usually try to alternate activities in my teaching: standing vs. sitting, fast pace vs. slow, "performing" (with no interruptions) vs. working on one small passage, for instance. Keep the practice atmosphere positive with room for experimenting, questioning, analyzing, and mistakes. Try to stop before it is the child's idea. Try to anticipate moods (of your child and yourself) and counteract challenging moods with a game or a shortened practice.

ASK, DON'T TELL: Ask, "What did you hear that time?" "If you have a scratchy (soapy) tone, stop when you hear it." You will be surprised that when they take on the listening responsibility, they rarely need to stop because they are focused on making good sound. Some questions to ask in practice: "Do you want to do this activity 5 or 10 times?" "How many times do you think you need to do that passage before you never goof it again?" (this lets them be scientists - make a hypthothesis, practice the number of times the child thinks will work, have a listen to them play that passage the next day and find out if that hypothesis was correct or if they need to increase the number of repetitions.) "What kind of learner are you?" "How fast can you play that?" Give them choices and responsibility along with respect for their thoughts and ideas.

CREATIVITY: These ideas are for some children but not everyone. Keep them fun and not manipulative. Let them choose which work for them. Many of the ideas help the invisible (music) become more concrete. Above all, HAVE FUN!!!!

Charts. Have the child draw something after each accomplishment to "document" it.
Perform. Play for any and everyone. "Let's practice this new spot and then show Daddy tonight." Gather together stuffed animals and let them each "choose" a piece or activity. Invite a friend who plays an instrument over to play music.
For review, write down pieces or activities on slips of paper and pull them out of a hat or jar. Mix silly ideas with serious ones.
Before the practice, write down the list to do that day. Let the child cross each item off. (This helps to keep practice from feeling endless to a child.)
Work on your own, respectful language. Tape yourself and analyze it.
Celebrate small achievements. This is different from rewards because it happens as a response. Go out to dinner to celebrate a difficult piece learned. Go to a concert as a family (especially if you find out in advance what will be played and can hear it first).