The Southern California Suzuki Institute takes place at Scripps College in Claremont, California each year. Photo credit: http://scalsuzukiinstitute.org/
Four weeks ago, the Southern California Suzuki Institute hosted a Chamber Music Workshop where 25 string students from ages 12 to 17 were divided into six ensembles with one trio, three quartets and two quintets. They practiced their group and Chamber Orchestra pieces for a concert held on Thursday July 19. A variety of pieces ranging from classical to modern were performed, and well-known composers were mentioned, including Haydn, Mozart and Shostakovich.
The schedules were rigorous; the earliest musical activity began at 8:15 a.m. and ended at 9:15 a.m. with “Musicianship” class right afterwards. The the ensembles practiced three hours together every day. In addition, students attended a “master class” where the ensembles performed excerpts of their pieces and received critiques on their performances. Students also had the opportunity to perform in the daily Honors Recitals.
When asked about her experience at the camp, Andie Chao, an 8th grader at Beverly Vista School who played first violin in the Mozart quartet, answered, “The best things come around when you least expect it.”
A piano program was also offered along with a piano master class and jazz piano class.
The Southern California Suzuki Institute is one of the summer student workshops around the country
that is hosted by the Suzuki Association of the Americas (SAA), a “not-for-profit organization officially
licensed to support, guide, and promote Suzuki education in North, Central, and South America… a coalition of teachers, parents, educators, and others who are interested in making music education available to all children,” says SAA’s official website.
The Southern California Suzuki Institute does not only offer musical opportunities for middle and
high school students. Enrichment classes for children as young as 4 are available. Classes range from
Dalcroze Eurhythmics, Fiddling, Triolet, String Trio, Orchestra and Music Mind Games
(music theory).
Parents were encouraged to stay with their children younger than the age of 13, attend their children’s
classes and help them prepare for the next day’s classes.
The Chamber Music Workshop and the Student Institute were major successes evidenced by strong
and confident playing by the students followed by loud applause from proud family
members on the day of the concerts.
“It was amazing! I hope to come back next year,” beamed Emma Moodey, the second violinist in the Haydn Quartet.
Emma is a ninth grader at the Webb School.
Audrey Koh
Hi! I'm Audrey, and I'm going to be an 8th grader at the Archer School for Girls. I like reading and writing 🙂 People tell me I'm weird because I like to study 😀
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Hi Audrey, great article. I liked how you followed the inverted pyramid structure and got good quotes for your article. Just try to look out for AP style and some minor grammar errors. Other than that, great job.