The Lumberjack, June 26, 1985.

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+J lumberjack a student newspaper serving
northern arizona university
flagstaff, arizona 86011
volume 76 issue 16
Wednesday, june 26, 1985
KALVAR
3322 S 300 East
Salt Lake City, UT 8 4 1 1 5
splin ters
The ninth annual Suzuki In­stitute
concluded Saturday in Ar-drey
Auditorium with a recital of
pianos, violins and cellos.
I had seen the kids around cam­pus
for a few days — little kids car­rying
little violins, and most of
them holding tightly to mommy’s
hand.
Before I heard the kids practice,
I was prepared for anything. Well,
almost anything, I wasn’t prepared
for them to be good.
The best I expected was a good
grade school recital. At the worst, I
could stick my fingers in my ears.
By casually speaking to the kids
and their parents, I realized two
things. First, these kids are proud
of what they can do. One little boy
stood as tall as possible, stuck out
his chest and said, “ I can play the
piano.” And secondly, they are still
normal children.
By no means, are these child
prodigies or geniuses. They are just
children whose parents want them
to learn to play an instrument, and
appreciate music.
The kids are grouped mostly by
ability and then by age. Their abili­ty
is determined not by how well a
piece is played, but rather how well
it is known. Once a child has
mastered a piece, he is advanced to
the next piece.
The pieces are learned by
memory, not by reading music.
Reading music comes when the
kids are older and feel more com­fortable
with the instrument.
Approximately 175 children
were here for four days of intense
instruction. A student must cur­rently
be studying with a Suzuki
teacher in order to qualify for the
Institute.
The Suzuki method of teaching
began in 1963 for violin, piano and
cello. The method has begun to
spread to other instruments. Photo by Dory Edwards
Itzhak? Special 12
page insert A young violinist demonstrates skills that were heard
around the campus last week.