2012 Suzuki Summer Institute (Registered)
May 6, 2012
We are all registered to attend the 2012 Southern California Suzuki Institute @ Scripps College in July:) Austin is working hard for the next couple months to try to finish up Suzuki Book I and move onto Suzuki Book II. I’m looking forward to his progress this summer in both violin and piano. Austin’s first violin recital will be on May 20th, 2012, his first piano recital will be on June 9th, 2012, and his first Chinese class performance will be on June 16th, 2012. What a memorable year it has been! Both Dave and I feel so blessed to live in such a family-oriented community. We are looking forward to many more amazing years here in Mountain House:)
Group and Private Lesson Photos
May 4, 2012
Mountain House Mother’s Strings
Mountain House Suzuki Strings Twinkle Group
Helping Daniel with the bow hand:)
Private Lesson with Tina:)
Teaching Tina a new bow technique
Thanks to my friend Helen who came to visit us from China and took photos while I was teaching. As you can see, I am proud of my students whether they are children or adults and I truly love what I do and enjoy every moment of my students’ progress.
~ Keep Violinin’
Suzuki Family Trio Spring 2012 Edition
April 14, 2012
We decided to share another Trio video with all of you to welcome the beautiful spring weather here in California:)
Here’s a picture of how the boys are really enjoying their father/son time together playing violin duets:) It’s so great for parents to play along with their children or if you have more than one child, your children can play together and you can be their audience:) Either way, this is a great way to motivate your child to keep violinin’ 🙂
Daddy Dave practicing with Austin in my studio
He Has Risen!!!
April 8, 2012
Our first Easter Holiday spent in Mountain House, CA. No wind, mid 70s perfect weather, and great time with friends and family! Thank you God for everything you’ve given us and continue to bless us with!
Austin's class decorating their own Easter baskets:)
Austin and his classmate:)
That's the most children I've ever seen at Central Park in Mountain House, CA
Let's start picking up the eggs!!!
DJA is now DJAA:)
March 26, 2012
Annie
We are so excited to welcome Annie into our home, so now our family members are Dave, Jianni, Austin, and Annie…AKA DJAA:) She’s so sweet and plays so well with Austin. Just over the past few days of having Annie in our home, Austin has developed more responsibilities of feeding Annie and putting her into her crate and of course playing with her. She has kept him so busy, but he’s done really well with his time management of knowing when to do his homework and practice violin and piano. Here’s a picture of our happy Austin:)
Dr. Suzuki’s Quotes
March 1, 2012
I was so fortunate to find these on the web:
Suzuki Quotes
1. You’ll make mistakes; we all do but trust yourself and think for you.
2. When Love is deep, much can be accomplished.
3. Beautiful Tone, Beautiful Heart.
4. If you have the spirit of a young child, you never age.
5. Man is the Son of his environment.
6. Music is the language of the heart without words.
7. Every child improves depending on his/her parents.
8. Great music develops and educates high sensitivity in everybody.
9. The “Law of Ability” will develop each and every child.
10. Creating desire in your child’s heart is the parent’s duty.
11. I respect all living things.
12. A New World begins with a young child.
13. Parents who have smiling faces have children who have smiling faces.
14. Any child can be developed. It depends on how you do it.
15. Perhaps it is music which will save the world.
16. There is no born genius. Education is the way to develop ability.
17. Everything depends on you.
18. Good or evil, beauty or ugliness, daily behavior itself becomes one’s flesh and blood before one realizes it. It becomes habit through repetition.
19. What does not exist in the environment will not develop in the child. By no means only words or music, but everything, good or bad, is absorbed by the child.
20. Self-evaluation is the highest sense as a human being. The children should not only advance but repeat and evaluate their progress.
21. If you grow up in a Stone Age environment, you become a Stone Age man.
22. Now, and 1000 years from now, most important is to educate the person.
23. Those parents who think their children have no ability are not good parents.
24. Don’t hurry don’t rest. Without stopping, without haste, carefully taking one step at a time will surely get you there.
25. Play with heart. Play with living soul.
26. There is no point where we can say, “This is enough.” Always seek finer music, finer performance. Eventually this will change from a learning attitude to a joyful quest which will last throughout our lives.
27. Talent Education, for the happiness of all children.
28. Tone has living soul. Without form it breathes.
29. Parents and teachers should not only teach and nurture a child, but also keep watch over where a child’s true essence and sphere lie. (Koji Toyoda)
30. Parents who recognize their child’s potential ability are good parents.
31. Everyone can improve. With this belief I have advanced my ability one step forward.
32. Education means to teach and develop. Without development there is nothing.
33. Do not hurt anybody’s heart.
These quotes will help you and your child to understand Dr. Suzuki’s philosophy. They help children with self-confidence, memory and performance ability. Perhaps you can share a quote a day with your child?:)
~ Keep Violinin’
What is the Suzuki Method?
February 28, 2012
http://www.violinist.com/blog/laurie/20122/13212/
Highly recommended article for anyone who is learning with the Suzuki method now or someone who is thinking about learning with the Suzuki method.
Growing Austin
February 21, 2012
Future Jeremy Lin?
My 7-year old is growing taller by the day!! Not only is he growing taller, but he is growing in his music appreciation sense. He was able to sit through a 1 hour recital without getting impatient or asking me ‘when is this going to be over?’ This is such a blessing!!!
As for Austin’s recent violin update…he is working on Minuet 2 by J.S. Bach in Book I of Suzuki and we’re thinking of attending the Southern California Suzuki Institute in the summer time. I must admit how much I LOVED attending the Suzuki Institutes as a family in 2011. It allowed us to enjoy family time and playing time together. We can truly experience the joy of music while attending these institutes. I encourage anyone out there thinking about attending a Suzuki Institute to go ahead and sign up to a place you would like to go as a family and JUST DO IT!!! The money spent here is well worth it for the sake of your child’s musical growth and appreciation. Here’s the link to the Suzuki Summer Institutes: http://suzukiassociation.org/events/institutes/
~ Keep Violinin’
T-Shirt Time!!!:)
February 16, 2012
Spring is in the air, our trees in the backyard are already budding, which means the kids are going to be wearing T-SHIRTS to school soon..ok..since we’re in CA, kids are already wearing T-shirts in schools now, but I’m still in my ‘winter’ mode. As I tried to think of a way to motivate my students, I’ve decided to reward them with the T-shirts I designed in exchange for their practice charts and listening charts, which is 200 times of practice and 100 times of listening:) Fair enough? I think so:)
These T-shirts are very high quality 100% cotton and Made in Taiwan:) I’m very happy to give them away to my students so they feel proud of learning and playing the violin:)
Here are photos of the T-shirts laying down in my studio:
White
Blue
Grey
Yellow
Pink
I can’t wait to see my students in these colorful shirts:)
Violin Improv Online Lesson
February 13, 2012
Lately, I’ve been wanting to make my private lessons even more fun for the students, so I started taking some online improv classes with Christian Howes who is a Jazz violinist. He has lots of videos online that are quite helpful to my teachings and gave me lots of ideas on how to make my private lessons even more interesting aside from all the Suzuki pieces:)
Learning how to teach violin improv is very exciting for me and I can’t wait to try some of these games with my students:) If you are also interested in learning how to do violin improv, you can visit http://christianhowes.com/
~ Keep Violinin’
Keepviolinin 