Suzuki Music Academy of Hong Kong

"Music Exists for the purpose of growing an admirable heart" ~Shinichi Suzuki

SMAHK Students Join 4 Nations Virtual Concert!

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On Sunday, 22 November, several of our students were wearing their concert best at the early hour of 7:30a.m. Their instruments were in tune, and they had their pre-recorded accompaniment ready for the sound check before the 4 Nations Virtual Concert. Sponsored by the Centro Suzuki Buenos Aires, SMAHK students were joined by performers from Argentina, Chile and Japan. Here are the students’ thoughts about the concert:

~from Annika

I think the concert was brilliant, special, and very well organised. It was nice seeing kids from different countries (that study the Suzuki method) play their pieces too. Since it’s challenging to see kids in person even from HK, it was super special to see kids from Chilé, Argentina and Japan on Zoom. The part I enjoyed the most was watching kids play pieces familiar to me as well as new pieces. I also enjoyed getting to share my piece which was Minuet 2.

~from Bianca

It was fun! I liked hearing other students play from other countries. They all sounded pretty. I feel proud about how I did my song.

~from Cecilia

Overall, I was proud of my performance for the online concert. I was most confident about my intonation. I was happy that I could match with the piano accompaniment almost all the time. The vibrato was also consistent. Although the thumb and elbow technique were the ones I practiced most, and were the ones that were most important about playing the piece, I could have really thought about it more in the process of playing Rameau Gavotte. I could improve by checking and paying attention to it from time to time. I could have also had more dynamic differences, making the music more interesting for the audience to listen to. even though I practiced the sweet tone for Gavotte 2 for a long time, there still was not a very sweet tone when I played it, making it sound like I was playing a straight line out of my violin with no emotions. I am very grateful that I was invited to the 4 Nations Virtual Concert Performance held by the Suzuki staffs from Argentina!

~from Charlotte

This was an interesting concert. It was enlightening to know how music can transcend ethnicities to express feelings. While hearing the performances, although they were played by musicians from different cultures, I felt a sense of connection over the feelings that were expressed. Music is universal!

A memorable part was hearing Suzuki pieces played on guitar. The notes had a special vibration to it, emanating a distinctive, warm feeling compared to the violin, viola, cello, and piano. It surprised me like when I heard the Cello version of Gigue by Bach (Book 7). It broadened my understanding of sounds and musical interpretation. 

Thank you for this opportunity. 

~from Shreyas

I really enjoyed playing in the Four Nations Concert. It was inspiring to see how the love of music can connect communities from all around the world. Especially in times like these, when we can feel disconnected even from our own communities, it was exciting to perform alongside students from Argentina, Chile, Japan and Hong Kong. Thank you to SMAHK for providing us with this wonderful opportunity.

Reflections from the Performers: Book 1 Viola Recital ~ Aston & Yeh Joon

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A chance to perform the Book Recital live in person with Ms. Sonomi…on Halloween! We were so fortunate that our October Book Recitals were able to be held in person. Each student had a parent attend live, as well as family joining by Zoom.

~ from Aston

Is great to have my book 1 recital this year! Is great to have Yeh Joon perform with me! 

~ from Yeh Joon

I felt a bit nervous. I liked it and I was happy when it was finished. I was happy that there was no more tension. I think that I could do better in my next recital. It was hard to play with a mask and I hope that next time we could play without one, I also thought that it was more special because it was on Halloween.

Reflections from the Performers: Book 1 Violin Recital ~ Eric, Lincoln & Miles

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For our October Book Recitals, we were very fortunate that the performers were able to play in person with Ms Sonomi! Each performer was also able to have a parent watch the recital live, as well as inviting family and friends to join on Zoom. Here are our performers’ thoughts about the recital:

~from Miles

During my recital I felt really nervous, more nervous than when I did on other performances on stage.  I was also much more careful and actually tried to get the perfect performance. Before it began I already memorised what I had to do .  Including good behaviour,what to do during the pieces and following the leader when we have to . It went through pretty smoothly. I was also leader for the twinkles.

~from Lincoln

I was very happy about the recital because many of my friends complimented and congratulated me. I was also very nervous and embarrassed about the recital. I was very embarrassed because of the uniform.

~from Eric

I felt that this was a great experience for me because this is my first Book Recital. I liked how sometimes you can make mistakes but no one can correct you. I actually left out a bit of Happy Farmer but no one said I was wrong. I feel very proud because even though I made a few mistakes, I think I did a great job. I was very happy when I saw that people on zoom had watched us play. I thought that no one would come to our recital! 

Finally, I would like to give thanks to the following people:

Mrs.Diane, for helping us organise the recital.

Mrs.Yuko, for teaching me all the pieces I played in the recital.

My Mom, for encouraging me all the way through.

Mrs.Sonomi, for piano accompaniment with all of the performers.

Mrs.Lan, for the photography.

Miles and Lincoln, for performing with me. (their parents too!)

Finally, all the people who watched us perform on zoom.  

Reflections from the Performers: Book 2 Viola Recital ~ Ha Jin and Stephen

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~ from Ha Jin

I think my Book 2 recital overall went really well. While practicing for it, I think doing everything online is much harder. Completely matching the piano videos was very challenging as you needed to pay very close attention to the music you are hearing and the piece you are playing. However despite the confusion with making recordings, everything else went very smoothly. During the zoom, there were no technical difficulties which I was not expecting and if we ignored the small on a device and the different backgrounds, it was like playing in the studio together. My book 2 recital went much better than I had expected and I have learned a lot from this experience and the challenges that went along with it. I am really glad that we could have the recital and I think we did our best even though it was online!

~ from Stephen

My reflection was quite or very good because I thought it would be in person but   as soon as I herd the news that it would gbe on zoom I got very suprised because I would need to practice even harder because it was not on person any more it was on zoom! Before we started I was really nervouse because I thought that I hadnt practiced ebough but as soon as it started I started to feel a bit more relaxed as I started the first song hunters chorus. I even thought that we would have to play Bocherinee minuet in person because the video did not work but no we did not have to play Bochereeni minuet in person. After Hunters I started to calm down because I did great and it was my partner Ha Jin;s turn.After a duet of musete it was my turn again!I was worried that I would mess up in the middle of minuet in G because the shifting part was extremley hard to shift and play colley bows,but at the end I did finish minuet in G the diffrent way that I had thought at the start.After that was Ha Jins turn then two songs on share screen then it was my turn!!!!!!! When I started waltz it wasnt as slow as I expected it to be because when I practiced before the recital the song was way slower.But still I also did quite well at playing Waltz.After that was a video on share screen but then it was my turn and I had’nt practiced the two grenediers for a while but I found out that I did amazing at The Two grenediers after that was twinkle on share screen after that the recitle was over so it ended up quite good!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Reflections from the Performers: Book 3 Violin Recital ~ Margaret and Stacey

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~from Margaret

This recital was such a learning curve. All throughout the past month or so we have been planning trying to make a recital in the situation we are in. I learned that making videos for a recital and having to play things virtually without a live accompaniment is really hard. When you play without someone beside you playing the piano can also be hard. When not on a speaker it can also affect not being on time with the piano like in the recital. I could not hear the accompaniment to Humoresque that is why I did not end on the same time. I and Stacey both did things wrong sometimes one started too early and somehow in the Twinkle we were not together. In Humoresque my speaker was not working and the pitch in the slow me downer app but then we fixed it on our side. 50% of the things that went wrong I blame me but the other half is because we were doing this online. I really enjoyed making this with Stacey but also hope I can do my next recital in person.

~ from Stacey

The coronavirus made our recital really hard to handle, We had to do it online and record videos in order to make me and Margaret’s duet work.

We had a lot of difficulties when making videos and practicing, for example for the duet videos we got notes and bowings wrong sometimes so we had to record all over again and I need to listen to Margaret and Miss Sonomi’s left hand while I play the Minuet duet.

I practiced hard and memorized my bowings and notes so I would not play it wrong when I am recording the videos, I also requested help from Miss Monica when I feel confused about the piano parts.

I understand that the coronavirus is making big changes in our life but I still enjoyed our virtual recital because I get to invite family and friends to my recital, unlike real life we can’t. The only part I did not like about the online recital was that I and Margaret could not really congratulate each other after playing and we always need to be on mute!

Next time I think I should focus more on my dynamics when recording and playing so that the audience can hear my rich strong tone also my light heavenly tone. 

Thanks to Suzuki my book three recital was still pretty perfect.

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