Suzuki Music Academy of Hong Kong

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

Reflections of the performer: ANDREW ZENG, Book 7 Violin Recital

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To begin with, my Book 7 Recital was my first solo recital, which meant that I was faced with the challenge of polishing up and putting together a much greater number of pieces with the piano. Playing through a total of 11 pieces (22 movements in total) over a period of ~1.5 hours was also quite demanding in terms of endurance. I relied on and was able to further develop my organisational and time management skills when scheduling rehearsals with Ms Sonomi and balancing my academic commitments with practice for the rehearsal. In terms of the pieces themselves, I found it uniquely rewarding to revisit pieces which I had learnt in the past and to rediscover and reinterpret them, making use of new technique, musical ideas and perspectives that I have since learnt and gained. In the new pieces that I had learnt, I was able to further polish up my technique and refine my interpretation. It was also interesting to listen to recordings made by others to open myself up to new interpretations to take inspiration from. I found decision making much more straightforward. It also gave me the freedom to pursue my own ideas.

Looking at the recital as a whole, there were some mistakes which occurred and countless things that I could have done better. Some pieces also left me feeling unsatisfied with the fact that I was unable to fully express all of my musical ideas as a result of not having practiced enough (In particular, the seemingly ‘easier’ pieces that I had neglected to practice as much). However, overall, my experience was a positive one. In a live performance, not everything can always go the way you practiced or had hoped for. As with anything, things can go wrong and it takes resilience to deal with mistakes or failures and carry on. In between pieces, I was able to move past those mistakes and re-energise and motivate myself to focus on the sole objective of playing what comes next to the best of my ability. I am extremely pleased with the end result and found this entire process hugely enjoyable and rewarding. I was able to apply myself to play with expression and share the results of my violin journey which began 9 years ago with others. Looking ahead, by the time my next recital comes around, I hope to become a more expressive player who takes more liberties and is more imaginative with musical ideas. Music is an immensely beautiful language which allows us to express emotions, certain ideas, or aspects of the human experience that we otherwise could not with language. That is the reason for its tremendous appeal and ability to transcend time, people and cultures among many other things. Therefore I feel extremely privileged to have an understanding of this language and to have the ability to share it with others.

I would like to give a great thanks to the brilliant Ms Sonomi for spending so much time rehearsing with me, supporting me and helping me gain confidence in my playing. I would also like to thank Ms Diane for all her years of teaching and guidance. Finally, I would like to thank those who joined us for my recital.

Reflections from the Performers: Camy and Emma Book 3 Recital

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~from Camy

~from Emma

This book three recital was much more different than my last graduation recital, I thought using Acapella was a brilliant idea because me and my partner, Camy were far from each other.

I personally thought the Bach Bourree was enthusiastic, exciting and “jumpy”! I felt like it was a brilliant way to start off the recital.

I think I could’ve done better on following the dynamics in the beginning for Gossec Gavotte, otherwise everything else was fine.

Nothing was out of the ordinary for the Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star Variations.

I think Martini Gavotte was well represented as a Gavotte (a dance) most of the time, at first I hadn’t really thought about my dynamics for the A sections, this made around a third of the time really boring.

Overall I think my harmony part for Minuet Three was pretty great! The only part I would change then at the end would be making eye contact with Ms Sonomi before the end (I did do this, but I would’ve been able to make the last three notes and the retard more grand if I’d made eye contact a bit more sooner).

We first practiced and learnt our parts then played along with our partners from a video to get to know each others playing style, when me and Camy played together in person, I didn’t feel anticipation on what kind of articulation or dynamics Camy would do next, I found this strategy very helpful.

As for my solo pieces, I feel like my dynamics could’ve been more exaggerated during Gavotte in G Minor. I feel most proud about my Gavotte in D Major, it had a range of articulation (something I had to be reminded about a few times by Ms Diane), it was probably the most fun piece and the piece I enjoyed the most in the recital.

Thank you to everyone that helped make this recital possible, a big thank you for Ms Diane for helping me and Camy along the way as well as Ms Sonomi for playing the accompaniment on the piano for us! it was a great experience!

Reflection from the Performer: Cecilia’s Book 7 Recital

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~by Cecilia Hao

Since I was performing on my own for the first time, my violin recital for book 7 was considerably different from my recital for book 6 in the past. I had to independently schedule rehearsal times with Ms. Sonomi and during the rehearsals, we had to communicate clearly so that the violin and piano parts would fit well together. I was able to improve my communication abilities and gain more confidence as a result of multiple practice sessions I had with Ms Sonomi. In addition, compared to the many rehearsals I’ve had, I felt more comfortable voicing my ideas this time. Because the success of this recital depended on how much I had prepared and how secure I was in myself, it encouraged me to be much more responsible. Despite some bumps in the road during the performance, I have to admit that I am very pleased with myself for such an outstanding achievement. Being able to balance the violin on top of school work more successfully than normal also made me feel more mature. There is still room for improvement in terms of interacting with the piano and having more strong opinions. I am beyond grateful for all the support I received from my parents, teachers and friends, and I eagerly anticipate my next recital.

Reflections of the Performers: Andrew, Miko and Tejbir

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Miko, Andrew and Tejbir performed their Book 1 Recital on 29 April 2023. Here are their thoughts about the experience:

~from Miko

At first, I was really nervous when I heard that I had to do a book 1 recital. I don’t really like being in the spotlight in front of crowds, but at least it wasn’t a solo recital. This recital was going to be different, because we’re not only playing one piece, but we’re playing about 4 pieces each. 

I felt comfortable that we were going to have a few joint lessons and recital practices, to get warmed up and get the idea of how the recital will run. I was a bit nervous when I saw that my solo was first, but it would also mean that I could get my solo’s done quicker. 


When practicing at home, I try to stay with the recording and with the beat, and I think at the recital, I stayed with the beat on the solo’s too. 

I think the recital went really well, but of course we made little mistakes. I think the tone sounded really well, and I think we did the echos well too. I especially think we did the twinkles well, and that we stayed with each other. We played Govotte perfectly, and i think we didn’t slow down throughout the piece. I am sure that part of this happended because we practiced a lot, preparing for this recital.

~from Andrew

My book 1 recital was very fun.

what I liked the most was all the preparation. I had to practice a lot of pieces I already knew how to play, but I had to polish them even more. I enjoyed the recital very much and it was a lot of fun! I hope the book 2 recital will go well too!

~from Tejbir

On Saturday, I had my Book 1 recital. My partners were Andrew and Miko. First we chose what solos we wanted to play. And then we practised the Twinkles and Gavotte. Then we had the dress rehearsal. Finally we had the Book 1 recital. I was nervous. We had a little warm-up before the recital. After the recital we ate some snacks. I was happy and nervous before the recital but after the recital I felt happy and tired.

Reflections of the Performers: Eric, Hugo & Wesley Book 2 Recital

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Wesley, Hugo and Eric worked together to prepare and perform their Book 2 recital. Here are their reflections on the experience.

~from Eric

From this recital, I took away three things. 

Firstly, I noticed how important it is to listen to each other when playing our joint pieces. An example is when you mentioned the balance all three of us needed to achieve in Musette. I needed to listen to Wesley to balance with him and then look at Hugo’s bow so that I and Wesley can balance Hugo. This made me realize how important listening and adapting to each other is, in any group performance. 
Next, I noticed how a small pause is sometimes the most powerful way to start or end a piece. For example, when I ended Waltz, I wanted to pause after I finished the last note, to let the ringing tone sink in before I took a bow. I feel like this was a perfect ending touch to this piece. Silence is truly a part of music. 

Finally, I noticed how much work we put into this recital. We planned, practiced, and improved over and over again until we had it perfect. This made me realize how much effort is put into a performance, and not just in music. The amount of teamwork and dedication needed for any performance we see is probably a lot more than how much we think it is. To conclude, I want to thank Wesley and Hugo. They were amazing to work with and we collaborated together really well. Furthermore, I want to thank Ms.Diane, Ms.Sonomi, and Ms.Mary Ann because they work hard every day to help us. Ms.Diane works for many hours a day and doesn’t even have time for a proper lunch on Saturdays. Ms.Sonomi accompanies so many pieces, and without her, our performance would not have been possible. Ms.Mary Ann assists countless things and gets so many things done for us to keep our school running.

~ from Hugo

I am proud of myself for completing my book 2 recital, I spent a lot of time polishing and improving my pieces and I am relieved it is over.  

I think Eric, Wesley and I worked well together when we were practising our joint pieces.  This is a rare opportunity to be able to play a trio with them, I also learnt something from each of them, I think Eric is very dedicated and loves his music a lot, and Wesley is very hard working and takes practising seriously.  These are all good things I should follow.  

At first, our trios were not very good, but after some individual practice at home, we got better each time we played together.

I overall enjoyed the experience even though there was some pressure during the process, especially in the week before the recital.

~from Wesley

Saturday’s recital was very good, I had one mistake for every piece and I think it was because I’m nervous when I was playing the first piece of the recital, my legs were shaking but I felt better afterwards. I think I also need to add more emotions to the piece, like swinging my body while playing the song.

As a group playing with Eric and Hugo, I learnt that when playing at a recital I have to put more emotion to the song. And for the joint pieces I have to match both Eric and Hugo’s rhythm, for both pieces. I also think I did well on the special notes in Judas since I could really hear the sound loud and clear around the room. For Musette I think I did decent with the overlapping bows. I can do better by really bringing up the overlapping sound more. For Gavotte, I think I can do better because I don’t think I did very well with the sixteenth notes.

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