Suzuki Music Academy of Hong Kong

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

Reflections from the Performers: Book 1 Recital ~ Isabel and Chloe

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Isabel and Chloe collaborated on their preparations, and performed their Book 1 Recital together…their very first recital! Here are their reflections on the experience.

from Chloe

I liked the Book – 1 Recital on Saturday, because I  played everything correctly. (Expect for the beginning of “Song of the Wind”, because I thought it was “Perpetual Motion”!)But there was something I  forgot to do – in the middle part of “Allegro”, I didn’t have eye contact with my partner Isabel… For the whole recital, at first I felt a little bit nervous, but after the first three pieces, I started to feel really confident.

from Isabel

I think that the recital had gone well in my opinion and at the recital I felt nervous and ecstatic and because this was my first recital ever and it had gone better than I had expected.

And I think when I practiced at home I felt more and more proud of myself after each practice and when I practiced I felt more and more confident about my solos and the other pieces, also I felt I was getting something out of each practice.

Reflections from the Performers: Viola! Book 2 ~ Yeh Joon, Linnaea and Aslan

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Linnaea, Aslan and Yeh Joon worked together to prepare their Book 2 recital, starting from the beginning of the Fall Term. All of their efforts culminated in their performance on Saturday. Here are the performers’ reflections on the experience:

from Aslan

Over the course of the past few months i have been preparing for my book 2 recital and thought it went better than i thought as i didn’t mess up as much as i thought i would, I put a lot of effort into bochorreni minute as i couldn’t get the slurs to be fast enough or long enough and in the recital i executed it quite well. With the help of Linnea and Yeah Joon we got to play chorus from Judas maccabaeus in harmony which in my opinion sounded quite nice plus we also got to play musette as a harmony too. My three solo pieces are quite nice as i didn’t mess up as much as i did before and i remembered the trigger notes of D,D,B,B in Bourree. In the two grenadiers i thought i had great dynamics and showed the different moods of the piece. Although in witches dance i messed up a bit but i still kept on beat and continued playing the song. Twinkles were great. 🙂

from Yeh Joon

In this book2 recital, I felt more nervous than book 1 recital because they are harder pieces. One thing I enjoyed the most about this book recital was how we as a group collaborated well with one another. In my Gavotte from Mignon, I rushed the piece and my best piece was Long Long Ago. I learned that I should prepare more to make me feel better when preforming. Will remember this for next time.  

from Linnaea

HK meets NZ with NZ Suzuki Connect!

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New Zealand Connect Virtual Concert Hall

Recently, Lincoln had the chance to participate in a NZ Suzuki Connect Concert organised by the New Zealand Suzuki Institute. Here is his reflection on the experience:

One sunny day, I participated in an online concert hosted by New Zealand Suzuki Institute. 

My mom told me that it is a meaningful event because New Zealand is under a lockdown and people there need to stay at home, so it is good that we can cheer people up by sharing music!

I was practising the performance piece hard to prepare for the performance. 

There were 21 performers and 17 audiences. As New Zealand is turning to spring, we were required to wear spring clothes. Most people there were from Auckland, New Zealand and only me is from Hong Kong! They played piano, violin, cello and guitar. Most people played either Book 1 or 2. I believe I played my piece wonderfully, the host there said that I am “Well Done” and a student there said “Wow” after my performance. 

The audiences and performers who aren’t playing clapped in amazement for every performer that played their instrument. At the end of the concert, we took a funny group photo with virtual audience seats. It is a wonderful event and I enjoyed it very much!

Thank you very much for Ms Diane introducing this event to me.

Reflection from the Performers: Hugo, Gwen-Sofia and Chloe

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Chloe, Gwen-Sofia and Hugo gave their first recital on Saturday, 24 April. It was wonderful to hear their performances as they “looked back” at the Book 1 pieces from their perspectives as Book 2 students! For both cello and piano, Minuet 2 is the piece for Graduation Level 1. Hugo graduated from Level 1 in 2020; Gwen-Sofia and Chloe will graduate from Level 1 in May, 2021.

Please enjoy Gwen-Sofia, Hugo, and Chloe’s reflections on their experience:

from Hugo

Before the recital I felt very nervous I thought everyone would hate my performance.  After the recital I felt very proud of myself of finally finishing book 1. During the recital I took deep breaths to calm myself down.  I would tell other kids that are going to have recitals to not look at the audience and focus on playing.  I liked my perpetual motion the most.

from Chloe

Hi my name is Chloe Chung and on Saturday April 24, 2021 3pm, I had my first cello recital in Hong Kong. 

Let’s start. I felt very worried and I had butterflies in my tummy. I don’t like it. First song I played was Long Long Ago. It was a beautiful song and I loved it.  There were Hugo my cello classmate and Gwen Sofia the piano student too. We played Allegro and Twinkle variations together.  Later, I felt less and less worried and I started to enjoy my playing. My parents said it was really good. 

After we left school, my mom said she would buy me a new toy on Sunday but I was so tired, I took a day off school today.  I think I worked hard with my mom and I felt proud of myself. It is an amazing feeling.  Maybe next time I will spend more time practicing even more slowly, and I will listen to the CD more.  But I think the graduation went well and I really loved it because I feel more confident starting Book 2 now.

Thank you Miss Sandra, Ms Sonomi and Miss Lan for your help, and Dad, mom and Caleb for helping me and listening to my pretend recitals this month. I love my cellito very much and I am calling her ‘Harmony’ now cos I can play some harmonies now too! 

  • Hugo and family
  • Gwen-Sofia and family
  • Chloe and family
  • Performers and teachers
  • performers
  • Trio

Annual Graduation Concert

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  • Piano graduates
  • Violists
  • Go for the Gold award winners
  • Twinkle students
  • Cellists
  • Twinkle students presenting graduation certificates
  • Parent Graduating from violin Level 1
  • Violinists
  • SMAHK Student community

The end of the Spring Term brought a whirlwind of activity and celebration!

The month of June started with our annual Graduation Concert. This year, we had graduates representing every instrument studied at SMAHK. Graduates included all of the first six violin Graduation levels, as well as a parent graduating from Violin Level 1! Our Twinkle students were wonderful in their role as presenters of the Graduation Certificates!

In addition to celebrating the Graduation Levels, medals were awarded to the winners of our annual “Go for the Gold” Challenge. This year’s theme was review. It was exciting to see so many students on stage wearing medals for the end of the concert.

We continued our tradition of ending the concert with Dr. Suzuki’s “Wishing”, sung in both Japanese and English and played by our more advanced students:

“We are all good children. Mother, Father, help us try to do our very best. Every Child Can Learn. Father, Mother, help us try to do our very best”.

Congratulations to all of the students, parents and teachers!

Suzuki Music Academy of Hong Kong believes:

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