Suzuki Music Academy of Hong Kong

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

Reflections from the Performer: Hanson’s Book 3 Recital

By

Although I was a bit worried and nervous before the book recital, but I also felt confident with practiced my recital pieces everyday. On the recital day, I felt more energy and confident when I saw my friends came to support me. I thought I performed my pieces smoothly throughout the book recital as I got many good comments from my family, friends and Ms Sonomi.

  • Ms Sonomi introduces the recital
  • Family greeting Ms Shoko on Zoom
  • Focus
  • Performer’s rainbow fingers
  • Thank you for attending my recital!
  • Acknowledging the audience
  • Hanson and Ms Sonomi
  • Performer and his family
  • Hanson and Ms Shoko
  • Hanson and Ms Shoko close-up!
  • Only one performer means friends could attend!

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

By

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

By

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

A Happy Halloween!

By

What a joy to be back at Stanley – almost two years after our last public performance! While we have been fortunate to have some “in person” performances – these have been limited to very small audiences comprised of immediate family members. It was so exciting to share our music and our costumes with an audience that included people we didn’t know at all.

There were lots of opportunities for the audience to join in the performance as well: singing, dancing, clapping…sometimes it seemed that the spooky sounds were happening in “surround sound”.

We are all excited to have more chances like this in the future.

Please enjoy some of the sights of our performance!

  • lower strings
  • pianists watching carefully
  • Two Grenadiers!
  • Everyone joined in Witches Dance
  • Pianists playing Gabby Ghost
  • French Folk Song
  • Ms Sonomi had a great costume!
  • Ms Susan’s first play-in in Hong Kong!
  • waiting…
  • SMAHK staff dressed for Halloween

SMAHK Students Join 4 Nations Virtual Concert!

By

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.

Suzuki Music Academy of Hong Kong believes:

Follow us on Facebook