In early July, Camy and her family were fortunate to have the chance to attend the Suzuki Institute at Ithaca College. It was their first time of attending an institute. Camy shares some of her thoughts with us below.
Reflections from the Performers: Book 1 Recital ~ Isabel and Chloe
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: Oliver and Roger, Book 3 Recital
On Saturday, 18 May, Oliver and Roger gave their Book 3 Recital. Here are their thoughts about the experience.
~from Roger
Over the course of these few months, me and my partner(Oliver) have been preparing for our annual book 3 recital, where we graduate from our books, in this case book 3, and move on to explore and learn new pieces to play in book 4. In order to get ready for this performance in the academy, we have prepared “Crossover Lessons”, where either of us would go to each others lessons to first discuss who would be doing what, call back our long memories fragments of pieces, learn a few extra duets and practice daily until we thought they were the best that we could make do for the program. Unfortunately, some of the lessons that we were supposed to attend were canceled, mostly because one of us was sick at the time and the other forgot to attend the lesson at all. But, surprisingly, we still managed to pull of a good recital.
~ from Oliver
Within a few months, my partner (Roger) and I worked together to prepare for our Annual Book Recital. The hardest part in the early stages was deciding who was going to play which piece. I think Roger and I handled it quite well as we decided to have Roger choose which he wants in the first two songs and I chose within the second two. To get ready for our duet pieces, we had to find a time in our classes to get together to practice. I, being the forgetful person I am, forgot about it twice. But we found time to make up for it and practised our pieces and duets. During that class we polished our duets and have the opportunity to play together instead of by ourselves at home. Practicing together allowed us to figure out how loud we should play or fix our timing. All in all, I think we managed to do a great recital and I am very proud of Roger and my work.
Reflections from the Performers: Anais, Ayden and Lauren
Lauren, Anais and Ayden joined together to give their Book 1 violin recital. Here are their thoughts about the experience:
from Lauren
First I was nervous but once I played it more smoothly I got more confident and I played it better.
I can improve more on following Aidan the leader and making Gavotte more staccato.
I enjoyed playing the songs I learned with my partners. What’s special about the recital is I can show my hard work and now I moved on to book two.
from Anais
First of all, I would like to say that the experience is unforgettable because the rehearsals were fun but involve a lot of hard work. The rehearsal and recital were also a great opportunity to learn how to follow and cooperate with others through the music. This recital was about Ayden, Lauren and I so when I was late a few times, I learnt that you have to make sacrifices because you are not the only person involved.
All the practices for the Book 1 recital also taught me that you do not just pass and interest others by only enjoying but by dedicating hard work into this.
The recital had begin with an extremely nervous feeling. My hands and legs were shaking uncontrollably which almost made my bow fall from my legs between my pieces. Slowly, as the recital almost reached the end, the relief had taken over and I was no longer sweating like crazy. When we finally last played Gavotte, I felt extremely comfortable with following Ayden because I finally realised that there would be nothing to worry about.
In conclusion, I would like to say that this Book 1 Recital experience has taught me many things. I really enjoyed this and found interesting. The main essentials to this experience are cooperation, teamwork…and fun.
I would also like to thank Ms Diane for helping and devoting her time and Ms Yuko because she fortunately replaced Ms Shoko when sick and accompanied our recital with the piano.
from Ayden
I thought my book 1 recital was only need to play a few songs on my own and a few songs with my partners at all. However, I knew I need to do more than I thought during the first rehearsal. I actually have a few roles to accomplish during my book 1 recital. I need to perform as a follower, solo performer and also a leader! Wow!
As a follower, I managed to follow my leader, Lauren all the time while we were playing twinkle variations together.
As I played my solo, I started with a little nervous. I didn’t play as good as I normally did at first. However, I paid more attention from my third solo with using my thumb and elbow energy as well as dynamics that Ms Diane always reminds me. I then felt more confident and enjoy to perform more.
As a leader, I was leading Anais and Lauren to play Gossec Gavotte to end the recital. I felt a bit nervous since I need to remember all big cues to lead my partners so that we are able to play well altogether. After the recital, my mom told me that she was proud of my accomplishment as a leader even though I knew I played a few mistakes.
I have been practicing book 1 song everyday, so I felt so delighted to play successfully in my first violin book recital. Now, I have more confident to my future violin journey.
