February FUNd raising

Join me on Sunday February 8th at 1:30 (2:00 recital start) at Siloam United Church for some Valentine's FUNd raising! Send Candy Grams to group class friends and buy raffle tickets for the chance to win some great musical gifts!

All money collected through fundraising will be used to benefit all of you in the follow ways:

• covering/lowering registration fees for extra events like the November 2015 Suzuki Conference student day in London!
• purchasing motivational prizes (cd's, concert tickets, violin accessories, practice accessories, books, etc)
• guest speakers
• school accessories (sheet music, step shoes, instruments, violin accessories, anything we want/need!)

Here's a sneak peak at raffle ticket prizes:

Some continuing education for Fiddle players!

Two Practicing Essential Baskets!

You will have two opportunities to send a candy gram to a friend in group class:

1. during the the group class before the recital
2. before and during the intermission at the recital

Parents, consider sending one to another parent! You will all receive your candy grams the week after the recital in lessons!

Be sure to bring family and friends (along with lots of pocket change!) to this recital to help make your musical community grow. Looking forward to seeing everyone on February 8th!

Why Kids Won't Practice - Part 3

To start off the New Year and many more topics to come, here's continuing the Practice Series - 22 Reasons Why Kids Won't Practice. To see past issues, click here.

Have you found any reasons that may apply to your family? Or maybe you recall a reason that you experienced in the past but have overcome? Bring your thoughts and experiences to Tuesday's parent education session!

#11 - Your child doesn't know how to practice, what to practice or why it is important
Children fully understand instant gratification. What they need to develop is a work ethic in order to achieve success. These are the life skills that they receive through Suzuki lessons. As hard as it may be sometimes, it is important to allow children to struggle. By struggling through a challenge, children learn how a bit of hard work can pay off and that just because something is difficult in the beginning, we have tools to make things easier and help us complete challenges.

#12 - Lack of parent involvement
If left up to the child, it is highly unlikely that they will ever initiate practice on their own. It is always the parents responsibility to organize, schedule and initiate practice. Students who practice alone too early on develop bad habits because they never know if they are doing something correctly or incorrectly. The more involved the parent, the more involved the child. If the parent doesn't express good practice habits, neither will the child. Suzuki lessons are designed for Parent, Teacher and Child to all work together to learn to play the violin; this is the Suzuki Triangle. The process will collapse without all sides supporting one another.

#13 - No results from practice
There are times where it seems like we hit a wall in our practice and nothing seems to be improving. When the teacher assigns the same thing every week, our motivation can start to wane. What we need to consider is are we doing everything teacher is asking us to do each week? Are we doing it at home the same as we do in lesson? Be honest and open about practice at home so that your teacher can deduce what needs to change with practice so we can see progress again. However, sometimes certain techniques or pieces just take longer and need a settling in time. There is nothing wrong with this and it is important to not be in such a rush to move on. The journey is what matters and sometimes the process of waiting and struggling through and not giving up on a spot can teach us way more than if it all came easily.

#14 - Inconsistency
This one is huge. Inconsistency in all areas of our life can create confusion and insecurity, especially in a child's world. When we are consistent, we are setting the expectation that this is the routine, this is the way things are, and there is no changing that. They may still fight you on it, but one way or another, the activity will still always happen. Children will except this and fall into the routine. If parents are inconsistent, children know they can get away with fussing because the parent hasn't put a high priority on the activity. Daily actions mean high priority and children understand this.

A New Look for the New Year

Happy New Year!

Here's what you need to know for the start of 2015!

Things to mark in your calendars - 

All lessons and group classes resume the week of Monday January 12th.

Please refer to your Calendar of Events regularly and listen carefully for announcements in group and lessons over the next few months. Our group schedule is not as regular because of holidays (family day, March Break, Easter, etc.) Always be sure there is group and lessons before you make the drive out. All dates are also listed on this website here for your convenience.

Calendar of Events change: the last week of lessons will be June 1st -6th, and not May 25th-30th as it says on your calendar.

Next Recital is Sunday February 8th at 2:00 at Siloam United Church.

• We will be doing some Valentines/Music themed FUNdraising at this recital. More details on the importance of this fundraising and how it will benefit all of you coming soon!

Our Year End Recital is on Sunday May 3rd at 2:00 at Siloam United Church.

Upcoming Programs - 

Fiddle class will be returning mid-February. Registration will be available the end of January.

The Suzuki Association of America is offering a great opportunity for parents with a program called Parents as Partners. All you need is $10 and an e-mail address and from now until June, each week you will be e-mailed a new video featuring all sorts of Suzuki related topics such as practice tips, parent-child relationships, philosophy, listening, motivation and more. Some great Suzuki speakers are featured such as Bill Starr, Ed Kreitman and Ed Sprunger. If you haven't heard any of them speak before, the $10 is worth is just for their videos. Click here for more information from the SAA.

I've given this website a new look for a new year. Although I'm not much into setting resolutions, I do take advantage of this time of year to make changes where I think change is needed. The first thing about changing parts of your life is starting small, being specific, being consistent and knowing that it's okay if it doesn't work out. Not all change is meant to be. The point is that we try and we continue to try. We learn from trying.

I look forward to helping everyone learn and achieve their goals for 2015 and to continue living the Suzuki lifestyle!