The San Diego Suzuki school welcomes experienced Cello teacher Caitlin
Fahey to our faculty. We are excited to add cellos to our successful
violin program. Cello group classes and private lessons have begun and we
are enrolling new students in the cello program. Ms. Fahey studies Suzuki
Pedagogy with Tanya Carey and continues her cello studies with San Diego
Symphony principal cellist Yao Zhao. Both the cello and violin students
are excited to play together at the Del Mar Fair early this summer. Ms.
Fahey is pictured on the right.
Ms. Fahey is teaching our advanced chamber group with violins and cellos
book 3 and above.
Concerts, Spring 2011
We are pleased to announce our school was selected to perform at the
San Diego County Fair on Sunday, June 26th. Our concert featured Fiddle, Patriotic and "Americana" songs in addition to classical Suzuki
repertoire. This was our second year performing at the fair. We
enjoyed getting a prestigious weekend time slot on a large stage near the center
of the action. Many families enjoyed fair activities and food afterwards.
We also performed at the San Diego
Indo-American Society Gala and the House of India International Cottages
performance March and April 2011.
News 2010
Children and Adult Students
perform at
Alzheimer's Care Center
The San Diego Suzuki School of Music performed at
The Arbors Assisted Living and Alzeimers Center this past holiday season.
Each year the school aims to spread holiday cheer to San Diegans with long-term
health issues. For the first time, adult students of the San Diego Suzuki
School performed with the children and faculty at the concert. Residents
sang along and clapped as faculty and students played a Folk
Song Medley, classical pieces from Suzuki repertoire by Handel, Bach and Lully
and holiday songs. "Each year we add to our Holiday song repertoire," says
Marguerite Jayasimha, one of the faculty, "the students enjoy brushing up old
favorites and suggesting the new songs of the year." This year, the new
Holiday piece was "Dreidel Song." The students also look forward to graduating
to a song they did not learn in past years or learning a harmony to a song they
previously learned. Marguerite adds, "After the concert, our kids were already
excited about what harmonies they would learn for next year and what the new
pieces would be. It's great to see such enthusiasm." At press time,
"Jingle Bell Rock" seems to be the top contender for the school's
newest song addition for the 2011 Holiday
Group Concert.
SDSS Performs at San Diego County Fair 2010! SDSS students and faculty enjoyed our performance at the fair this year.
The school performed classical, patriotic, fiddle, folk and jazz songs this
summer. Performing the "Star Spangled Banner" onstage with our new school
t-shirts was exciting. This was the first group performance for many
Pre-Twinkle students.
Afterwards students played games, went on rides and
visited some of the many exhibits at the fair...followed by fabulous fair food.
Faculty Participate in Suzuki Practicum Course San Diego Suzuki School of Music faculty members Danielle Gomez,
Marguerite Jayasimha and Elly Schmidt completed the Suzuki Violin Practicum
course this summer. During the course teachers discuss communication
skills, teaching strategies, techniques and work to improve individual teaching
by observation and demonstration. Teachers submit videos of lessons and
teach live for the instructor and classmates receiving feedback on several
different areas of teaching. Teachers also observed the instructor,
Michele George, teaching master classes of SDSS students. "We feel closer
as a school. It was wonderful to understand each other's styles and to see
Mrs. George teach our students," says Marguerite. Faculty were recognized
at the annual San Diego Suzuki Teacher's Association Social by the president of
the board, Ms. Eliana Newall.
Faculty String Quartet Did you know the faculty members of SDSS also play in the quartet San
Diego String Crossing? The quartet provides live music in a variety of
styles to enhance weddings and special events. Visit their website at
sdstringcrossing.com for more
information.
2009 Holiday Concert Students spread holiday cheer this year at Sunrise Living Nursing Home in
Encinitas. Highlights of the performance were our holiday repertoire
pieces. Holiday songs included Shalom, Jingle Bells (now with harmony and
bells), Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and Carol of the Bells. This was an
exciting concert for many young performers joining us for the first time.
December 2009 Recital and Graduation
Congratulations to students and families who practiced every day during
our practice contest. We had 14 students practice every day! Special
congratulations to Nithish for passing Suzuki Graduation Level II and Nithin for
passing Suzuki Graduation level I. Both students were
selected to perform in the Suzuki Association graduation recital on
January 24th.
Pictures top left, clockwise: Boys sharing medals, teachers
performing, group shot, group shots, step 1-student on box violin, step
2-student violin posture with bow, step 3-violin on bow, Parents and adult
students perform
June 2009 Recital and Graduation
Our end of the year recital was fantastic this year! I noticed
several parents noticing and commenting on the progress of other students, proof
that we are blossoming as a musical community. This concert we had a record
10 students who practiced every day of the practice contest and received a
medal! Special congratulations to Hana, Serina and Vinod, who passed
Suzuki Graduation Level I and were selected to play in a special San Diego Suzuki Association
Graduation Recital.
Performance at the Scripps Ranch Fair May 2009 We performed at the Scripps Ranch Festival and Fair this May. The
students were very excited for their first time outside on a large stage.
It was a beautiful day. The audience enjoyed our special "American Medley"
including Jazzy Long Long Ago and a fiddle song by the Chamber Music class.
Afterwards, the families enjoyed the fair. In the picture below you can
see the various levels of students playing, bowing on the shoulder, open E,
fingerings, and teacher joining in.
Convalescent Home Holiday Performance December 2008 Our students enjoyed spreading Holiday Cheer at the Kearny Mesa
Convalescent Home this December. The audience enjoyed Suzuki favorites
along with special Holiday tunes including two and three part arrangements of
"Jingle Bells," "Shalom" and "Carol of the Bells."
Fall Turkey-thon, 2008 Congratulations to our practice contest winners, Rachana (Pre-Twinkle),
Nathan (book 1) and Vinod (book 2.) We have also added a new prize for
students who practiced every day of the contest. Shefali and Sathvi
received this award. Trophies and medals were handed out at the December
recital.
Strings By The Sea Music Camp, Summer 2008
We have record turn out this year at the Suzuki Institute in San Diego.
Strings by the Sea was held at the beautiful Pt. Loma Nazarene University right
on the ocean. Students had a great time in Suzuki classes, as well as
Fiddling, Jazz and Orchestra. Our teachers took the opportunity to
complete additional Suzuki book 4 training from Michele George. Camp is
always inspiring for kids and we encourage everyone to attend and take advantage
of having a Suzuki Institute right here in San Diego.
Suzuki Graduation Recital Spring 2008
Congratulations to
Nithish, Sharmila and Anjali for passing the level 1 Suzuki Graduation.
All three were selected for the graduation recital held on June 9th.
Play-a-thon Champions Spring 2008!
Thanks to all the students
and families for making our recital a great success! Play-a-thon
champions for this recital were:
Pretwinkle: Shefali and Catherine
Book 1, 2 and 3: Vinod and Nithish
Congratulations!
Thank you for your generous donations to our local Suzuki Teacher's Association.
Field Trip 2008
We had a field trip to the Museum of Making Music in Carlsbad on Saturday,
June 7th at 10am.
Group Performance Winter 2007
We had a great time at the Farmer's Market in La Jolla...
December Recital 2007
Thank you, students and parents for all of your hard work and effort preparing for our December recital! Congratulations to
our Turkeython Practice Contest winners. Pretwinkle winners: Kelsey and Sathvi
Books 1,2,3 winners: Sharmila and Serena.
Group picture from the December 2007 recital
Farmer's Market Performance 2007
Everyone enjoyed our first outdoor performance at the Scripps Ranch Farmer's
market. Mother nature had us guessing the weather until the last moment, but in
the end we played to sunny skies.
