Lifelong Learning (4/25/2025)
"I am happiest when I am learning something new." These are the words of our Musicianship teacher Nicholas Ford who is also our marketing and enrollment coordinator.
This week has been April break for many schools, and it has been great to have some quiet time catching up in the office. We have been thinking and learning about better ways to accomplish registration of new students, re- enrollment, and event planning. We are building a stronger administrative team and have been engaging our expert board members to guide us in technology, finance and office efficiency. Next week we will start our ré-enrollment for the next school year and we hope to make this smoother than in year’s past, By re-registering early, our teachers will know their schedules ahead of time and will feel they have stable employment. For parents as well, having their Suzuki schedule established will allow for more easily planning other activities around their lessons.
A few of us have been taking more teacher training as well. Suzuki teachers truly believe in lifelong learning and I am no exception! Liz Hodges, myself and Nicholas have also been attending Blancamaria Montecinos’ Teacher course, "Pre-piano: The First Approach" to better work with beginning piano students who are 3 and 4 years old. Our newest Suzuki instrument is voice and Rose Hegele (also one of our musicianship and voice teachers) and Nicholas have been taking the Voice Unit 2 course via online training.
It is very important to take time for oneself. It is part of our Suzuki philosophy to believe that everyone can learn at any age. Dr. Suzuki would say, "knowledge plus 10,000 times develops ability." He also would say to the adult teachers, "knowledge plus 100,000 times would surely get you there!" This is because as adults, we have more habits that need to be changed. Nonetheless, expanding our horizons by learning something new can bring joy and happiness as each small step forward is accomplished. This is good for our mental health.
As we have a growing number of adult students here at the Suzuki School of Newton, I encourage everyone to think that new learning experiences can mean a lot to one's feeling of self esteem and positive outlook. One must be patient with oneself, but by taking a chance with a new language, trying a new recipe or doing a simple task in a different way, it can bring new interactions with others and with our situations. Engaging in our environment [ people or places or things ] can change the way we think. In this way, we can grow and it can bring greater happiness.