The best meals are those in which we may linger at each course and enjoy the flavors and tastes of the meal with friends and family in an atmosphere of enjoyment and leisure. Music can have that same meaningful experience of parents and children, adults and partners, all learning together.

In the Suzuki environment where we value respect and cultivate confidence and a noble heart, the bow is our open invitation to begin a lesson or a performance with a greeting that is respectful to the audience or to the teacher.

As Suzuki educators we seek to enable excellence in our students at all levels. Starting from the first Twinkle to our advanced students, our music instruction is based upon understanding the learning process that involves encouragement and love from the parent or adult caregiver.

I have come to learn that memorization is a skill that can be learned. Not only is there a technique that makes memorization possible, but it is like any skill. It must be practiced regularly to be strengthened.

As we are about to start our February break, it occurred to me that we share wishes to enjoy the week, relax, rest, have fun and energize. This led me to be curious about what makes people happy?

Our Suzuki environment strives for this positive energy created through love.  Children want to be happy, as do we. In practicing, in life, and in our community let us provide an environment of shared happiness and love.  From this love, much can be accomplished.

One of the inspiring aspects of the Playathon is the opportunity to talk about practicing with your student and to work together with our Suzuki teachers on setting goals, establishing routines, and finding ways that the parents can be helpful.

Are you looking for practicing incentives? Are you finding it hard to practice for yourself or your student on a daily basis? For those that follow a routine or those that don't, special projects can be a special way to create new enthusiasm for practicing.

This led me to wonder about education in general. Doesn't it seem obvious that the goal of schools should be to educate our children? This then leads to the discussion, what is education?

For me, I have often defined courage as acting boldly in the presence of fear. That is, courage is not the absence of fear, but the ability to still move forward while being fearful.