2006 was a good year for Suzuki
Guitar. While the number of our active
teachers was temporarily reduced from four
to three (welcome back Tracey!), feedback
from our events remained highly positive
and private studios continued to grow in
size and/or quality. Our profile and
reputation in the newly invigorated
Melbourne classical guitar community had
positive growth, with strong contacts now
established in a number of tertiary
institutions. Book Seven professional
development was received for the first time
in Australia in 2006 and Zeah Riordan
traveled to California for a Book Eight
workshop with Frank Longay. Stronger
contacts with Suzuki Guitar teachers across
Australia and New Zealand were forged,
with teachers from Sydney and Perth
attending our Winter Festival. Zeah
conducted professional development
workshops for teachers in Brisbane, Sydney,
New Zealand and Manila and movement
towards a coordinated regional Suzuki
Guitar network has been initiated.
30 students performed at the term 1 guitar
concert, 23 students attended the Winter
Festival seven in the advanced program;
23 attended the Pluckerama/Mini Festival
day eight in the advanced program; 19
performed at the GAC and 16 students
graduated nine at Level 1 (youngest
aged eight), three at Level 2 (youngest
aged 10), three at Level 3 (youngest aged
14) and one at Level 4 (aged 15). A small
number of students attended the Suzuki
International Convention in Turin Italy in April
2006 and had the experience of playing
with 120 other guitarists from around the
world.
The rapport and musical growth in our book
5+ advanced group continued to grow and
the new generation of Pre-Twinkler families
are receiving better foundations than
ever. Many thanks to Zeah Riordan, Eddy
Markovican, Tracey O'Brien and Peter
Draper for all their efforts and dedication in
2006!
Rob Turton
CHAIRPERSON,
GUITAR COMMITTEE
Guitar
Piano
The Piano Committee has had a busy and
productive year organsing it's traditional
events as well as introducing some new
ones. Regular events included Piano
Concerts,
All
Instrument
Concerts,
Graduations (series 1 and 2) Piano
Graduation Celebration Concerts and
Secondary Age Concerts. Keyboards Kool,
a concert and workshop evening for
students in Book 5 and above featured four
outstanding guest tutors. Those who
attended found the sessions to be thought-
provoking and inspiring, however, we would
like to see a larger number of enrolments for
this event. A new event, Piano Concerts
Plus was held in October, 2006. This was an
afternoon for students in Books 1 4 which
included a session with guest tutor Simon
Lewis exploring the possibilities of expressive
tonal contrast through the use of African
Drums and other percussion instruments.
There were a total of 4 piano concerts and
3 activity sessions held during the afternoon.
Following a very positive response, two
Concerts Plus afternoons are planned for
2007. A Piano Secondary Age Concert will
also be held in 2007 in addition to the All
Instrument Secondary Age Concerts.
Our overseas teacher at the Winter Festival,
Ruth Miura was an inspiration to all students
and teachers. Her teaching totally
exemplified the Suzuki philosophy as well as
being musically enriching.
A new sub-committee, the Piano Executive,
was established in 2005 to work in
conjunction with the Piano Committee and
the Professional Development Committee.
The Piano Executive address issues relating
specifically to piano teachers and students,
and in 2006 it trialled new materials for use
in Piano Graduations, including a detailed
outline of criteria for each graduation level.
The Executive had correspondence with
STEAA (NSW) regarding the inclusion of two
new Piano Graduation levels for Australia.
These have now been approved by the
International Suzuki Piano Committee. The
Suzuki Music Annual
Report
2006 8
