Author: deborawrathall

• Why the PROCESS of learning matters

  We don’t just teach children how to play the instruments. We teach them what it feels like to learn something difficult. This is an enormous responsibility. Because long after a…

• Continuous learning

  Continuous learning” isn’t simply “lifelong learning” in the generic sense. It has a more specific, Suzuki-shaped meaning. It’s something closer to learning that never fully separates roles, stages, or relationships.…

• Benefits of improvisation

  there are no mistakes silence and applause are part of the experience friends aren’t criticized creativity can grow Some of these ideas are collected from an article by Laura Nerenberg’s…

• Suzuki method and lexicon: our words influence how students orient to their instruments

  Suzuki teacher trainers talk about this often; as a Suzuki community we are proficient in communicating technique to students in ways that are intuitive and highly descriptive. For example, I…

• Music education in a post-AI economy

  As artificial intelligence becomes increasingly capable, many people are wondering which jobs will survive and which will change dramatically. Teaching music is not primarily an information-transfer job. AI can explain…

• I have been underselling Utah’s world-class Suzuki camp

  One teacher described it as “Camelot” for music education and I agree. The BEST teachers fly in from Singapore, The Netherlands, Argentina, as well as Suzuki programs all over the…

• Mentorship Matters

  Mentorship matters more than I understood when I was a student. I didn’t even know how to ask for it, let alone know that I needed it. Now that I…

• Belonging as a Teaching Tool

  We are seeing wonderful progress with our cohort of seven “Twinkler” violinists, ages five to seven. The motivation the children experience to do their best for each other simply cannot…

• Suzuki Culture Through an Economic Lens

  I have been thinking a lot lately about Suzuki culture—not only as a teaching method or musical tradition, but as a system. My background is in economics, and I have…

• The Suzuki Method is a living culture: each generation of teachers picks up where the last generation of teachers left off

  Suzuki culture is largely a living culture. While we certainly have books, recordings, and training materials, much of what we know is shared person-to-person. We are not especially focused on…