I am suffering from brain overload.  As usual after hearing Susan Kempter talk I have a thousand thoughts bouncing around in my head. 

I attended a teaching seminar at SIUE today—the topic was “What I learned since writing How Muscles Learn: Teaching the Violin with the Body in Mind”—and the speaker was Susan Kempter, my teacher from last summer in Kansas.  Her main focus in teaching is having students avoid tension altogether.  So many violinists (myself included) suffer from a variety of problems such as tendonitis and carpal tunnel syndrome, and many of these problems could be avoided by playing in a slightly different way.  It is harder to change when you get older, and much better to teach our students to avoid tension from the beginning. 

After the seminar we all ate dinner together and it was nice to catch up with a few old friends (shout out to Alicia Doudna!) and some new ones too.  The Suzuki world is a close knit world, and I’m glad to meet so many teachers who are both wonderful teachers and great people.

I’m still working on my review/thoughts of last week’s workshop about the Mark O’Connor method.  I’m purposely giving myself some time to think about it. 

I have decided to attend Ottawa again this June (I believe I mentioned that in a previous post.)  Even though I already have Book Five training, I know that Susan will talk about so many general violin related topics that I will learn more than I imagined, and that I will come home with a long bibliography (I have a short bibliography from today’s 2 1/2 hour workshop!) of books to read.  You know I love my books.

But really, I need to relax now—I’m missing the SIUE Suzuki Workshop this weekend due to a variety of gigs and rehearsals.  I’ve been putting a bunch of music together for tomorrow’s gigs, and Sunday is the opera.  I am looking forward to some quasi-spring-break time towards the end of the month. 

Today I went to a spinning class at my gym for the first time.   It was different than my regular class, but I imagine that each teacher brings their own style.  I enjoyed it, but it was a big challenge.  I decided to really push myself and run 3 miles on the treadmill afterwards (working towards that 93 miles in March goal!).  I felt pretty awesome after that, and used it as a good excuse to have two 7-layer bars with dinner. 

It’s storming outside…we have had our share of severe weather this week.  Hopefully tonight’s storms pass through somewhat uneventfully.

15 hours of class with Pamela Wiley for the Mark O’Connor Method Teaching seminar since Friday…and now it’s another week.  I owe you a review.  I need to reflect and go over the books and CDs again before I write my full review.

What’s going on this week?  First off, Chris goes on tour to NY and Amherst, MA with the symphony so I’m on my own for next weekend.  Mike (my trainer) is out of town for the week too, and my muscles look forward to a short break.  I’ve signed up for a spinning class at my gym on Friday instead.  I am also behind on my long run so I’ve pushed that to Tuesday, and then again on Saturday.  I hope that’s not too close together. 

My to-do list is practically empty!  The only thing left on it right now involves a trip to the post office, which can’t happen until Tuesday anyway due to my schedule (If you are reading this and know something I have forgotten, please email or call me.)  A practically empty to-do list is SUCH a relief though!

Friday is the SIUE teacher workshop with Susan Kempter.  I’m excited to see her again, in fact, so excited that I went ahead and mailed my registration for Suzuki Camp in Ottawa (in June) so I can spend another week learning from her.  (There was a discount for getting the registration in early, so I took advantage).  I loved the camp in Kansas last year and was so inspired.

We start rehearsing for Cavalleria Rusticana this weekend for Winter Opera.  The performances are going to be on March 12 and 13.  If you want to come I would recommend buying tickets in advance as our last performances both sold out.

On top of all of that I have two weddings, numerous runs, and MANY students to teach. 

What is it they say about March?  In like a lion, out like a lamb.  So I’m in the lion phase…

Is that a lion?

Had you seen this picture before?  Isn’t it great? 

This entire weekend is dedicated to the Mark O’Connor Violin Method.  Last night for three hours, today for two three hour sessions and tomorrow the same as today.  The session is taught by Pamela Wiley who is a teacher in Charleston, South Carolina, is good friends with Mark O’Connor, and is an experienced Suzuki teacher who really seems to love her students.

I am Suzuki student at heart, and a well trained Suzuki teacher, who firmly believes that every child can learn.  I have studied Suzuki pedagogy with a variety of teachers and have been teaching for over a decade, so I have a wealth of my own experience to draw on as well.  So naturally I’ve gone into the seminar with a few pre-conceived notions of what works and what doesn’t work as well.  (I know I should try to avoid pre-conceived notions…but I am human.)

However, I’m going to wait to write up a full report until the seminar is done.  Some positive things:  improvisation is taught from the beginning, the children seem to really love the music, and the best parts of the Suzuki method are incorporated.  Some negative things:  without seeing the whole series as a whole it’s hard to say for sure what will happen (only two books are printed), and let’s not pretend that it isn’t greatly influenced by the Suzuki method, which was indeed groundbreaking and to pretend otherwise is frankly insulting. 

So that’s my two cents for now…more to come later.  I’m lucky to attend the workshop for a great price due to a grant from the Missouri Arts Council—so thanks to the Missouri Arts Council, you rock.

Here is a link to an article by Laurie Niles on violinist.com about the Method, and here’s a link to another of her articles about some Suzuki students and O’Connor students getting together…