Letter from President Nicole Macias

Welcome to the Suzuki Association of Utah

Dear Friends,

Happy Summer!

We have had one of our older sons in town. This son played the Saxophone some while in school, but really hasn’t done a lot of music instruction beyond that. He came to dinner last night with the kids, and my kids were playing their “Name that Tune” game with their Disney playlists on their streaming apps. They were all down to just a few seconds of the piece being played before someone knew the song. I was really surprised, being our child with the least musical training, how much he recognized.

The other thing that surprised me as I watched my kids play, is how many times one of them would shout out a song, and then would say “I can play that on the violin” or “I can play that on the viola!” As I reflected on the number of Disney pieces that they have learned over the years, I realized that almost every one of them came from a SAU sponsored event or workshop! We have learned very few Disney pieces through our private teachers, for any reason other than a Suzuki Sponsored event.

(Speaking of SAU Events, the Membership Drive is coming in September. Please remind your teachers, or your students, to be planning for that as we start making our fall plans. Also, I’m sure your teacher has an event coming up in his or her area that you can participate in! Ask your teacher about yours!)

We are so fortunate to have so many fun music opportunities happening in the area - I hope I’ll see many of you at some of the summer music workshops going on!

- Nicole

Bass

Cello

Early Childhood Education

Flute

French Horn

Guitar

Harp

Piano

Recorder

Trombone

Trumpet

Viola

Creator of the Mother-Tongue Method

Dr. Shinichi Suzuki

The essence of Suzuki’s approach to learning a musical instrument is derived from the way a child learns language, which he called "Mother Tongue." From recordings the child becomes familiar with the Suzuki and other repertoire so that when lessons begin about age three his mind already knows the musical language he will slowly begin to play on an instrument and even later learn to read. As with spoken language mothers play an important role in the teaching process and so are given instruction on the instrument and also taught how to be patient and encouraging. New skills and concepts are taught in small steps a child can consciously master, and lessons last only as long as the child’s attention span.

Dr. Shinichi Suzuki

Dedication to Board Member

Meet the Board

Nicole Macias

President

Carrie Morris

Executive Secretary & Librarian

Erica Hardy

Membership Secretary

Maren Laurence

Social Media Admin & Harp VP

Tony Baca

Website Admin

Dani Stoneman

Fundraising Specialist

Sadie Conover Simper

Newsletter Editor

Stacey Page

Treasurer