// At Songbird Rising Suzuki School we place great importance on celebrating the completion of each Suzuki book, a lot of hard work goes into learning skills and repertoire from each book and it is recognized as a huge achievement. After completion students are invited to play the book in its entirety for the Songbird Rising community. Beginner students see what is to come and the more advanced students can reflect on how far they have come. It is a truly special event full of heart and fun.
In the last few years, four of our students have completed Dr. Suzuki’s Book 1 and have celebrated with a recital. We ask all of our students to take the lead in planning the event as well as preparing the music. So far we have had two recitals held in homes, one at Terra Nova Violins and another at the Scottish Rite Dormitory. Students either played the book from front to back, back to front or picking pieces at random out of a hat! Fun! There was a raffle at one, prizes related to songs being drawn out of the hat at another, a violin cake, ice cream, the list goes on. I particularly enjoyed hearing anecdotes about each piece at Cosette’s recital, she said why she liked a piece or how it was challenging to learn, talking about the tears, tantrums and triumphs too which we could all relate to.
Our most recent Book 1 recital was given by Lila. Below is an interview with Lila so you can find out about her experience.
About Lila
1.How old are you? I am 10 years old.
2.When did you start playing violin? About 2 ½ years ago.
3.How often do you practice and for how long? About 15-20 minutes every day
4.What has been the hardest thing to learn? Gavotte because it was very long and the slurs were hard. It was frustrating and tiring to practice and polish it.
5. What has been the easiest thing to learn? Allegro because it was short and simple and just repeated things. I learned it in about one lesson.
The recital
1. What is a book 1 recital? A book 1 recital is where you and a pianist go through the whole Book 1 and play all of the songs. You perform for people in Songbird Rising and even for friends and family. Some people add their own touches, like playing the songs in a certain order or adding an intermission.
2. How did you prepare for the recital? I played all of the songs every day for a couple of months. I had to work on dynamics and just overall polishing of the songs. I went to a music school to rehearse with Cynthia the week before the recital.
3. Where did you hold your recital and why did you choose that location? At home because I felt more ready and prepared because I had been practicing there.
4. Did you add any decorations/special foods/drinks? We made special cupcakes with caramel frosting and chocolate violins. We also hung garlands with music notes and silver twirly notes.
5. How did you structure the recital? I played all of the songs in backwards order and had an intermission after the Minuet's.
6. Who did you invite? I invited everyone in Songbird Rising and a few of my friends.
7. Did you enjoy having an audience? Yes, i really liked seeing my friends smiling at me.
8. How did you feel playing the whole book in one go? I felt confident and prepared but I still had butterflies in my stomach before and after the recital.
9. How did you feel when it was finished? Happy and relieved that i had done a good job.
Congratulations Lila! you worked so hard for this and we are so proud of you! Our next Book 1 celebration is with Savannah, we can’t wait to see how she makes her recital unique and we are looking forward to cheering her on.