European Suzuki Association - Teachers Newsletter Vol 38 2018

17 40th Anniversary of Suzuki Method™ in France Marie Rossot I t was evident that we had to make the 40th anniversary of the Suzuki Pedagogy a big event in France. All the teachers wanted to involve their class in the adventure. The Suzuki Pedagogy was brought from Japan by Christophe Bossuat and Judy Bossuat–Gallic in Lyon France in 1978. After attending the training with Shinichi Suzuki, they started the first Suzuki program in France and it was a real success. Christophe says “I started to teach in the 70’s, I was looking for a new approach to teaching music. I had realised that if a teacher’s aim is to focus only on the ‘best students’ and not to pay attention to the oth- er ones, we were losing the musical educational purpose”. After 40 years of teaching and de- veloping the Suzuki Pedagogy, we have an increasing number of teachers and types of instrument so we decided to show all the instru- ments we have in France. Violin, viola, cello, double bass, piano, harp and flute were on stage for the concert. The 40th anniversary was a time to play all together and mix those instruments and levels and music style: what a challenge and an amazing goal! We wanted this concert to be in Lyon, the place where the Suzuki Pedagogy had started in France. The concert hall, l’Amphithéâtre, is a modern building and the biggest one in Lyon. The young musicians worked with professional techni- cians and experienced what it was like to play on a huge stage with a lot of microphones and lights and a very large audience! For our National Association it was also a challenge to gather all of those musicians and organize this event. We had be very care- ful to reach our high expectation of quality so we organised many rehearsals. First of all, each teacher was very involved with their students and tried to organ- ize some rehearsals with their colleagues, then we had 3 big re- hearsals in 3 different parts of France that gathered all the French and foreign students who participated. For students and families, it was a one year involve- ment. This concert was thought of as a musical and federating time. We had many families in Lyon who hosted other families from all over the country. They enjoyed this “Suzuki family experience”. Families, students and teachers were expected for a 2 day musical event. The day before the con- cert, a dress rehearsal was orga- nized with all the students to get ready for D-Day! It was a very hot spring day with enthusiastic peo- ple and the music was already beautiful. Three quarters of the French teachers were involved in the concert and we could feel the positive energy all weekend. The students were very well-prepared and they wanted to do their best. The day of the concert, the stu- dents were very proud to be on stage and felt rewarded when they saw the huge concert hall. This place was at their disposal with lots of volunteers, adults, technicians, professionals and teachers. All these people were here to honour their practice and their music. All of those young people had a won- derful energy to deliver and right before the concert we could feel their eagerness to perform. Every- thing was set up for them and all the hard work with their parents, teachers or in their bedroom alone, to practice their instrument was forgotten. It was time for the mu- sic. No more students but only mu- sicians! The repertoire was eclectic from folk songs to modern music to the Suzuki repertoire and more ad- vanced pieces. It was the first time in France that we had ten claviers and two grand pianos on stage and it was wonderful to hear all these pianists playing together. We could also listen to very famous pieces as “May Song” with Viola, Cello, Dou- ble Bass, Harp and Flute. Those different ensembles were very much appreciated and very enrich- ing. The finale with drums and modern music made everybody happy and show that a lot can be played with classical instruments! This 40th anniversary concert achieved our goal.. Students, fami- lies and teachers had a really good time with great music.