Green Mountain Suzuki Institute

In the fall of 2003, Jody Woos and Angelique Lee brought a proposal to the board of the RCMS to bring a Suzuki summer program to Rochester, Vermont as part of the RCMS’ educational mission. The newly formed RCMS Green Mountain Suzuki Camp attracted 60 students its first year. Gaining accreditation from the Suzuki Association of the Americas in the fall of 2004, the camp became the Green Mountain Suzuki Institute enrolling 96 students for the week long 2005 program.

The 2006 Institute, with 110 students, was an inspirational and exhilarating week of music for young musicians and their families, employing 18 professional musicians as instructors, as well as 4 collaborating artists who taught electives. Local residents welcomed the sight of young musicians (ages 4–18), instrument cases in hand and parents in tow, traversing the village campus, from the school to the Park House Elder Residence, and other locations, filling the town with joyous music making.

Participating students received Suzuki-method instruction in violin, cello, piano, and flute. They also attended enrichment classes, choosing from hand bells, African drumming, African dance, Haitian drumming, Orff Schulwerk, orchestra for early musicians, vocal intensives, composition, chamber music, and piano duets. The busy and stimulating week was capped off with solo, group, and chamber music recitals that showcased the student musicians.

The 2006 Institute included 40 young chamber musicians who rehearsed and performed works from the standard chamber literature, working with both string and piano coaches. Building on the success of the RCMS 2005 commissioned piece by Erik Nielsen, the GMSI commissioned works by both a professional composer and a student composer in 2006. Student composer Tim Woos wrote a piece for advanced piano trio, and was mentored through the composition process by Erik Nielsen. Troy Peters, conductor of the Vermont Youth Orchestra and the Middlebury College Orchestra, was the professional composer-in-residence during the Institute and coached the student players in rehearsal and performance of his new work. Both pieces premiered at the July 14th RCMS concert.

One of the goals of the GMSI has been to keep the program as affordable as possible to encourage maximum attendance, particularly by those families that want to offer their child a summer music camp experience with professional faculty, but have limited financial resources. To this end, the GMSI provided $3,500 in scholarships in 2006, funded by private and commercial donations and tuition receipts, and the RCMS budgeted $1000 for additional scholarships for White River Valley residents.

Programming at the Institute adheres closely to the philosophy of Dr. Shinichi Suzuki, a Japanese violinist, educator, philosopher and humanist, who devoted his life to the development of the method of music education that he called "Talent Education." Suzuki based his approach on the belief that

"musical ability is not an inborn talent but an ability which can be developed.
Any child who is properly trained can develop musical ability,
just as all children develop the ability to speak their mother tongue.
The potential of every child is unlimited."

Dr. Suzuki's goal was not to develop professional musicians, but rather to nurture loving human beings and help develop each child's character through the study of music. This goal is shared by the Green Mountain Suzuki Institute.

Planning has already begun for next year’s Institute, which will take place in Rochester from July 6th to July 11th.

To find out more about the Green Mountain Suzuki Camp please visit http://www.greenmountainsuzukiinstitute.org/

Rochester Chamber Music Society (RCMS) is a 501(c)(3) Non-Profit