Suzuki Student Institute

The daily schedule includes private lessons (small master classes) and group repertory classes for all levels from book 1 through advanced, arranged according to level and age. The program is designed with the understanding that parents will be involved, as they are at home, with lessons, practice, and the general supervision of their children.

A typical day at the Suzuki Institute may begin as early as 8:00 a.m. and include:

• Master Class (A Class)
  
• Repertory Class (B Class)
  
• Large group (C Class)
• Orchestra (appropriate levels only)
  
• Dalcroze Eurhythmics
• Cello Choir
  
• Fiddling
• Fiddling on the Cello
  
• Practice
  
• Recitals
• Evening events
• 
  

Enrollment is open to students studying Suzuki violin, viola, or cello literature with a teacher who has done Suzuki teacher training.

Each student is asked to play a polished piece as a solo at the first meeting of the master class, an opportunity for the teacher and student to get acquainted musically. No matter what the level of current study, the student should select a piece from the repertory that he or she has mastered.
Institute Faculty members may recommend students for participation in the afternoon recital program. These students have the opportunity to rehearse with a professional accompanist before performing on the institute recitals.

Class Descriptions

Master Class (A Class)– This is a group of 3 or 4 students and 1 teacher.  The teacher will usually take part of each class to work individually with each student.  All students are similar in age and level.

Repertory Class (B Class) – This is a group of less than 15 students and 1 teacher.  All of the students are playing repertoire within a few pieces of each other. 

Large Group (C Class) – This is a large group of students and 1 teacher.  In the student institute this is usually all of the students studying in the same Suzuki book. 

Orchestra – All students age 7 and older are assigned to an orchestra.  Orchestras concentrate on music reading skills and orchestral techniques.  The North Carolina Suzuki Institute orchestras are organized primarily by age.  There is a separate orchestra for the students in the chamber music program.

Dalcroze Eurhythmics – All students age 6 and younger are assigned to a Dalcroze class.  These classes focus on rhythmic movement and general music knowledge.

Cello Choir – Especially for advanced cellist, the NCSI is offering a cello ensemble class. From the sounds of the Yale Cellos to Villa-Lobos’ Bachianas Brasileiras to The Beatles’ Yesterday on YouTube, composers and arrangers have produced a wide variety of music for this most unique sound of an all-cello choir. Ellen Shertzer, cellist, teacher and long-time conductor of cello ensembles will be the class instructor. Students need to read bass and tenor clef fluently, with some ability reading treble clef.   

Fiddling – This class is geared toward students who want to experience the world of Bluegrass fiddling.    Students will learn fiddle tunes, harmonies, improvising tricks, bowings, and learning how to play backup, as well as many other stylistic elements of fiddling.  The ability to read music will be helpful in this class but is not required. Learn your instrument in a special, fun exciting way and join us for an inspiring session to increase the variety of styles in which you play.

Fiddling on the Cello – Learn bluegrass, Celtic and old-time fiddle tunes and styles as well as how to accompany. Plus, with these fast and fun tunes, your string crossing and left hand speed will really improve. Tunes will be taught by ear as well as from sheet music. Cellists must be ages 10 and older, must have learned at least the first half of book 3, and be comfortable with shifting.

Serafin String Quartet (left to right):
Lawrence Stomberg (vc), Ana Tsinadze (va), Timothy Schwarz (vn), Kate Ransom (vn)

Advanced Chamber Music Institute

Designed for the highly motivated student, this eight day session provides a more intensive study routine than the regular Suzuki Student Institute. Students must be at least at the level of violin book 7, viola book 5 or cello book 5.

The Advanced Chamber Music Institute is open to violinists, violists, and cellists studying with the Suzuki Method and/or Traditional Methods.

Activities for all instruments include the following:

• Small group master classes
  
• Daily advanced repertory classes (appropriate levels only)
  
• Daily orchestra rehearsals
• Chamber music coaching with members of the Serafin String Quartet

Class Descriptions

Master Class (A Class) – This is a group of 3 or 4 students and 1 teacher.  The teacher will usually take part of each class to work individually with each student.  All students are similar in age and level.

Advanced Repertoire  – The chamber music institute has advanced repertoire classes which study specific pieces beyond the Suzuki repertoire.  The classes we will be offering in 2008 are:

Violin: Mozart - Violin Concerto in G major, K. 216 (1st. Movement) and/or
Bruch - Violin Concerto in G minor, Opus 26 (3rd movement) & Copland "Hoe-Down". 
Viola: Telemann - Concerto for 2 Violas in G major (4th movement) & Pergolesi "Nina". 
Cello: Popper - Mazurka, Opus 11, No. 3

Orchestra – All students in the Chamber Music Institute participate in orchestra.  This group works on a wide variety of literature chosen from the standard orchestral repertoire. with emphasis on works written for strings.

New for 2008 we welcome the Serafin String Quartet as quartet in-residence at the Advanced Chamber Music Institute!

The artistry of the Serafin String Quartet has received accolades from audience members and critics alike. This was written of their Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall concert (April 2005):

"[Everything was]…superbly played. [The Dvorak Op. 34] had warmth, idiomatic flair, a precision and thrusting rhythmic vitality that literally ended the concert in rollicking high spirits."

"[Haydn's Op. 33#2, "Joke" last movement was]…a lighter-than-air virtuoso reading that was a well-nigh perfect encore."

"By any standards, this was an admirable concert."

Founded in 2001, Serafin String Quartet has consistently received superlatives in the press and ovations in the concert hall. At their May, 2006 performance at Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall, they were lauded in the New York Concert Review for their "excellent music making... uncommonly fine interpretation..." and "ensemble and intonation ... above reproach."

Recent and upcoming engagements of the Serafin Quartet include those at New York’s Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall (September 2007), Philadelphia’s Chamber Music Now series, at the Highlands-Cashiers Chamber Music Festival in North Carolina, Schwarz Center for the Performing Arts, University of Delaware, Rutgers University, and at Blair School of Music at Vanderbilt University. This season includes concerts by Serafin Quartet in New York, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Vermont, New Hampshire, Tennessee, Michigan, New Jersey, and Delaware. They have been guests at Fanfare Festival in Louisiana, Emory University in Atlanta and the Quartet has recently agreed to a recording project featuring selected works by award-winning composer, David Laganella.

Collaboration with other artists is a frequent part of the Quartet’s activities, including those with internationally recognized cellist Jeffrey Solow, the brilliant clarinetists Igor Begelman and Marianne Gythfeldt, and with acclaimed pianists Read Gainsford and William Ransom. The artists of the quartet have, themselves, been heralded around the globe for concerts and recordings, receiving critical acclaim in the press. Based in Delaware, the members of the ensemble now reside in Delaware and Pennsylvania.

Serafin String Quartet takes its name from the great Venetian master violin maker, Sanctus Serafin, who in 1728 crafted the violin currently played by Kate Ransom. Timothy Schwarz plays a violin by Carlo Antonio Testore (1741), generously on loan from Dr. William Stegeman. Lawrence Stomberg plays a School of Testore cello, circa 1727, obtained with the generous assistance of Dr. William Stegeman. Ana Tsinadze plays a late 19th Century viola of unknown origins, possibly Russian-made.

For more information on the Serafin String Quartet, please click on the link above.