Hello WCS Students & Families!

It’s hard to believe that we’re entering the holiday season and 2021 is nearing an end. It many ways, it feels like the year has absolutely flown by, but when we look back at the year as a whole, so much has happened.

What A Year!

We started 2021 with roughly 50% of our students’ and their families feeling comfortable coming to lessons in the studio in person, and seeing the other 50% online. The church that we had used for years for group classes was still closed to the public, and many facilities still had very uncertain availability, but the Campbells were kind enough to open their home to us for our Tuesday-evening group classes, which turned out to be so special as it was our first time all getting back together – and we got to hold some absolutely wonderful classes and rehearse some exceptionally rewarding music like the Vivaldi Concerto for 2 Violins in D Minor and the Bach Fugue in G Minor. At the end of the Spring ’21 Semester, we were able to hold our solo recitals in person, which again was especially meaningful because of the ability for us to share our music with each other in the same place as each other once again.

By summer, we were fortunate to be seeing almost all of our students in person once again, and Kirby and I even had the pleasure of seeing some of you at the Colorado Suzuki Institute, where we had the opportunity to teach in June. Kirby and I were both also able to take further Suzuki teacher training through the Ithaca Suzuki Institute in Ithaca, NY. We love to take every opportunity we can to continue our training, as it fills us up with new ideas to in turn pour into you all in lessons and group classes!

This fall, we’ve had such a wonderful blend of continuing to work with students and their families who we’ve known for a long time, and who are growing and maturing – both in music and in life – in ways that are so exciting to see and beginning new relationships with so many new students and their families. It’s always so fun to begin these new musical journeys, start sharing ideas, and see good tone, technique, and musicality begin to grow.

Coming Up Next!

Now, we enter a time to rest, recover, enjoy family, friends, and food, whether at home or on the road, and of course hopefully practice some scales, review pieces, preview spots, and listen to our Suzuki CDs or other recordings! We’ll be on break from lessons from Thursday, December 23, 2021 – Wednesday, January 5, 2022. Lessons will resume on Thursday, January 6. For Kirby and me, this is also a time to prepare and lay out plans for what we’ll be working on with each of you when we return. We always look forward to the Missouri Federation of Music Clubs’ events in the spring, resuming group classes with you all, and preparing for our Spring Festival group performance and Spring Solo Recitals. We’ll have more details about all that and more at the end of break!

With that, we hope that you all enjoy a very happy holiday season. We’ve thoroughly enjoyed this year with each of you, and look forward to all the opportunities we’ll have to learn with you in 2022!