South Island Suzuki Winter Workshop

29 June - 2 July 2025

I’ve just returned from a full few days in Christchurch, teaching at this year’s Suzuki Winter Workshop, but getting there was no small feat.

This year I’m really realising why no other region in NZ runs a workshop in the middle of winter! On the day before we were due to leave (Thursday), there was heavy rain, strong winds, and warnings of worse to come. It looked a bit risky to travel so we decided to delay till Saturday. It was just as well we did because by the end of Friday a torrential storm was sweeping through, the power was out, the road to Christchurch was closed due to flooding and slips and a state of emergency was declared in our region. We could even see the rescue helicopters flying overhead to evacuate people trapped by the rising river. Luckily we're up on a hill so we have no flooding risk as long as we stay put. I felt sure that the road crews would need at least a day to clear up the mess and get the roads passable again, but to our surprise, by Saturday morning the skies had cleared, the roads had opened and we seized the chance to hit the road.

Sunday

The workshop kicked off on Sunday with registration and the Play-In. There were 11 piano students this year — a great turnout compared to recent years (thanks to Rachel Conway for encouraging her students to attend!)

At the end of the Play-In, we realised that none of the teaching rooms had been set up ready for classes tomorrow morning. This usually involves a lot of furniture moving and is a big job for the committee (or, more often, for their teenage children!). Instead of doing it all ourselves this year, we had a new idea: we’d wait till tomorrow morning and just pop into each room and ask the early-arriving families to help — just shifting desks aside and arranging chairs in a circle. It worked fine and distributed the workload much better!

Monday

Monday was the first full day of classes. We started with piano group class in the hall with two students sharing each keyboard – always a challenge when it comes to playing in sync. The rest of the day was filled with four hours of piano masterclasses for me then a parent talk by Haruo Goto.

At workshop, each child has three classes each day:

- Masterclass (individual lessons),

- Group class (ensemble playing),

- and a third class, either music enrichment or fiddling.

Most of the piano kids did music enrichment, which involves movement to music, percussion, and musical games, but the two oldest went to fiddling with Marion Burns. This was the first time pianos have been included in fiddling. My husband joined in on keyboard too and helped support the students. They played from the guitar chords, which is a great skill to develop and a nice contrast to the standard Suzuki repertoire.

Tuesday

Day two always feels more relaxed. We built on the work we started in Monday’s masterclasses. The group class went more smoothly too. We focused on listening to each other and trying to stay together — a real challenge on keyboards.
Pianists are often not as used to playing with the mp3 accompaniment as violin students are, and when they look at their hands (as they sometimes must!), it pulls their attention away from me. Unlike violin, it’s harder for me to give visual cues, and there’s no big bowing movement to watch. My keyboard wasn’t much louder than the others, so there wasn’t much audio leadership either. I stood up and bobbed around to give as much visual help as I could — and I do think things improved.

In masterclasses, the Twinklers loved the little eraser counters that I brought and the older kids enjoyed doing wrap-ups before class and while waiting for their turn.
We ended the day with the teachers’ dinner — it’s always nice to catch up and share stories.

Wednesday

Group class continued to improve. During today’s class, we played through any Book 1 pieces we hadn’t yet covered, so by the end we’d done them all. I was deliberate in choosing playout pieces that had the best chance of staying together.
At the final playout concert, the piano students were fantastic. Several people commented on how much tighter and more confident they sounded compared to the play-in — satisfying progress in just a few days.
After the concert, thank-you cards were handed out, and we reminded everyone that if they had time, help resetting the rooms would be appreciated. Many hands pitched in, and it all got done smoothly. Everyone left full of music and with renewed motivation.

This workshop is always a highlight of my year — a chance for everyone to meet up and enjoy making music together. I’m already looking forward to next time — maybe I’ll see you there!