In a special ceremony on Thursday Dec. 18 Thomas was recognized for 20 years of teaching violin and chamber music at Augustana. Thomas began teaching at Augustana in 1994 when it was the Augustana University College. Augustana has since merged with the University of Alberta to become the Augustana Faculty of the University of Alberta.
In photo left to right: Alex Carpenter, Head of Augustana Conservatory of Music, Thomas, Allan Berger, Dean of Augustana Faculty.
I have been invited back to Lima, Peru, for the 30th annual International Suzuki Music Festival. Looking forward to seeing all the students and teachers again! I am very happy that they asked me back – now that I have seen what they do at the festival when I was there last year I have a much better idea of how I can help.
Recorder Book 3 class, Lima, Peru, January 2014
Hopefully my blogging skills are better too, this year, and I’ll be able to provide more regular updates. In the meantime I’ve been going back over some pictures from last year. The featured photo above is of the students from Huancavelica performing in their traditional costumes, and here are some of the amazing teachers that I had the pleasure of working with. I’ve kept in touch with many of them through social media, and some have already told me they are planning to return to the Festival to take another Teacher Training course.
I’ll be spending my unscheduled time over the holiday season preparing course materials – imagine me sitting by the fireside with a mug of something hot, my feet up and my computer on my lap, busy creating lesson plans.
Dr. Robert Duke had much to say about this, when discussing assessment of music study. He used the example of a fine performer playing a simple piece very beautifully, yet that same simple piece being deemed “too easy” for a student to use as repertoire for an exam.