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So much has happened – is still happening!

2024 has been a busy year.

Kathleen is now teaching at two Universities – Concordia and University of Alberta, as well as being appointed to the advisory committee for teacher training programs at the Suzuki Association of the Americas.

Thomas is now on the Board of Directors of Suzuki Music / Musique Canada, a new regional organization for the promotion of the Suzuki approach to music teaching in Canada.

Kathleen conceived and performed a one woman show at the Thousand Faces Festival, featuring music for solo flute on the theme of women being turned into trees.

Thomas was in the orchestra for the 2024 remount of the Singing Christmas Tree gala fundraiser, after program hiatus of several years.

We finished building a new garage in the back yard, which now incorporates studio space for both of us.

Short courses are included as part of the hybrid studio package for all Schoen Duo Studio students.

In-person

These often take the form of a series of weekly classes based on a specific theme or topic, with a performance at the end of the session:

• Canadian Music – in October and November, ending with performance at Contemporary Showcase
• Baroque Music – in February and March, ending with a performance as part of Bach in the Subways

Hybrid

Hybrid courses incorporate a combination of in-person and on-line offerings

The summer course is one week of daily lessons and classes, including Suzuki teacher training courses, at the Borealis Suzuki Institute.

On-line

We are also developing an on-line “how to play by ear” course designed for adult learners. But even the on-line courses receive access to our Open Studios for real-time face to face assistance .

In our hybrid studio, we offer a “menu” of individual and group formats for learning flute, violin, recorder, or viola. There is also an early childhood education class for very young beginners who have yet to choose their instrument.

Students progress at their own pace.

Opportunities are presented at every level. Everyone, even the beginners, can participate in concerts, group lessons and ensembles in a way that is appropriate, engaging, and empowering. We nurture our student community and have our in-studio and on-line students engage with each other.

We play by ear, read music, and improvise, both individually and in groups.

Our on-line resources allow students to practice their group playing skills on their own in between group sessions.

Our lessons are whole-body experiences:

• You use your body: listen, feel and move
• You use your mind: think, analyze, and anticipate
• You use your emotions: self-expression is our goal at all levels

If you want to prepare for festivals and examinations, we will help you. We will let you know when you are at a stage where these experiences can enrich your learning. Our students who do participate do very well at these events, but they are entirely optional. Working for grades or placing yourself in competitive situations is not for everyone, and we offer many other ways to mark your progress.

Asynchronous means “not at the same time”.

We can have a lesson even if we are not together at the same moment.

Students can submit recordings, and teachers respond with comments, further recordings of more examples, links to online resources, or whatever else will be most helpful based on the student submission.

What began as a coping strategy for bad internet and poor audio connections during the COVID pandemic, has now proven to be extremely helpful when travel or other life events interfere with scheduled lessons.

Making recordings is a doubly enriching experience for students. Listening to a recording of their playing promotes the development of objective listening and performance confidence. The most common remark I hear when students listen to their own recordings is “That wasn’t as bad as I thought it was!” Small errors tend to be very big in the memory – hearing a playback puts them back into proportion.

If you choose to have an asynchronous lesson, please do not put off making the recording until the day before your next in person lesson! You will get the most value from this experience if you submit the recording in time for your teacher to offer some useful feedback that you can use before the next lesson. An asynchronous lesson recording is not homework to be submitted the next time you see the teacher! It is part of the ongoing give & take of information between you and your teacher in between lessons.