Bogota Suzuki Festival – June/July 2008

For the first time, flute training courses were offered at the Bogota Suzuki Festival this past June. Ten participants, all from Bogota, attended the Book 1 class. For the Book 2 class, three of these participants continued into the second week of the festival, and they were joined by Laura Nino and Tarcicio Andrade, who studied Book 1 at the Lima Suzuki Festival in January 2007 and 2008, respectively. Gloria Millan and Diana Bettin had previously taken Book 2 training in Lima (with David Gerry and with Kelly Williamson), and chose to attend the class for a second time in Bogota. And finally, three teachers, Gloria Millan, Diana Bettin, and Juan Manuel Acosta Salazar, participated in the Book 4 class, all for the first time. It was fantastic to have such a large group of teachers, all with excellent playing skills and diverse experiences, come to share with the Suzuki flute community.

The student group was formed of students of Diana Bettin at the Javeriana University’s youth conservatory program, along with a group of her students at the Instituto para Niños Ciegos Fundación Juan Antonio Pardo Ospina (Institute for Blind Children of the Juan Antonio Pardo Ospina Foundation). One of Gloria Millan’s students also participated – together, the student group numbered 17 participants over the two weeks of flute activities. Of these, eight were blind from birth and two had limited vision. Two of the teenagers from the institute, Leidy Sierra and Jenny Silva, also attended the Book 1 class so that they will be able to assist Diana with the teaching at the institute.

For further details about this workshop, please see the American Suzuki Journal article in Volume 37 #1 – “Musical Memories from Colombia” by Kelly Williamson.

New Suzuki Flute group on Facebook!

For more photos from Suzuki flute activities in Latin America, please see the Flauta Suzuki! group, new on Facebook.

Kelly Williamson and teacher participants at the Bogota Suzuki Festival.