Attend ISSI! I know many of you are signed up to go to Intermountain Suzuki String Institute and several of you are thinking about it/planning to sign up. April 1 is the deadline; however I have been told there is NO late fee for twinklers to sign up after April 1. In fact, if you are the parent of a twinkle student this is the best time to go!  Your child will learn so much from being in a musical environment every day. They will be so excited and motivated to learn and play violin. They will have a ton of fun with the other students. (All of these statements are true of every level, not just twinkles!) And twinkles classes are only in the morning so it is easy to schedule and less expensive.  

Things to know:

• ·         This is NOT a drop-off camp for children under age 12. Each class lasts an hour and then you go to a different classroom for the next class. ISSI is so large that children are usually with different children each hour.  And each hour has a different teacher. There is also a 2-hour lunch break (well, one hour lunch and one hour recital) that is unsupervised. ISSI is completely child friendly and most parents bring all their children and either play with them inside the classroom (coloring, quiet games, etc.) or wait outside for their child and help them find each classroom.

• ·         ISSI is a full day event. Classes are 9am-11am, 11-1 are the lunch and recital hours, classes are 1-4pm, then there’s an evening recital at 5pm. There is so much going on for this fun camp that you won’t want to have anything else on your schedule this week.

• ·         ISSI is the largest Suzuki string camp in the nation. There are so many participants and it is lots of fun! Please make sure to label everything (violin, case, books) as most people have all the same things.

• ·         ISSI gets the best teachers ever! There are no bad teachers at ISSI.  Most of the faculty for this string camp has been teaching for 20+ years and are the most respected in the nation.

• ·         Review is essential. We play review pieces every lesson and it is expected you will be prepared to play any piece Book 1-4. Please make sure to do LOTS of review leading up to ISSI. I may plan a special group lesson for this purpose the week before institute.

• ·         In addition to review there is a repertoire list (for Book 1+ students) with performance pieces. It is also important to have one or two polished pieces ready for your masterclass (mini private-lessons).

• ·         Be prepared for fun, learning, and getting excited about the violin! You will love this week!

• ·         I attend ISSI every year for the teacher training and get so many fun ideas for my own teaching. I also get to observe classes and will definitely want to see your masterclasses and would love to do a studio lunch, maybe on Tuesday, to help answer your questions and make sure everything is going smoothly.