Five Tips for Suzuki Summer Institute

Five Tips for Suzuki Summer Institute

Emery has been to a lot of Suzuki violin summer institutes. And, I don’t know if this is typical, but he and his two friends tend to try out different camps. While I think our friends might be more of an expert in this area, I do think our experiences (and listening to theirs and the parents in the hallways on whose conversations I eavesdrop) are worth sharing. Even if you don’t do Suzuki, they might apply to other camps as well.

1. Choose your camp early and plan your summer around that camp. Seriously. By the end of most camps, they will give you the dates for next summer.
2. Follow the teacher. We have one teacher who is one of our favorites. Emery makes tremendous progress with him each year, but the best part is that he makes his classes fun for his students.
3. Decide why you want to go to camp. Yes, this really should be point #1. Do you want to visit a new place? Do you want your child to make marked improvement in a week? Both? If you do all of a camp, it will be exhausting. If you try to combine both, it will be exhausting. Do you want your child to learn from new teachers? Do you want them to be with their friends?
4. Find a good place to stay. You want one that is A. Close to the camp. B. Has options for suites (extended places are good options). C. Has laundry and a pool. D. Relatively inexpensive (often the institute has an agreement with local hotels). E. Has a nightly food and beverage option and more importantly, a breakfast included in the price.
5. Think about the electives. Are they age-appropriate? Would your child be interested in them? I don’t think it’s a good idea to go to a camp and have your child decide they don’t want to do a class that you’ve paid money for, but I’ve seen it happen. Probably we shouldn’t make our children miserable.

The last post on Suzuki camp was in 2013 for us. I’m going to try to make my husband reflect and update his post (which was seething), but he’s too busy relaxing in the airport right now. I’ll try again next week.


Emery’s Response
A great part of going to Suzuki camps is meeting new people who are doing the same program you’ve been doing. When learning the Suzuki method, beside from camps,  there isn’t much interaction with people besides the teacher and parent. By going to a camp, you meet new people, practice together and share experiences and how things are done slightly differently with your teacher. What I used to talk about with others is which song they are on, so I can see if I am ahead or behind the majority of people. Now I stopped asking people that, and instead talk with them about hobbies they have outside of Suzuki.