HEB ISD School & Family Magazine Spring 2016 | Page 8

Suzuki Strings
HEB ISD’s Suzuki Strings program is in its 15th
year, now serving more than 400 children at eight
elementary campuses. Kindergarten through
sixth grade students in the program learn to
play violin, viola, cello, or bass using the Suzuki
method. Participating students receive one
individual lesson and one group class each week.
In 2000, the HEB ISD Board of Trustees asked Dr.
Gene Buinger, then Superintendent of Schools,
to investigate the possibility of implementing
a strings program in the district. Dr. Buinger
had experience with Suzuki Strings from
previous school districts. However, starting a
strings program at eighteen elementary schools
would have been beyond the district’s budget
constraints. His recommendation to the Board
of Trustees was to start the program at selected
elementary schools in the district. Parents would
be allowed to transfer their children to those
schools if they wanted their children to participate
in the program. Introducing the Suzuki method
at the elementary level would give students an
opportunity to experience success with their
instruments before entering a more traditional
public school orchestra program in junior high
and high school. In 2001, five elementary schools
were selected to have Suzuki Strings. The plan
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was a success, and there are now more than
200 students in HEB ISD’s secondary-level
strings programs.
Suzuki teachers use the district-wide continuous
improvement (CI) model in every lesson. CI
makes it easy to plan individual student goals for
the year, come up with a way to achieve them
(practice), look at the results over a period of
time (usually every six weeks), and figure out
how to change practice to meet goals by the end
of the year. Data is kept in the classroom for the
parent, teacher, and child to refer to on a weekly
basis to make sure students are progressing.
As students’ skills progress, they are given the
opportunity to share their music with others
through performances. Suzuki students perform
in concerts organized by their teacher and in
concerts that include students from all of the
Suzuki schools in HEB ISD. Each Suzuki student
typically performs in one group recital per year
and in one solo recital per year, as well as in
several performances throughout the community.
One of the motivational high points in the year
is the final concert at the end of the annual
Spring Festival. During the Spring Festival,
Suzuki students in HEB ISD participate in a