I wrapped up the Ithaca Suzuki Institute on Friday with a grand concert and a lovely faculty party that evening. Hosted by ITE and Ithaca College, the faculty and directors of the institute feel like family and friends. That being said, I want to enumerate some of the reasons I think any opportunity to teach at any institute is a healthy move for Suzuki teachers.

Before I go on, though, I should make it clear that I had little hope I would teach at an institute within the decade. It has been an absolute, if unexpected, privilege to join this faculty. I offer some suggestions below for cultivating your own institute experience if you have yet to receive an invitation to one.

With a circle of Suzuki teacher friends at the aforementioned party I made the following comparison. Week to week studio teaching feels like big wall rock climbing, like El Cap or Half Dome. In order to ascend a 2,000+ ft wall you put together a series of pitches, one after the other. Some people take hours to ascend, but others take days. Special hanging tents are manufactured so that rock climbers may camp out on the wall during multiple-day ascents. The objective is to get all the way to the top.

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