Did you ever wonder why school field trips are students' favorite activities? My own children just love field trips. Of course, part of it is the break from routine (not to mention lots of social time going to and from the event), but another part is that all of us would rather experience something firsthand than read or talk about it.

Hearing great music is an indispensable part of music education.  If we want our children to love classical music and have a passion for piano, they need to be in a musical environment, which means we need to play great recordings at home and attend concerts together.  This is the lynchpin of Suzuki Method.

Although I did not have Suzuki Method instruction as a child, I did grow up in a musical environment.  My mother loved classical music and played records a lot, repeating her favorite ones over and over.  I still recall hearing Horowitz and Rubenstein play and longing to be able to play those pieces as well as they could.

Of course, studying a musical instrument is, in itself, the ultimate firsthand experience; a person who is able

Aya, Sarah, and Maggie backstage with Maestro Jorge Mester following the March 22 Louisville Orchestra concert.  Among the works performed that evening was Dohnanyi's Variations on a Nursery Rhyme (for piano and orchestra).  The piece features a rather humorous setting of Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star, a piece with which the students are well acquainted.

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to feel and convey beautiful music himself has received the best music education.  And if music is the "Universal Language," we need to be immersed in that language to speak it fluently.  A field trip now and then helps.