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 At the start of this semester, ISA held a practice challenge called the Leaky Bucket Practice Challenge. Rachel Osterhouse, our executive director, was inspired to make the challenge from this article by Ryan Caparella, violin & viola faculty at the Western Springs School of Talent Education & Naperville Suzuki School, called “The Leaky Bucket: Consistency in Practice.” Despite our best efforts, our brains are not infallible - the old adage of “use it or lose it” is even more true when talking about our instrumental skill. We have to keep practicing and playing in order to retain our skill level, never mind continuing to progress and learn new skills. As Caparella stated in the article: “If you want to fill a bucket with a slow leak, this is a 100% attainable goal so long as the rate at which you add to the bucket exceeds the rate of the leak. The moment we stop adding to the bucket, the water level not only ceases its rise, but begins to fall. When we resume filling the bucket, we find that we have to make up for the loss before we can accomplish any new gains: we must redo the work we’ve already done, which is a significant frustration for adults, and an even bigger one for children.” We need to have consistent practice, not just a certain amount of minutes per week - consistency is key to retention. With that in mind, our director designed a Leaky Bucket Practice Challenge to challenge ISA students to strive for 6 weeks of consistent practice - 5+ days a week. The students and parents kept track at home and reported back to their teachers. Each week of consistent practice brought bigger and bigger rewards, culminating in a grand prize of a king size candy bar. We had MANY students reach this milestone - almost 50 students across all instruments! It was exciting to see how this motivated students to stay consistent and inspired discussions with teachers and parents about the frequency of practicing. Check the photos below to see our Leaky Bucket Champions!
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 ISA Faculty and Board are excited to announce an addition to our faculty. Emily West will join our harp faculty! Emily West is a professionally trained harpist currently located in East Central Indiana. Recognized both nationally and internationally for her artistry, Emily has won first prize in the Jan Pennington Gray Harp Competition of 2023-24, first prize in the London Young Musicians Competition, first prize in the London Classical Music Competition, first prize in the International Clara Schumann Competition, second prize in the International Classical Music Stars Competition, and a special award for expressive performance from the London Young Musicians Jury Panel. Please click here to read more about Emily.
Emily will be available for new students starting in Fall 2024.  ISA students and staff had an insightful time at the 2024 Suzuki Association of the Americas Conference, which took place March 20-23 in Louisville. The four-day event not only provided Suzuki teachers a place to connect and share ideas, also hosted student performances and masterclasses. ISA harp studio jumped at the opportunity!
Our harp students played in masterclass for Grace Roepke, principal harpist with Louisville Symphony Orchestra. Harpists who participated were Naomi, Eliot, Mel, Clare, and Gloria, students of Stephanie Hall. Wonderful job on your polished performances, students! Stephanie says, "Students came into the masterclass well prepared, and all were ready and teachable. Some of the best moments were when the students were able to critically evaluate something in their playing. Grace often had the students tell her if it was "OK, Pretty Good, or Totally Awesome" when they self-evaluated. In the end, it was a great combination of being challenged, and also being proud of their performances -- and motivated to keep working on a well-known piece." Some of these students will perform the same pieces at the April solo recitals. Come out and hear them on Sunday, April 21, as they share their music with new ideas and musical decisions that they learned in the masterclass.  ISA students shared their music across a jam-packed December performance calendar! Thank you students for your polished pieces, and for bringing additional group ensemble playing to the stage as well. Piano students gave solo performances at the St. Vincent Women's Hospital lobby on their grand piano.
 The Book 4 group class performed as an ensemble of three-part holiday pieces and took turns leading each other and creating a group sound. They also played Suzuki pieces as a group.  The Book 1B class, led by Ms. Candida, also played holiday and Suzuki pieces as a group.
Kudos to piano, violin, and harp students again! And we look forward to doing more student performances in our community in this new year!
ISA has welcomed four new members to the Board of Directors. Please welcome Mr. Alistair Howlett, Mr. Kevin Lin, Mr. Tim Stephenson, and Dr. Jyothi Varanasi. More information on the board can be found here.  Mr. Alistair Howlett currently serves as acting principal flute in the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra and is a co-director and board member of the Ronen Chamber Ensemble. Originally from Australia, he received his Bachelor of Music degree from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and his Master’s in Performance at the Hochschule for Music and Theater Munich. He is married to Jennifer and has two children, one of whom (Elliot) is a violin student at ISA. He is also a flute professor at Anderson University. Mr. Howlett is looking forward to helping ISA in any way possible and is interested in assisting ISA with its community outreach and special events.  Mr. Kevin Lin is the Concertmaster of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. Originally from the greater New York area, violinist Kevin Lin has received international recognition and is a highly sought-after Concertmaster. Mr. Lin completed his Bachelor of Music degree from the Colburn School in Los Angeles and continued his studies at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. Bringing his previous board experience from being a member of the London Philharmonic Board, Mr. Lin hopes to help advocate for the Suzuki system and help expand ISA’s reach in our community. He also looks to help ISA with fundraising, outreach, and public relations  Mr. Tim Stephenson is the current Assistant Director of Individual Giving at the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra and a doctoral piano candidate at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. He has performed widely in the United States as both a soloist and a chamber musician, even as a founding member of the award-winning jazz combo Cofield. Also a dedicated music educator, Stephenson has held faculty positions at Indiana University’s Jacobs Academy, DC Strings Workshop, Stafford Piano Academy, Pacific Piano School (San Jose), and Aspen Music Festival and School’s PALS program. Along with an active teaching and performing schedule, Stephenson has extensive experience as an arts administrator, with positions in fundraising, marketing, event planning, and more; he looks forward to bringing this wealth of experience to his new position as an ISA board member, especially regarding ISA’s fundraising efforts.  Dr. Jyothi Varanasi is a neurologist and medical director at Columbus Regional Health Physicians and Cigna Healthcare. Dr. Varanasi has extensive experience serving on many types of medical boards and committees: as the Neurology Lead on a Hospital Medical Executive Committee, JWM Business Management Committee, Hospital Ethics Committee, Stroke Program Management Committee Lead, Hospital Quality Care Committee, and as the Physician Manager for TeleNeurology service line implementation.
Dr. Varanasi excels at finding creative solutions to problems with limited resources. She plans to use this same mindset to help ISA broaden our reach in the community, enrich the instructor experience at ISA and a sense of community among ISA families, and reinforce our scholarship program. ISA Faculty and Board are excited to announce the addition of two new instrumental instructors. Anna Stephenson will join our piano faculty and Emily Yin will be a welcome addition to our violin group. Both will be available for new students starting in Fall 2023. Welcome Anna and Emily!  Emily holds a Master of Music in Performance and Literature from the University of Illinois (U of I) and a Bachelor of Music in Violin Performance from Indiana University. Read More  Anna began studying piano with the Suzuki method at age 5 and has held a love for piano and music ever since. She studied music education at Andrews University in Southwest Michigan. Read More
 ISA has welcomed two new additions to the board of directors. Welcome Dr. Trae Blanco and Mr. Gershom Davis. Dr. Tina Ayeni, MD will now be serving as board president. More information on the board can be found here. Dr. Trae Blanco currently serves as Director of Bands in the School of Music at Butler University. He is married to Kelsey and has two children (Ellis and Ophelia) who are both currently violin students at ISA. His vision for serving on the board is to help connect ISA students to the music community at large in Indianapolis. He wishes to raise awareness of ISA to the community-at-large and connect with new potential members and donors.  Mr. Gershom Davis holds an MBA in Finance and works as a consultant for Research Global Professionals. He has been married to his wife Deirdre for 23 years and has two sons, ages 12 and 20 (the youngest is a current ISA violin student) as well as his family dog Savannah. He has served on several other local non profit boards including College Mentors for Kids as well as the Washington Township Community Coalition. He wishes to use his over 25 years of corporate finance and accounting experience to assist with improving ISA’s current financial policies and processes.
 ISA trumpet instructor, Larry Powell, had the pleasure of completing an additional 16 hours of online and live observation training in Suzuki books 3 and 4 with 11 other brass musicians. There are just over 100 Suzuki brass teachers worldwide and growing!
"One of the most rewarding parts of this experience is that we were not only learning the teaching points and the repertoire, we were also making changes to the repertoire. We adjusted dynamics, articulations, tempi, repeats, teaching points, and much more. Book 1 was completed with the input of a brass committee. Books 2, 3, and 4 were done by what is now called a book study group. To be in on the creation and development of these books is rewarding. It also provides great insight into just how carefully each book is constructed and the care taken to ensure an efficient and effective progression of skills for the student." -Larry Powell Another interesting fact - Suzuki courses are currently being developed for other brass instruments (trombone, saxaphone, tuba, etc) adapted from the current trumpet curriculum! ISA is excited to welcome our newest member of our Cello Faculty! Eliza Bracken is an Indianapolis native who began her cello studies at the age of ten with Ingrid Bellman, retired cellist of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. Eliza graduated with honors in 2018 with a degree in Cello Performance from Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. Read More We are also excited to welcome Erin Darnell as our new Administrative Assistant. She is an Indianapolis native who now resides in Westfield, IN with her family of four. Read More
 The Board is delighted to announce that Rachel Osterhouse will continue her leadership of ISA as Executive Director. Rachel as an extremely talented musician and teacher who also possesses the administrative and leadership skills that have helped drive the success of the Academy over the last year as Interim Executive Director.
The Board is very confident that Rachel is the right person to fill this position. Please join us in congratulating Rachel on her appointment to this role! ~ ISA Board of Directors |
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