Students of the Denison University Suzuki Program are busy gathering their pennies and practicing their instruments in an effort to aid the Greater New Orleans Suzuki Forum. Students were asked to put a penny in a container for every repetition that they practice. With more than one hundred students in the program, all of whom are encouraged to practice many repetitions every day, the pennies could add up to a big contribution to other Suzuki students who are struggling to recover from the losses dealt by the recent hurricanes.

Mary Hawkins, co-director of the Denison University Suzuki Program, has been in touch with Kathleen Tyree, director of the Greater New Orleans Suzuki Forum. "The New Orleans teachers will not be teaching until January since their students have relocated to other states," says Hawkins. However, nearly all of the students that evacuated have continued their Suzuki training in other cities and states. "Suzuki teachers have welcomed them into their programs for as long as they will be staying, many times without cost to the parents who are trying to rebuild homes and offices" reports Tyree.

In addition to raising money, the Denison University Suzuki Program is collecting donations of instruments, portable music stands and Suzuki music books, cds and tapes to send to New Orleans. Many families left without these items and returned to find them destroyed by water.

"Dr. Shinichi Suzuki devised his method of music instruction not to create professional musicians, but noble human beings," states Jim Van Reeth, violin instructor and co-director of Denison's program. "Helping other Suzuki students in this way gives us the opportunity to demonstrate our kind hearts," adds Van Reeth. The organizers of the Greater New Orleans Suzuki Forum have demonstrated their kindness, even in this time of devastation, by offering a Denison University Suzuki student participating in "pennies for practice" a scholarship to attend their Suzuki Summer Institute in New Orleans in July 2006.

The Denison University Suzuki Program offers instruction in piano, violin, viola, cello and flute to students ages 3 to adult. For more information about the program or to donate money or musical items to "Pennies for Practice," contact Mary Hawkins at 587-5609.

About Denison:

Denison University, founded in 1831, is an independent, residential liberal arts institution located in Granville, Ohio. A highly selective college enrolling 2,100 full-time undergraduate students from all 50 states and dozens of foreign countries, Denison is a place where innovative faculty and motivated students collaborate in rigorous scholarship, civic engagement and the cultivation of independent thinking.

For press inquiries:

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