Recognition
Featured in
major print media.
Boston. USA. Japan.
The Boston Globe | Metro section | Cover and inner page
Monday, July 16, 1990 | By Efrain Hernandez Jr.
Reprinted in American String Teachers Journal & the Talent Education Journal in Japan
“The violin as a bridge. Musician brings joy, dignity to their inner-city lives by teaching youths.”
“The violin as a bridge. Musician brings joy, dignity to their inner-city lives by teaching youths.”
The article “Violin a bridge for inner-city youths” reported by Efrain Hernandez Jr. was published by the Boston Globe on the cover and the inner page of its Metro section on Monday, July 16, 1990. It was later reprinted in the American String Teachers Journal and the Talent Education Journal in Japan.
As noted, the director of SIB, Mr. Donald Becker, had been teaching violin with a combination of individual and group sessions at the Roxbury Boys and Girls clubhouse on Warren St and at other sites in the community. He has grown accustomed to the curiosity of youngsters, while developing violin lovers. He aimed at teaching inner-city youths who likely would never get near a violin, to help them steer clear of the rampant drug-dealing and gun-toting in the area. For him, teaching is rewarding as it combines his love of music with trying to help guide young members of the community.
Wicked Local | Roslindale Transcript
Wednesday, May 2, 2007 | By Joe McGonegal
“This orchestral ambush was no impromptu performance. It was a recital of the Suzuki Institute of Boston, performing selected pieces from the Ken Burns “Civil War” documentary as well as a few other traditional favorites.”
“This orchestral ambush was no impromptu performance. It was a recital of the Suzuki Institute of Boston, performing selected pieces from the Ken Burns “Civil War” documentary as well as a few other traditional favorites.”
The article “Violin students show their musical stuff” reported by Joe McGonegal was published by the newspaper “Wicked Local: Roslindale Transcript” on Wednesday, May 2, 2007. It reported a concert of SIB which Gwynne Morgan, of the Friends of the Library’s Board of Directors, recruited director of SIB Mr. Donald Becker for part of the library’s West Roxbury Reads “March” program.
In the concert, Mr. Becker was the conductor for 16 violin students of SIB, performing selected pieces from the Ken Burns “Civil War” documentary as well as a few other traditional favorites like the first movement of Vivaldi’s “Concerto in A Minor” and “Double Concerto for Two Violins”. As noted, the audience was immediately transfixed by 16 violins, in unison, striking the fierce notes of Vivaldi’s masterpiece in the beginning.
As students got to the highlight of the concert, Jay Unger’s “Ashoken Farwell” from the “Civil War” soundtrack, one could tell that they had not only heard the piece plenty of times on their practice CDs, but they had also practiced it together as a group quite a bit, too. As Mr. Becker said to the reporter, “our students get experience practicing with us and also practicing along with CDs that we send home with them.” In fact, three of the adults in the auditorium on Saturday were parents of students who got the pride not only of seeing their children perform, but also of performing with them.
The report concluded that studying with SIB has not only exposed students to some great music, but to some lifelong skills as well.
W. W. Norton & Company | Book “The Violin: A Social History of the World’s Most Versatile Instrument”
Monday, December 10, 2012 | By David Schoenbaum
Monday, December 10, 2012 | By David Schoenbaum
“Without good people, you cannot have good nations.”
“Without good people, you cannot have good nations.”
Published on Monday, December 10, 2012, the book “The Violin: A Social History of the World’s Most Versatile Instrument” written by David Schoenbaum highlighted SIB’s commitment in the community and its achievements over the years. As it stated, SIB has been nurturing the next generations in Roxbury, the neighborhood of Boston with an African American majority and a growing Hispanic minority. By 2008, SIB’s constituency has extended to 120 kids from Boston’s Haitian community and Stephen Jay Gould, the Harvard paleontologist and baseball nut. SIB alumni included an opera singer, a Juilliard School student named Colin Benn (native of West Roxbury) now playing professionally in South America, a basketball coach Mr. Haakim Johnson, the Product Management Director at Google Mr. Aaron Brown, and an English-American journalist and music critic Mr. Kelefa Sanneh.