Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow

Reflections Upon Our 25th Anniversary
by Doris Preucil, Director Emeritus

In reflecting on the past twenty-five years, so many memories surface that it is difficult to decide what to write. The twelve years of teaching by the Suzuki Method before opening the School are dear to my heart because they changed my life. Learning how to work with very young children and their parents, and watching them develop in extraordinary ways created a burning desire to share this wonderful method with more families and prospective teachers. Hence, the founding of a School based on Suzuki philosophy, which enriches all lives it touches. My former student, Sonja Berven (later Zeithamel), a UI music major, was already a gifted teacher, having trained and taught with me since 1969. She shared my dream and accepted the responsibility of being Assistant Director. My parents and the First National Bank helped us financially, trusting that this venture would be successful.

When I first saw our building on September 4, 1974, and especially the auditorium, I was awed, both by its possibilities as a school and by its incredible state of disrepair. In spite of making an immediate offer, problems with the sellers, the deed, and with zoning had me in despair until we finally acquired it in December. A few amazing holiday weeks of carpenters, our family, and the newly hired teachers building studios, painting every inch, and making administrative plans made it possible for us to open the main floor on January 2, 1975. Besides the violin students Sonja and I had been teaching, people came! And came!

Those were exciting days. It was especially heartwarming to see the happiness of the students who had been with us before the School, to have facilities for group lessons and recitals, and share music making with violists, cellists, and pianists in our newly expanded curriculum. They were proud of "their" building, and with their parents volunteered to do many tasks in our understaffed School for many years.

The auditorium walls were blackened from soot, windows were broken, and birds were flying inside the hall. The only heat was a pot-bellied stove, and one broken light fixture hung from the ceiling. After the auditorium was made livable, Bill spent months on scaffolding, replacing the original stencil artwork around the walls. My sister, Carol, and I sewed the curtains. We presented our first recital in this new concert hall in May of 1976.

In the early years of the Suzuki Method, many professional musicians were critical; not believing that "nurturing by love" could develop well-trained musicians. Nothing could more easily refute that than the students themselves. In the twenty-eight years since the first Suzuki students entered high school, we have had 18 concertmasters and 45 principal players in the All-State Orchestra, and annual first-prize winners in all the major state competitions. Interestingly, several of these outstanding players have not pursued musical careers, and are gifted in their chosen fields as well.

The years 1985-1988 were a time of expansion, first with an Endowment Fund campaign that raised $209,000 and a $500,000 Building campaign that gave us a new floor of studios and improved the condition of our historic building. At that time Bill and I gave our building to the School Corporation. The generous support of school parents and community friends touched us very deeply and has continued to enrich and expand our efforts for the children.

The European concert tours of our String Orchestra in 1991, 1994 and 1997, are special memories--winning First Prize at the Vienna International Festival, appearing on Austrian Public Radio, and making a CD recording in Germany. Closer to home, appearances at conferences in Chicago, on IPBN's "Studio Three," and working with guest conductors such as the late Robert Shaw, Frederick Fennell, and Christian Tiemeyer were inspiring for the students.

The Gala Concert held on January 18, 1998 to recognize Bill and me upon my retirement as Director was one of the most moving experiences of my life. Seeing so many of our alumni on stage and hearing them play together again--such memories will never fade.

As I write this, in October 2000, a major event of our twenty-fifth anniversary celebration has just taken place. Our beloved auditorium, where so much in the life of the School happens, has been named for Herbert and Janice Wilson, in gratitude for their extraordinary and dedicated support. This will be an important day to remember when reminiscing on our fiftieth anniversary!

As Suzuki said, "The greatest joy an adult can know is to develop the wonderful abilities of children." When all is said and done, what has inspired our gifted teachers and helpers through the years has been the privilege of working with children--our hopes for the future.

The Suzuki Method

More than 50 years ago, Suzuki recognized the ease with which children learn their native language and began to apply the basic principles of language acquisition to the learning of music. He called his method the Mother-Tongue Approach. The ideas of parent responsibility, loving environment, listening, repetition, and motivation are some of the special features of the Suzuki approach.

Parent Involvement: When a child learns to talk, it is the parents who function as teachers. Parents have an important role as “home teachers” in learning an instrument, too. In the beginning, one parent also learns to play, to better understand the process. The parent attends the child’s lessons and the two practice daily at home.

Early Beginning: The early years are crucial for developing mental processes and muscle coordination. Listening to music should begin at birth; formal training may begin at age three or four. Recent scientific studies stress the importance of early music study in brain development.

Listening: Children learn words after hearing them spoken hundreds of times. Listening to music every day is important, especially listening to the pieces in the Suzuki repertoire so the child know them intimately.

Repetition: Constant repetition is essential in learning to play an instrument. Children do not learn a word or a piece of music and then discard it. They add it to their vocabulary or repertoire, gradually using it in new and more sophisticated ways.

Encouragement: As with language, the child’s efforts to learn an instrument should be met with sincere praise and encouragement. Each child learns at his/her own rate, building on small steps so that each one can be mastered. This creates an environment of enjoyment for child, parent, and teacher.

Learning with Other Children: In addition to private lessons, children participate in regular group lessons and performances at which they learn from and are motivated by each other.

Suzuki Repertoire: Children do not practice exercises to learn to talk, but use language for its natural purpose of communication and self-expression. Pieces in the Suzuki repertoire are designed to present one of two new technical problems to be learned in the context of the music rather than through dry technical exercises.

Delayed Reading: Children are taught to read after their ability to talk has been well established. In the same way, children should develop basic technical competence on their instruments before being taught to read music. When music reading is introduced, it is pursued systematically at each lesson.

Older Students or transfers from other methods: Students of any age can benefit from Suzuki's ideals of natural technique, tone development, and musicianship. The Preucil School welcomes students who transfer from non-Suzuki backgrounds during any stage of advancement.

History of the Preucil School

The Preucil School of Music is a non profit, community owned school, which offers excellence in musical training and provides facilities for family centered musical enrichment. It serves 700 students aged three through adult, some from as far away as 200 miles. It is a fully certified member of the National Guild of Community Schools of the Arts.

Doris Preucil came to Iowa City in 1958 from a career as a performing violinist and established a traditional teaching program for violin. Exposure to the "Talent Education" philosophy of Japanese educator Shinichi Suzuki led her, in January of 1963, to begin one of the first five Suzuki violin programs in the United States. As teachers throughout the state recognized the extraordinary accomplishments of her students, many sought her help in starting such programs in their communities. Her former student, Sonja Zeithamel, became her associate teacher in 1969.

It was soon evident that a central facility was necessary for the expanding program of lessons, group activities, recitals, teacher training and the addition of the other string instruments and piano to the curriculum. Thus, in the fall of 1974, Doris Preucil and her husband, William, a member of the Stradivari Quartet and Professor of Viola at the University of Iowa, purchased the Czechoslovakian Hall, which had been built in 1900 for gatherings of the predominantly northside Czech population. In January of 1975 the building opened as the Preucil School of Music, following careful restoration, which later made it a successful candidate for the National Register of Historic Buildings. In 1997 Doris Preucil retired as Director and Sonja Zeithamel was named the new Director.

The expanded curriculum includes lessons in all strings, piano, harp, flute, voice, ensembles, teacher training, a fine arts oriented preschool and parent-child classes from infancy through preschool. The Suzuki philosophy serves as the basis for all instruction, for beginning students and for those transferring to the program in later stages of development.

In 2002 the Preucil School built an additional facility, known as the North Campus, offering space for our enlarged enrollment. The preschool program, the Morris Early Childhood Education Center, is also housed here.

The Preucil School has achieved international renown through the excellence of the students, the success of its graduates and the workshops presented by William and Doris Preucil, Sonja Zeithamel and other faculty throughout the United States and abroad.