Play Your Music Like You Live Your Life | Suzuki Association of the Americas

2015-05-23, 12:08 PM

Play Your Music Like You Live Your Life

by Cecilia McDonnell

Weve witnessed it hundreds of times over

and over and never cease to marvel at the
wonder. Within three notes introduced by
the piano, forty children from four to eight
years old fall into three perfect lines, rest
position, eyes on the leader.
And so begins a typical weekly group lesson for Book 1
2, and hour after hour, a new wave of progressively
advanced Suzuki students will assemble, eager to tackle
each musical challenge presented.
As parents, we can never command such rapt attention.
But we are not Dragans, however loudly we roar. There
is only one Dragan they listen to. Nobody rests! You rest
at home, not here.
Between the humor, theatrics, and strict discipline,
sometimes even the kids cant tell if the charismatic
Dragan Djerkic is leading or pushing. Ultimately, their
musical journey is a blend of personal discipline and

Dragan Djerkic with students

joyful collective triumphs. With beaming smiles and

tremendous focus (remarkable for a Sunday afternoon), the children review their ever-growing repertoire.
Throughout 2010, Dragan Djerkic is celebrating his landmark anniversary which began as the dream of a young Serbian
immigrant in 1980 and has become a pillar of Suzuki tradition in Quebec. Inspired by Dr. Suzukis insights into how
children experience and learn music, Dragan has integrated his own virtuosity developed at McGill University with his
passion and gift of teaching. Under his vision, along with fellow Suzuki teacher, Vera Mirkovic Djerkic, Institut Suzuki
(Montreal) has grown to nearly 100 students.

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Play Your Music Like You Live Your Life | Suzuki Association of the Americas

2015-05-23, 12:08 PM

After thirty years, Dragan jokingly confesses he had all the answers to musical and parenting questions in the early
years. I was so condent, it was embarrassing! I wish I could go back to apologize to everyone who studied with me
before I had my own children! Id tell them, Keep going, youre doing great! and limit my advice to violin! Older and
wiser, he treasures how the children have also enlightened the teacher.
At Institut Suzuki, Dragan infuses every lesson with practical skill, encouragement, and a weekly peppering of Draganisms philosophies as much about life as about music. Everything is translated into life lessons.
It is just as easy to practice good as bad habits. If you wiggle your feetyou wiggle your mind. Plant your
feet rmly and let the music move your heart instead.
Playing with half a heart is like living only half your life! Dont compromise on the notes. If you dont x
them, you teach your mind and heart that close enough is good enough. Nothing but your best should
make you satised.
In a community as linguistically diverse as Montreal, music remains the universal language. With a thriving symphony
orchestra, several community orchestras, and an internationally renowned jazz festival, Montreal is a cultural jewel of
North America.
Music isnt separate from life, it is daily life. If you can learn Musette, you can learn French and every
other language or foreign concept!
Similarly, students can learn the festive gypsy music that always nds its way into school concerts (as beautifully
demonstrated on YouTube). Of course, the benets of discipline are universal, whether in music, school, spirituality,
health, work or sports.
To Dragan, music can generate as much passion in life as sports, a bold claim in a town obsessed with its hockey team.
An avid sports fan himself, known to pause classes for Olympic Hockey and World Cup score updates, he mischievously
harnesses that interest in his students. In some years, theyve learned the national anthems of countries hosting global
competitions. In concerts, even the youngest have injected Go Habs Go! into the nal pause of Andantino.
Freely comparing orchestra to sports, where smooth teamwork is essential for greatness, Dragan compares the bow to
the hockey stick.
You cant score the goal if you dont hold your stick properly! No successful team has a rogue player who
operates independently.

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Play Your Music Like You Live Your Life | Suzuki Association of the Americas

2015-05-23, 12:08 PM

Like the proverbial rock in the pool, radiating out in all directions, thirty years of Institut Suzuki have made an
enormous impact on Montreal. Some students continue on a musical path, while others move on to other pursuits.
Still, all have been enriched with an appreciation for classical music and a sincere belief that through focus and
passion, anything is attainable.
Last May, nearly one hundred currently twinkling stars were joined on stage by guest alumni and parent musicians to
close the 30th Anniversary concert at Montreals prestigious Oscar Peterson Concert Hall. In presenting gifts of
appreciation on behalf of the parents, Rick Shousha, an Institut Suzuki parent of fourteen years, mused over Dragans
contribution to Montreal. I asked myself: Who is bigger? Dragan or [popular Canadiens goalie] Halak? Well, I have
never missed a violin lesson for a hockey game, but I have missed a hockey game for violin. So indeed, Dragan must be
bigger than hockey in Montreal!
A symphony of voices and violins then united with the audience to lovingly salute and serenade Dragan Djerkic with
whats humorously called The Suzuki International Anthem:
Twinkle Twinkle (Little) Star
Like a Diamond in the sky!
There are numerous seless Suzuki teachers worldwide who, like Dragan, have endured thousands of renditions of
Twinkle Twinkle by the promise of waltzes, concertos, quartets, and more. You are the true diamonds and you have
our deepest respect and admiration. Your nurturing inspiration and commitment will bear fruit long beyond Book 10!

December 17, 2010, ASJ 39.1

Topics: Local Programs

Previously printed in American Suzuki Journal 39.1. Reprinted with permission. Copyright 2010 Suzuki
Association of the Americas, Inc.

Cecilia McDonnell has been a Suzuki parent and volunteer, since 2005. A former corporate foundation executive and fundraising consultant,
she has also produced several modern and historic archive recordings of Irish traditional music on her San Francisco based label, Celtic
Crossings. Cecilia currently plays in Montral.

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