"For two years now, our whole family has looked forward to Tuesdays, our music class day. We started in the 0-3 music class when our daughter was 7 months old and our son was 3. We had tried a few other baby music groups on and off, and we knew our children enjoyed songs and shakers. What we didn’t expect was to find in Ahna and Emma’s classes such incredibly high quality early childhood music instruction in a warm and gentle environment. I’m a primary school teacher myself, and I know good pedagogy when I see it; this thoughtfully prepared and skillfully delivered class is, in my opinion, the best place in town for young children to enjoy and explore music.

 

We love that the 0-3 class meets kids wherever they are at, and watching or listening is celebrated as much as active turn-taking with the percussion instruments. Ahna and Emma’s calm and respectful approach to babies and children aligns with our family values, as does the inclusive, thoughtfully selected content which includes lots of reo Māori rhymes and waiata.

 

By four, our son was brimming with excitement to be starting the violin with Ahna, and at three our daughter is now eager to make the transition also. The gentle - often hidden - rigour of the music instruction that we first encountered in the 0-3 class, and the supportive warmth of the teaching style, has been carried along into this next stage of their music learning journey.

 

Ahna and Emma are absolute masters of the gentle nudge; they notice where a child is ready to be stretched a little, and skillfully help them make that next step in their learning. Through the accumulation of these tiny steps, we’ve seen our son go from his first attempts at copying rhythms on the drum two years ago to now bursting with pride as he plays us the first fragment of a minuet he is learning on violin. It is astonishing to see in retrospect how much progress he has made through the gentle, well-judged baby steps that Ahna has supported him to make. 

 

We also love the Suzuki Co-op’s emphasis on playing music together through group classes and workshops like the wonderful Twinkle Wānanga. Seeing the littlest musicians play open strings on tiny violins and cellos in a group of children right up to competent teenagers is of course extremely cute, but, more importantly, it’s also a transformative learning environment. 

 

We love that in our kids’ eyes it’s totally normal for children to come together to practise and play their instruments. We believe that through this they’re absorbing values that extend beyond musical skills: they’re learning to belong to a community, to confidently contribute their voice, and to pursue and celebrate the shared joy of creating something beautiful together."