Kim Barrett
Kim Barrett began studying the violin at age 12 with Linda Fiore in Pennsylvania. After graduating from West Chester University with Bachelor Degrees in Music Performance and Music Education, she went to Matsumoto, Japan to study personally with Dr. Shinichi Suzuki and other master teachers. During her 3 ½ years in Japan, she assisted in translating for Dr. Suzuki and his writings as well as performed as an example of his teaching and method at National and International conferences in Japan. After graduating from the Talent Education Institute in 1990 with its Teaching and Performance Certificate, she returned to the United States in 1991 with her violinist husband, Tim Barrett. Kim also holds a Master’s Degree in Violin Performance from the University of Tennessee where she studied with Mr. Mark Zelmanovich. Other teachers include Mark Bjork, Linda Case, Ronda Cole, Dorothy DeLay, Anastasia Jempelis, Brian Lewis, Sanford Reuning, Louise Wear, and Tom Wermuth.
For more than 40 years, Kim has been teaching music in both public schools and the private sector. Since moving to Johnson City, TN in 1991 as Director of the Violin Program for the Academy of Strings, Kim has taught numerous students ages 3 through adult. As a team, Kim & Tim Barrett have developed and continue to direct the Academy of Strings (AOS), a non-profit music academy, which began with 12 students and has grown to have a yearly enrollment of more than 100 students from several counties. They have also directed a string orchestra program for students at a Title 1 public school in Johnson City for 20 years. Kim is Co-Director of Ogontz White Mountain Suzuki Institute at Ogontz in New Hampshire and has taught as a guest clinician/string specialist for various workshops/clinics in CT, DE, GA, NC, NJ, PA, SC and TN.
In addition to being former co-concertmaster of the Johnson City Symphony Orchestra and co-director of the Johnson City Youth Orchestra, Kim has performed with the Symphony of the Mountains, Asheville, and Knoxville Symphonies and is a member of the Pro Musica Chamber Orchestra and Sophisticated Strings.
Kim lives in Johnson City, TN with her husband, Tim and they have two adult children, Harrison and Kristen.
Tim and Kim
Name in Japan: Kimberly Armstrong then Kimberly Barrett
Current Name: Kimberly Barrett
Other Places lived since Japan: Johnson City, TN
Instrument studied in Japan: Violin
Dates in Japan: September 1987 to April 1991
Memories
I am grateful to have so many wonderful memories of my 3 1/2 years with Dr. Suzuki in Matsumoto. After meeting him in person for the 1st time in Philadelphia, PA during one of his tours in 1983, I dreamed of going to Japan to study with him and others just as my teacher, Linda Fiore, had done years before.
The most precious experience with Dr. and Mrs. Suzuki is how they helped us get married! I, Kim, had been at the Talent Education Institute (TEI) for a year when Tim arrived as a new student. After a year of being classmates, seeing each other daily and becoming close friends, we had begun planning a future together. One Sunday afternoon after group class, Mrs. Suzuki requested us to visit her in Dr. Suzuki’s office. (She was usually at the school on Sundays since she drove Dr. Suzuki to & from school, as the office staff had the day off.) She sat us down and told us that she and Dr. Suzuki had been watching us and said, “We think the two of you should get married!” and then she had one of her unique laughs which we all adored! We sheepishly admitted that we had been dating and were already discussing a future together. “Well then…it’s settled!” she said. “We’ll get to planning right away!” Admittedly, we weren’t thinking of marrying until returning home to the States but when Mrs. S. set her mind to something, there was no changing it! She and Dr. Suzuki’s secretary, Michiru, were so helpful in assisting with all the wedding plans, reserving the church, flowers & honeymoon. Sadly, neither set of parents was able to be there April 7, 1990, so Dr. Suzuki acted as Father-of-the-Bride and presented me to Tim at the altar! They were our honorary parents at the wedding reception; and as a wedding gift, they made arrangements for our honeymoon at the Mampei Hotel- one of their own favorite get-away spots! We are forever grateful to them for their loving support and guidance back then, as we are very happily married more than 33 years later teaching side-by-side all that we learned from them in Johnson City, TN.
Fond memories that are sure to be shared with others who attended TEI are daily “cookie times”, walks down the street to Dr. Suzuki’s favored restaurant “Sunroot” for his favorite creamed corn soup and flan dessert, weekly Shuji classes, playing in the Annual Concerts in Tokyo and assisting with the week-long Matsumoto Summer School. “Cookie Time” immediately followed our daily group lessons. Two students each week were chosen by Dr. Suzuki to go shopping for the most delicious variety of cookies and chocolates (approximately $100). The cashier always looked at our 2 or 3 shopping carts full of nothing but cookies & chocolates with great surprise! At the end of group class while students packed away their violins, two others prepared 4 huge serving platters for the two practice rooms and brought them in for everyone to indulge. Dr. Suzuki would sit with us while we all sat around the table with our coffee or tea sampling the delicious assortment. With a lit cigarette in one hand and a cookie in the other, he would entertain us with stories of his past and his “new idea” for teaching. His sense of humor was contagious, and it was mesmerizing to see how his presence lit up the room! He created such a wonderful sense of community and friendship during that free time among 30 Japanese students and nearly 30 foreign students from all around the world! All our hearts grew together through that social time. About once a week, Dr. Suzuki would walk through the halls and come up and grab your hand, look into your eyes and say, “You must come…now!” and motion his hand to his mouth to eat. Then several of us would follow him five blocks (at a rapid pace!) to the “Sunroot” Restaurant where he would treat us (mostly foreign students but also some Japanese) to lunch. His generosity and kindness were unparalleled to anything I had witnessed before! Perhaps he knew that many of the foreigners were on a tight budget, and he wanted to be sure we had a good meal. Nevertheless, it was another team-building and bonding experience for all of us and one that greatly impacted me!
One experience I witnessed had a tremendous impact on me. All the violin students out of honor and respect never handled Dr. Suzuki’s violin. Only a select few would ever carry his instrument to and from group for him, tune it and put it with his bow in place for teaching. One day a couple of men visited Dr. Suzuki during the foreign violin students’ lesson time on Tuesday afternoon. He was most hospitable to their interruption while we foreigners sat quietly and observed. They began explaining their skills and ability to work on violins to enhance their sound. Then to our amazement and horror, one of the men picked up Dr. Suzuki’s violin, took it across the room and began tinkering with a device and tapping the soundpost! I was seated next to Dr. Suzuki and although I remained silent, I’m sure my eyes showed my great surprise. Inside I was enraged. I noticed Dr. Suzuki’s countenance also show a flicker of surprise and he caught my eye and winked. He whispered, “Interesting, right?” in Japanese. We both knew the two men were clueless of their disrespect in handling another person’s fine instrument without permission and then their audacity to “tinker” with it! Dr. Suzuki taught me so much through that experience! Although he was not pleased with their forwardness, he showed them respect as individuals and did not correct them in front of their audience. After the visitors left, and re-adjusting his soundpost back to its original position, Dr. Suzuki pulled me aside and explained that “the heart is always to be held higher (respected) than any “thing.”
Lastly, after having been in Matsumoto about four months and attended more than one hundred group classes discovering more about deep tone, finger motion, and two-tone vibrato, I went to see the annual Ice Festival held at Matsumoto Castle at the end of January. Early in the morning, trucks delivered hundreds of huge blocks of ice to more than thirty stations where artists began arranging them, chiseling and drilling them and flash heating them with torches. Right before my eyes, I saw these huge chunks of ice transformed into beautiful works of art! “This is TONE!” Dr. Suzuki would say. I understood on a deeper level how we create deep, BIG tone and then masterfully sculpt, chip away, and cultivate the beauty within.
Photos in Matsumoto
Tim and Kim at Matsumoto Castle
Tim and Kim's wedding
Tim's graduation concert
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