ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Suzanne Medici was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Before she could speak, she was already drawing with a pen (never with a pencil). A few months later, she was singing herself to sleep. Suzanne’s life has always revolved around the arts. Her biggest passion was the community theater, where besides acting, she could put to use all the knowledge she had, collaborating in the writing of plays, composing original songs, and handcrafting the props.

She studied at the Conservatory of Music Julian Aguirre in Buenos Aires and graduated with honors obtaining a BA in Music Education for Early Childhood, a BA in Music Education for Elementary and Middle-School, and a BA as “Piano Professor.”

At the Conservatory, one of her teachers (Maria Ines Ferrero) created, together with a colleague, her own method called Musijugando. The concept of this revolutionary method was to make music more accessible and enjoyable for everyone. Suzanne adopted this method as the only way she wanted to teach music. She worked at Ferrero’s private workshop as a piano teacher while also teaching music in a public preschool and kindergarten.

For a couple of years, she worked in a bilingual private school, teaching music in English to preschoolers and elementary school children.

Suzanne worked at the National University of Buenos Aires (UBA) as a music therapy professor’s assistant.

She worked at Julian Aguirre Music Conservatory as an assistant professor, teaching music theory to adult beginners.

She studied with some of the biggest names in the acting community (Ana Maria Campoy, Patricia Palmer, Carlos Gandolfo, and Joy Morris) in Argentina and at The Lee Strasberg’s Theater Institute in Los Angeles.

Throughout her career, Suzanne kept being a part of the community theater, and she continued to apply her knowledge of the diverse art forms.

A couple of years after arriving in Los Angeles (while on a scholarship from Strasberg’s Theater Institute), she was sponsored by “Sangeet School of World Music and Dance” in Los Angeles.

In 2004, First5LA (through Sangeet) sponsored Suzanne’s program for a calendar year to teach music to parents and children ages five and under. She taught two classes, one in English and one in Spanish. First5LA’s motto is to promote the arts, and it is designed for parents to participate, learn, engage, and create together with their children. That’s when the origins of today’s “Big Brain, Little Hands” came about, when she had to develop a weekly one-hour program for each group of children and their parents.

She has worked with autistic children and children with learning disabilities, both in small groups and privately, always using this method and finding excellent results with all of them.

She took ballroom dancing lessons at Ballroom Blitz from 2012 to 2018 and found the joy and freedom of moving to the music. Understanding the importance of dance, she composed some specific songs to teach her students the basic steps of her favorite dances.

She has created her own successful business, “Sounds of Harmony Piano and Music Lessons,” which continues attracting like-minded individuals. She has taught music and arts in both languages to thousands of children and adults.

Big Brain, Little Hands is the result of more than 25 years of trajectory, experience, and knowledge. This book is for everybody—and not for a selected few. It facilitates the building blocks for children’s first musical and artistic experiences with the intention to inspire people to express themselves freely through the arts.