"Art is not in some far off place. A work of Art is an expression of a man's whole personality, sensibility, and ability."
-Shinichi Suzuki.
Last night I drove 6.5 hours to the Preucil Music School in Iowa City, IA to take a Suzuki Association 'Every Child Can!' class, introducing Dr. Suzuki's philosophy of music education. I am a product of his methods as a past student of the Suzuki Music School of Granger, Indiana, and was excited to learn his methods from a teaching perspective.
Recently, I had begun noticing different ways my own studies in violin carried over into my everyday life. The Suzuki method helped sharpen my focus and concentration, and instill independence, self-discipline, critical analysis, and time management. It taught me commitment and how to work under pressure. Music is one of my tools of self-expression, enjoyment, and creativity.
"Music is a language of the heart without words."-Shinichi Suzuki
Dr. Shinichi Suzuki observed two main things:
1. All Japanese children speak Japanese.
2. Learning one's native language has a 100% success rate.
He realized that the process of language learning can be applied to music and other subjects. His belief is that talent is gleaned not through genetics, but through environment. That the only inborn qualities that differ between students are their rate of learning and their styles of learning. The key is to begin early and enrich the musical environment, starting at birth.
It is ideal to begin the learning process between ages 3-5 because the children are more neurologically receptive to aural learning, are eager to please, delight in repetition, like to imitate adults, have great enthusiasm for learning, have more time for listening and practicing, and will establish patterns before other activities compete for time.
"The baby is born. Does he start to say 'Mama' the next day? For months he just listens." -Shinichi Suzuki
Music is sound that produces beauty of form, harmony, and expression of emotion. The best way to incorporate this into a child's environment is through listening. It creates an aural model in the child's ear. By repeatedly listening to what a piece should sound like, an aural image of a piece is created in the child's mind that he can match his own practice to. It enables him to self-correct and to increase his memorization. As his listening becomes more sensitive and analytical, he will be able to integrate his own style and interpretation to the music.
While it is especially important to listen to current repertoire pieces, attending concerts and listening to other good music is beneficial too. It is best to integrate listening into everyday life, several times each day. Repetition. I remember my mom playing Suzuki CDs every night during dinner and whenever we would ride in the car. Now, I listen while I do my homework, write blogs, and walk to class. Also, I have burned CDs and given them to employers and teachers who already play music in the environment we share.
In addition to environmental listening, it is important to include active, participatory learning. This may incorporate singing with the music, making a drawing to the sound, moving to the music, following the score, or simply just listening for specific things in the music itself.
During class today, my instructor, Ms. Christie Felsing, split us into groups of three with a leader to instruct us how to construct a paper airplane. Each leader was to teach with a particular characteristic. I was part of the lucky group with a criticizing leader. Upfront she told me I needed to make sure all my folds were exact. Because I desired to hear her praise, I took the extra time to make sure all the sides lined up. I made small talk, telling her that I used to do origami when I was younger, and she said she didn't really care and we needed to focus on what we were presently doing. I was the last person working, and when I finally got my airplane looking perfect, I showed my leader, hoping she would approve and appreciate my careful, hard work. However, she told me it still wasn't good enough. I felt dissatisfied even though my airplane had the most exact folds out of everyone.
This activity proved to me how important it is to maintain a healthy balance of praise and criticism. There needs to be acknowledgement and appreciation of each step, no matter what the size or difficulty. Skills should be divided into smaller units so that a child can always be successful and can master each step. These steps are catered to each particular child, but the steps themselves are essential to build a solid foundation. Leaving one out is like taking away a piece from a Jenga tower.
Repetition is essential for turning knowledge into ability. Components of music need to be maintained once they are learned. In vocabulary, whenever you learn the word "dog," you don't check it off the list and never use it again. You continuing applying and using it in your everyday language. The same principle correlates to music. We're like a plants that can't soak up everything that's fed to us the first time. We need that repetitious watering before we finally start growing.
"Ability equals knowledge plus 10,000 times." - Shinichi Suzuki
A common, set repertoire like the Suzuki method has organized is helpful by laying out technical and musical points covered in a careful, step-by-step progression to provide motivation for a child. It also establishes a common, international language across the board for those following the method and makes group lessons possible. For the teacher, repetition also provides new insights and more efficient teaching.
One of the most neglected practices in traditional teaching is review. This is absolutely necessary in order to maintain an active repertoire and develop mastery and fluency of a piece. On several occasions I have been asked to perform for something and have been scrambling to "relearn" a piece, whereas if I had been reviewing my repertoire, I could be ready to play it with little to no practice. Intentional practice of review is needed to implement the study of new skills to a previously learned piece. Review makes starting a new piece easier; only 20% of a new piece actually consists of new, unlearned ideas, 80% has already been learned!
Suzuki has outlined 3 stages of learning:
1. Learn notes
2. Gain fluency
3. Add musical aspects
The Suzuki Triangle is shown above as equilateral, symbolizing the equal importance of the role of the student, parent, and teacher. There must be respect and communication in all directions. The specific responsibility of the teacher with the parents is to educate the parent on how to become a home teacher, suggest to them how to practice, listen to the recordings, take notes, etc., while still affirming and encouraging that parent's role.
Responsibilities of the parents are as follows:
- Playing the recordings
- Attending lessons and taking notes
- Practicing with the child, being the teacher's assistant at home
- Becoming aware of how the child learns
- Learning the basic skills of the instrument
- Observing and learning from the other children's lessons
- Being a motivator
In the womb, the developing baby begins to use its sense of hearing. At birth, the ear is already more neurologically developed than the eye. Attention can then be focused on technique and tone rather than decoding symbols. Learning to play music precedes learning to read musical notation, just as speaking in a native comes before reading in that language. Reading skills in both cases take time to become equal to playing skills.
"Tone has a living soul without form." - Shinichi Suzuki
One of the most central components to Suzuki teaching is beautiful tone. It is the best sound you can get from an instrument, and all musical technique serves to achieve it.
One of the most central components to Suzuki teaching is beautiful tone. It is the best sound you can get from an instrument, and all musical technique serves to achieve it.
(I just wanted to repeat that paragraph so it would be better understood and learned since it was touched on so briefly.)
Currently, I am in a hotel room in Amana Colonies in Williamsburg, Iowa. It is nice. It has Amish people and only one mechanic. Unfortunately, I am not here by choice. My car broke down. So I'm spending my evening blogging, reading the Hunger Games, and enjoying a Reese's Egg. My room has a queen size bed with three foam pillows...all for only $42.99.
This summer I will be blogging more consistently, sharing about my travels and what I learn from the Suzuki book trainings. Until then, I will be slaving over my business classes as I finish the second half of this spring semester.
