Suzuki Memories...

Haley and I were looking for something under my bed the other day and came upon her first violin scrapbook. Haley took a picture of this picture with her iPad and sent it to me. It is Haley at her very first violin concert when she was 3 years old. She and three other 3-4 year olds in her group class got up on stage, bowed, sang a "Up Like a Rocket" and something else, bowed again, and walked off stage.

I love the Suzuki start to violin. I love the way the children learn everything through games and skills are broken down into easily accomplished components depending on the child's needs. I love the way the children, even those who have not yet learned a song and maybe just know how to bow correctly (violin in rest position, feet together, look at your shoes, down 1-2-3, up, ta-da!!!) are encouraged to be in front of an "audience." The Suzuki approach worked perfectly for us. I read the books, followed the teacher's directions, was home enough to fit in practice multiple times during the day whenever Haley brought me her violin, and kept it fun for her.

Looking at this picture and the others in the scrapbook reminded me of all our time together practicing over the years. My niece is beginning her Suzuki "journey" and her mom sent me a note thanking me for giving her the Helping Parents Practice book by Ed Sprunger. I didn't really use the book much because I bought it after we already had a good practice routine but I found many of "our" games in there plus more.

I look back fondly on those little games... (here are a few)
-playing in various rooms in the house, in front of mirrors, or outside
-playing for different "audiences" from Lego people to Playmobile people to a line of stuffed animals
-flashcards for tunes and technique (pick one from each pile and do what's on them)
-"See if I can guess what you are working on"  (Haley secretly focuses on a technique while playing a piece and I have to guess what it is)
-laying on the floor to play
-playing different rhythms we made up
-play what I play (where I play a few notes on the piano and Haley played them back on her violin)
-using an abacus or small treats to "count" repetitions...Haley loved to "finish" the abacus in a week

When Haley started violin, I didn't have any expectations or plans. She had asked to learn to play and I thought music education was important for brain development. I figured she'd have her weekly lesson and group class, we'd practice every day during the week, and by the time she was a teen, she'd have a decent ability to play violin. I had no idea how much she'd love playing and how integral a part of our lives music would be.

Sometimes, I joke about running the other way if I'd have known but seriously that is just a joke, though it is not easy keeping up with a child who loves what they are doing. I know it is the same for parents of any child doing something at an advanced level whether it is academics, sports, music, etc... The costs, driving time, sacrifice of personal time and things, finding appropriate opportunities, and trying to balance all that with the needs of other family members often feels like a tight rope walk or juggling act.

But it is all worth it when you see that same smile on the face of your 10 year old having fun doing what she loves to do whether she is on a huge stage or fiddling around in a corner of a room with her friends at a small session.

Milestones...

When our children are babies, we measure their progress in milestones...sitting, crawling, eating solid food, walking, talking, etc... In my work in Early Intervention everything is based on milestones. People write books that parents read then add to their worry about milestones and development in babies and toddlers. As the children get older there are still some big milestones like first day of school (or homeschool), first lost tooth, first day starting an instrument, concerts, etc... but the milestones for each child become more individualized to that child and family. Every child has different interests and often the milestones are more abstract or there is no set time when they should happen. In Suzuki violin, there is a set repertoire so each piece or book can be thought of as a milestone but as you move out of the Suzuki repertoire, it is more difficult to "see" where they are going or where they have been.

Those big milestones are exciting and fun to document in pictures and blog posts but sometimes what I like best are the little "milestones," those things others would never notice or pay attention to or that we might take for granted if we didn't think about them. In our house some of these include...

-the first time I realized Newt had outgrown his teen angst stage and was no longer such a pain
-when Newt gained the maturity to work daily to improve his wrestling
-when Dylan began to take ownership of his guitar playing and started really enjoying it and practicing without me telling him to
-when Dylan began to really "hear" what chords he needed to play without anyone telling him
-when Dylan began improvising and adding his own touch to his tune accompaniment
-when Haley was able to practice a bit on her own
-when she became more careful  in how she practiced so rather than just playing through pieces, she was picking out small bits to perfect before moving on
-when Haley sat and watched a Pre-Algebra lecture on computer, stopping it and taking notes then doing the problems without help from me

These are still rather big things but sometimes there are smaller "milestones," things I almost miss when they happen and don't realize until later they have been passed like Haley fixing some small detail in her technique, Dylan learning and adding new chords to his repertoire, or Newt incorporating a new move into his live wrestling. Sometimes with Haley's violin playing I don't realize until I haven't mentioned a certain detail in the past few practices that it is even fixed and could almost just forget it was an issue. The other small things are like that and I might look back a few months later and think..."Wow! Isn't it neat how he/she can do that now!"

I don't want to miss anything in my kids' lives. I want them to know that I do notice when things change for them. It's part of the reason I like to blog.

Suzuki Violin Thoughts...

A new Suzuki mom asked a question on Suzuki chat about whether or not her 3 year old's progress within the method was worth all the practice when she'd heard that older student generally progress much faster needing fewer lesson to make the same progress. Then on the Well Trained Mind forums another mother was asking whether it was too frustrating to begin a 3 year old in formal music lessons.

The various answers given got me thinking about a number of things. I think there are pros and cons to starting at different ages so each family needs to take them into consideration.

Many people claim that a 5-6 year old will progress much faster than a 3 year old beginning lessons and maybe for the average child that is the case. This seems to make sense due to the increased maturity, longer attention spans, and improved manual dexterity. But there are a number of 3 year olds who progress as quickly or more quickly than the average 5-6 year old. These kids are playing concerti by 5-6 years old. They may have progressed very quickly if they started at 5-6 but they wouldn't be where they are at 5-6 if they hadn't started early and kids beginning at 5-6 years old are not catching up to them until many years later as they all hit that time when kids really begin to decide whether or not music is a major force in their lives. So then one wonders whether or not it is important to be playing concerti at 5 years old or later in ones life...probably not important in the sense that music education is not a race; however, I think there are other benefits to beginning music instruction early.

Haley does not know her life without music and daily practice in it. Music wasn't something we had to make room for in her life because she has always done it as far back as she can remember. The habit was formed very young. She also knows that she can learn to do anything with practice. Wow, is that an important bit of knowledge. She practices like crazy anything she wants to learn whether it is a cartwheel, a song, writing...whatever. She's a determined kid who's found the path to mastering anything she wants to accomplish.

Also, I have read studies that claim perfect pitch occurs more frequently in children who begin ear training at 3 years old than in the general population.

Another benefit is the time spent and relationship built pursuing a common goal. I treasure all the time I have spent with Haley practicing her violin. At first it was 10-15 minutes here and there and all her practice was fun and games. I got very good at breaking every large technique into smaller, more easily accomplished parts and use that skill in many other areas of our lives.

One final benefit, at least for Haley, was helping her work her way through her perfectionism. Initially, Haley didn't want to try anything that might take more than one attempt. She'd roll on the floor or talk about everything in the room just to avoid anything she might consider difficult...meaning anything she might not get the first time. Through her play and practice she began experimenting with her violin and learned that it was okay to make mistakes and sometimes those "mistakes" sound really cool. I also frequently repeated the mantra, "we practice to make it easier!" Now she has no problem improvising or trying anything.

I am not saying that early music study is for everyone. Some may be too frustrated by progress. Unless you can enjoy the process without worrying about the progress, early music study is not for you. For some people, resources may be limited. Time and money are definitely needed. In those early years, it is best to be able to sit with your child to practice whenever they pick up the instrument. Also, music study is not inexpensive...I can't think of any activity kids do at the higher levels that isn't expensive so that is relative.

All in all, it has been a worthwhile pursuit in our household. We are enjoying the ride!

Musical Weekend...

It seems that musical performances around here tend to all come at once. That was definitely true this weekend. Friday night, Haley had a "dress rehearsal" at the retirement home for the biannual Suzuki concert. I was a little worried about her songs because she was still learning to shift for Humoresque and her Gavotte in D Major still needed a little work but we took a "calculated risk" as her teacher called it and assumed that she would perform better with a crowd than she had so far for practice. This turned out to be the case...we should know by now to trust Haley. LOL


Saturday, all the kids played with Next Generation Kids at the Garden State Discovery Museum. It was a nice venue and all the kids did a great job! Here's a link to pictures of the event... http://ballyphilly.ning.com/photo/albums/next-generation-discovery


Sunday was the biannual Suzuki concert for her Suzuki teacher's students. All her teacher's students did wonderfully. Haley performed so expressively. Everyone said she looked like a "real" violinist. (At home, I have to hold her scroll still so she doesn't move but on stage there was no one to stop her from doing it her way.) She so at home on the "stage." After playing, she calmly waited for the applause then motioned to the pianist to stand for his applause.

Suzuki Day...

Here is a picture of Haley enjoying the morning play-in at the Suzuki workshop on Saturday. Due to height restrictions, she had to stand in the front row with the pre-Twinklers and Twinklers. LOL

She didn't seem to mind as she played away. I think they are playing Twinkles in this picture.

The day was full of music. A play-in, group class, repertoire class, music theory class, and a wonderful class on music and art from the Middle Ages to the Classical Period (supposed to go to Modern times but not enough time for the class so it was shortened unfortunately).

Haley played her violin all day, played it all the way home (a 1.5 hour ride), then watched youtube clips for 2 hours that night playing along. She taught herself two Christmas tunes and played a lot of the Suzuki songs she wants to know. I would think a day of violin would wear her out but those Suzuki workshops just seem to energize her more.

Sunday she did a masterclass then went the the Next Generation Kids session. So we had a really busy violin weekend and she loved every minute of it.

A little insight as to how much she loves that violin...

The other night as we were getting ready for bed, I was thinking how tired I was and how early I had to get up in the morning for work when I remembered that Sunday was the end of Daylight Savings Time. Thinking only of an extra hour of sleep, I turned to Haley and said, "We get an extra hour on Sunday."

With a big grin spreading across her face, she enthusiastically replies, "Great! I want to play all of Book 2 so I am ready for my concert in a couple weeks. Then I want to do more scales and arpeggios and work on my shifting!"

I don't think we have the same ideas in mind for the best use of an extra hour.


I am not the only one to notice, however. At Suzuki lessons the other day, her teacher tells us she had a dream the other night and Haley was in it. She said in the dream she, Haley, and some other people were in a room hiding from someone. She was trying to keep everyone quiet so they wouldn't be found but Haley insisted upon practicing her violin. She said she kept trying to tell her to be quiet but she just kept practicing and practicing! How funny is that??!!

Violin Concert...otherwise entitled "How Does She Do That?"

Haley has been learning Suzuki songs at a rather quick pace. After the summer with no lessons, she had one song she had never had a lesson on (but which I had videotaped her teacher playing so she could learn the bowings to) and three more to learn. She has had 5 lessons so far this year and has learned all of those songs. At her lessons on Monday this week, she worked on polishing up the Boccherini Minuet and playing it with the accompaniment and Minuet in G by Beethoven, both of which she was to play at a concert on Friday. At the end of lessons, her teacher asked her to quickly play the last piece (they went out of order for those of you who know Suzuki repertoire), Gavotte from "Mignon", which I had videotaped her teacher playing the week before. After she finished playing it, her teacher said that she could call her and play it over the phone for her on Thursday night and if it was easy for her to play it in order (something we had not worked on much), then she could perform it as well in the concert on Friday.

Haley worked really hard on all 3 pieces for the concert in the 3 days in between. She practiced them with accompaniment and without, polished up the spots where the bowing or fingerings were giving her trouble and learned the order of the last song. She played the Mignon over the phone and made a mistake at the end because she stopped to itch her nose then messed up the bowings and the endings of the last part but I assured her teacher that if she thought it sounded good, she had been playing it fine for the last 2 days. Here is video of her performance on Friday. I don't know how she performs better in front of a group of people than she does when practicing!

The Boccherini Minuet is not complete because my tape ran out but you can get an idea of all the parts. Her teacher said she sounded like she had completed 6 weeks of practice in 4 days! There are still a couple little improvements we can make before she does her Book 2 concert but I am so proud of how she performed on Friday.

Today, Haley and her brothers performed at a Fall Festival in the next town over. It was so cold they shivered through the performance but they did a great job considering how cold it was! Maybe we should save outdoor performances for summer!

Daily practice carryover...

There are so many benefits to the study of music. Researchers say it yields better math scores, increased attention and concentration, and improves a child's self confidence, not to mention give the person an outlet for stress and personal enjoyment.

Wednesday I took Haley to Little Gym for a trial class. We homeschool so I like for her to be around other little girls and thought this watered down gymnastics class would be just perfect (especially since she left her Suzuki group in the dust and it will no longer work out for her) since it fits our busy schedule and she has a little friend taking the class. She went to the first class. Loved it! I knew she would since it is fun, fun, fun and she has a best friend there.

So, Thursday we practice her violin, which we do daily almost without fail, and afterward she announces that now she must practice gymnastics and proceeds to practice handstands for a good 20-30 min. Wednesday at class she was unable to get both feet up and together with toes pointed...there were legs flying everywhere! She has practiced those handstands for the past two days and now holds her legs up beautifully for a good couple seconds straight with toes pointed.

This great carryover of the concept of daily practice may be the best benefit to music study I have noticed so far. How many kids realize that to learn to do something you have to practice then are able to put that knowledge to work with determination and drive? This is so neat!

First lesson of the year...

Haley was sooooo excited to be going to lessons today. She talked about it all day and couldn't wait. She played violin along to her CDs the whole way there and when we arrived, was beside herself with joy.

When informed that a child from group wanted to quit, she thought it was the craziest notion she had ever heard. "Who would want to not play violin???? That's just astounding!!" were her exact words.

Her teacher told us Haley was a hit at camp.

Her lesson went well. She sounded her way through 4 scales she hadn't been taught yet, then played a couple pieces and her teacher made small suggestions for improvements. After that, her teacher asked her which of the remaining Book 2 pieces she'd like to learn first (only 3 left). My child, of course, chose the last one in the book. I could have seen that coming. I taped her teacher playing it because we have found that to be the easiest way for Haley to learn proper bowings (she already plays the songs doing any old bowing she thinks sounds good). They worked on a couple spots where her teacher wanted her to use a slightly different fingering (because she already has a good ear and good dexterity so can do it easily the other way, she needs to exercise her fingers a different way for later songs).

We are looking forward to an exciting violin year.

I love ideas that work...

Two weeks ago, Haley's Suzuki teacher brooched the subject of changing to a "big girl" bow hold. We tried it a couple times but she had difficulty with keeping her pinky on the bow and with the upcoming concerts I didn't want to change anything that major.

Last Monday G. said "today" was the day to change that bow hold for good. She is ready for her Book 1 concert and needs to play it with a "Big Girl" bow hold. Haley worked all week to perfect that bow hold. She did really well on the Book 1 beginning songs that don't require concentration but still on the faster or more complicated songs, her pinky slipped off and the other fingers rode up.

Today, her lesson was rescheduled so we had an extra day of practice. I remembered how a tiny piece of sticky rubber had worked when she first started playing to help her "feel" where her left thumb should be. Once it had become habit, we just stopped replacing the sticky rubber piece when it fell off.

So, I had a brainstorm and put a tiny piece of moleskin on her frog so she could "feel" where her ring finger should stay (I noticed that as long as that finger was in the correct spot, her pinky was curved and on the bow). Well, it worked. She played all the songs in Book 1 and maintained her bow hold complete with curved pinky.

Success!!

Concerts, concerts everywhere....

Sunday afternoon, Haley had a fiddle concert with her Next Generation Kids group at the local Children's Museum from 1-2pm. While that was going on, her Suzuki teacher's recital was starting at 1:30pm in a church the next town over. Miss G, thankfully, put us 3rd to last in her concert to give us time to make the mad rush from one to the other.

The Next Generation Kids concert consisted of kids and a couple adults playing fiddle, harp, and tin whistle. They played a number of tunes, all the fiddle tunes Haley knew and she even knew the ones the tin whistles soloed on. I think only one teenager knew more tunes than Haley. Haley played almost the entire hour. She was sitting in a small chair but is so little her feet couldn't reach the floor so she tapped them in the air and occassionally leaned forward so she could hit the floor. She played a little duet on one tune with a harpist.

Since we had to rush out immediately after the show, I grabbed Haley up, gave her to Grammy to take to the potty, then put her violin away while Daddy went to get the car. Miss K. said the next day at lessons that Haley was the star of the show. She said that hundreds of people came up to her after we had left asking, "Who was that little girl." She also said that Haley was a great inspiration to the teenagers who don't put as much effort into their music as they should. "Now they will have to work harder so a 5yo doesn't show them up again"...was the way she put it.

Haley was in the local paper's online article as well....http://www.courierpostonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008801280339

We made it to the Suzuki concert with only 2 songs to go before Haley's turn. I was worried that she would be too tired and rushed to play her best but she walked her little self up onto that stage and played a beautiful Minuet 2 and 3. She even remembered to gesture to the accompanist so he could bow after the songs were finished.

She was so proud of herself afterward, dancing around Olive Garden, saying how well she thought she played. I was so proud of her as well. I don't know that I could have kept that many songs straight and remembered all those technical points for each one and played for an hour then rushed 10 minutes to play another 2 songs.

Can there possibly be too much violin practice?

Every since Haley received her new larger violin, she has been anxious to practice. This has been a good thing because in two days she has a fiddle concert where she knows 21 pieces they are playing and a violin concert where she will play 2 pieces plus she is perfecting the last 2 pieces in Book 1 and will soon have her own Book 1 concert. But I digress....

Wednesday night I went in the bathroom while she is brushing her teeth and she says, "Mom, I am thinking about my bowhold."

I, without looking at her, reply, "What are you thinking about your bowhold?"

She says, as I turn to look at her, "I am thinking that this is a wonderful bowhold I have on my toothbrush and I can brush my teeth like I am playing Minuet 2." And there she is holding her toothbrush like a bow and brushing her teeth moving only her elbow.

Suzuki Day

Yesterday, Haley and I attended a Suzuki Day in WIlmington DE. This consisted of two play-ins, a masterclass, lessons on conducting and theory, plus a parent lecture on "Creating a Musical Environment." (That one was hardly worth going to because I am way ahead of the teacher on that one. There's hardly a moment when there is not music going on in some form or another in this house.)

I came to the conclusion, during that masterclass, that Haley's teacher suggests we attend these events primarily to secure her position as my child's teacher. When I see other children playing whether they are behind or ahead of Haley in the Suzuki repertoire, I appreciate completely Miss Gerry's goals for Haley's playing and the fact that she is very consistent in expecting a certain level of playing before she allows her students to advance. I am sure with most other teachers Haley would be playing songs in Book 3 by now (she knows the notes to all of them already anyway) but Miss Gerry is wonderful about bringing along the quality of her playing and establishing strong technical skills.

I watched the other children playing in Haley's master class with technically correct playing (proper notes and bowing patterns) but horrid tone and complete lack of musicality. I don't blame the students or even their parents at all. I know Miss Gerry would never have allowed them to advance as far as they have with that type of playing so I blame the teacher. I think it is a complete disservice to the children. I am so thankful that we found Miss Gerry because Haley would be one of those children if we hadn't found her.

After the second play-in a number of strangers came up to me and commented on Haley's playing ability. In a group of 40 students, I don't know how they could possibly have picked out her actual playing but she does stand out a bit in that her whole body is involved in her playing and she loves it. A good friend suggested that she "doesn't just play, she performs." Maybe that is what people notice about her.

All in all it was a good day. I purchased a violin stand for Haley to use so she doesn't have to put her violin away in the case every time she uses it. It has worked to make her violin more accessible and last night even after an entire day of playing, she practiced on her own twice more that night.

Merry Christmas...

Well, it has been another wonderful Christmas. The children are all off playing with their loot. We have eaten our fill and visited with family. We are now exhausted in a way only accomplished by rising at 5:30am (or earlier) and having a very busy day but nothing that an early night in bed will not cure.

We have taken off a few days from school and plan to get back into gear the first of the year. I needed to catch up on some cleaning and the kids have been working hard and deserved a break.

My little one got a new 1/10th size violin last week complete with a larger 1/8th size bow. She figured out almost immediately where she needed to place her fingers to play in tune without the prerequisite Suzuki finger tapes and her teacher decided to let her go without them. It amazes me what she is capable of sometimes. She played beautifully in her Suzuki Christmas concert on Friday night, doing a solo on the "Dashing through the snow..." part of Jingle Bells then playing her Back Minuet 1 plus a few other Christmas carols including Silent Night which we had never practiced. (That scared me a little because there were only 4 people, besides her, playing and mistakes could easily be heard unlike when there are 10-15 other players.) Afterward she giggled, "Miss Gerry let me play a song I didn't even know!!"

Since getting her new violin, she has been practicing a lot more and playing around with her instrument again. Yesterday she began playing a waltz from her Kevin Burke CD and I nearly cried, it was so beautiful and amazing.

Last night we attended the Christmas Eve candlelight service. Haley's Sunday school teacher was playing piano and I pointed it out to her. She said, "I know and she is making some mistakes, too." (Playing with the songs she was hitting some notes wrong in a few chords which Haley did not miss.)

Suzuki parenting...

There has been an ongoing discussion on the Suzuki chat group about getting started with violin practice with resistant small children. A fellow chatter, Suzuki mother, and teacher, Miranda explained the four-fold way to be successful...

"1. Show up. If you're teaching your own, that means something a little different than cheerfully going to lessons. It means including your child in your community of students. It means making the time each day for practicing to happen. It doesn't mean anything about your child doing anything at all. It just creates the possibility and helps nurture the interest. You just keep creating that nurturing environment. Time works magic.

2. Pay attention to what is good, true and beautiful. One way of putting this into practice is to make it a habit of reflecting on every single practice session with the question "what is one thing that worked well here today?" Become conscious of those things -- you may have to dig deep to find them at first -- and do what you can to allow them to grow. At first the "good, true and beautiful" might just be your child's strong will, or boundless energy ... something in the "mixed blessing" category. But if you can become more aware of it as a potentially positive force, and look for ways to enjoy it and turn it to advantage, you'll gradually get more and more stuff that is true and beautiful. Eventually you'll find more complex stuff that's working well, things like "when I let her choose a legato piece to play after each left hand exercise, she remains happy and focused, and her tone stays good."

3. Speak the truth in love. For me this means relating verbally to my child in ways that are less about instruction and control and more in the style of positive yet honest observations and facilitations ... always spoken in an unaffected, genuine, loving tone. So rather than saying "please try to keep your eyes on your bow" I'd say "Your sound is much more beautiful when you watch and keep your bow on the highway." I would stay clear of praise and positive judgements designed to manipulate my child, because that stuff doesn't feel "true" to me. Encouragement rather than praise. Encouragement rather than criticism, nagging or instruction.4. Do not become attached to outcome. Oh my, this is the toughest one for parents who are also teachers. We know what children are capable of in an optimal environment. We think we've got a pretty rich environment happening for our own child, so we expect pretty impressive results. We may not have shallow expectations like "Perpetual Motion by age 5" but we have many less tangible ones. We expect our child will become focused, will be motivated and will get some goal-oriented work accomplished, learning at a brisk pace that is right for her. If you figure out how to really let go of your attachment to these outcomes, you'll be three kids further ahead of the game than I am. I am only just beginning to get this down with my fourth child ... and perhaps only because she's making it easy by having a natural affinity for the sorts of outcomes I'm trying to let go of."


I absolutely love this. Even though I have never really spelled it out before, reading it, I found that this is exactly how I go about things...well nearly every day. (I am sure we all have grouchy days once in awhile.) This way of thinking has helped me to be creative and come up with different ways of doing things...games to play, choices to give my little violinist, etc... My personal goal is to think like this everyday.