tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6468439890002165895.post4383403898938165874..comments2024-03-18T20:06:15.193-05:00Comments on TEACH SUZUKI: The Case for PerfectionPaula E. Birdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03790961893704898488noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6468439890002165895.post-52240444056646044152012-03-26T12:09:38.014-05:002012-03-26T12:09:38.014-05:00I just loved reading your comment! (and hi to your...I just loved reading your comment! (and hi to your boyfriend!). I appreciate your thoughts, and I am going to track down that book! Sounds like just the thing I want to read.<br /><br />We really strived for perfection when we worked on our Carnegie Hall performance. We practiced and performed our program so many times in advance of the big night. As our violist Bruce frequently remarked after the Carnegie performance, "we will return home as changed people." He is so right. When one works as hard as we did, we do change. Striving for perfection will always accomplish this sort of change. For the better!<br /><br />Keep in touch. Keep writing. I love how everyone's comments spark new ideas for me. Please speak up (raise that hand!) and send some new ideas my way. What do we want to discuss next?Paula E. Birdhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03790961893704898488noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6468439890002165895.post-27597667443311497072012-03-14T12:17:13.470-05:002012-03-14T12:17:13.470-05:00Paula,
I have admired your blog (from afar and s...Paula, <br /><br />I have admired your blog (from afar and silently!) for quite a few months now... I so appreciate the thought you put into this. Please know that for one young violin teacher on the east coast *raises hand*, each one of your posts sparks new thoughts and ideas, and spurs me to pursue my own lines of thinking as well. (My boyfriend, who is a Suzuki Guitar teacher, also passes along his greetings; he's a regular reader too.)<br /><br />I did Violin Book 1 training with Carrie Reuning-Hummel, and she has a similar viewpoint - except she swapped the word you use, "perfection", with the word "excellence". <br /><br />It seems that parents frequently want the results of the "muscle-work" that comes with striving for perfection/excellence, but without actually doing the muscle-work. Families take on too many activities in trying to have the perfect well-rounded kids, the perfect appearance of community involvement, etc... A smarter move, in my view, would be to focus on fewer things and increase the quality of one's work and relationships.<br /><br />I read a book called "The Price of Privilege" by Madeline Levine that addresses our society's avoidance of working our excellence muscles, while simultaneously expecting the image of perfection. It might be a nice read for you, as it puts many labels on the things that we encounter as teachers working with families. I surely appreciated it.<br /><br />Anyhow, thank you for all that you do... I'll keep reading (and get up the guts to comment more)!<br /><br />-- Kate<br />kathrynkilian.comAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com