The Nightmare Teachers Have

I could tell the minute a student entered the studio that school had ended. Many students plopped onto the couch and sat there motionless for a few minutes before the parent or I had to remind them to open up the violin cases and get the instruments ready to play. Others seemed to move in slow motion as they performed the get-ready tasks with lethargy and low energy. And then there were the lessons with glazed eyes, listless playing, and lack of focus and attention.

Yes, summer has arrived, I thought.

I have written several articles in the past about the Summer Daze problem, as I like to call it. And I suppose that I will write many more articles about this issue in the future.

What is "summer daze"? It is a student (and quite possibly a parent) who has lost focus and energy about music lessons. It is a student and parent who have stopped practicing, coming to lessons, or listening to the repertoire to be studied. It is a student and parent who have decided consciously or unconsciously to take a break and rest.

It is every teacher's nightmare.

Rather than completely stop the road to progress, I recommend that students and parents rearrange things in the home so that the ability development journey continues. I want to remind my readers that the Suzuki journey is more than just a method to learn how to play a musical instrument. It is a philosophy that teaches life skills, raises children with noble hearts, and improves family relationships. It is important that this philosophy continue even during periods of vacation.

It is alright to alter schedules and routines during vacation times, and I highly recommend this. A few minutes' attention to the ways that a family can arrange lessons, practices, and musical activities will inspire refreshing changes and renew enthusiasm.

Here are a few of my recommendations to avoid the summer daze:

• Look through your calendar and schedule as many lessons as your schedule and your teacher's schedule will allow. It is okay to have more than one lesson in a week. The teacher can focus one lesson on one aspect of technique and use the other lesson to work on something new or fun. Perhaps your teacher can suggest some additional music to learn, such as fiddle music or popular songs from current movies.
• Think about your day and how you can arrange your schedule so that you arrange suitable moments for daily practice.
• Think about times during the week when you can arrange a special concert. Your child would love to perform for others, and this would be a wonderful reason to do some practice during the week to prepare for the event, even if the event is a phone call to grandma.
• Perhaps you can arrange a special music play date with some of your child's other music friends. I recall a trio of young students who regularly arranged sleepovers that involved the violin.
• Look through the local concerts and plan to attend several concerts in the park. Our local symphony offers several possibilities. It offers special art and music park events every Wednesday morning throughout the summer, and each week features a different section of the symphony (strings, woodwinds, brass, percussion). The symphony sections each present monthly concerts in the park, and families can bring lawn chairs and pets to the concerts. The big summer event is the July 4 concert with the 1812 overture.
• Plan your vacation with your child's instrument in mind. Children can carry their instruments onto airplanes. I have camped out with my instrument and practiced under pine trees beside lakes. One time a railroad train blew right past me as I played. I had no idea that I was 30 feet from a railway line. That was interesting!
• If you are unable to take the instrument, then plan to maintain a listening program for the child so that the child remembers the pieces he or she is learning or has already learned.
• Make plans for your child to attend a Suzuki Institute or other music camp. Some of my fondest summer music experiences were my summer camps. I went to strings camps, and later as a teacher, I attended Suzuki Institutes with some of my students. We had a lot of fun! The parents who came along learned a lot as well.
• Plan special summer events. This summer might be a great time to arrange a summer Olympics for the violin. Set a few dates for special Olympic trials and races, and have the child start preparing for those events. Then arrange to make medals and certificates for each event that the child participates in.
• Listen to the Teach Suzuki Podcast episode: 100 Things to do in the Summer and try a few suggestions.

Summer time can be a fun time for music. I hope you find ways to add music into your summer fun.

Happy Summer Practicing!

----- Paula -----

© 2017 by Paula E. Bird

My Child Refuses to Practice | Guest Post by Beth Ringel

Playful Learning

The following is a guest post from Beth Ringel, current President of the Greater Austin Suzuki Association.

In his book, Nurtured by Love, Dr. Suzuki wrote:

 "My child refuses to practice at home." Quite a few mothers bring this complaint to me. That is because they fail to understand that their children's motivation in learning the violin stems from the sense that the violin is fun, and that they, too, want to have fun. "I'm paying tuition every month, to have the training turned into playing? That's just . . ." -- that is how the adults feel. In other words, calculation enters into education, and that calculation dominates the process. The failure rate is very high in those cases. Start the child off with the pleasure of having fun, and steer her in the right direction by taking advantage of the pleasure of having fun -- no matter what the area, this is where early education must start.

The moment we rigidly convince ourselves, "Education is what we're after," we warp a child's development. 

-- Shinichi Suzuki, Nurtured by Love

As we are gear up (wind down?) for the summer, take a moment with me to stop and think about how we approach our children’s musical practices. Specifically, I want to talk about play. The action of making music on an instrument is referred to as “playing.” What I’d like to examine is whether we are doing our best to bring this verb to life. As you can see from Dr. Suzuki's quote above, he clearly sees “playing” an instrument as fun and enjoyable, not just an action that applies to making an instrument produce sound. As I’m sure most parents do, sometimes I feel myself turning into the skeptical parent in Dr. Suzuki’s example, feeling as if there should be more work involved in the process. After all, isn’t that what I experienced growing up? (Of course, if I recall correctly, that experience led me to quit piano after one year at age eight, so perhaps that’s not the best path to go down.)

We know from our own personal experiences as well as observing our children that they (and we!) learn best when there is enjoyment in what we are doing -- when playing. What play looks like for each child may differ, but there are similarities we can outline. In fact, I have been questioning several of my students over the past month about what they think play is, and here are some of their answers:

• Playing isn’t always fun, but you feel good afterwards (as in a soccer game in 100-degree heat).

• Playing involves movement (maybe that’s why singers don’t “play” their instruments).

• I asked several of them if they thought playing involves choice, and without exception they said sometimes but not always. One particularly astute fifteen-year-old said that playing exists on a spectrum, encompassing free, unstructured play on one side and structured play on the other.

• Playing feels a certain way.

I’d like to address how play can be connected to practice using a couple of theorist/educator examples. First of all, the physician/educator Maria Montessori (1870-1952) famously said, “play is the child’s work,” (not “work is the child’s play!”). Do we approach practice as work that masquerades as play (I’m thinking of external rewards and games that actually distract from the focus)? Or do we approach practice as play, where work can be done as a natural byproduct? I think this is an important distinction to make, especially when working with the youngest of children.

Think of movement that young children want to do. They are primed for action. If we think of practice as a space to play or to move (in the context of playing the instrument), we will accomplish much more than if we think of it as a chore or the job of the child. At the very least, we will have strengthened our relationship with our child through the process, instead of weakening it, which to me is an important measure of success.

Montessori also emphasized play/learning as containing intrinsic rewards. This is where the work comes in. The act of learning in itself is its reward, not externally-placed goals or physical rewards. The question is, how do we encourage motivation to learn in our children without external rewards? Well, let’s go back to the basics as per Suzuki: listening to the recording (a lot!) and playing with other children. These happen to overlap with Montessori, in that a Montessori environment is set up to encourage the child's natural curiosity (i.e., wanting to learn how to play the songs because the children hear them all the time), as well as children learning from other children. Sports are tremendously successful in this aspect: most involve a team. Music is no different. Without the team, it’s just not as much fun. The relationships are extremely important in maintaining motivation over the years.

Russian psychiatrist Lev Vygotsky (1896-1934) defined play only as being sociodramatic, that is, make believe. Vygotsky’s play included the creation of imaginary situations and roleplay, guided by rules (either created by the “play”-er or demonstrated by a teacher). A key concept in Vygostkian theory is the zone of proximal development. This concept refers to the point of development where a child wants to learn something but is unable to do it without some assistance, either from a teacher or (even better) a peer. These specific situations, knowledge, and roles are influenced by a child’s social context; thus a child raised in Norway will exhibit different play and learn different content than one raised in Africa, each according to his surroundings. Sound familiar? Suzuki, of course, often expressed his amazement that a child will master his mother tongue, no matter the difficulty of the language, simply from being immersed in it and relating to it in a natural way.

Two Brothers Play Together

Applications of Vygotsky’s play ideas are not as obvious in musical instrument study, but we can draw two important connections. First, when we examine the idea of roleplay, where do we think children are getting these roles from? Other, more advanced, children, of course. Older children are the model. That’s how a child can imagine himself progressing. The child must have a way of picturing what is possible. That’s one reason you see hotbeds of high level of ability: children are surrounded by examples of high-quality, and "talent" begets "talent."

Second, part of the joy of making music is embodying its spirit and communicating this to an audience. I am as guilty as anyone else for failing to prioritize the communication and make-believe/emotional aspect of music (the ‘play’) and focusing instead on technique (the ‘work’). Our adult brains want to focus on the how instead of the why. When a child builds a train track, he or she does not usually think about the cognitive skills the child is developing. The child enjoys the tactile sensation of linking the tracks and running the train over them and imagines that the child is the engineer who guides the train on an adventure -- even more so when mom, or dad, or sibling comes down to the child's level and joins in on the child's play.

When a child plays an instrument, how much fun it could be to pretend to be someone else or an animal, or to explore different emotions. That’s part of why Dr. Suzuki said that music develops a beautiful heart -- we are practicing emotions to communicate with other people, as well as to receive them. Much like with spoken language, the purpose of music is communication. The technique is there to serve this purpose; that’s what we address in Vygotsky’s zone of proximal development. We have to get in the zone first to create the desire to develop better ability, and that’s where play comes in.

I’d like to leave you with a few questions to ask about your practices:

• What space are you giving you and your child to let play happen during practice, or are you trying to educate?

• What goal are you working towards? The how of playing or the why?

• What environment are you structuring to support you and your child (e.g., listening and group attendance)?

• What are you doing in your practice sessions to strengthen (or weaken) your relationship?

These are some heavy questions, and they are not meant for you to judge yourself harshly. I know as much as anyone else that being a parent gives many opportunities for self-doubt, self-criticism, and guilt. I am a Suzuki parent as well as a Suzuki teacher, and I experience all of these doubts firsthand, every day. My hope is that if I keep working on myself, I can help support my son’s learning in the most productive and enjoyable way possible and also continue to forgive myself when I fall short of these expectations.

Beth Ringel and Her Family

To conclude, I’d like to challenge you to have a conversation with your child about what the child thinks play is and how it relates to playing an instrument. I’m always impressed and surprised by what children have to say about this, and children are always delighted to be asked!

Yours in play,

Beth Ringel

Suzuki Early Childhood Education and Cello Teacher
Mother of a Suzuki pianist and Suzuki ECE’r

The Twinkle Project by Paula E. Bird

A resource that guides teachers and parents of violin students
from the beginning steps through the Twinkle Variations.

Let's Do a Twinkle Challenge!

Most of us had a holiday break recently. Family outings, travel, and social occasions may have tugged us away from our good intentions of regular and consistent practice. I sympathized with any of my students who reported a dismal practice record over the holiday break. I struggled myself to find personal practice time and energy to accomplish anything other than staying on top of my performance commitments.

So, I propose that we find a way to get ourselves on track, and what better way to do that than a Twinkle Challenge! Here are some ways to do a Twinkle Challenge:

• Play through the Twinkle, Twinkle Variations every day. Focus on correct execution of articulation and intonation while maintaining correct posture.
• Play through the Twinkle, Twinkle Variations at the next lesson, or perhaps the first lesson of each month for the next three months.
• As students progress through the Suzuki repertoire, add appropriate challenges for the students' levels. I will make a few suggestions below to whet your creativity.

Here are a few basic ideas for challenging violin students as they improve in skill and ability development.

Book 1:

• Play the variations on different strings.
• Play the variations in G major, as suggested in one of my earlier blog articles (click here to read more).
• Play a new Twinkle variation by using a new bowing style. For example, try playing Variation D with down-up-up, down-up-up bows, as in the bowing style used in the first measure of Minuet 1.
• Use left hand pizzicato to pluck all the open E and A strings and play the other notes with the bow. This is a great pinky strengthener.

Books 2 and 3:

• Play the variations in D or A minor, to mirror the finger patterns found in "The Two Grenadiers" and Lully's "Gavotte."
• Play the variations in Bb, starting on Bb, as in the middle section of Mignon's "Gavotte."
• Play a new variation using a bowing suggested by Paganini's "Theme" from "Witches' Dance." This variation example is actually found in book 2 already.

Books 4 and above:

• Play the variations starting with up bow. The variations should sound as good as they would if played with a starting down bow.
• Play the variations in higher positions or with shifts to stay on one string.

This is certainly not an exhaustive list but one to get you started thinking. I have done Twinkle challenges in the past, and I was amazed at how well the studio students sounded when we revisited the Twinkle Variations on a regular basis.

Happy Practicing!

----- Paula -----

© 2017 by Paula E. Bird

A Student Hit Me

by Paula E. Bird

Recently during a lesson I asked a student to hit me with her bow. She did. Ouch!

I have tried to get this student to stop playing with a floppy bow hand for a long time. I have tried all sorts of pictures, analogies, and suggestions to get her to understand that her sound was soggy and floppy because her bow hand was soggy and floppy. No energy.

I tried to get the teaching point across to her by shaking her hand using a “limp fish” handshake. Then I shook hands with her using a good, firm business-like grip. The model example did not “take.” Her bow continued to flop and sag, and then she began to lean the bow stick backwards, as if she was pushing her sound away from her. Instead of connecting her musical energy through her body to the bow and ultimately onto the violin, my student was letting the energy seep out of her bow hand knuckles and dissipate into the air. How to change this?

I have been working with my student to alter this energy use for about a year now with no success. I finally became desperate, and out of the land of desperation, many wonderful ideas are born.

At her last lesson, I became desperate to try anything to bring awareness. I explained the problem: her hand was bleeding energy out into the air rather than directing it to her bow hand and the violin. I talked about the 4 types of energy flows and used the descriptions from Ed Kreitman’s book, Teaching with an Open Heart (2010):

Push

Pull

Stop/Block

Allow

My lesson about energy was an easy one with this particular student because her mother’s business is about working with other people’s animals. Since my student is home-schooled, she is able to join her mother often and learn how to work with the animals. We discussed the different types of energy and its effect on dogs, because that is the most familiar experience for this particular student. Pomeranians have more energy; old Labradors have less. That sort of thing.

Ed Kreitman’s book is an excellent resource book for teachers. It is worth every penny. The book contains a beautiful description of energy and the role that energy plays in our approach to the musical instrument and to the creation of our musical expression. The illustrations are very clear, and often once I have shown the pictures to my students, they seem to grasp so much more quickly the teaching point that I am trying to make. I highly recommend that teachers read this book to aid the teaching of musicality and playing with musical expression. For more information about the book, you can order the book through Ed Kreitman's website shop here: http://www.wsste.com/. The book is also available through the Suzuki association website, suzukiassociation.org.

So here is how I got the teaching point across to my student.

"Hit me with your bow," I told her.

She looked at me blankly.

"Hit me with your bow," I insisted.

Whack!

Ouch!

Success!

Her bow hold altered! Her grip or hold had more substance. She directed energy to the bow and ultimately to the side of my head where she hit me. That was what I intended. I wanted her to form an intention to direct her energy to a certain point -- me. From there I showed her what she had done and how the bow hold energy changed, and how it looked.

Light bulb moment! For the first time I think my student "got it." She immediately changed her approach to the bow. She did not squeeze anything tighter; she merely garnered her body's energy to one focal point on her bow and then from her bow to the violin. Instead of letting the intentional energy leak out of her hand into the air, my student focused it into the instrument.

And her sound was fabulous! Gorgeous, focused, and clear! Lovely bow hold posture.

Although I would not advocate a student hitting a teacher (or vice versa), in this case the lesson was perfect!

Happy Practicing!

----- Paula ----- 

© 2016 by Paula E. Bird

What is Your Winning Strategy?

by Paula E. Bird

Recently I have been working extra special with one of my young students, who has been preparing a videotape of one of his book one pieces. This young man has struggled for many months to play Minuet 2 without memory slips and to remember to add fourth fingers and down bow circles in the appropriate places. He and his mother tell me that he practices, and I have no reason to doubt his word. Still he struggles each week to play the piece well enough to make a videotape to apply for graduation with our local Suzuki organization.

When things like this happen, I find it important to figure out some winning strategies for the practice sessions. Because this boy's family is quite tech savvy, we try to use our smart phone or computer technologies as much as we can. I suggested that the student make a video of himself using his iPad every day during the week leading up to the last lesson when the video tape was due. So every day I have received a video performance of Minuet 2 from my student.

Every day I have responded to my student about his latest video with some helpful suggestions and occasional pep talks. The student does not always recognize the progress that he makes from day to day, but I see it in an instant when I watch the films. And, because the videos come every single day without fail, I am able to add a few ideas that can tweak his path to progress. I also find that when students make videos to send to me, they are much more careful about the quality of their presentation. I see very few instances of speeding, sloppy bowing, or less than stellar intonation. The students appear to find it important to do a good job when they make their video submissions.

On the second day of submissions, I suggested that the student add a little extra listening: listen to the piece three times before bed and three times before making his next video. We hit on a winning combination in this instance, because the video I got next was night and day different from the video of the previous day. My student remembered the notes, many more of the finer teaching points (down bow circles, 4th fingers), and he played with so much more confidence. And now we know what type of winning strategy works for this particular student -- extra saturated listening.

Let me use this example as a reminder to add these strategies to our quiver of practice ideas and suggestions: making daily videos to send to the teacher, and doing special listening assignments.

Happy Practicing!

----- Paula -----

©2016 by Paula E. Bird

Posture Tip: Chest Expansion

slouched, constricted chest

Many students (and every day folk) have posture problems. Many of us have lost the war with gravity, and are sagging by the hour. Because our bodies are hunching little by little, our self confidence shrinks as well. To show you what I mean, here is a photo of one student who graciously agreed to pose with less than ideal standing posture.

Our focus this month is on posture. Here is a quick practice tip concerning standing posture and in particular the chest area, which will also affect the back and shoulders in a positive way. I asked my student to expand his chest area. I actually suggested that he widen his chest so that it was wider than his back. I could have also suggested that he lower his shoulder blades down in the back as well, but that may be a tip and suggestion for another day. Today I suggested only that my student widen the chest area. Here is the result.

expanded chest

When I showed the picture to my student, he was amazed at the transformation. When I asked him to indicate which picture exhibited a performer with the most confidence, my student handily picked the expanded chest photo.

Not only do appearances indicate that a person feels confident. People who stand with an outside look of confidence also claim to feel that level of confidence on the inside as well.

As we focus on posture issues this month, consider how you elect to hold yourself. Are you winning the gravity war?

Be sure to sign up for our newsletter! You will receive notice when there is new content on the blog. I also welcome your comments below about your favorite way to ensure that your posture is erect. How do your students respond?

Happy Practicing!

----- Paula -----

©2016 by Paula E. Bird