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.

10 Rules for Success for Suzuki Parents

Everyone likes to follow a prescription for success. The message is so promising: follow this 10-step plan and success will be yours.

In truth, there are simple steps that Suzuki parents can follow that will lead to successful practices in the Suzuki home. Here is a list of my ten favorite rules for success:

Arm in Cast Bow Practice

Practice Every Day! Teachers like to quote Dr. Suzuki: "You don't have to practice every day, only on the days that you eat." This advice takes care of the issue of illness. Even if students have an injury, they can still practice with some accommodation. Practicing every day keeps the memory alive, the muscles warm, and the motivation inspired. I have a student at the university who has practiced every day since she was five years old, even when she was in the hospital.

Listen Every Day! This rule seems so simple to me that I am surprised to discover a parent who forgets to do it. The magic of daily listening is incredible. Learning seems effortless. What parent does not want that?

Attend Lessons. When students and parents attend lessons regularly, there is little opportunity to pick up bad habits or overlook incorrectly learned material. Go to lessons, even if you or your child may not be feeling 100%. If you must miss a lesson, send a video recording of the child playing through the lesson material. I have counseled many students in this manner when we were unable to see each other in person due to illness. I could identify immediately any incorrect habits or other practice issues before the student had gone too far down the learning path.

Attend Group Classes. Children love to learn with other children. When parents complain to me that they are having a hard time at home trying to motivate their children to practice, I ask whether the parents and students come to group class. Group classes are fun and great motivators for home practice. The smart parent will use group classes as a way to encourage, inspire, and motivate the student to practice at home. Group classes are also a great way for teachers to address one point to a large group all at once. If parents miss group classes, parents may miss out on important announcements or that terrific, fun activity that can only happen in a group setting.

Take Notes at Lessons. Parents can mold home practices much easier if they have information available to them from the lesson. The best way to do this is for the parents to take notes at the lesson. If the teacher has to do this, then the teacher is taking up teaching time to do it. Also, the teacher may be rushed for time or unable to remember all that occurred during the lesson, so the teacher may not be as thorough at noting what needs to be practiced based on what occurred at the lesson as the parent would be. Taking notes is as simple as just writing a narrative of what occurred at the lesson. Write these notes as bullet points. Parents will be surprised to discover how much information will be revealed through the simple act of taking notes at lessons.

Take Notes at Institutes, Workshops, and Group Classes. Yes, you can take notes in other settings besides lessons, and parents will gather much useful information. Why wait until your child has a sagging left hand or crooked bow, when you can see that useful information in another child's lesson or in a group class? Start a parent notebook today. You will treasure this notebook later as a collection of memories of your child's Suzuki journey.

Learn About the Suzuki Method. Read one of Dr. Suzuki's books:

                    

(These are affiliate links, which mean that they are no additional cost to you, but if you use these links, then I will receive a small benefit for the work of writing the blog. You are never under any obligation to purchase anything, but if you do, please consider using these links or the links provided in my resources store.)

I think we all should educate ourselves as much as we can about the Suzuki Method and Dr. Suzuki's work concerning talent education so that we can share his message with confidence and knowledge. We are ambassadors to the world about this fabulous journey.

Mentor A New Parent. If you are a seasoned parent in the Suzuki world, pass on that knowledge to another parent who may be new to the studio or the Suzuki method. When we teach, we learn twice, as my blog states at the top of the page. Share your knowledge with another parent. Be a mentor for someone and accept the advice and assistance of a parent who has blazed the trail before you.

Practice With Your Child. I am dismayed to witness the large number of parents who seem almost eager to pass up the opportunity to spend time with their children in lessons, group classes, and practices. Rather than sit close and observe what the child learns, these parents drift away to another room and a different activity. Even if the child has matured enough to practice independently, the parent can still maintain a close connection with the work the child does in practices. Listen to the child play, involve the student in conversations about the learning and the practice work, and most of all, stay connected. Show interest. Be interested. Children grow up too fast. Capture as many moments and memories of this time as you can today before this time passes by. Put your phone away and watch your child amaze you.

Make the Suzuki Journey a Part of Your Entire Life. Suzuki music lessons are not something to be turned on and off once a day during practices or once a week at lessons and group classes. The Suzuki method is a philosophy for life and learning. Look for ways to use the knowledge of Dr. Suzuki in other aspects of your life, such as structuring a home environment of chores, service, learning, and cooperation as a family with others in the work place, at school, or in the community. Spread the word about the wealth and beauty of the method through your actions as a parent and family within your larger world and community.

I guarantee that if Suzuki parents were to follow these 10 basic rules for success, their children would have smiling faces and happy practices!

Happy Practicing!

----- Paula -----

© 2016 by Paula E. Bird

Teaching Tip: Decahedron and Other Whiteboard Dice

Decahedron Whiteboard Die

I am constantly on the lookout for exciting new ideas to make lessons and practices fun. Although this teaching tip does not involve a new idea, it is a fun idea and may be new for many students and parents.

I use a decahedron die. This is a 10-sided die, and there are five faces on the bottom and five faces on the top as you see in the picture. What is special about this particular die is that the surfaces are whiteboard and can be written on with a dry erase marker, and then erased and changed. That means this die is particularly useful for different students and situations.

For example, the other day I had a young student who is sometimes difficult to focus on lesson tasks. I used this die at the beginning of the lesson, and the student and I put together a list of 10 things that we wanted to do in the lesson. We included some fun things, and mom suggested one or two things that she thought he needed help with, and I added a few new things that I wanted to work on or build on from previous lessons. And finally, we put a star on one of the sides, and this side would represent something different. We decided that if the student threw the die and it landed with the star side up, whoever was the first person to call out an activity would be the winner.

In practice, this game was a lot of fun. Whenever the student threw the die and it landed on the star, it was very entertaining to see how quickly he would shout out his favorite activity. As we got better with the game, I would try to beat him at calling out an activity. When we completed each activity, we erased that item from the die so that it was blank again. We also had the option of writing an additional activity if we preferred.

There are many such whiteboard dice. Here are some links to several that I use in the studio. These are affiliate links, which means they benefit the blog but they are no additional cost to you. If you are in the market for these items, please consider using the links to help support the blog and my writing. I greatly appreciate it!

Magnetic Dry Erase Whiteboard Die

Magnetic Whiteboard Dice (set of 4 smaller)

Happy Practicing!

----- Paula -----

© 2016 by Paula E. Bird

Pernicious Recital Weeds

Recital Weeds?

We have all suffered our share of pernicious recital weeds. You know the ones. Within a month of the recital, some new finger tangle rears its ugly head, and then it seems to derail every single practice thereafter. Or perhaps we start to forget a fingering or bowing that before now has been an easy thing to play.

The problem with these "recital weeds" as I like to call them is that they do not go away. They keep showing up. Now we can analyze why this is the case, but frankly I do not really care. I just want them to go away and stop marring my practices and performances.

So here is the plan that I use for myself and what I teach my students. And as always, I am hopeful that my example of "how to practice correctly" will stick with the student long enough to affect future practices as well.

First, I isolate the area. This does not mean that I start on the mistake itself, as I know my students prefer to do. It means, that I will back up perhaps a measure or two and start directly on that phrase. I will play the phrase through slowly enough to play it correctly, with the correct fingering and bowing or whatever else I am trying to fix. Then I play through that isolated passage a minimum of five times correctly. If I make any mistakes while I do those five repetitions, then I must add an extra correct repetition for each additional mistake. This will curb any enthusiasm I might have for racing through this weed eradication program too quickly. It stops my students from rushing through the 5 repetitions with inattention too. After all, if they know I will make them repeat the passage until I get 5 good repetitions, then my students tend to pay attention, take care, and pick reasonable and playable speeds (maybe the same thing?).

After correctly repeating the passage, I then back up and place it into context. I may start a line before that in the music and see if the weed program has worked for the moment. If I get to that spot and stumble again, I stop and do my five-repetitions routine once again. Then I back up again a line or so and try another run through. I repeat this process until I can pass through my trouble spot with no errors.

If the problem occurs the next day, I apply my weed eradication program again. I repeat this program everyday until the weeds are completely gone.

Now normally when I am practicing and learning a passage in my regular practices, I do not need to follow this special program. I can rely on one, maybe two days of an efficient practice style. However, in the case of these recital weeds that pop up within a month of a recital performance, I cannot afford that luxury of efficient practicing, and I must stamp out and eradicate these issues immediately with the full force of tools and techniques available to me.

What are your experiences with this sort of problem? Please be sure to comment and leave me your ideas. We are coming up on a recital in another month, and already I have had to pull out all the stops to get rid of the weeds.

Until next time,

Happy Practicing!

----- Paula -----

© 2016 by Paula E. Bird

The Rule of Four Game: Building a Good Practicing Habit

Rule of Four Game

We like to play squares of 8 in my studio, where the student plays a game of moving from square one to square 8 by playing a specific passage or instrumental technique 8 times correctly. I learned about this game from Philip Johnston of (insidemusicteaching.com, formerly known as "The Practice Spot"). I describe the game in a previous article (How to Beat a Speeding Ticket).

For my younger students, I have modified the game into the "Rule of 4." I fold a piece of construction paper into four squares. To negate the phrase that we "practice until we get it right," I reinforce the concept that a student should practice once he or she gets it right. The student needs to play the passage or technique correctly before even being allowed to "enter" the game.

Once the student plays correctly, I place a game piece or other marker on square number 1. Now the student must play once again correctly in order to advance to square 2. If a student misses, then the student moves back a square. Problems typically occur between squares 2 and 3 as the student becomes cockier at that point and does not concentrate or pay attention as well. When the student finally advances to square 4, the game is over for the day.

We added a special rule regarding square 4, because so many students really fell apart at this point due to loss of focus and concentration. If a student misses the attempt at square 4, then they get moved back to square 1! And I do not hesitate to add "pressure" when a student tries for square 4, because adding pressure seems to wake students up again and help them finish the game.

Recently one of my younger piano students made up a really cute game board for me, as pictured above. I would like to share her decorative artwork for each square and the middle between the squares.

Practice once you get it right!
Goal is four correct times!

This little square in the center reminds the student of the purpose of the Rule of Four Game: to practice once you get it right. The student's goal is to play it four times correctly.

Square 1: Yay!

The student has to earn the right to place the marker on the first square by playing correctly. Once the student achieves that, the game really begins. Now that we "have it right," we can practice it to reinforce the new skill.

Square 2: Just Two More!

Square 2 reminds us that there are just two more squares to go. Sometimes students have trouble moving on to square 3.

Square 3: Don't Stress! 

Square 3 can be stressful, as the student may struggle to pay attention and concentrate! My artist student reminds us "not to stress"! Students need to be careful at this point because if they misstep, they must start all over!

Square 4: You Can Do It!

I hope that you and your students and children can enjoy this game as much as we do. My student seemed to have even more fun when she worked on the art project! I bought her sign and another sign from her sister so that I would be able to own the game for my studio.

Until next time,

Happy Practicing!

----- Paula -----

© 2016 by Paula E. Bird