... on listening!
Listening - I am a firm optimist. I believe it when someone says that if you follow a recipe you will get the expected result. When I first learned that listening to the music made an enormous difference in how a child learned to play the piano, I was willing to give it a try. We listened to our Suzuki piano music daily and sure enough she learned to play the first songs very easily. The melody was the first thing she imitated, but that was quickly followed with the "dynamics." The most impressive aspect of this for me, that has reinforced my commitment to daily listening to the music, occurred after a summer of traveling. We traveled for six weeks and my daughter did not practice at all during that time, as we were camping in national parks all over the West. I was nervous coming back to lessons - I worried, "How much did she forget?" But, sure enough, our almost-daily listening kept those tunes in her head and it was short work to get her fingers accurately back on those keys. Now her songs are much longer, but that regular listening makes learning so much easier. She can break down and hear in her head exactly what the song is supposed to sound like. It is like reminding her of something she already knows, much like increasing your child's writing and spelling abilities by exposing her to rich vocabulary in excellent stories. Listening and doing seem to go hand in hand.
Sunday, February 19, 2012
Friday, February 17, 2012
Listening: the determiner of success
If you refer back to my "Suzuki vs. Traditional" post you'll see that the first step in the Mother-Tongue Method is listening. I cannot express how important this step is in the natural learning process of your child, especially when using the Suzuki Method. Here are a few simple reasons why and some examples of how listening ensures success.
Listening ensures success through continual progress. Have you or your children ever taken dance classes? I never have, but I know that dance instructors don't have their students read descriptions of steps and sequences in order to teach them to dance. They have their students watch and imitate. The same goes for any type of music. As an accomplished musician you should always know how to count and read music, but it's definitely easier to grasp a complex rhythm, such as are used in popular music today, when you've heard it! Children are sponges, they imitate what they hear and see, both good and bad. If my students are listening to their CD on a daily basis then I can assure you that their progress will be consistent. I would even go so far as to say that listening to the CD is more important than practicing!
Listening ensures success in new material. When starting a new song with one of my students, I can always tell if they've been listening to the CD at home on a daily basis. Students who have been listening pick up the melodies of new songs effortlessly, usually with just a few tips from me such as which fingers to use and what note to start on. This is because the direction of the melodies have been in their ears for months. They know what's coming next.
Listening ensures success with review. A couple of summers ago the mother of one of my students was worried that their extended summer vacation, which would include a lot of camping but no access to a piano, would send her and her daughter backwards in the hard fought progress they had seen the previous year. I challenged them to listen to the CD as much as possible while away, and whenever they had a piano to only focus on review. They came back in the fall not having lost any progress at all!
Listening prepares younger siblings for success. I love teaching families of two or more because everything seems to be easier for the second sibling. My favorite example of this was with a family whose son, Adam, started at the age of 5, and a year later their 4 year old daughter, Anna, started lessons. During that first year when Adam was taking lessons, Anna would eagerly come to lessons, not to play, not to see me, but to sit right by the piano with her dad and watch Adam's lessons. They told me she did the same thing at home while he was practicing. When Anna finally got her chance to take lessons she already knew how all of the songs sounded, how to sit in lessons and pay attention, and that practicing at home should happen every day. Every week she astounded me with how easily she learned new songs, how careful she was to have excellent technique, and how attentive she was in her lessons, all because of the year of listening she'd had prior to starting her own lessons.
If you don't already listen to your Suzuki CD every day, I challenge you to do it for one week and look for changes in how your child practices.
Some good places and times to listen are:
- in the car,
- in the morning while you're all getting ready for work or school,
- while your child is doing homework,
- at night while they're falling asleep.
Try to make the listening active by asking your child:
- "what song do you like best?"
- "do you recognize any songs from the end of the CD?"
- "which songs would you most like to learn?"
I hope this has adequately emphasized the importance of listening. Please let me know if you have any questions or comments by contacting me at dunkirksuzuki@gmail.com.
Happy listening!
Listening ensures success through continual progress. Have you or your children ever taken dance classes? I never have, but I know that dance instructors don't have their students read descriptions of steps and sequences in order to teach them to dance. They have their students watch and imitate. The same goes for any type of music. As an accomplished musician you should always know how to count and read music, but it's definitely easier to grasp a complex rhythm, such as are used in popular music today, when you've heard it! Children are sponges, they imitate what they hear and see, both good and bad. If my students are listening to their CD on a daily basis then I can assure you that their progress will be consistent. I would even go so far as to say that listening to the CD is more important than practicing!
Listening ensures success in new material. When starting a new song with one of my students, I can always tell if they've been listening to the CD at home on a daily basis. Students who have been listening pick up the melodies of new songs effortlessly, usually with just a few tips from me such as which fingers to use and what note to start on. This is because the direction of the melodies have been in their ears for months. They know what's coming next.
Listening ensures success with review. A couple of summers ago the mother of one of my students was worried that their extended summer vacation, which would include a lot of camping but no access to a piano, would send her and her daughter backwards in the hard fought progress they had seen the previous year. I challenged them to listen to the CD as much as possible while away, and whenever they had a piano to only focus on review. They came back in the fall not having lost any progress at all!
Listening prepares younger siblings for success. I love teaching families of two or more because everything seems to be easier for the second sibling. My favorite example of this was with a family whose son, Adam, started at the age of 5, and a year later their 4 year old daughter, Anna, started lessons. During that first year when Adam was taking lessons, Anna would eagerly come to lessons, not to play, not to see me, but to sit right by the piano with her dad and watch Adam's lessons. They told me she did the same thing at home while he was practicing. When Anna finally got her chance to take lessons she already knew how all of the songs sounded, how to sit in lessons and pay attention, and that practicing at home should happen every day. Every week she astounded me with how easily she learned new songs, how careful she was to have excellent technique, and how attentive she was in her lessons, all because of the year of listening she'd had prior to starting her own lessons.
If you don't already listen to your Suzuki CD every day, I challenge you to do it for one week and look for changes in how your child practices.
Some good places and times to listen are:
- in the car,
- in the morning while you're all getting ready for work or school,
- while your child is doing homework,
- at night while they're falling asleep.
Try to make the listening active by asking your child:
- "what song do you like best?"
- "do you recognize any songs from the end of the CD?"
- "which songs would you most like to learn?"
I hope this has adequately emphasized the importance of listening. Please let me know if you have any questions or comments by contacting me at dunkirksuzuki@gmail.com.
Happy listening!
Thursday, February 9, 2012
What do I do when my child doesn't want to practice?
If you have children who are taking any type of music lessons, then I'm sure you've struggled with this problem. We all want children to enjoy learning and playing their instrument, so how do you get them to sit and practice without forcing them? Unfortunately, there's no one right answer, but here are some things that may help.
- Recognize the problem as early as possible. If you notice that your child is becoming less and less enthralled with practicing at home, the more quickly you do something about it the fewer fights you'll have.
- Talk to your child about the situation. Why is practicing not as enjoyable? They'll usually have a good answer, like "it's too hard and frustrating." If this is the case, they may need some encouragement or to be shown their progress in the last few weeks by looking through old practice sheets. If boredom is a factor, then some things may need changed such as time of day, order of practice songs or to be pushed more in lessons, which brings up the next point.
- Talk to your teacher about the situation. No, teachers don't like to hear that their students aren't happy about practicing at home, but even more, students don't like their teachers to hear that they're not happy about practicing at home. I can always be the bad guy in a situation like this because of the relationship I've built with my students.
There are two drastic situations that I can think of. The firts was with a boy who was about 7 years old who refused to practice at home, and therefore was not progressing in lessons. His mom communicated this to me, and I talked to him about it. Unfortunately, the problems had begun quite a while before it had been brought to my attention so there were more reasons than I can even list. Eventually, I told the boy that by not practicing he was wasting his mom's money. It had never occurred to him that his mom paid for lessons because he had never seen her give me any money.
The second situation was with a young girl who also fought practicing at home. This mom communicated very well with me by phone whenever they had a bad week and also discreetly told me about their practicing situation at home. I talked to the girl about it and suggested to her and her mom that the next time they had any problems at home to have the student call me to tell me why she didn't want to practice. I never got a call.
- Make practicing fun. Young kids thrive on routine, but as they get older they need more variety to keep their attention. This is where you, the parent, get to be creative! It takes more effort on your part, but the outcome is well worth it. First consider what your child enjoys - competition, puzzles, games, rewards, praise, goals, etc. and use it to your advantage.
Competition - compete with your child to see who can identify 7 different piano keys by letter or 7 different notes on a staff the fastest. Who can play "My Fair Lady" 5 times perfectly?
Puzzles - most of the songs in book 1 can be linked with each other by similar traits. See if your child can figure out the links. Here is one of many examples: starting with Mary Had a Little Lamb, "what other song starts on E?" Answer: French Children. Play French Children. "What other song has a 'funny animal' pattern in it?" Answer: Au Clair de la Lune. Play Au Clair. "What other song has an A in the RH melody?" Answer: London Bridge. Play London Bridge. "What other song has a G alberti?" Answers: Lightly Row, Long, Long Ago, Aunt Rhody. And so on.
Games - you can incorporate any board game into a practice session, and you can make up other games specifically for practicing. Some games I use for review are picking from popsicle sticks with names of review songs on them, "going fishing" for review songs, and rolling dice with numbers correlating with the numbered songs in the book. To use a board game, simply attach sticky tack or tape to the game pieces so the board can be leaned onto the piano, and for every review song or repetition your child accomplishes, you each get a turn in the game.
Rewards - there are many different levels of rewards that you can do for your child. Take your child's personality into careful consideration to know what will motivate most effectively. Young children may do better with immediate rewards while older children have the patience to earn towards bigger ones. A mom told me that they use things like a new bike, something they were going to buy for their child anyway, as a reward for practicing. You can use snacks or pennies during a practice session, sticker charts towards an ice-cream or pizza outing, or sticker charts towards something big at the end of the year, like tickets to an event, or a bike (or a puppy!)
Praise - don't forget that children are constantly looking for your approval. If you're able to leave every practice session letting your child know that you're pleased with their accomplishments, or if it wasn't a great day, their efforts, this goes a long way in encouraging them.
Goals - have immediate goals in practice session, like playing the melody of the new song perfectly twice, or playing all of French Children perfectly and slowly. Have short term goals like encouraging your child that once they've learned all of Lightly Row with alberti's then you get to move on to a new song. Have long term goals, like finishing Book 1 and doing a recital for friends and family, then moving on the Book 2! Always acknowledge when these goals have been accomplished, then set new ones.
Visit this link for more great tips on helping your child effectively and happily practice at home: http://suzukiassociation.org/news/i-love-to-practice/.
- Recognize the problem as early as possible. If you notice that your child is becoming less and less enthralled with practicing at home, the more quickly you do something about it the fewer fights you'll have.
- Talk to your child about the situation. Why is practicing not as enjoyable? They'll usually have a good answer, like "it's too hard and frustrating." If this is the case, they may need some encouragement or to be shown their progress in the last few weeks by looking through old practice sheets. If boredom is a factor, then some things may need changed such as time of day, order of practice songs or to be pushed more in lessons, which brings up the next point.
- Talk to your teacher about the situation. No, teachers don't like to hear that their students aren't happy about practicing at home, but even more, students don't like their teachers to hear that they're not happy about practicing at home. I can always be the bad guy in a situation like this because of the relationship I've built with my students.
There are two drastic situations that I can think of. The firts was with a boy who was about 7 years old who refused to practice at home, and therefore was not progressing in lessons. His mom communicated this to me, and I talked to him about it. Unfortunately, the problems had begun quite a while before it had been brought to my attention so there were more reasons than I can even list. Eventually, I told the boy that by not practicing he was wasting his mom's money. It had never occurred to him that his mom paid for lessons because he had never seen her give me any money.
The second situation was with a young girl who also fought practicing at home. This mom communicated very well with me by phone whenever they had a bad week and also discreetly told me about their practicing situation at home. I talked to the girl about it and suggested to her and her mom that the next time they had any problems at home to have the student call me to tell me why she didn't want to practice. I never got a call.
- Make practicing fun. Young kids thrive on routine, but as they get older they need more variety to keep their attention. This is where you, the parent, get to be creative! It takes more effort on your part, but the outcome is well worth it. First consider what your child enjoys - competition, puzzles, games, rewards, praise, goals, etc. and use it to your advantage.
Competition - compete with your child to see who can identify 7 different piano keys by letter or 7 different notes on a staff the fastest. Who can play "My Fair Lady" 5 times perfectly?
 |
| Beth identifies 7 different piano keys |
Games - you can incorporate any board game into a practice session, and you can make up other games specifically for practicing. Some games I use for review are picking from popsicle sticks with names of review songs on them, "going fishing" for review songs, and rolling dice with numbers correlating with the numbered songs in the book. To use a board game, simply attach sticky tack or tape to the game pieces so the board can be leaned onto the piano, and for every review song or repetition your child accomplishes, you each get a turn in the game.
 |
| Chutes and Ladders |
Praise - don't forget that children are constantly looking for your approval. If you're able to leave every practice session letting your child know that you're pleased with their accomplishments, or if it wasn't a great day, their efforts, this goes a long way in encouraging them.
Goals - have immediate goals in practice session, like playing the melody of the new song perfectly twice, or playing all of French Children perfectly and slowly. Have short term goals like encouraging your child that once they've learned all of Lightly Row with alberti's then you get to move on to a new song. Have long term goals, like finishing Book 1 and doing a recital for friends and family, then moving on the Book 2! Always acknowledge when these goals have been accomplished, then set new ones.
Visit this link for more great tips on helping your child effectively and happily practice at home: http://suzukiassociation.org/news/i-love-to-practice/.
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
The Joy of Parent Lessons
If you've been following my posts, then you've already learned that parent lessons are one of the steps to prepare your child for lessons and that this is one distinction between traditional and Suzuki lessons. To be honest, when I first started teaching I was terrified of working with my students' parents. In my continually growing experience, I've learned that parent lessons are not only extremely important, but they're fun too! They give me a chance to get to know you, hear you describe your children, and build a bond with you which makes future issues such as behavior in lessons, practice habits, unwillingness to practice, etc, easier to discuss and address.
Here are some things we talk about in parent lessons:
The Suzuki Philosophy - I don't believe there is any way this can be understood better than Shinichi Suzuki's slogan, "nurtured by love." We, teachers and parents, should always be aiming to educate first through love. Once you've learned what this means for you and your family, you can apply it to all aspects of parenting. "Discipline through love," "be an example through love," "advise in love," and the list could go on.
Posture and Technique - Of course to help your child at home, you must first understand the fundamentals of playing the instrument. Even if you've taken lessons in the past and know how to play, it is still important to understand the steps your child will take to learn and tips on how to fix problems at home.
Developing Good Practice Habits - The question I most often hear is "how long should we be practicing at home?" Don't feel bad if you've asked me this! It is a good question because it brings up a very good point. Time doesn't matter, goals do.
For a very young student, encouraging them to practice is usually not an issue. They're excited to repeat the new things they learned that week for you to see! Your goal is to lengthen their practice sessions by going as long as they can before they lose focus, then just one minute longer. This will naturally lengthen their attention span. Your goal is also to have as much of the practice session be positive as possible. Play games, let them pick their songs (this instills confidence), let them earn stickers, pennies, or candy(!) for accomplishing tricky repetitions, and do recitals for family members.
For older students, the goal is to successfully finish their practice sheet from that week's lesson. Generally, if they're having a good practice day it won't take very long, which is great! If your child is tired from school and other activities, which is completely understandable, it may not be a great practice day. These days, you should do as much as you can together before your child gets frustrated, finish with a review song (again, to instill confidence) and be done. These steps will prevent practicing from becoming a chore, or something your child dreads each day.
Positive Learning Environment - All of the things required for making good, daily practice habits also go along with creating a positive, home learning environment. I've had many parents comment to me that their child is much more focused in lessons with me than at home. There are many reasons for this and, unfortunately, the two biggest are something you cannot control: in a lesson your child is not at home and I am not you. There are things you can do to discourage distraction at home:
- Turn off your phone,
- Have your piano in a room away from the TV, computer, video games and toys,
- Make sure your child is not hungry,
- Have your child use the bathroom before each practice session,
- Choose a time of day which is best for your child.
Obviously, all of these things may not be possible for you, but try to do as many of these as possible.
Role as a Parent - One of the things that the Suzuki Method relies on is the Student-Parent-Teacher triangle. Our jobs as the teacher and parent are to be the foundation for the student through support, encouragement, and "nurturing through love."
- Effective communication between the parents and teacher is important in this step to prevent bigger problems from occurring in the future. If you sense that your child is bored, not seeing success, not being pushed, being pushed too hard, or anything else, communicating this to me as soon as possible will help us both address the situation and hopefully prevent it from becoming a problem.
- Presence in lessons, taking notes and asking questions during lessons are also very important in supporting your child at home. The more you understand about what your child is working on, the more you'll be able to help if they get stuck at home.
- Praising your child for their accomplishments is one of the best ways you can encourage your child to persevere when they come across something difficult. I'm not advocating lying, saying they did well when they really did not, but you can always find something that is praiseworthy.
I've had many parents eagerly take on the responsibility of learning the piano in order to help their children. If you've ever regretted quitting piano lessons when you were young, this is a great way for you to learn while encouraging your child!
Here are some things we talk about in parent lessons:
The Suzuki Philosophy - I don't believe there is any way this can be understood better than Shinichi Suzuki's slogan, "nurtured by love." We, teachers and parents, should always be aiming to educate first through love. Once you've learned what this means for you and your family, you can apply it to all aspects of parenting. "Discipline through love," "be an example through love," "advise in love," and the list could go on.
 |
| Shinichi Suzuki |
Posture and Technique - Of course to help your child at home, you must first understand the fundamentals of playing the instrument. Even if you've taken lessons in the past and know how to play, it is still important to understand the steps your child will take to learn and tips on how to fix problems at home.
Developing Good Practice Habits - The question I most often hear is "how long should we be practicing at home?" Don't feel bad if you've asked me this! It is a good question because it brings up a very good point. Time doesn't matter, goals do.
For a very young student, encouraging them to practice is usually not an issue. They're excited to repeat the new things they learned that week for you to see! Your goal is to lengthen their practice sessions by going as long as they can before they lose focus, then just one minute longer. This will naturally lengthen their attention span. Your goal is also to have as much of the practice session be positive as possible. Play games, let them pick their songs (this instills confidence), let them earn stickers, pennies, or candy(!) for accomplishing tricky repetitions, and do recitals for family members.
For older students, the goal is to successfully finish their practice sheet from that week's lesson. Generally, if they're having a good practice day it won't take very long, which is great! If your child is tired from school and other activities, which is completely understandable, it may not be a great practice day. These days, you should do as much as you can together before your child gets frustrated, finish with a review song (again, to instill confidence) and be done. These steps will prevent practicing from becoming a chore, or something your child dreads each day.
Positive Learning Environment - All of the things required for making good, daily practice habits also go along with creating a positive, home learning environment. I've had many parents comment to me that their child is much more focused in lessons with me than at home. There are many reasons for this and, unfortunately, the two biggest are something you cannot control: in a lesson your child is not at home and I am not you. There are things you can do to discourage distraction at home:
- Turn off your phone,
- Have your piano in a room away from the TV, computer, video games and toys,
- Make sure your child is not hungry,
- Have your child use the bathroom before each practice session,
- Choose a time of day which is best for your child.
Obviously, all of these things may not be possible for you, but try to do as many of these as possible.
Role as a Parent - One of the things that the Suzuki Method relies on is the Student-Parent-Teacher triangle. Our jobs as the teacher and parent are to be the foundation for the student through support, encouragement, and "nurturing through love."
- Effective communication between the parents and teacher is important in this step to prevent bigger problems from occurring in the future. If you sense that your child is bored, not seeing success, not being pushed, being pushed too hard, or anything else, communicating this to me as soon as possible will help us both address the situation and hopefully prevent it from becoming a problem.
- Presence in lessons, taking notes and asking questions during lessons are also very important in supporting your child at home. The more you understand about what your child is working on, the more you'll be able to help if they get stuck at home.
- Praising your child for their accomplishments is one of the best ways you can encourage your child to persevere when they come across something difficult. I'm not advocating lying, saying they did well when they really did not, but you can always find something that is praiseworthy.
I've had many parents eagerly take on the responsibility of learning the piano in order to help their children. If you've ever regretted quitting piano lessons when you were young, this is a great way for you to learn while encouraging your child!
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