Fall Events and Lessons

 I don't know about you, but I'm busy gearing up for a new school year. I'm sure you and your kids are excited about school starting and even more excited about piano lessons starting!

 Here are some events at Dunkirk-Fredonia Suzuki Piano to look forward to:

 September 4-10 - Fall lessons begin.

 September 15 - Students will be performing at the Fredonia Farmer's Market, located in downtown Fredonia, 10:45am. Look for us in a tent located near the center of the market, and do some shopping while you're there!

 September 29, October 13, October 27, and November 10 - group class dates for the Fall session.

 If you are interested in any of these events, there's still time to sign up!

Contact me, Sandra Leary, by phone: (716)270-7117, or e-mail: dunkirksuzuki@gmail.com.

What do we do in the summer?

 Summer can be a tricky time for lessons with vacations, camps, holidays and family visits. While these things can make it harder to get in regular practice times, the freedom of having no school can make for excellent practice sessions because your child's mind isn't filled with school work! Instead of taking the summer off, my advice is to take advantage of summers by:

•  Practicing in the morning when you and your child are fresh,
•  Playing concerts for family when they come to visit,
•  Taking extra lessons the week before or after you're out of town for vacation,
•  Listening to your CD whenever you are out of town.

 This summer I will be offering summer classes August 13-17 at 10am and 11am each day for just $25 - only $5 per class! If you haven't taken lessons over the summer, these classes are an excellent way to get ready for starting up again in the Fall. If you've been wondering if your child is ready for lessons or interested in music, these are a great way to find out without having to spend a lot of money!

 The beginner class from 10-10:50am will be designed for students starting at 3 years old to get started in their musical education. While I do teach piano, this class will be geared towards general music so that the students can take the things they learn and apply it to any instrument. We will:

• Explore high and low sounds,
• Play music and rhythm games, 
• Learn simple note-reading,
• Learn about different instruments,
• Learn simple improvisation on the piano.

 The intermediate class from 11-11:50am will be designed for students who have taken music lessons before and have some experience with basic note-reading. Again, even though I am a piano teacher, this class will be geared towards general music and I encourage students of all instruments to join us! In this class we will:

• Play music theory games,
• Learn simple chord structure,
• Learn basic rhythmic and notational transcription,
• Explore the different time periods of music,
• Perform for the class,
• Learn to positively critique performances.

If you are interested in signing your child up for these classes, or know of someone who may be interested, please contact me, Sandra Leary, at (716)270-7117, or dunkirksuzuki@gmail.com. These classes are a great way to give your child/grandchild/niece/nephew a head start on lessons in the Fall, and are a fun way to introduce them to music!

Starting a life of music

 When considering starting your child in lessons, most parents consider whether or not their child is interested in music. I think the better question is: "Is this good for my child?" Does your child have to be interested in his broccoli in order for you to want him to eat it? I doubt it, but there are things you can do to make him more interested in his broccoli. When I was a kid it was cheese! You can also encourage interest in music by introducing your child to it in a positive way, and then making it fun (i.e. COVER it in cheese)!

 The lessons learned through music are innumerable. Math, History, Italian, and reading skills can all be learned directly through music. However, in my opinion, the most valuable lesson learned through music is the art of discipline. It takes discipline to practice everyday, to push through when something is difficult instead of giving up, to break down a difficult section into smaller sections in order to play it perfectly, and to continue lessons year after year. Discipline learned through music carries over to any and all other areas of life. So whether or not your child becomes a professional musician, remember that whatever they do become, they become stronger in because of their music lessons.

 Here's a great blog on why people pursue careers in music. I don't expect my students to go into music as career, but to understand why we crazy musicians do what we do might help you encourage your child today!

 Check it out! http://blog.sharmusic.com/blog/bid/84673/The-Value-of-a-Music-Degree

Why does my child 'forget' what we worked on at home?

 You and your child practiced everyday at home this week. You go to your piano lesson excited to show your teacher significant progress only to have your child make silly mistakes and seemingly forget everything you worked so hard on. Why is this happening? Doesn't practice make perfect?

 This happens to the best students, and I remember when it happened to me as a student. There are a few reasons for this happening, but the most important thing to remember is that your teacher should still see progress even if the student has not reached perfection.

 So, why doesn't your child play as well in lessons as at home?

 Whatever environment is the most comfortable for you is where you'll play the best. Home > lessons > performances. If you think about this logically, in order to play perfectly in lessons you must always and easily play perfectly at home, and thusly to play perfectly in performances. Reversing the logic, if you sometimes play perfectly at home and have a good lesson, kudos! The same goes for performing.

 Note: I use the term 'perfectly' loosely, since musical performances are rarely, if ever, perfect... unfortunately.

 Progression at home usually takes longer to appear in lessons. If your teacher is good, she will still see progress despite small imperfections. Keep your chin up! Just because your child seems to forget things in a lesson does NOT mean the teacher feels your work is inadequate at home!

 The last thing that may be happening is that in a lesson the teacher may ask the student to think specifically about something that you may not have been addressing yet at home. "This time try to keep your wrists straight the whole time," or "when you get to the ending, show me a beautiful ending by slowing and getting softer." Anything, even the smallest change, will add to what your child is thinking about, and typically when this happens the most recent or hardest part of the song that you've worked on becomes much more difficult. That doesn't mean you didn't work on it correctly - imagine if you had not spent so much time working on that 3rd line of Au Clair! Then in a lesson we would still be working on notes. When learning any song, first we learn notes and which fingers to use, then we work on technique and lastly musicality and performance.

 If you feel frustrated about this topic or feel that your child is not progressing always talk to your teacher about it. Having open communication is key in your child's success and unless your teacher is aware of what's going on at home, she may not know how to help you in lessons.

 As always, if you have questions or comments regarding this or any other topic, feel free to contact me!

Sandra L.
dunkirksuzuki@gmail.com

East Aurora Recital

Students from East Aurora performed in a recital last Friday, May 11th.

Thank you to my students for your consistent practicing and hard work, and a HUGE thank you to their parents for your patience in working with your kids at home and dedication in bringing them to lessons every week!

You are the key in your child's success.

Graduation Recitals

 I am so excited to announce that this month three of my students graduated from Suzuki Piano Book 1! This is a very exciting step for me since becoming an independent teacher in 2010 and it shows that my students and their parents are willing to work hard, listen to their CD, and practice daily... or close to it!

 Graduation Recitals, as far as I know, are another unique part of the Suzuki Method and go hand-in-hand with daily review. In most traditional methods children perform once or twice a year on group recitals, and when they finish a book they simply move on to the next one. At least, that's how it went for me when I was a child. Instead, when my students near the end of a book we also go back to the beginning to polish every single song. Once everything is easy and ready, the student performs all of the songs in the book in order for whomever they decide to invite. Graduation Recitals are a celebration of what the student has worked so hard to achieve and a chance to 'show off' for family and friends. Then it's to a new book and, best of all, a new CD.

 Congratulations to Madeline, Zach and Zoe!

A note from a Suzuki parent...

 ... 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.