Being a Suzuki Parent can feel like a big to do list : Attend Lessons Take notes Ask the right questions Attend Group Classes & Recitals Make sure your child has all the materials & equipment they need Make sure to listen every day Practice on the days that you eat! The list could go on and on and it's an important list for sure However, on days where it all seems like a bit much - when you wonder…
One thing I always say in my studio is that although practicing individually for lessons each week is very important (and the only way we can really improve our playing skills) it is not really what music is all about. I believe it's when we get together with other people to make music that the magic really happens. The Oregon Suzuki Association recently had an annual meeting and teachers were asked something along the lines of "What made you…
It’s so easy to make comparisons between our children and other students in the studio, at workshops, and institutes.
We see other children that can seem like they have endless concentration, know all their pieces easily, or don’t struggle in any way.
What we may not know is that the book 3 student we see easily playing everything in front of us, may have spent the first two years of lessons rolling around on the floor and having all sorts of attention issues. In fact, it took endless patience and a lot of work from both the teacher and parent to keep things going at all.
Or that Book 4 student you see who is always polite and well prepared for recitals . . . what we cannot see is that for a few years the student and his mother fought in practice . . . everyday.
They were miserable and wondered if they should quit because the whole thing was so stressful. (This is a true story – one that has a great ending because when this came out the parent and teacher were able to talk about how to practice differently and the parent put in a huge amount of work changing the dynamic during practice . . . things are so much better now!)
Many of us know Suzuki's quote : "Knowledge is not skill. Knowledge plus 10,000 times is skill." Such a great reminder that it is not enough to know something - we have to practice over and over to really master it. I recently came across this quote and had to share . . . who knew that Suzuki and Bruce Lee would have such similar things to say :) "I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks…