Suzuki Violin - Discussion

[quixation]

Hi,


I am planning to put my daughter through Suzuki violin first before classical piano at later age.

Is it a MUST that parents have musical background to get their child into Suzuki?

[mommyNg]

Hi quixation,


It is not a MUST that parents have musical background to get their child into Suzuki. It is just easier to help coach them at home if you have some. Usually parents have to sit in the Suzuki violin lessons, and you can learn during the lessons how to coach them at home. As in my case, I know nothing about violins (even though I played the piano before), so I have to learn with my daughter about bow holds, standing positions, placing the violin, etc. For a start, I don't even know how to help tune her violin or rosin her bow!

If you are a bit more KS and have the time, you might want to take about a month of violin lessons yourself too, so you'll be in a better position to coach her?! Can be quite fun too!

[quixation]

mommyNg:

Hi quixation,


It is not a MUST that parents have musical background to get their child into Suzuki. It is just easier to help coach them at home if you have some. Usually parents have to sit in the Suzuki violin lessons, and you can learn during the lessons how to coach them at home. As in my case, I know nothing about violins (even though I played the piano before), so I have to learn with my daughter about bow holds, standing positions, placing the violin, etc. For a start, I don't even know how to help tune her violin or rosin her bow!

If you are a bit more KS and have the time, you might want to take about a month of violin lessons yourself too, so you'll be in a better position to coach her?! Can be quite fun too!

I wasnt given a chance for piano when i was young although I love music to death.

I dont know if its super kiasu but i already plan to take up adult piano lessons formally so I will be able to play with my baby together! I think its important I can do it with her together! But violin? hmmm...

anyhow, I will always try my best to learn whatever I want to teach her otherwise wats the use of teaching her when i dont even appreciate them? hahah..

Thanks alot for response!

[OCEAN]

My boy has been taking suzuki violin since July 2007. Based on the current pace of 2 months per song (excluding the Twinkle Twinkle Little star which took 9 months to complete (Time for the concert!), I suppose he will only be completing the Suzuki Book One by March 2010 next year (another concert time???). The problem is, he has completely stopped practicing his violin since last Sep 08.

His reason, he has a serious case of sinus problem, and the rosin make him worse. Before that, he managed to try out all the songs in Book One (I wrote the a b c d e notes for him to read and managed to figure out the upstroke, downstroke and continuous stroke of the songs, though not sure right or wrong) and his favaourite song was songs no. 17 Gavotte.
While he practiced, he amazingly memorised all the notes for all those songs.
Since this year, the violin teacher started to teach the class to read the score (Minuet One), its been 3 months already. No more playing songs individually in the class. All played together in a group and a very big mess. I think the teacher already give up hope on this class. Good one stop practicing, weak one even worst. Worse still, not even one child in the class able to read the score, and my boy is the worst out of all, because his eyes has never been focus on the book.
Sigh!

[metz]

Hi Ocean,


Is your son taking group lessons? It sounds awfully long for Book 1. My son started 1-1 lessons last June and finished Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and the 4 variations within 4-5 months. He just performed Twinkle Twinkle in the Suzuki Students' Graduation Concert yesterday. Perpetual Motion will be the next song he's learning. (The teacher has been focusing on Twinkle Twinkle practices for the last 3 weeks). For him, the teacher expects him to learn a new song every 1-2 weeks. As for note reading, his teacher has yet to start teaching him. At the moment, he prefers his students to concentrate on learning to play by hearing.

If your son is keen in learning violin, I suggest you to enrol him for 1-1 lessons. Learning and progress will be much more in line with your son's ability. Although my daughter started just 1-1 lessons last oct, the teacher actually wanted her to participate in the Twinkle Twinkle performance yesterday. (Too bad my girl isn't the hardworking sort, so I didn't train/drill her hard enough to match the CD speed in time for the concert. :oops:) Don't give up hope on your son yet. Find a good teacher and things might change for the better.

[metz]

What type of rosin are you using? Some rosin can be very powdery and is bad for those with sinus problems. Currently I’m using this brand Pirashtro from Germany. It’s much less powdery than those China made brands. Give it a try if you are not using it now. I got mine from Yahama at Plaza Singapura.

[quixation]

Hi mummies,


Can some of you whose kids is going thru suzuki training adv me if you kid found it difficult to learn & read notes after getting use to playing by ear?
Or was it easier after that, did they play better coz they know the notes and have better sense of melody & understanding of the instrument?

[metz]

Hi quixation,


One mother shared earlier on that her child (who started off with Suzuki violin) had no problem with note reading when he took up classical violin at 5 years old. I would like to think the majority will have no problem if they put in effort to learn the notes. Both my kids are also learning piano (for leisure) concurrently. They have no problem with reading and playing the piano via sight reading. Perhaps some kids might resist the idea initially as it is something new to them. But the Suzuki training shouldn’t affect the ability to learn to play by sight.

For Suzuki teaching, there’s no one way fixed way of teaching the kids. As most of these kids started off very young, some teachers may prefer to use the fingering or DoReMi methods to make learning simple. As for my kids’ teacher, he started off with the note names instead. At the same time, he would advise me to show my son the scores when he practices at home. I suppose that will help in smoother transition later on.

[quixation]

chamonix:

Hi quixation,


One mother shared earlier on that her child (who started off with Suzuki violin) had no problem with note reading when he took up classical violin at 5 years old. I would like to think the majority will have no problem if they put in effort to learn the notes. Both my kids are also learning piano (for leisure) concurrently. They have no problem with reading and playing the piano via sight reading.

For Suzuki teaching, there's no one way fixed way of teaching the kids. As most of these kids started off very young, some teachers may prefer to use the fingering or DoReMi methods to make learning simple. As for my kids' teacher, he started off with the note names instead. At the same time, he would advise me to show my son the scores when he practices at home. I suppose that will help in smoother transition later on.

hi chamonix,
thanks a lot for the response ! I guess everything depends on revision, practice and home training too..

[OCEAN]

Hi Chamonix


Is your son taking group lessons? It sounds awfully long for Book 1.
His group started off with 8 students. But now has a total of five only. One girl having sibling in the same class and mommy too stress, so dropped out. One boy unable to take the criticism of the teacher and stopped coming after he broke down and cry. Another boy, dropped out last Dec probably because unable to catch up and every week got scolding from the teacher.

My son started 1-1 lessons last June and finished Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and the 4 variations within 4-5 months. He just performed Twinkle Twinkle in the Suzuki Students' Graduation Concert yesterday. Perpetual Motion will be the next song he's learning. (The teacher has been focusing on Twinkle Twinkle practices for the last 3 weeks). For him, the teacher expects him to learn a new song every 1-2 weeks. As for note reading, his teacher has yet to start teaching him. At the moment, he prefers his students to concentrate on learning to play by hearing.
Oh! I now understand why he suddenly started teaching this group by reading musical notes already. Probably because most of them still unable to play the whole song correctly even the teacher had already taught them. Teaching by hearing will not be suitable for this group of children any more as the song has became more difficult to play.

If your son is keen in learning violin, I suggest you to enrol him for 1-1
lessons.
He is not keen at all though he was the one who requested for it. What interest him is fun. Group lessons are fun, esp. involving all parents. In fact I have stopped him from going to violin lesson for one month since Jan this year, and after that he was the one who refused to go for the lesson. It was about coming to the middle of 2nd month after he stopped attending the lesson that one day, I dragged him into the class while we were in the vicinity, without bringing the violin along. Then he realised the teacher has changed his method of teaching that he became interested and hence back to the class again.

Learning and progress will be much more in line with your son's ability. Although my daughter started just 1-1 lessons last oct, the teacher actually wanted her to participate in the Twinkle Twinkle performance yesterday. (Too bad my girl isn't the hardworking sort, so I didn't train/drill her hard enough to match the CD speed in time for the concert
My boy had his Twinkle performance last year, It was a good experience. But this year I didn't want him to perform because he would be back to the twinkle group again.
As for 1-1 lesson, I do not want to stress up myself as I have no more stamina due to health reason. While other children are still struggling, his is able to catch up easily for the time being, at least for book one, but will need to work hard again when he proceed to book two, if he is still willing to continue.

Don't give up hope on your son yet. Find a good teacher and things might
change for the better.
As you have mentioned earlier, this teacher is great but very strict! By now you should have already know who the teacher is :). It was because of his strictness that my boy try to excel previously, and it was also because of his strictness that my boy refused to turn up for the class again. It was because of his strictness, the girls in the class took turn to cry almost every week. In fact two of the parents in his class has elder siblings taught under him, and because of his strictness, they put their younger one under him again.

Last but not least, if I have chance to go back to the past, I will put my boy under him again. It is a great lesson for us parents too.

And yes, the rosin we are using was made in Germany, cost about $5.50.