Diary of a Suzuki Parent
Term 3 - Spring - Week 1
Great to be back to classes. D plays very well - great tone. So we move on to practicing "Buttons" ie learning how to place the violin fingers individually - but in tandem with the others. One pushes down to release the other up.
We sign up to a trial of a set of materials from Sue Hunt for a 100 Day Challenge. It looks really good fun and it would be nice to have some new ideas for games and incentives for both of us. The two things that improve my performance most as a Suzuki parent are sleep and enthusiasm.
I am talking to D about this blog and ask her what she would say about Suzuki. She says that "you have to have good tone and good bow hold". "The best things about Suzuki are the hula hoops and the chocolate buttons. I like doing the group class best cos it sounds nice and I like doing everything else, the practice and Sharron's lesson." "The worse bit is when Mummy gets a bit tired and grumpy and we stop playing."
Christmas holidays
A long break in which to sustain the practice.
The pluses: - we managed to practice most days. Dad took a fair number of practices playing his violin with D so she had a bit of a break from me and lots of practice at playing with someone. The rhythms and timing really improved - and it was really good fun and sounded good. We also found some great sparkly Christmas stickers, and had a web card from Sharron that was played after every practice as an incentive.
The minuses:- we feel like we have been on this plateau for a long time now (half a term plus the holiday) working on fingering and getting good tone and relaxing the fingers. I struggle to vary the exercises so it all becomes rather repetitive.
We don't seem to make much progress - not from lack of D's hard work - but it is just difficult to learn. However one mum said to me that just sustaining the level from one term to the next is the most important achievement so that you can move on again when classes recommence.
Term 2 - Week 10
In these last two weeks still working on the violin fingering..... D has moved up to the full bow hold using pencil grips to help. Keeping eye on bowing wrist that it keeps rounded and not cocked up. Learn how finger positioning is tone, semi tone, tone on the strings - that each key has a hand shape to it.
Watch some of a DVD of a concert at the RCM by some of Sharron's students. A 6 year old girl playing not just technically correctly but with musicianship. A nice touch - is that the bow that the children are taught to do on the in breath at the beginning and end of each class and practice and to an audience - then becomes their signal as a leader when playing. It was lovely to see the piano accompanist firmly in his place and led in to the music by the young violinists.
Term 2 - Week 8
Still working on the violin fingering. A new exercise for posture. Holding violin without hand and then flying the fingers and hand into position on the A string one at a time and then flying the hand away again -- all without losing a good posture. And Finger Drumming - tapping each finger in turn on a tin with the hand relaxed - to build up independant movement in each of the fingers.
In the theory class they are doing music notation, and in the group lesson practice for the concert. D can now keep in time with the rest of the group on a single string.
Term 2 - Week 7
Move up a size of violin to 1/10th. We are renting at this stage. DD2 is taller than DD1 so we think we won't get much use from a purchased instrument at these smaller sizes.
Term 2 - Week 6
Bread Jam Jam and Bread now so the whole of the variations to be able to practice now. It is hard to learn how to get the violin fingers to work firmly but in a relaxed way. Sharron "solving the problems that's fun to do". And "You aren't scared of anything". D "But black spiders are quite scarey". The bow arm tightens and so does the posture in the effort of getting everything right. An incentive is set of a merit sticker when D can play a whole variation on her own.
We are still using our parcel tags, each with an exercise picture drawn on them, so D can pick which one she does as a lucky dip. The other incentives for her are playing her own made up music, or sticking stickers onto a diary showing that she has practiced that day. Plus the chocolate buttons for doing the harder exercises. We have also a rather sweet bean bag bear, borrowed from Sharron, that sits on D's head to check that she is maintaining her poise.
Term 2 - Week 5
DD2 is almost two and the big breakthrough this week is that she understands the concept of "if you can be quiet now you can have a piece of cake later". Hooray - group lessons are now much easier.
At home I have discovered the FunkyZilla website. It has lots of wind up dolls and japanese stickers - great for motivation during practice. Particularly useful for exercises are a clockwork pecking bird (to remind of firm pressure holding string down), some monkeys (for I'm a little Monkey aka the scale practice), and a crab (another exercise for developing strength in fingers).
We have a pretty sustained practice - having settled down at managing 6 days a week consistently. It is the weekends that we find less easy to keep as there is less routine. D is moving by herself to 20 - 25 mins practice - though there is a fair amount of downtime in each one between exercises.
Lots of encouragement from Sharron - "hear the D sound" is really useful to use at home as is "who didn't make the perfect sound - was it your bow hand or your violin hand?". The attraction of the difficult - D is most motivated to practice the Yoka ta variation as Sharron says it is too difficult for her.
In the Group class we are starting practice for the end of term concert.
Term 2 - Week 4
D learns the whole of "Bread", the first phrase of the Twinkle tune and variations ie the tune to the line "Twinkle twinkle little star, how I wonder what you are". Another big challenge on its way - now we are working on the violin fingering trying to get a balance of enough downward pressure to hold the strings firmly against the neck of the violin to give a clean tone, whilst at the same time not holding loads of tension in the fingers in a rictus grasp. Or as Sharron says rather more poetically " hands soft, little rainbow fingers and a waterfall arm with no muddy puddles". Tabletops is a new game - holding the first three fingers on the string to give flat "tabletops" that can balance a raisin each for a count of 10.
D is now 4 years old.
Term 2 - Week 3
We move practices to after tea this week. For the last month we have tried 0630 which has the advantage of getting it done early and nobody is tired. The disadvantage is that no one seems particularly awake either! Sharron talks about hard practices - says a little "right repetition" is often best thing to do rather than prolong a poor session. To D "when you look at your bow you are TOO good".
Term 2 - Week 2
Four new exercises today; double monkey (ie double ladder), A major scale, Ding Dong (crossing strings) and the crust of bread. (The Twinkle tune is in the format ABBA – so bread jam jam bread – so half of the first bread D christens as the crust). Next morning D not keen on the new exercises – it is early and she also prefers doing things she knows she can do. Eventually persuaded to do Ding Dong. Then she reluctantly does the Crust of Bread (the first half line of the twinkle variations). The dawning grin of triumph and excitement as she realises it is a) easy and b) that she is playing a tune herself – is just absolutely magical. She is still playing it as I leave the house for work.
Upcoming Events
- BSI National Concert Weekend - Mar. 17 - 18, 2012