Category The Suzuki Method
On Posture, with a Priorities Finish
When I was a child learning how to play the violin, I sat. I don’t remember any discussions of it at all – to sit or stand? Obviously orchestras sit down, so playing the violin while seated is fine. But Suzuki, in Book One, makes a point of a standing posture. He describes it, with […]
To Read Is To Spar
Wohlfahrt’s Opus 45 is a book of etudes – pieces composed for the technical skills they build in their players. So I assumed that’s why Teacher wanted me to get it – as a tool to help me improve my technical skills. But in yesterday’s lesson she told me that she has another quite concrete […]
I Love Books
Teacher gave me a shopping list last week. In addition to Suzuki Book Three (which I’ve already got and am listening to like a good Suzuki Kid), she recommended three supplements to the Suzuki series for this stage of my playing. They are books of exercises; they should arrive tomorrow. Based on the reviews online, […]
There Is No Finish Line
We made it through to the end of the Boccherini Minuet in Wednesday’s lesson, and with it the end of Suzuki Book Two. I love this minuet – it’s extremely fun to play, and, while challenging, the technical details are not such that I feel I won’t be able to make the piece sound OK […]
Listening
Now that I’ve landed on the final piece of Book Two I don’t know what’s next. Happily, Book Three came yesterday, so I immediately opened the CD and loaded it into my iTunes and started listening. Suzuki’s big plan included lots of listening to the music in the repertoire – learn what it’s supposed to […]
Suzuki Kid
One of our kids at the school, about 8 years old, was testing for karate rank advancement this past Saturday – some levels of advancement are bigger than others, and he achieved green belt, the level at which we start to teach them sparring. I was chatting with his mom as we walked to the desk […]
Many Roads Lead to Music
“I want to be better at improvisation, you know, just go to a jam session, have someone play a melody, and then improvise my solo part around them.” Last night a friend who plays the guitar and I were talking about our playing, what we like, and how we are accomplishing it. She plays the […]
Reading Ahead
I downloaded a pdf document that lists the Suzuki repertoire by book. I know from experience, of course, that it’s accurate for books One and Two, more or less, so I assume it will hold up as I progress. There’s quite a bit of fun stuff coming up. Book Three, my next up, includes four […]
Tone Angles
Technical feedback is one of the biggest things teachers have to offer that students need, of course, and like any good teacher mine metes it out in measured doses. But in the past two lessons there’s no getting around I’ve gotten lots of it – last week it was the bow hold – bend the […]
On O’Connor and Suzuki
Yesterday I published a rather sad post that accepted many of the criticisms noted violinist Mark O’Connor has leveled at Shinichi Suzuki, father of the Suzuki method of music instruction. I removed that post last night. I know myself relatively well, and while every day I age I get better and better about not reacting […]
Ryan Libel 