The Suzuki Method
“If love is deep much can be accomplished” S. Suzuki
One need love for what we do if we want to exceed in any field, I wanted to start talking about The Suzuki Method with this phrase because I think it’s a powerful statement that represents very well the Suzuki philosophy. I strongly recommend this method for young students; it’s based on the premise that Every Child Can Learn to play an instrument in the same way every child learn to speak the mother tongue. They just need to be surrounded by a favorable environment, that includes encouragement, praise, proper feedback and models of sight and sound to observe.
In The Suzuki Method, the Teacher-Parent-Student triangle is a very important part of the learning process. Teachers will always need the parents helping at home to give the kid good and appropriate feedback. This is a condensed description of steps that we will follow during the time that you stay with me:
Before finishing the lesson, the student and parent must understand the instruction of the teacher, understand the purpose of the assignment and be clear about how to help the kid to practice at home. After the teacher assigns a piece, listening should be a daily habit for the kid; no need to force the student, some ideas could be listening while the child is in the car or doing any other activity at home.
Once the kid is at home, it is important to mention that the time spent practicing should be meaningful and consistent with supervision and feedback from the parent. This will help the kid to reach his goals faster and avoid frustration for getting stuck in the same passage for months.
Finally, the last stage of the skill learning process consists of repetition. On this stage, the student should have already fixed any technical issue on the passage; after this, the child should play as many times as needed until the execution of the passage is fluent.
During all this process the parent’s attitude is essential and can make a huge difference in the student progress. I do believe that any skill is developed with time and patience and cultivated by the parents and teacher.