The Art of Listening
To play on Elizabeth Bishop’s poem “One Art,” the art of listening isn’t hard to master. The Suzuki guitar teacher and Suzuki violin mom Michele Horner advises listening to the recordings of current repertoire ten times a day. That may sound like a lot, but the...
Perfectionism
Your child may be a perfectionist if… - They refuse to work isolated sections and insist on always starting from the beginning of a piece. - Are self-deprecating and/or very upset when they make a mistake What can you do? How you can support and encourage your child?...
Online Music Literacy Games
Teoria.com website is free and excellent. https://www.teoria.com/en/exercises/ May the internet work for us, not against us, in these trying times. I strive in my personal teaching to be as engaging and addicting as online games, but now that we’re all stuck in our...
Practice Expectations During Covid-19
“To make a resolution and act accordingly is to live with hope. There may be difficulties and hardships, but not disappointment or despair if you follow the path steadily. Do not hurry. This is a fundamental rule. If you hurry and collapse or tumble down, nothing is...
10 Practical Posture Tips for At-Home Guitar Practice
Even without the support of a teacher’s presence, it is important for students to maintain both healthy posture and correct hand positioning in their home practice set-up. All musicians should sit or stand with a lengthened, relaxed back. Imagine being pulled upwards...
Progress, Not Perfection
Feeling burnt out? Don’t want to practice? Feel exhausted? You’re not alone – it’s hard to feel motivated and excited all the time. Our brains are actually wired to have productive and rest periods, both in small increments of an hour and larger increments of a full...
The Magic of Repetitions
Sometimes I tell my students that their fingers have brains. They get really excited & maybe even freaked out – and the best part is that I’m telling the truth. Noelle Perrin, a Suzuki teacher trainer, uses this explanation with her students when she talks...
Creation and Permutation
All art is theft, with varying degrees of directness. Creative ideas do not emerge from nothingness, nor are they divinely inspired; instead, musicians recycle. Musical fragments enter the vat of the subconscious and are morphed, deconstructed, combined, elaborated,...
Practice Tip: Don’t Jump Back to the Beginning
It’s really tempting to jump back to the beginning of a piece and try again when you make a mistake. Rather, I’d like to suggest that you isolate the section where you are having trouble and repeat that section a few times. Then, back up a little bit and play through...
Summer Suzuki Institutes
As this year progresses, parents will begin to plan their summers out, setting time aside for sports camps, vacations, and the like. But what about music? Is there anything special for Suzuki families that they can participate in? The answer is YES! Summer Suzuki...
