I want more from the violin, I truly do and, after all, who does not , but I obviously have higher priorities. The frustrating thing is that what I hear in my mind and what my heart longs to share is often NOT what drifts out of those peculiar little f-holes.
It is then that I need to step back, take a deep breath and consider what it is I am asking of the violin, which is in part that which I ask of life as well. My teacher encourages me all the time "you're doing really well to be where you are after only three years", and yeah, some stuff I know I do do pretty well, but I can't do vibrato to save myself, and lots of others can by my stage, so how do I measure my progress against them. I just have to be content to know that this week I can do something better than I could do it last week.
I find that a section I found challenging b efore is not so now, so that is how I know I have progressed. Whether it is fast or slow enough can't really be bothered about, because it is what it is with my best effort. Its still grabs up when I get to a more difficult piece I'm working at monte's czardas , but the straight grade 5 pieces form my books for instance are so much better now than even two months ago.
If one thinks of this as a journey of discovery, an adventure perhaps, into a land unknown, I for one could say I have left but a few footprints upon the sandy shore and the sailing vessel that brought me to the land of the violin still remains well in sight.
But, I have this much to be thankful for, a good guide my teacher , a decent map Suzuki and other method books , inspiration in the form of tales told the music of Heifetz, Milstein and others and the ability to at last play somethig simple without a trace of tension. It all points to a bright future. I have not even attempted vibrato, although I now and then spend an idle moment "practicing" the motion violin not in hand. I try to take it one step at a time and not become too disheartened when I gaze upon all that lies ahead.
After all, many others have gone this way before, mind you some of them have been better off than I, but all who persevere seem to make the journey. And in my opinion none of us, no matter how good we become, ever arrives.
There's always more land to explore. My teacher was telling about how she has spent a couple of years now re teaching herself, because she realised that there were elements of her technique that disatisfied her, and she knew she couldn't progress further unless she did the detour.
Some courage and copmmitment after 45 years of playing. I'm currently working on the Gavotte in Book 1 while still polishing up on the previous couple pieces. Because the local Suzuki program we joined is still so new, I didn't get regular lessons until this past spring.
Still, I haven't progressed as quickly as I'd like while taking lessons, and yeah, the lack of consistent, quality practice time is one big factor there. BTW, I found the Duets book to be a nice way to augment my own learning while helping the kids and also making the music more fun and interesting for us. Our teacher also started having me practice scales and arpeggios using the Hrimaly Scales book though I haven't been practicing those consistently yet -- the kids will probably be doing that at some point as well.
We've also started working on music reading, but that's been inconsistent so far. We're also given some bit of freedom to explore additional music outside the Suzuki repertoire to help keep it fun and more relevant to us.
For instance, my daughter learned to play a piece she sang in her school's chorus, and our teacher recently suggested for a few of us parents to try one of the Telemann concertos for 4 violins in the near future. I know folks who fly through it but the songs aren't really played right. But I'm nearly through book one after 9 months, I think a year is probably the standard to get through book one for an adult beginner. You can't expect to get much done in half an hour a day, even if you are very focused and organized.
I could practice four hours a day and still not get through everything I wanted to - and I'm mainly a fiddler! I'd say you are doing fine for the amount of practice you are getting in, but it you want to progress faster, you might want to see whether you can find another half hour somewhere in the day - lunch hour?
I know it isn't easy, since running a business and having a family made it almost impossible for me to sustain any kind of program for very long. Nowadays I manage to get a productive hour or so in before work, and another hour in the evening, but I don't have near as much to contend with.
The goal is usually to play with others in the end. The Suzuki "unison" playing, by memorizing everything is not always that useful outside of a Suzuki environment. The thing about Suzuki is that although it is a method, and a popular one, it is not a complete method. It sounds like your teacher is cobbling together a very fine program for you and so don't be too anxious to go fast at the cost of your intonation or other important techniques.
The goal now is to know what you are doing and why and how to apply it to other non-Suzuki songs. As an adult, who started with a Suzuki teacher, I have found playing with other adults at my level or slightly better the most satisfying experience of all. My old Suzuki teacher would always say things like, Book 3 is a 6 month book. I found this rather illogical. My new teacher has a more integrated approach with theory, scales, intervals, etudes.
While my Suzuki "progress" is slower, I am now more competent to play from new music and have vastly improved my sight reading and counting skills. Suzuki book 1 - 3 are available in the Suzuki duet book. If you are taking long on your song, ask your teacher or a friend to play the second part and it will breath new life into the old songs.
Mistake 4: I let our practice routine become inconsistent at times. Mistake 5: I sometimes under-prioritized listening. I let our listening routine fall by the wayside, and progress stalled at the same time. I think not. How about you? Where have you struggled in the past year? What are your plans to improve in the coming year? Please share in the comments. Two of the teachers who have regularly returned to IMF over the years, Stanley Chepaitis also an outstading jazz violinist and a talented composer and Terry Durbin who is one of the most renowned and sought-after Suzuki clinicians in the US , are really superb violinists by any standard and would be wonderful teachers even if they've never heard of Suzuki.
Absolutely, Steve! I would never, ever, suggest that there are not outstanding teachers who are also Suzuki teachers. I hope I am one, myself, in fact. No, I'm speaking about some teachers who have well, okay, one locally here.. I don't know if she actually has 50 students, or not, but I do know she has one student that has been with her for 10 years, is not in any way learning disabled, and is only playing in the fourth book, himself.
It's none of my business, of course, but I think there is a lack of integrity, if a teacher does not gently move a student to investigate working with other teachers if that student has come to play beyond the teacher's level. Don't you think so? And while I've encountered brilliant teachers in Suzuki programs I taught in the program at Rhodes College in Memphis, for example, with some extraordinary teachers , there are also those who are not good players and yet have taken the training for several books.
I don't know how I feel about this, exactly. Is it okay if the teacher doesn't play at a high level, if they're only teaching beginners? I just think it's safe to say that there are "Suzuki" teachers that may be so focused on having large numbers of students, and the financial gain thereof, that maybe their motives are not pure when they criticize teachers who have stronger playing abilities?? You know, I can play all the Suzuki books on four instruments violin, viola, cello and piano , I can transpose scores on piano; I have a lot of skills -- and I practice a lot!!
You probably have the same or probably better skills, and so do tons of people on here. The proof, as they say, is in the pudding: my students all do well, play well, good intonation, good articulation, and they know about music history, conducting, theory.
I work like the dickens to make sure I cover all this stuff. And am I a better teacher than someone who has taken summer courses in Suzuki method making those little violins with cardboard? I mean, excuse me, but I think I am Absolutely agree. One of the things I like about my daughter's teacher is that she herself, early on, brought up the topic of referring my daughter to a teacher in the CIM prep department someday, should she reach a level where that would be indicated.
I would even go a bit further, though, and say as I'm sure you'll agree that the popular notion that a bad amateur turned "Suzuki teacher" is "good enough for beginners" is a serious fallacy, since a solid techncal background is essential for knowing how to establish good physical habits in young students. I would have to agree that SAA does not set high enough performance-training prerequisites for teacher trainees, and that's one of the things that has given Suzuki a bad name in some quarters.
As with selecting any teacher, due diligence on the part of the parents is indispensible. Any real Suzuki teacher will of course welcome prospective students and their parents to attend class recitals, and normally also to observe at least one actual lesson before signing on. I do want to point out one thing though We live 20 minutes away from a small city.
There are very few violin teachers. Most new students are lucky if they can find a spot with ANY of them, never mind evaluating different teaching philosophies.
In other words, there might not be a choice of teacher at any one moment Same with shopping. So all the good advice about going out and trying out a kazillion different violins in combinations with a kazillion bows is fruitless And from reading on this, and other music boards, I find there is a significant percentage of people in similar situations You do have a point about availability of teachers in many areas- Suzuki violin teachers are in especially short supply in a lot of places. People who are really serious about their kids' studies have been known to drive 90 minutes or more to lessons in such circumstances, and my hat is off to them for making that sacrifice for their kids.
AMEN to that. Some kids and big people, too can get tired of a tune long before they have mastered it to the teacher's satisfaction. In the upper books, I know there were a number of tunes that my son never liked from day one. A wise teacher will sense when that point is reached and throw in some variety. Afterall, if you don't like the music, why make it. That strict adherence to the order and mastering of the pieces can be a problem with orthodox Suzuki.
To the tune of Twinkle: Doctor, Suzuki, says never, be lazy, just practice, and practice, until you, go crazy. Again, who are these mythical "orthodox Suzuki" teachers who don't use plenty of supplementary material?? After almost 8 years as a Suzuki parent during which I've attended several workshops and institutes, I've never so much as heard of one, let alone encountered one in the flesh. Just to give one example, almost every Suzuki institute has fiddling classes, and my daugher's teacher has performed professionally as a fiddler and teaches an Irish fiddle group class in which my daughther enthusiastically participates.
As far as supplementary classical material goes, not only does every Suzuki teacher I've ever heard of assign plenty, there are very good graded collections of pieces like Barbara Barber's published specifically with Suzuki students in mind.
I don't think it would be appropriate for me to name examples, Steve. Send me a private message if you like. For sure, there are many gradations of orthodox.
All I know is that my son's first teacher was what I would call very orthodox. That included a strict adherence to Suzuki materials. That said, students and parents come in many gradations, too. And I can point to kids who did quite well studying with her. Our current teacher made extensive use of the Suzuki books up thru about Vol.
My only metric for success of a teaching method is whether my son continues to learn and continues to enjoy. If you mean by "strict adherence" that, whatever else is done, the Suzuki repertoire must be mastered, then that's required if you're to call yourself a Suzuki teacher and rightly so. The pieces are chosen to teach specific skills, and nobody, including a "traditional" student, can learn to be a useful musician by studying only things that they happen to like at the moment- who actually likes practicing Sevcik?
If you mean that you really enountered teachers who teach nothing but the Suzuki repertoire I'll take your word for it, but I know for a fact that's neither normal, common, or encouraged by the Suzuki movement.
I want to make one other point. Of course I want my daughter to have fun now. But I also want her to be able to continue having fun 20, 30 or 40 years from now, by being a competent enough player to hold her own in a good community orchestra and in quartet playing with other good amateurs.
Otherwise, what's the point? I'm not saying that's any different from what you want for your kids, I'm sure it's not. Yes, but they were chosen a long time ago in a far away place. And they undoubtedly reflect Suzuki's personal likes who else plays Fritz Seitz these days.
The enduring strength of his books, in my humble opinion, has been his great selection of tunes.
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