Suzuki Violin - Discussion

[phankao]

smurf:

I called crestar yesterday. I think for 45 mins, they charged $248 per 10 lessons (round off) which is quite reasonable compared to Mandeville. The latter charged $424 i think? But class is conducted by the principal lah.


I heard Mandeville quite established, but super expensive lor. Mac Music School charged about the same price, if not more expensive, than mandeville.

So anyone got experience with either of these, or any hearsay?? Which better?

- Mandeville
- Mac's
- Crestar Jurong East

Or.....private suzuki tutor? eg. I heard someone's child takes 1-on-1 lessons with Mr Kang at Jurong East Crestar from 3yo.

Oh, and I'm asking about it being good for very young, like starting at 2years or 3 years.

[metz]

Hi Smurf,


In the beginning, it's so difficult to get them to practise more than 15 mins. Always complained about feet pain, chest pain, shoulder pain etc... But as time goes on, they are able to take longer period of practices. 100 times, of course not in one go lah. They are allowed to rest in between or practise at different times of the day. Too bad, I wasn't disciplined enough :oops:

Sama sama here. My son thought the violin make beautiful sound. Now he knows it's hard to play the instrument well. I understand what you mean about not knowing his preference. My friend's son wanted drum lessons but gave up half way. Now he is requesting for guitar.

Yup, Mr Kang is great teacher but he expects a lot of discipline and perseverance from his students and their parents. Another teacher to keep in mind is Mrs Lauw. She usually takes students aged 3-4.


Hi MommyNg,

Piano accompaniment is a great idea! Will certainly try to find someone to play along with him. He loves playing along with the CD. Pros - his fingers can move faster and he's more in tune with the song. Cons - his bow hand cannot keep up with the tempo, often resulting the bow in moving like a wiper. Also, I realise the pitching suffer too. My greatest headache is his pitching. He knows where his notes are but pitch can either be high or low.

Thanks for the encouragement. Actually, I was close to giving up a while ago. But my son refused to quit. So, I have resolved to stand by him


Hi Phankao,

My kids are taking 1-1 lessons with Mr Kang. My younger child started at 3 yrs 4 mths old. I'm not sure about the long term effects. But according to what I know, the earlier a child is exposed to music via suzuki, the easier for them to pick up.

But if you are intending to get Mr Kang for 1-1 lessons, be prepared to work harder. It's usually at a pace much faster than group lessons.

[phankao]

chamonix:

<snip>...

Yup, Mr Kang is great teacher but he expects a lot of discipline and perseverance from his students and their parents. Another teacher to keep in mind is Mrs Lauw. She usually takes students aged 3-4.

....<snip>....

Hi Phankao,
My kids are taking 1-1 lessons with Mr Kang. My younger child started at 3 yrs 4 mths old. I'm not sure about the long term effects. But according to what I know, the earlier a child is exposed to music via suzuki, the easier for them to pick up.

But if you are intending to get Mr Kang for 1-1 lessons, be prepared to work harder. It's usually at a pace much faster than group lessons.

Not really afraid of hard work, since BTDT - all our children play musical instruments, including 1 violinist gr8, jus never start so young before. Now I'm checking around for trs for toddlers. We would want nothing less than a good effective & daring teacher. Our boy's curr violin tr doesn't do suzuki, n is not suitable for toddlers/preschoolers.

Heard that Sylvia khoo of mandeville is good too?

[smurf]

Mr Kang only teaches at Jurong East right? That's too far for me.

[mommyNg]

Hi Chamonix,


Great to hear that playing along with the CD works!!! You may already be doing this, perhaps you may want to devote some part of his practice session to work on just on his bow hand and pitch without playing along with the CD? I hope I'm not giving you possibly spurious ideas... how about changing the tempo of the songs? Otherwise, just treat playing-along-with-the-CD as a bonus lor.... :D. As for pitch, does his violin teacher talk about working on tonalization with him? It should help with getting the right pitch.

Your son's resolution to learning the violin is half the battle won!

[smurf]

Is it necessary for 4 year old to go through Suzuki method, or can they already read notes (aka beansprouts words)? :?

[phankao]

chamonix:

In the beginning, it's so difficult to get them to practise more than 15 mins. Always complained about feet pain, chest pain, shoulder pain etc... But as time goes on, they are able to take longer period of practices. 100 times, of course not in one go lah. They are allowed to rest in between or practise at different times of the day. Too bad, I wasn't disciplined enough :oops:

Hah, tell me about it. Even my 10year old was into the feet pain, shoulder pain, body itchy, head hot. That was when I was trying to get him to be serious in the last few weeks before his exam. The practices were not long per se, just that I don't like to waste time, so I wanted him to be serious and *chop* *chop* during the practice (I was the accompanist *LOL*). :x :x :x Luckily he did well, so being strict was not so bad after all, lah. I'm all for serious but short practices - efficiency & quality practices.

[phankao]

chamonix:

Sama sama here. My son thought the violin make beautiful sound. Now he knows it's hard to play the instrument well. I understand what you mean about not knowing his preference. My friend's son wanted drum lessons but gave up half way. Now he is requesting for guitar.

Violin is probably one of the most difficult instrument to learn. Intonation is soooooo important. We sure endured lots of the cat scratching sounds when our boy first started. :stupid: :!:

[Mamamal]

Hi


My child is currently learning suzuki violin, just finished Book 4. As his school work is piling on, I would like to engage a 1-to-1 private, qualified teacher (female preferred) to teach him, at his own pace. My child has lots of homework to do during the wkdays, hence limited time to practice violin. Worried that he may not be able to cope with next level. I am open to either to continue with Suzuki or even classical (ABRSM exam). Venue can be either student’s or teacher’s. I am residing in the west.

If anyone has any contacts, please let me know ? Thanks.

[lovebearsallthings]

My boy is turning 4 soon. I am interested to start him on music, but I’m deciding between piano and violin.


My boy can’t sit still. Do you think he can start with an instrument which requires efforts in maintaining posture etc at 4 years old? Half of me is torn between waiting till he is older, and yet the other half hopes to use music to instil in him some form of ‘quietness’!

Could you share your experience as a parent? I read that a lot of children complained about pain. But did they continue with it? I guess it requires a lot of perserverance on the children - and I’m wondering if this is a good age to start, without getting them frightened by music lessons. What do you think? Thank you!