Suzuki Violin - Discussion

[smurf]

After that few days of 'bugging' me to let him learn violin, now he stops asking. is it because no interests already? hmm. he's 4 only. :?

[metz]

This is just so beautiful... :love:



Violin Duet Age 5
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHvuQuUOw3Y

And this girl is truly awesome! Even my son is captivated by her playing and inspired by her -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84yc45l5xWM&feature=related

Another amazing feat - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7ILP7bbd-g&feature=related

[quixation]

Hi,


I am planning to put my daughter through Suzuki violin first before classical piano at later age.

Is it a MUST that parents have musical background to get their child into Suzuki?

[mommyNg]

Hi quixation,


It is not a MUST that parents have musical background to get their child into Suzuki. It is just easier to help coach them at home if you have some. Usually parents have to sit in the Suzuki violin lessons, and you can learn during the lessons how to coach them at home. As in my case, I know nothing about violins (even though I played the piano before), so I have to learn with my daughter about bow holds, standing positions, placing the violin, etc. For a start, I don't even know how to help tune her violin or rosin her bow!

If you are a bit more KS and have the time, you might want to take about a month of violin lessons yourself too, so you'll be in a better position to coach her?! Can be quite fun too!

[quixation]

mommyNg:

Hi quixation,


It is not a MUST that parents have musical background to get their child into Suzuki. It is just easier to help coach them at home if you have some. Usually parents have to sit in the Suzuki violin lessons, and you can learn during the lessons how to coach them at home. As in my case, I know nothing about violins (even though I played the piano before), so I have to learn with my daughter about bow holds, standing positions, placing the violin, etc. For a start, I don't even know how to help tune her violin or rosin her bow!

If you are a bit more KS and have the time, you might want to take about a month of violin lessons yourself too, so you'll be in a better position to coach her?! Can be quite fun too!

I wasnt given a chance for piano when i was young although I love music to death.

I dont know if its super kiasu but i already plan to take up adult piano lessons formally so I will be able to play with my baby together! I think its important I can do it with her together! But violin? hmmm...

anyhow, I will always try my best to learn whatever I want to teach her otherwise wats the use of teaching her when i dont even appreciate them? hahah..

Thanks alot for response!

[OCEAN]

My boy has been taking suzuki violin since July 2007. Based on the current pace of 2 months per song (excluding the Twinkle Twinkle Little star which took 9 months to complete (Time for the concert!), I suppose he will only be completing the Suzuki Book One by March 2010 next year (another concert time???). The problem is, he has completely stopped practicing his violin since last Sep 08.

His reason, he has a serious case of sinus problem, and the rosin make him worse. Before that, he managed to try out all the songs in Book One (I wrote the a b c d e notes for him to read and managed to figure out the upstroke, downstroke and continuous stroke of the songs, though not sure right or wrong) and his favaourite song was songs no. 17 Gavotte.
While he practiced, he amazingly memorised all the notes for all those songs.
Since this year, the violin teacher started to teach the class to read the score (Minuet One), its been 3 months already. No more playing songs individually in the class. All played together in a group and a very big mess. I think the teacher already give up hope on this class. Good one stop practicing, weak one even worst. Worse still, not even one child in the class able to read the score, and my boy is the worst out of all, because his eyes has never been focus on the book.
Sigh!

[metz]

Hi Ocean,


Is your son taking group lessons? It sounds awfully long for Book 1. My son started 1-1 lessons last June and finished Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and the 4 variations within 4-5 months. He just performed Twinkle Twinkle in the Suzuki Students' Graduation Concert yesterday. Perpetual Motion will be the next song he's learning. (The teacher has been focusing on Twinkle Twinkle practices for the last 3 weeks). For him, the teacher expects him to learn a new song every 1-2 weeks. As for note reading, his teacher has yet to start teaching him. At the moment, he prefers his students to concentrate on learning to play by hearing.

If your son is keen in learning violin, I suggest you to enrol him for 1-1 lessons. Learning and progress will be much more in line with your son's ability. Although my daughter started just 1-1 lessons last oct, the teacher actually wanted her to participate in the Twinkle Twinkle performance yesterday. (Too bad my girl isn't the hardworking sort, so I didn't train/drill her hard enough to match the CD speed in time for the concert. :oops:) Don't give up hope on your son yet. Find a good teacher and things might change for the better.

[metz]

What type of rosin are you using? Some rosin can be very powdery and is bad for those with sinus problems. Currently I’m using this brand Pirashtro from Germany. It’s much less powdery than those China made brands. Give it a try if you are not using it now. I got mine from Yahama at Plaza Singapura.

[quixation]

Hi mummies,


Can some of you whose kids is going thru suzuki training adv me if you kid found it difficult to learn & read notes after getting use to playing by ear?
Or was it easier after that, did they play better coz they know the notes and have better sense of melody & understanding of the instrument?

[metz]

Hi quixation,


One mother shared earlier on that her child (who started off with Suzuki violin) had no problem with note reading when he took up classical violin at 5 years old. I would like to think the majority will have no problem if they put in effort to learn the notes. Both my kids are also learning piano (for leisure) concurrently. They have no problem with reading and playing the piano via sight reading. Perhaps some kids might resist the idea initially as it is something new to them. But the Suzuki training shouldn’t affect the ability to learn to play by sight.

For Suzuki teaching, there’s no one way fixed way of teaching the kids. As most of these kids started off very young, some teachers may prefer to use the fingering or DoReMi methods to make learning simple. As for my kids’ teacher, he started off with the note names instead. At the same time, he would advise me to show my son the scores when he practices at home. I suppose that will help in smoother transition later on.