LESSON APPROACH
If you don't have any previous experience with playing an instrument it's okay! I will help you understand the mechanics of the instrument, muscle movement, and what to watch for. In each lesson, I review and promote postures to continually reinforce good violin playing. Parents are encouraged but not required to observe each lesson. It is up to the parent to decide.
Lessons are given once a week in the studio or online. Once your child is comfortable playing, new postures and techniques will be added into their lessons. Please feel free to contact me throughout the week if you are not sure about something. Email is the easiest for me, but I don't mind phone calls.
Daily repetition is essential. Make sure you set aside time for practice every day, and stick to your schedule. Plan and prepare for success! Practicing helps something that is difficult become easy. The first time you do something, it might be hard, the 10th time, it's not as hard, the 100th time it's easy, and the 1000th time you do something, you no longer even have to think about it. This is the way we learn how to do each of the intricate details required to play the violin, one at a time. If every movement is only practiced once a week with me, it will take some time to accomplish the skills. The pacing of the lessons is determined by you.
Another thing that makes the Suzuki Method unique is all the pieces are learned by ear. This means the child listens to the CD or online recording every day to absorb the sound of the violin and the notes of the song. This comes naturally to the student, like learning a rhyme. Much of language is listening and repeating, and violin is presented the same way. We need to be encouraging to our first words” on the violin, praise the small steps. Similarly, we don't forget the words we first learn, rather we build on top of them- so when we learn a new piece, we are still reviewing all the old ones too. Reading written music is an important part of playing music, but it is introduced later with separate materials. This way the student is free to focus on technique and ear training. Listening to the CD before bed is ok, but make sure the child is also listening to the whole CD some time during the day to (or else the last songs won't be heard!).
Learning to play the violin takes time and requires patience. It may be a year or more before your child learns how to play Twinkle. The important thing to understand is that we are teaching how to play the violin, not how to play songs. The pieces in Suzuki Book One are wonderful little pieces that are fun to play, but they are not a measure of success. The first year is crucial in establishing good technique and practice habits. This is the foundation, and the sturdier it is, the stronger the house built on top will be. Trust your teacher, believe in (and enjoy!) the process, and celebrate the small achievements that happen every day.
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