5/25/2017 TEACHSUZUKI:HowtoStartaBeginner,part1

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TEACHSUZUKI
AresourceforteachersandparentswithafocusontheSuzukiMethod.''Toteachistolearntwice."(Joseph
Joubert,Frenchmoralist).

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Wednesday,March9,2011 Meet Pa u l a E.Bi r d

137
Shares HowtoStartaBeginner,part1
AsIwaslookingthroughblogpoststhatwerestilldrafts,Icameacrossthefollowingpost.
Frommy records,itdoesnotappearthatIev erpublishedthisone.So,tocompletethe
121
series,thiswaspart1 ofthe"HowtoStartaBeginner"series.
********************************************************
13
Startingabeginningv iolinstudenthasagreatnumberofpartstoit.Iwilltry tomakesome
senseoutofallthestepsandalsotogiv esomesortofordertothepresentation,butIwant
towarny ouupfrontthatIoftendomany ofthesestepsallatthesametime.Inthe
beginning,IthinkIwasmuchmorecarefulaboutkeepingthestepsapartfromeachother,
butIhav ebeenteachingforsomany y earsthatIamaccustomedtowhatstepsfolloweach TeachSuzukiAuthor&Podcaster
other,andIhav efoundway stocombinemany ofthemintoasingleteachingpoint.Perhaps
thisteachingability couldbethesubjectofafutureblogpost?
Fea t u r edPost

ConcentrationandFocus
RockorSandShiftingPriorities
AlthoughhowIstartastudentdependsontheageofthestudent,therearecertainbasic IpostedanarticleonApril8,2 01 2 that
principlesIfollow.FirstIworktoestablishrapport,focus,andconcentration.Wetalka dealtwiththesubjectofshiftingpriorities
littlebitsometimesaminute,sometimesmoreuntilIgetageneralsenseofwherewe whenparentsstruggletofindadequate
are.Remember,whenIstartanewstudent,Iamalsostartingtheparentonthejourney as practicetim ...

well,andIneedtotakethefullmeasureoftheparentinordertobethemosteffectiv e
teacherthatIcanbe.SoItalktothestudentalittle,andthroughthistalkIgetageneral Pa y Pa l Me!
senseofwhattheparentisallabout:
Pleaseconsidersupportingtheblogand

podcastby m akingadonation.Usethis
Doestheparentinterruptthechildby correctingwhatthey say oransweringthe
link:PayPal.Me/teachsuzuki
questionforthechildcompletely ?
Doesthechildlooktotheparentasiflookingforacue?Sometimestheparentwillanswer
forthechildbutatthemomentisonhisorher"bestbehav ior." T ea ch Su zu ki Resou r ceSt or e
Doestheparentex hibitnerv ousenergy ,oristheparentv ery ,v ery energeticingeneral
orimpatientwiththeprogressorspeedofthelesson? TeachingResources(August2 01 6 )
Isthechildhighly energetic,ex cited,talkingaboutmany things,oreasily distractedor
sidetracked? Mu si ci sFu n !
Isthechildshy orbold,responsiv eortaciturn,ready tostartorhesitantandneeding
more"warmup"timewithme?

HowIproceednex tdependsonmy answerstothesequestions.Ifthechildistoohesitantor

reserv ed,Imay needtoworkabitwiththeparentuntilIsensethatthechildisready to
proceed.Oftentimesitmay takemy giv ingatwominutelessontotheparenttowhetthe
child'scompleteattentionandinterestintry ingittoo.

OnceIhav ethechildengagedwithmeorinterestedinwhatImightdonex t,Iproceedto

thebiggestlessonofall:buildingconcentrationandfocus.Hereareafewoftheactiv itiesI
mightusewithabeginningstudenttogettheircompleteattentiononmeandtohelp
strengthenthestudent'sconcentrationandfocus:

T heBow:IntheSuzukiworld,webeginandendeachlessonwiththeformalbow.Thisis
alsothefirstthingIteachanewstudent.Weputourfeettogether,handsatourside,and
thenItellthestudentthatwearegoingtobow,andIshowhowby makingabowmy self.
ThenIaskthestudenttodoitwithmeatthesametime.Imakeitobv iouswhenIam
goingtobowby takingabigbreathrightbeforeIbow,justasasingerorwindplay er
wouldbreathebeforeplay inganoteorasaconductormightbreatheduringhisorher
upbeatcue.Wethenbowtogether.Wepracticedoingthebowtogetherwithourey es
closed,andofcoursewehav enotroubledoingitatthesametimebecausethestudent
canhearmy breathcue.Thisismy firstintroductiontomusicalbreathing,and
breathingisalsoacrucialpartofensembleplay ingaswell.Andwe'v eaddedittothefirst
lessonalready !Theremay becriticsofthebowingritual,andImy selfsometimesforget

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5/25/2017 TEACHSUZUKI:HowtoStartaBeginner,part1
todoit,butIliketodoitinthebeginningbecauseithelpstoestablishtherighttone.
Whenthestudentbows,heorsheissay ing,"Pleaseteachme."WhenIbow,Iamsay ing,
"Thanky ouforcomingtoalesson,"andoftenIsay ex actly thatwhenIbow.Ididn'tbow
v ery muchasay oungstudentmy self,andIhaddifficulty feelingcomfortablewithitas
anadult.SinceIhav ebeenaSuzukiteacher,Ihav enoproblematalldoingit.It'sas
comfortabletomenowasbreathing.

Staringcontest:ThestudentandIlookateachotherandmaintainey econtactuntil
thestudentbreaksey econtactorthetimewesetrunsout.It'sallrighttoblinkorgiggle
butnottobreakey econtact.Inthebeginningalittleboy mighttakeabout2secondsto
breakey econtact.Thatwillchangeby thenex tlesson.Ifindthattheconcentrationspan
increasesex ponentially witheachpracticesession.

Concentrationatastandstill:Weplaceasmalltoy onthechild'sshoulder(oronthe
box v iolinifwehav eintroducedone),andwestandinplacewhileIplay Twinkle
VariationAonmy v iolinorontheCD.Ilikeusingmy v iolinbecauseitkeepsthechild's
attentionpretty muchriv etedonme.Assoonasthetoy fallsoff,westoptheex ercise.I
wanttobuildconcentration,andthebestway todothatistostopthemomentthe
137 concentrationends.Achildwillnotlearnto"pay attention"becausewetellhimorherto
Shares pay attention.No,thiskindofadmonishmentonly serv estoteachthechildhowtostand
stillandlooklikethey arepay ingattention,wheninreality thechild'sattentionmay be
any whereelseinthemind.Thisisanotherex ponentialgrowtharea.
121
Otherconcentrationandm em ory gam es:Weplay othergamesthatbuild
concentrationandmemory . Iwanttoplay v iolin!
13
oIhav eaniPhoneappcalled"ISay "thatdelightsthekids.Itisa4colorwheel,
Pa ges
andeachsegmentofthewheelrandomly takesaturninaparticular
sequence.Thestudentwatchesthesequenceandselectsthecolorstomatch. TeachingResources(August2 01 6 )
Thesequencestartsoutwithonesoundandthenprogressestotwo,three, TeachSuzukiResourcesStore
four,untilthegameendsduetothestudentmissingapartofthesequence. PodcastEpisodesandRecording
Resources
oAnothersimilargameisplay edusingalongstringofnumbers.Theteacher ForTeachers
say s"5,"andthestudentrepeatsit.Theteacherthensay s"51 "andthe ForParents
studentrepeats"51 ."Theteachercontinuesaddinganumbertotheendof Hom e
thesequenceuntilthestudentstumbles.Ifindthatthestudentstendto Why ThisBlog?
collapsearoundthe6thor7 thnumber.Thetrickisinrecitingthenumberin
ContactMe
amonotone,notsingsonglikewedowhenrecitingourphonenumber(which
Whoam I?
iswhy phonenumbersaregroupedasthey are,tomakethemeasierto
remember).
Qu i ckPr ofi l e
oDependingonthechild'sage,Iput4or5v ariedobjectsonatiny tray .Iask
PaulaE.Bird
thestudenttolookattheobjects,andItalktothemaboutthecolors,or
whethertheobjectsrepresentsomethingliv ingoratoy .ThenIaskthe Iam am em beroftheArtisan
studenttoturnaroundandtellmewhatarealloftheobjectsinthetray . Quartet,TexasState
Studentsreally likethisgameandthey alway sinsistthatIaddmoreand Univ ersity faculty ,theAustin
Sy m phony ,andownerofthe
moreobjects.
WildflowerSuzukiStudio.Iliv e
inCentralTexas.Tocontactm e,em ailm e
oAnotherfav oriteisav ariationontheoldTVseries"Concentration."Itake4 at:paulabirdv iolin@gm ail.com .
pairsofcardsandmix themup.ThenIlay themfacedownonthetableinan Viewm y com pleteprofile
array .Thestudentturnsov er2cardsatatime.Ifthecardsmatch,thenthe
studentleav esthemturnedup.Thestudentcontinuesturningov er2cards
atatimeuntilallthepairshav ebeenfound.Ikeepaddingmoreandmore Popu l a r Post s
pairsofcardstothegame.Therearealsospecialcarddeckssoldforthe
purposeofthismemory game. My ChildRefusestoPractice|GuestPost
by BethRingel

Afterworkingonconcentrationandfocus,Inex tworktoestablishthecorrectbowhold. HowtoTeachaSuzukiGroupClass

Thismay takeanentirelesson,ev enifthestudentisanadult.Makingsurethatthestudent
holdsthebowcorrectly iscrucialtofuturesuccess,sincethebowis90%responsibleforthe WhattoSay AfteraPerform anceor
beautifulsoundonthev iolin. Recital

TheWheelofMusic(GroupClassesCan
Aftermakingthecorrectbowhold,wethenpractice: BeFun!)

Repetition:makingsev eralbowholdsinarow,atleastasmany asthechild'sage(witha Book5:What'sthepoint?
minimumof5).InlaterlessonsImay askthestudenttoclosehisorherey esandmakea
bowholdwithoutlooking.Imay handthebowtothestudentfrombehindtheirbackor
fromthewrongside.Idothistotesthowcomfortableandfamiliarthestudenthas Fol l ower s
becomewithmakingbowholds.

"UpLikeaRocket":Thisisalittleditty wechantaswemov eourbowsupanddown,
sidetoside,aroundandaround,andthencheckattheendwhetherourthumbsarebent
andourpinkiesarecurv ed.

WhisperT ube:Iuseanempty toiletpaperrollandplaceitonthechild'sv iolin
shoulder.Iwhisper"MississippiHotdog"tothetube,andthenwemov ethebowinside

http://teachsuzuki.blogspot.co.ke/2011/03/howtostartbeginnerpart1.html 2/6
5/25/2017 TEACHSUZUKI:HowtoStartaBeginner,part1
thetubetowhisperbacktous.Thechildrepeatsthewhisperingandthebowingafew Followers(147)Next
tim es.

MakingSoup:Wepretendtomakesoupandstiritaroundwhileholdingthebow
upright.Iaskthestudentwhatsoupthey aremaking,andthenIalway smakeunusual
souptotry andstimulatethestudent'simagination,suchasPopsicle,greenlizard,and
juicy hotpeppersoup.

BusSong:Wesingthispopularchildren'ssongwhilewemov eourbowsinthedirection
ofthewordsinthesong("upanddown,""sidetoside,""swishswishswish,"roundand
round").
Follow
T hroughtheHoop(orRingofFire):Iholdacanninglidringupintheair(orusemy
handstoformacirclebetweenmy thumbsandforefingers),andthestudenttriestostick
thebowalltheway insidethecircleandthenretriev eitwithouttouchingtheringormy
hands.Ihav eafriendwholikestopretendherhandcircleisaringoffirethatgrows Bl ogA r ch i v e
widerandnarrowerinordertointroduceanelementof"alertness"tothegameand
prev entthestudentsfromgoingtoofast. March2011(15)

137
Shares PasstheCup:Iputasmallplasticorpapercupontheendofmy bow.ThenIhandoff
thecuptothestudentjustby usingthetipofmy bowtopassthecup.Thestudentpicks
upthecupusingthetipofthestudent'sbow.
121
HandPuppets:Weputsmallhandpuppetsonthetipsofourbowsandthenmarch
aroundtheroomtotheCDrecordingoftheTwinkleVariations.
13
Diam ondontheBow:Sometimesstudentsarealittletoowildandcrazy withtheir
bows,soIwillpretendtoremov eadiamondfrominsidemy earandputitonthetipof
thestudent'sbow.Idothiswithalotofcareandcircumspection,andImakethisgesture
v ery deliberately .Ifindithilarioustowatchthestudentpretendtodotheabov e
ex erciseswithoutlettingthediamondfalloffthebow.Ifthediamondfallsoffthebow,I
scramblearoundontheflooruntilI"findit."Greatceremony !Afterwecompletethe
ex ercise,Iv ery carefully putthediamondbackinmy ear.

AirBowing:Herewejustmov eourbowupanddowntoaparticularrhy thmsuchas
"MississippiHotdog"(four1 6thnotesandtwo8thnotes)orintimetothesy llablesofa
songwesing,suchas"Twinkle,TwinkleLittleStar."

Therearemany suchex ercisesandmany othersinv ariousbooks.Ateacherdoesn'tneed

toomany oftheseinhisorherarsenal.Theabov elistcontainsmy students'fav orites,and
werecy cletheminlessonsandgroupclasses.Y oumay createy ourownex ercises.Just
remembery ourgoalistofindway stomakeagoodbowholdbeahabit.Asky ourselfwhat
y oucoulddotohav ey ourstudentsholdingorusingthebowcorrectly foralengthoftime.

Post edby Pa u la E. Bir da t 8 :0 4 :0 0 A M

Recommend this on Google

La bels:beg in n er

13comments:

legofan Septem ber2 4 ,2 01 2 at1 0:2 0AM

Thanky ouso,m uch!I'm startingm y fiststudentsoon(athreey earold)andthisblogwill

besohelpful!
Reply

Replies

PaulaE.Bird Septem ber2 5,2 01 2 at7 :4 2 AM

You'rewelcom e!Justrem em bertoteachev ery thinginv ery sm allsteps,alittle

bitatatim e,andm astereachlittlethingbeforeaddinganother.Mostly thebig
task is to teach the hom e practice parent how to work with the little one. I
som etim es ask m y parents to giv e the lesson while I observ e the interaction
between parent and child. Parents need to learn how to build a practicing
routineandhabit,andsom etim esthey needalotofhelpandinstructioninthe
beginning.

Reply

Anony mous Nov em ber2 8,2 01 2 at3 :57 AM

IthinkIgotthewhispertubeideanow.Thanks!
C

Reply
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5/25/2017 TEACHSUZUKI:HowtoStartaBeginner,part1
Reply

Hannah January 1 4 ,2 01 3 at1 0:09 AM

Would y ou recom m end spending a lot of tim e building concentration and focus with an
olderchildlikean8y r.old,oristhatm ostly forlittleones?
Reply

Replies

PaulaE.Bird January 1 4 ,2 01 3 at1 1 :01 AM

Yes I use concentration and focus exercises with all m y students. My worst
studentsinterm soffocusarem y collegefreshm en!

Reply

137 Melissa June6 ,2 01 3 at5:2 2 PM

Shares
Thankssom uch!Iam aparentwhoplay sthev iolaandIwouldlov etostartteachingm y
3 y rold,toplay thev iolinbutIdidn'tknowwheretostartexactly .Thisissohelpful!

121 Reply

Replies
13
PaulaE.Bird June1 7 ,2 01 3 at8:01 AM
Rem em ber to start slow with tiny steps. Lots of listening to the m usic to be
learned,andsaturatetheenv ironm entwithm usicandm usicm aking.Thereis
a wealth of m usic stuff for little ones now. The best part about the Suzuki
m ethodishowithelpsparentsconnectwiththeirlittleonesinapositiv eway .I
think that m y work with the teeny ones is m ostly about how to build a better
parentchildrelationship.Pleasewriteify ouexperienceany difficultiesrelated
to y our parenting. When things heat up in general between parent and child
withtheinstrum ent,y ouwillprobably beabletorelateittothingsnotgoingso
well between y ou outside of the m usic learning arena. Please write again and
stay intouch.

Reply

An June1 3 ,2 01 3 at3 :00PM

Juststum bledacrossy ourblogtoday ,andIlov eit!Iam startingm y firststudent(age6 )

inaweekandahalfandhav ebeenresearchingbeginningandpreTwinkleritualsforher.
Thanky ouforally ourhelpfulhints!Iplantobecom earegularreader!

Reply

Replies

PaulaE.Bird June1 7 ,2 01 3 at7 :57 AM

Thanks,An.Letm eknowify ouhav eany subjectsy ouwantcov ered.Im adeup
som e jingles for m y little ones last y ear, and I recorded them as little v oice
m em osforthem om s.They justturnthem onandoffthey go.

Reply

Nancy August2 6 ,2 01 3 at1 2 :02 AM

Ijustfoundy ourblogandwasv ery excitedaboutitasm y granddaughterwhoisgoingto
be 3 in January is so in lov e with the v iolin. I am a v iolinist liv ing in Bahrain and the
granddaughterisQatarwhichis3 0m inaway by plane.Shegetssoexcitedwhenshesees
m eplay andism atureforherage.Forexam pleshesingsinkey av ariety ofsongsect.I
wantedtostartteachingherbutdontknowthesuzukim ethod.Whatdoy ousuggest?
Reply

Replies

PaulaE.Bird Septem ber8,2 01 3 at2 :3 9 PM

3 0 m inutes by plane! That would be a tricky lesson to arrange, wouldn't it?

Doesy ourdaughteralsoplay v iolin,sothatshecouldhelpy ourgranddaughter
learnandpractice?TheSuzukim ethodisabouttheapproachtolearningm ore
thanjustthem usicitself.Ihav elistedm ostoftheteachingpointsinv olv edin
theSuzukirepertoireforv iolinv olum e1 hereintheblogarticles.Asav iolinist,
y ou can easily figure out the rest of the teaching y ourself, I'm sure. For the
approach, I recom m end that y ou begin with both of Dr. Suzuki's books:

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5/25/2017 TEACHSUZUKI:HowtoStartaBeginner,part1
"Nurtured by Lov e" and "Ability Dev elopm ent from Age Zero." You can also
writem eany tim ewithquestions:paulabirdv iolin@gm ail.com .

Reply

SarahLinneaPhot ography August1 3 ,2 01 5at1 1 :2 4 AM

Stum bled upon this blog while researching the suzuki m ethod. My Son is four and m y
daughter2 .Theclosestsuzukiacadem y isanhouraway andwithm y daughterbeingtoo
y oung to start it think com m iting to the driv e has the potential to stall progress rather
than help, so i hav e been researching the m ethod to start at hom e. This article in
particular is just what i hav e been looking for. It seem s there is so m uch to learn before
they begintoplay iwasn'tsurewheretostart.
We are already listening to the Vol. 1 cd and I am excited to start these concentration
gam eswithm y childrenduringourhom eschooltim e.
Reply

137
Shares SelinaDorsey March1 ,2 01 6 at2 :1 5AM
Thiscommenthasbeenremovedbyablogadministrator.
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