I'm not a Tiger Mum (honest!) but I come from a background where music was given great importance. I played a couple of instruments myself and, sensing that DD1 degree has a certain amount of musicality, decided to look into the Suzuki method of violin lessons. Having read quite a lot around the subject now, I'm impressed by the general philosophy of nurturing talents from an early age - in theory.
Having been recommended a local teacher, I started my DD just before she was 3 and a half. I tried to prepare her in advance in order to create/foster an interest in learning to play the instrument; again in theory she seemed genuinely keen.
The reality has been quite an eye opener. The half hour lessons are a bit of a minefield! She just won't focus for any length of time; she messes around and fidgets non-stop (rolling around on the floor, talking about all things other than violin); and she steadfastly refuses to listen to or do anything her teacher asks her. And it seems to be getting worse.
I know the Suzuki philosophy is all about play-based learning at this stage, and her teacher tries every trick in the book to get her to come to heel! To no avail! It's getting a bit embarrassing and more than a bit frustrating to watch, especially as I know she can and does focus on other "projects" (drawing, making things, etc.) for considerably longer periods of time than she does at the violin lessons.
I'm beginning to wonder if i'm doing the right thing as i don't want to have to discipline her and take all the fun out of learning to play. Today I felt so despondent as she learned nothing. I even began to wonder whether she has ADHD ! We left with her bawling her eyes out (she thought we were leaving because she'd "misbehaved" and her teacher sort of let her believe this to see if it would have any effect on her behaviour). She seemed to be devastated as, she said, she wants to learn (but in reality the half hour was up). She cried the whole way home and told me that she really wanted to go back and listen to her teacher. Gah!
Anyone got any experience of this? Do I need to rein in my expectations? Should I pull her out and try again later, or face the fact that she's not cut out for this kind of activity?
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Anyone got experience of Suzuki Violin method with 3-year-olds?
22 replies
GoodEnoughMama · 15/06/2012 16:44
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