Suzuki Violin Education? (Yorkiegirl maybe?!)

[Gillian76]

My DDs are 5 and 6. We are thinking about Suzuki method. Well I am. DH thinks it's a hippy progressivre method and they'd be as well with a 'conventional' teacher.

I have 2 cousins who learned with this method and from what I've seen over the years, I think it would be a good way to learn and great fun for them.

So my questions are... If you know anything about this would you

1. recommend it?
2. say DD1 is too old at 6?

Thanks

.

I have 2 nieces and a nephew who all started at 6 and are loving it. The eldest, at 10, has just done her grade 5. I also have friends who have children who do S and some who do conventional. The big plus of S is that it is much more motivating for a small child as it is done in a group. My friend who has a child doing the conventional method says that she wishes she had started her off on S method because the group dynamic would have worked better for her personality type (ie attention seeking!) Hope this helps.

Oh DD2 sounds like that personality type!

We are going to meet a teacher on Saturday

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Don't know much about suzuki, but ds1 has started conventional(!) violin, at age 5, and is racing away, so don't discount that as a method. I think problems arise when you switch from a Suzuki teacher to a non Suzuki teacher, and I've had a couple of people who've done Suzuki piano, and have then come to me, and been very frustrated that they can play more difficult pieces than they can 'read', so it's quite difficult to get a balance between the finger ability and the reading ability. But that's piano - violin may be totally different.

I'll follow this thread with interest because my dd1 (year 3) started to learn the violin in this term at school. She loves it and practices daily (unprompted....at the moment!). She's currently playing little tunes by plucking the open strings but is begining to get seriously bored with this every day! She's now started to play the same tunes but with the bow but hasn't told her teacher because she thinks he'll disapprove. I've always played wind instruments so I can't really advise her on practicalities etc but have said that she really must tell her teacher because she's probably developing a wierd technique!!!! I just want her to enjoy music-making and am unsure how to play this. Thanks .............. sorry about the thread hijack!!

Doglover, ds1 has just started to use the bow, and the teacher spent quite a long time getting him to get the bow hold right, so I think it would be worth checking that so bad habits don't start!

We are going tomorrow morning to see the teacher

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The main thing is that suzuki places a large responsibility on the parent. You have to listen to the CD, and play with the child etc. whereas with conventional violin you just have to remind them to practise!

If they can read words they can read music so they don't need suzuki as such.

It's not hippy at all IMO - probably the opposite.

The teacher was very nice, I have to call her at the beginning of the week. I think we will go ahead. The reading music thing does concern me a little, but I'm not sure how much they'll need to read music for the meantime? DD1 has already started picking out a few tunes on the piano and I wonder if learning by ear makes for a less inhibited musician in years to come?

I learned piano and flute by reading music and I have never been keen to play without music.

Thanks for your opinions so far. Any more?

My 2 ds both started learning violin Suzuki method before they started school. It needs a lot of commitment from at least one parent as well as the child. In not learning to read music at the beginning, the child is forced to use memory and ear. This is hard work and so they are very motivated to learn to read music long before they are allowed to do it! I learned a lot from the teacher about how to teach self discipline to a child. Dd1 has switched to a different instrument now but the other is still playing violin after 5 years.

I don't honstly know about Suzuki but I just thought I'd add that it's entirely possible to do conventional lessons in a group too- ds started like that for the first 2 years and then moved to private lessons, and that worked well.

Would also like to back up tortoiseshell- bow hold is really important and although it's frustrating I really think it's better to discourage your dd from doing it for now, doglover.

DD started learning Suzuki violin before she started school. She is in Yr2 now. In Yr1 she started recorder as part of curriculum and piano out of interest. These helped her in reading violin notes fairly quickly this year. I think Suzuki has helped her with a wonderful skill - at the age when she could hardly read, it was good for her to listen to the CD and recognise notes by sound. I don't know anyone learning violin in conventional method - so may not be of much use - but Suzuki is good for a very young child and requires plenty of commitment and discipline. (DH took lessons along with DD!!)

My DD aged 10 has been playing what I suppose you'd call conventional violin for 2 years. I say 'suppose you'd call conventional' as I've never heard of the Suzuki method. What is it exactly? Have picked up from this thread that it's something to do with group lessons (which she has at school - she has a private lesson one to one once a week too) and cd's. She's very good, and has done her first exam. She'll soon be ready for her second.