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Learning Music the Suzuki Way
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11169 |
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LIFE
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3 / 1986 |
1,890 Words |
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Paula Steen
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Beethoven began practicing the piano at four. Mozart was learning to play the violin by the time he was three. But these men were prodigies. "Normal" children, it was thought, couldn't play an instrument so early. Or could they? Today children all over the world are learning to play instruments before they can play games.
Jeanne Switzer and Frances Dapkus are violinists and music teachers in Wallingford, Connecticut. Both began playing as children. Dapkus believes "music is like a language, first you learn to listen and then you learn to make the sounds yourself." Switzer teaches the Suzuki Violin method, which was developed in Japan especially for young children. She recommends that parents who want their children to love music take them to concerts, too. They should have classical music in the home. "In Japan parents begin playing a Mozart sonata to their babies a week after their birth, over and over every day. They wait until the child responds physically. When they realize he or she knows the piece, then they add another one. By the time the child is three, he has a huge listening repertoire."
Two hundred and fifty thousand children in the U.S. are learning the Suzuki method now. Barbara Ullrich of Guilford, Connecticut, is a product of that instruction. In her early 20's, she plays the violin with the Wallingford Symphony Orchestra. Her parents and both her older brothers play an instrument. Barbara's early years were spent listening to their music. By seven she was eager to play.
Records were also popular in the Ullrich home. "My parents used to play classical music Sunday mornings during breakfast. Later when my brothers and I went to concerts, we always tried to think what we could smell cooking when we heard each piece."
Like Barbara Ullrich, many children want to learn an instrument after they see someone they know playing. Gloria and Larry Loeb, of Wallingford, had always played classical music recordings at home. Their daughter, Elizabeth, heard a neighbor boy play the violin when she was only two. She begged her mother to let her learn. "I told her she couldn't do it until she was potty-trained. She was trained very soon after that." Now Elizabeth is six and her sister Jaime, at four, has started violin lessons. "Every time Elizabeth took out her violin, Jaime wanted to hold it and play with it. Now she has her own," Gloria Loeb explained.
Once a child's interest in music and playing has been piqued, it is important to "get the child started on an instrument that he can handle physically," Switzer noted. "There are now small violins, mini cellos, and new flutes with curved head joints enabling children to start younger because the distance to the keys is not too long for their arms."
Finding a good teacher is the next step, Switzer added. "There are many people who play well but don't know how to transmit that knowledge to children. The teacher should like children and know how to get along with them. The person must also be a good performer so he or she knows what is proper in playing.
"Dr. Suzuki believes all children are talented if the method is correct,' Switzer explained. "At first it isn't necessary to read music. The child listens, memorizes, and repeats. The key is very tiny steps. Each short piece
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