Suzuki Summer Camps, Part 1

Emery's Fourth Violin

I have one of the best jobs ever, in my opinion, for being a mom. My schedule is crazily full and I’m just as busy as others in the workforce (at least from what I can tell), but my hours are rather flexible (I can grade after he goes to bed) and I get to spend much of the holidays with my son. I often find myself wanting to educate the public that mine is a nine-month job (meaning I’m paid for nine months of work), so of course I don’t work during the summers, but alas, I do anyway. Usually, I spend my summers researching and writing manuscripts, but this year I’ve decided to teach two classes and I’m too busy to do much more than plan and grade.

Which leads me to this post: Suzuki Summer camps. My son has been playing the violin for the past five years or so (he’s nine). When he was three or so, I noticed he loved music (especially Charlie Brown music) so being an educator, I signed him up for music lessons (that seems to be a common pattern in my approach to parenting-kid shows interest in something, I sign him up for private lessons-I am in education, after all).

So, for those of you not familiar with the Suzuki method—it’s approach for teaching a musical instrument to very young children that follows certain principles.

Now, these may be wrong, but here’s what I’ve learned about being a Suzuki parent.

1.    The child learns how to play much in the same way he or she learns his or her “mother tongue” from a parent and from practice. This means that the parent learns how to play the instrument so he or she can help the child in daily practice.

2.    You and your child should practice together every day.

3.    You and your child should listen to music, including the pieces you will learn to play on the violin.

4.    The child moves through skills and a set repertoire of music at his or her own pace.

5.    The parent (and the child) do not compare their progress with other children (learning to play the violin is not a competition—I thought this would be harder for me to do, but it’s only been quite recently that I’ve started to wonder about my child’s progress).

6.    The child learns that the purpose of practice is to make “it” (the playing) easy.

7.    The child memorizes all pieces of music and learns to read music only when he or she is ready (often when they learn how to read words).

There are more principles, but those are the ones that I have learned. Yes, we practice nearly every day, but on those nights that I teach (often twice a week) I have to really on my husband to follow through and make sure Emery practices. Yes, it’s quite a commitment.

Which leads me back to the camps. There are a number of Suzuki camps in the summer in which students work with other teachers and students. They are actually a lot of fun and students, as with most camps, develop friendships. My son is at a camp this week—I am not. Instead, I had to send my husband while I continue teaching my courses.

My husband is not educated in the Suzuki way.

He hasn’t attended parental training, read the books, or discussed with other parents what it means to be a “Suzuki” parent.

It could be a complete disaster or a complete success.