registered, not certified

July 4, 2007 at 12:33 AM

I finished my book 1 Suzuki training on Saturday. 28 hours of lecture, 15 hours of observation, and the 6 hr ECC course to start it all. I sent my $10 off on Monday to get "registered, not certified". And how will I use all of this? I have a nice little outline of how someone might teach book 1-previews, preparations, etc. I now know after buying William Starr's the Suzuki Violinist that all that same information is contained within his book. The observations watching a variety of people teaching were helpful. I learned some pretwinkle activities and a few games that will be helpful in my group lessons. I enjoyed hearing the play-ins and recitals, and it's refreshing to see kids and parents involved with each other in a positive way. However, I think it is really presumptious to conclude someone's parenting is lacking if a student exhibits problematic behaviors or is not progressing in a certain way. And while I can appreciate the desire to maintain Suzuki's pedagogical traditions, I did not like it when assertions were made that a teacher was doing something drastically wrong if they did not teach the literature exactly as Suzuki might. And I really don't believe you have damaged your students ability to internalize the piece by actually looking at the music on occasion. My public school Suzuki students will be orchestral players in middle school and must read well, so I think that it's really okay to teach a variety of etudes, instead of always going back to Perpetual Motion. I did feel a bit like I might be in a scientology/amway meeting when we were required to attend an SAA meeting and had to discuss how to get parents to join the SAA. It's interesting to have a foot in both styles of teaching. I am not quite ready to toss out Rolland & Applebaum just yet. There is quite a lot of excellent "traditional" pedagogy out there these days, and in reality, an experienced teacher will pick and choose whatever is necessary to create a successful learning environment.

From Laurie Niles
Posted on July 4, 2007 at 5:40 AM

Patricia, where was this again?

Indeed, don't throw away anything you already are doing! Just take whatever good stuff you got from the training and make it your own, with what you do.

From Mellisa Nill
Posted on July 4, 2007 at 6:59 AM

Hi Patricia,

I recently finished the Suzuki book 1 teacher training also. I began my violin career in Suzuki by refusing to play by ear, and at age 6 said "if I can't read it, I'm not going to play it." So, my poor Suzuki teacher decided that the best way to teach someone like me was to try something else. Looking back now, I think she may not have been a true Suzuki teacher, but I digress...

I don't know if this quote from Dr. Suzuki is in Starr's "The Suzuki Violinist", but it's what sold me on the idea. He said that you should not call yourself a Suzuki violin teacher. If you must, call yourself a Suzuki-______ (fill in your last name) teacher. To me, that means to take what works for you and your student, and add or subtract as necessary to teach the most effective way that you can.

My teacher-trainer was a traditional student and teacher before coming to Suzuki as an adult. I was pleasantly surprised at her frank way that she seemed to show me that the way I learned to play was not really all that different from the Suzuki method. She was really saying that this is a great way to teach, and she incorporated other more traditional ideas into the way she teaches the method as well.

So I guess what I'm saying is that no matter how you teach, you have to do what works for you and your students, whether it is strictly Suzuki, strictly traditional or some medley of both.

Personally, I like medleys!

Mellisa

From Patricia Baser
Posted on July 4, 2007 at 11:28 AM

I went to the Atlanta Institute.

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