Why did my teacher skip suzuki book 7?
God, this was ages ago now that I think about it.
My friend who's a music education major suggested I start giving lessons once I actually become a full-pledged music major--half as a joke and half on a serious note, and I took up the fun challenge and started to come up with which books I would use and why.
I naturally took a stroll down memory lane and thought of the books I was taught with--Suzuki (surprise surprise!). I looked through the music in the books to determine when the natural times to drop certain etudes may be (I understand it will vary from student to student, but this really was for my amusement--err, benefit). And then it hit me: I never even touched book 7 or most of book 8, and I saw neither book 9 nor book 10.
Not using book 9 or 10 makes sense; they're just Mozart Concerti and don't really need to immediately follow book 8. (Actually it even seems awkward.) But my teacher's choice of not using book 7 or most of book 8 is still a mystery to me. Is this a common practice by many teachers, or was this one of the case-by-case instance where my teacher decided I didn't really need Suzuki any more?
- C
Replies (17)
At around the Suzuki book 6 level, it makes sense to diversify -- and as far as I know, Suzuki expected that in the later books, teachers would extensively supplement. Most students switch to what is effectively a traditional approach somewhere at the book 6 or 7 level, even if they continue to stay with the teacher, or even within the Suzuki program structure for a while.
Once you get to around the book 6 level, there's a ton of good intermediate material. If you think back, this is probably when you got Kreutzer, Flesch, and a lot more Romantic repertoire.
I am not a certified Suzuki teacher though I use the early materials and a lot of the ideas with beginners. I generally stop using the books after the Vivaldi a minor in book 4, preferring to choose repertoire as appropriate for the student (and using better editions).
Perhaps your teacher didn't take the Bk 7/8 training or beyond, so didn't understand the natural progression and teaching points involved for those books. Many Suzuki teachers start adding additional material as soon as possible, but there is still much technique development in 7 and 8. And just for a point of clarification, there is no Suzuki "certification." There is only registered training for the books.
Rhank you all for your wonderful inputs!
That was indeed around the time I got Praeludium and Allegro and Scene de Ballet, so I suppose she just wanted to get me out of the Baroque.
What are some defenses in keeping with Suzuki until Book 10 (the Mozart)? I can see why it would be beneficial to expand, but I would also like to look at things from the other side of the fence.
Suzuki wanted to incorporate a lot of other repertoire in the later books but was unable to get copyright permission to do so, which IMHO explains some of the less-musically-interesting works used to cover the technical development in those later books (7 and 8 in particular).
Most notably absent are the works of Kreisler, whose material Suzuki loved. Once they reach this level though, supplementation is the key and the choices abound:
Kreisler - Schon Rosmarin, Liebeslied, Sicilienne and Rigaudon, Praeludium and Allegro
Beethoven - Romance Op. 50
Monti - Czardas
Sarasate - Malaguena, Romanza Andaluza
Wieniawski - Legende
Haydn - Concerto in G Major
Mozart - Concerto No. 3
Bach - E Major Partita, D Minor Partita (without the Chaconne)
To Gene's excellent list, I would add the Kabalevsky concerto.
Often by the time a student is ready for Suzuki Book 7, they are also ready to tackle longer works. Suzuki Book 7 has the Bach A Minor Concerto and the Handel Sonata No. 1. Both are great pieces and important for development on the road to Mozart 3. But some of the other pieces seem rather trivial for that development stage. If you're going to work on a shorter piece, one might as well make it one of the easier movements of solo Bach such as the E major Gigue or the D minor Allemande. Perhaps your teacher had some of these ideas in mind.
Ah, that's interesting to me because I would never think Bach and Handel would provide a framework necessary for Mozart 3. Is it the quicker pace of both of the works, or is there something more? I would imagine Haydn G would provide a more smooth transition into Mozzy 3.
A quick pace, and a multitude of ultra-neat string-crossings.
Etc!
Like Gene mentioned, there was a lot of repertoire left out the the Suzuki books that would probably be there if not for copyright laws. One of the problems with sticking just to the Suzuki books at the advanced levels is, as is often mentioned, the lack of romantic and 20th/21st century music. The lack of this music also means that there are many techniques that are not included in the books, such as very high position playing, and other more virtuosic techniques that were not used in the baroque and classical era. It seems unbalanced to play multiple Vivaldi concertos, multiple Handel Sonatas, and then multiple Mozart Concertos without breaking it up with more stylistically diverse music such pieces by Kreisler, DeBeriot, Kabalevsky, Brahms, etc..
Also keep in mind that in Suzuki's day it was common for his very young (sometimes starting as young as 2) students to finish the entire Suzuki series by age 9 or 10, leaving lots of time to develop more advanced and diverse skills while still very young. In the U.S. now many students start playing at age 9 or 10, and even those starting at 3 tend to progress more slowly. If you want a student to be ready for some of the often repetitive later Suzuki books and jump into more standard and varied repertoire sooner.
If you look at the Suzuki viola books (which were compiled much later than the violin books) you will notice more romantic repertoire (including a couple Kreisler transcriptions), which are probably more in line with Suzuki's ultimate vision for the violin books. As a violist I'm not completely satisfied with the viola books either, but again, we are still looking at copyright issues, since much of the standard viola repertoire is still under copyright. There is also so much great and varied repertoire for any instrument that you could never include it all anyway. It is up to individual teachers to choose repertoire that fits their students needs and interests.
I think the main argument for teaching everything in all 10 Suzuki books, is so that students can participate in group classes and play a common repertoire together. However, at this stage many Suzuki programs group classes become more chamber music oriented anyway, and many students opt for youth orchestras and chamber programs instead of Suzuki group even where it is offered. I wouldn't say it would be terrible to go straight through books 1-10 exclusively (although supplementing between 8 and 9 seems to be pretty standard) but there might be better options that would make students more well-rounded musicians.
I see! Thank you all for your fantastic responses! ((:
- C
Most of the Suzuki teachers I know use the Barbara Barber books which have the Thais Meditation, the Vocalise, the Ave Maria, and other slower, more romantic type pieces that provide a good balance to the straight-and-narrow (baroque-and-classical) approach of the Suzuki books. Still, if you're going to play Mozart 3, being able to play faster scale- and arpeggio-type passages cleanly and in tune is an absolute must. And I agree with the OP that Haydn G Major comes before Mozart 3, definitely.
...because much of the Suzuki repertoire is poorly-edited and 100 years out of date. Thank your teacher.
Scott, an important point. When I came to learning the Suzuki version of the Vivaldi Amin I noticed that the editing was often unstylistic for the period, and the bowing and fingering could be downright weird. I discussed this with my teacher, who as a performer herself immediately understood, and we agreed to use an urtext edition.
Wow, I never thought of it being out of date! I often forget the books are quite old, and that does make sense.
I will be sure to thank my teacher the next time I see her!
My teacher doesn't teach after book 6 because besides Mozart (which everyone learns anyway) the pieces are all baroque, so you don't end up studying other styles, and that doesn't make sense.
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March 24, 2017 at 02:57 PM · Maybe the teacher felt that the repertoire was irrelevant in a way and decided to start other things like Bach unaccempanied or major concertos (easy-ish ones) or Kreisler and Sarasate show pieces.