Great Expectations: Less is More

A young mom among my Suzuki parents thirty years ago had a way of producing amazing results with her two sons. Another parent asked her how she did it, and her first words were "I expect very little." She set limited, clear goals, one at a time. It's not that her expectations were low, but the focus was always limited.

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by Karen Zethmayr

 

Some other spinoffs of this principal are:

• Expect to spend half an hour of parent time to get six quality minutes from the child. It will pay off.
• If six things are wrong, fix only one and rejoice. (You may occasionally observe in lessons that I get all excited about left hand success even when they're holding the bow like a fly swatter. It's because I know how hard the left hand is working.)
• Keep your own mental list of what to "fix" tomorrow, and accept the unfinished as part of the game. End practice time praising the buds that bloomed, and speak of other things tomorrow.
• Value & praise the exercises away from the instrument and expect them to take up 80-90% of practice time for the first year.

Away-from-the-instrument things are
• The CD and stretching
• Pencil bow games
• The CD and castanets or sandpaper blocks
• Box violin games
• The CD and "the sandwich game" (Try real food!)
• Reading readiness games
• The CD and stretching
• Fingerplays
• The CD and reading notes out loud

Each of the pieces on the first half of the CD takes 30-60 seconds. That's enough for a good stretch, and it'll vitalize mom or dad as well. Some arrangement similar to the above (and I don't mean the whole CD 4 times) can provide release from the odd position you need for playing and encourage freer movement. If you do the assigned section of the CD only once, and the rest of the time use songs or fingerplays the child particularly likes, that will also remind you to stretch.

We do aim for perfection, but not this minute for beginners. Perfection comes when they come to group sessions and get the "other dimension" of playing, that includes fellowship with other kids and thinking of new ways to do "the same old" piece.

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For more information on the Monroe Street Fine Arts Center Suzuki program, see msfac.org/ or email grandma@grandmaskite.com.

Suzuki is
Hands On
Education

•Parent Letter Topics
Bow hold:
•Pencil exercises I
•Pencil exercises II
Left hand strength and flexibility:
•1 Little Elephant
•4 Little Elephants Jumping on a Web
• Smallmotor "pick up" game
Position in Motion:
•"Home built" violins with activities
Reading readiness:
"Who Ran Away?"
"Twinkle Rhythm Flash Cards"
Supplementary Music and Midis
Twinkle Rag
Daisy Daisy
Daisy sheet music

Email Karen Zethmayr grandma@grandmaskite.com • Teaching Resume • Design Resume