• Great Expectations: Less is More
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Great Expectations: Less is More

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by Karen Zethmayr

A young mom from 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." Her goals for the kids were limited, one at a time, and clear to the kids. It's not that her expectations were low, but the focus was always limited.

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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If you would like to receive notification as new Suzuki resources are added to this site, you can send an email to grandma@grandmaskite.com. Your email will not be sold, shared, traded, or used for any other purpose than that which you requested. As it turns out, I have been adding a topic in a parent letter about once a month for my own Suzuki families.

Other Suzuki resources on Grandma's Kite:

Pencil exercises, set one for bow hold
Pencil exercises, set two for bow hold
One Little Elephant (left finger strength and flexibility)
Four Little Elephants Jumping on a Web (left finger naming, strength and flexibility)
Left hand number card "pick up" game
"Home built" violins and ways to use them in group sessions
Reading readiness game "Who Ran Away?"
Reading readiness game "Rhythm Flash "
"Reading Readiness in Music"

Supplementary Music and Midis

Twinkle Rag – a twinkle variation with a new twist on half of the rhythm in Variations A and D. Same four sixteenth notes in a ragtime setting

Daisy Daisy uses a three four twist on "Mississippi without the hot dog." The whole accompaniment is open D and G. The song and bass line can be played as a violin / 'cello duet or on the piano.

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

For more information on Middleton School of Performing Arts, see http://msopa.net or email grandma@grandmaskite.com.

 

 

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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