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Might not be Suzuki mom anymore…..
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Ok, so I’m not going to go into the whole long story, but Delta (8yob) will not be being taught by his Suzuki violin teacher anymore… and with how things are, I don’t think I will have Echo (6yog) go to that teacher anymore either. Financial concerns prevent us from using another teacher. Neither Delta nor Echo currently enjoy the violin (although I think it is mostly the practicing they don’t enjoy…) – that wouldn’t be something that would have made us stop lessons (we considered it like a non-optional school subject in our house)… but may be a consideration now that there is this issue.
I’ve been trying to figure out what we want to do about music. (Ok, I know playing a musical instrument isn’t required or anything… but it has always been a big priority in our house.)
I am fairly musical, although not proficient at any instrument. I have taught the younger kids up to playing Twinkle, and feel that I can teach if I keep ahead of them. (mind you, Delta is ahead of me in the violin at the moment…)
So – here are the options I’m looking at…. partly to help me think it through, partly to get suggestions….
– Me continue to teach them all (probably after a break) using Suzuki. I’m pretty sure with the resources I have that I can help Delta finish his current song and learn the next one… and we could do a fair bit of work on note reading at this point… and do some general practice of the review songs so they aren’t lost…. One issue is Suzuki method does not have information on how to do things in the books. I have a few other resources, but it is not friendly to being self-taught or taught by an untrained teacher.
– Me continue to teach them all (probably after a break) using another method that might be a little more friendly.
– Forget violin for now (except probably with Foxtrot (3yo) who, at the moment, likes it…) and do…. the Organ (as we have one not being used…) – problem is we don’t have any child-friendly books to teach from, and there don’t seem to be any at all where I live. (My mom is going to ask a friend who has worked for Yamaha (in another city) for years what is available…) – I do have my church’s Keyboard Instruction book, which would be an option (and is not half bad…) but I’d prefer to use it as a supplement.
– Forget violin for now (as above) and do…. the Piano (but only on a 61 key keyboard as we no longer have a piano…) – I have found a very nice course for that, which Delta did the first part of the method for 5-6yo’s when he was younger. The method is pretty good (although a bit twaddly)… If I went that route, I’d get the Primer for Older Students for Delta and use the younger program for Echo… The problem is that the pre-school piano method book that I really like does use pretty much all the 88 keys… and you miss all the stuff like dynamics and tone using a keyboard….
– Guitar… yes we have a couple of cheap children’s guitars (and a couple of adult ones) and a child’s guitar method book…
– get Penny Gardner’s 9 note recorder method and do the recorder…..
– Just totally avoid doing music and see if anyone misses it by September…… (by which point I’d want to do something….)
– or be totally crazy and let each child choose from the above options!
If it were me, and playing some sort of an instrument was a requirement, I’d let them choose their own instrument. If they are excited about it, they will learn it much easier and faster. We only have a keyboard ourselves, and I really do plan to teach the kids piano (I’ve been saying that for 2 years now
). My oldest had wanted to learn guitar, but she was having a lot of trouble figuring out how to tune it, so she kind of gave up (though I think she’d still like to learn someday). They are all excited about piano, and occasionally we ask if there’s something else they want to learn. So far, they don’t.So that’s my $.02.
I don’t have much advice, but I do let my dc choose which instrument they want to play. Their passion/interest has helped tremendously with their desire to practice. I will admit that my kids were not quite as young as your kids were when they started out with music lessons…actually quite a bit older starting out. My oldest takes lessons on his own and practices daily on his own. My middle boy does his lessons (with teacher) by himself and I sit and listen to him practice when he asks me to, otherwise he practices by himself. My youngests isn’t quite there, yet.
I have felt that for us, the older, the better. Not too old, like out of the house or anything, but old enough that they can manage the lessons/practicing on their own. My dh and myself are not musically talented but we encourage them and support their desire to learn.
So, maybe a break until they get a bit older??
HTH
Oh Suzukimom! I’m so sorry. We’ve been in Suzuki violin for a few years now. My oldest 8yo is in Book 4 just completing the first Seitz concerto (I’m working on the 2nd Seitz.) He would be heartbroken to stop. He’s really skyrocketed in the last year. My second 8yo is finishing Book 1. But our teachers are priceless. They both studied with Dr. Suzuki and really have his heart for “character first, ability second” although the ability they’re able to get out of those kids is amazing and that is used to build the character. I don’t have any advice. I was a piano/organ major but I’m studying violin as well, at first to be able to help my children, but I love it. Just wish I had more practice time. But I’ll be praying for you as you make this decision.
I teach my son piano. The pros of teaching your own children is the flexibility and cost -free. I have played the piano for years so instruction is easy.
The cons of teaching my own child are that sometimes I forget to do lessons, I don’t feel we are as diligent with pressing ahead, and although I am a trained pianist I am NOT a trained piano teacher.
But we enjoy it anyways. He is only 7. He actually mentioned he might want to try the guitar. I think we will stick with the piano until fall and see what happens.
I learned the organ first – I loved it! Then I wanted to play the saxophone and my grandfather told
My mom I should learn the clarinet first and then move on to the saxophone. I did well at it but I never was passionate about it – like I probably would have been about the saxophone. So I sold my clarinet and bought a piano 🙂
So I agree – ask the kids!
Tara
I also think it is important to enjoy the instrument you are playing. I was forced into dull piano lessons which I never enjoyed, quit after a year and didn’t want any more. And I actually like piano well enough (still play for fun) – but the approach and timing was all wrong. I wanted to learn violin, but wasn’t give the opportunity. Would it have been different? Can’t really say, sice I didn’t learn violin, but I’m pretty sure I would have had more interest in learning & practice if it was an instrument I actually wanted to play.
In our house, all of the kids learn basics of piano before anything else. This is low stress, in a fun way. The older ones could all easily do enough to pass a few lower level exams. They all have strong motivation to play, and are much better than I am now.
I don’t make them practice a certain amount of minutes a day or anything, but give general guidelines & encouragement for practice. This is working well here. Some days (not often) there is no practice, and that is okay. Most days there is plenty of practice.
We have four children on violin, and many on piano. Some have started later than others. One of our daughters started violin at five (had a few lessons, didn’t like it, stopped for a while), then picked it up again at six and a half and loves it now, and is pretty good at it (no lessons, though, just help from older siblings).
We have another daughter who, at eight, is just beginning to take an interest in playing music. She would like a trumpet….but needs to start on piano first.
My oldest son son didn’t really want to play anything until he was around ten or so, started with piano (as much as I could teach him), began violin at nearly twelve (self-taught with dvd); now he has just turned fourteen and been invited to the provincial music festival after receiving several awards at a local festival.
If I was less busy, maybe we would do more music with the younger ones, but then again maybe not. Although we strongly encourage the development of musical talent, it is much easier if you have them on your side 🙂
). My oldest had wanted to learn guitar, but she was having a lot of trouble figuring out how to tune it, so she kind of gave up (though I think she’d still like to learn someday). They are all excited about piano, and occasionally we ask if there’s something else they want to learn. So far, they don’t.
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