Violin Lessons for Children

Why Practicing Works

2017-03-01T08:29:00.004-08:00

What a fascinating video from TED Education. It explains "muscle memory", what effective practice looks like, and why repetition is SO important. All parents of Suzuki kids will benefit from watching this!

Characteristics of a Preschool Beginner

2017-02-13T14:41:00.000-08:00

In my Suzuki teacher training (looooong ago), I received a fantastic handout charting the characteristics of the preschool aged child (broken down by age). There's no author named on the handout, but I believe it is the work of Marilyn OBoyle (Suzuki teacher-trainer extraordinaire). I have often referred to this handout, and believe it will be useful to other teachers and parents, so I'd love to share it here.

5 Year Old:

Relationship to Mother: Easy to work with, more independent than in the past
Relationship to Teacher: Usually work well for teacher
Relationship to Peers: Good friendships develop
Anxiety Level: Usually low. Work through things easily
Special Needs: Needs sense of progress and accomplishment
Special Gifts: Easy to work with
Physical Relationship to Violin: Beginners are sometimes stiffer but really try to do it right.

4.5 Year Old:

Relationship to Mother: Stabilizing from past desire to be independent, but unpredictable
Relationship to Teacher: Not as stubbornly independent as in the past
Relationship to Peers: Need to relate and succeed with peers
Anxiety Level: Unpredictable highs and lows
Special Needs: Esteem building and praise. Stable relationships

Special Gifts: More attentive and concentration is good (but not consistent)
Physical Relationship to Violin: A little uptight and tense but more willing to try

4 Year Old:

Relationship to Mother: Some retreating to earlier stages
Relationship to Teacher: Ups and downs
Relationship to Peers: Enjoys peers but experiences anxiety
Anxiety Level: Very high and internal
Special Needs: Need calm regular routines. Lots of praise
Special Gifts: Desire to please even when anxious
Physical Relationship to Violin: Can work longer but instability shows up sometimes

3.5 Year Old:

Relationship to Mother: Developing independence
Relationship to Teacher: Independence can block relationships
Relationship to Peers: Wants to relate to peers, and begins to
Anxiety Level: Low. Independence-created stubbornness
Special Needs: Small steps. Change pace often.
Special Gifts: Greater ability to concentrate
Physical Relationship to Violin: Have to be very exact and work from different angles.

3 Year Old:

Relationship to Mother: Close and more obedient
Relationship to Teacher: Begins to relate, if mom is close.
Relationship to Peers: Lots of watching others
Anxiety Level: Low, but some stubbornness
Special Needs: Need much repetition, very small steps
Special Gifts: Increasing attention span (still short)
Physical Relationship to Violin: Very relaxed, mold-able, but fall apart

2.5 Year Old:

Relationship to Mother: Close but willful
Relationship to Teacher: Mostly through mom
Relationship to Peers: Curiosity but no relationship
Anxiety Level: Medium - related to outside events
Special Needs: Games and tricks (don't follow directions well)
Special Gifts: Great curiosity - love to mimic
Physical Relationship to Violin: Mostly readiness. Very small steps and short sessions required.

Suzuki Review Chart (Books 1-7)

2014-07-02T10:11:00.002-07:00

It was brought to my attention that the link in the sidebar for my Suzuki Review Chart is not functioning properly. I'm posting it as a jpeg in this post until I can get the link fixed. The resolution may not be great, so please click the image to view the original size.

Is Your Child Ready for Violin?

2012-02-22T09:02:00.001-08:00

4 skills your child should have before he/she's set up to succeed in violin lessons
(or, 10 skills we will be working on with your small child during their first year of lessons):

Number Recognition:

Preschool age children can often count to 10, 20, or even 100, but sometimes cannot recognize the written numbers. This picture links to a great activity that can help with that -

Another skill pertaining to number recognition is knowledge of ordinal numbers. 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th fingers are essential to learning the violin. Talk to your child about lining things up in height order, and discuss which comes "first", "second", "third", etc.

Finger Strength and Dexterity:

If your child is not writing yet, or has trouble holding a crayon to color, they might lack the finger strength/dexterity to play violin just yet. For gaining strength, specifically in the LEFT hand, try letting them squeeze Silly Putty. Also, "finger pops", i.e. tapping each finger individually against the thumb, can help to build strength.

Lacing cards, seen below, can help with dexterity and fine motor skills (click the picture to link to directions for making your own)...

Montessori activities for pre-handwriting skills are also great for pre-violin skills. Let your child use tweezers (left handed) to sort puff balls from one bowl to another, or kitchen tongs to move larger items.
Squeezing a turkey baster in the bathtub (left handed), can also build strength and dexterity. All fun stuff and super useful!

Crossing the Midline:

Crossing the midline means that one hand spontaneously moves over to the other side of the body to work there. Before this ability is established, you may have noticed that your young child tends to use the left hand on the left side of the body and the right hand on the right side of the body. -Quoting from ot-mom-learning-activities.com

If you've noticed your child is still working on this skill - read through the article linked to in the picture below, and try some of the activities mentioned...

Focus:

The ideal is that your child can focus and follow directions for up to 15 minutes. I often start 2 - 4 year olds with 15 minute lessons (as opposed to 30 minute lessons), and my expectations for their practice time at home is based more on correct repetitions and building a routine than amount of time spent practicing.

Fantastic Articles

2011-04-22T09:48:00.000-07:00

Musicians are known to have greater connectivity in the corpus callosum, parietal, temporal and frontal lobes of the brain. Autism may be a disorder of underconnectivity. The Theory of Underconnectivity suggests that early rapid brain growth leads to fewer long distance connections and more local connections. Anatomical brain studies have demonstrated the corpus callosum to be less dense suggesting that there are fewer long distance connections in & between parietal, temporal & frontal lobe areas. This anatomic finding can be translated into difficulties with sequential thinking and putting the pieces together in the right order. As suggested above, music making may improve or rehabilitate structural brain abnormalities and reduce epilepsy. Music making has been used in the remediation of language and reading disorders.
excerpt from Music for the Brain:|| Music for the Soul:||. Read the rest at Spruce Kids

The high-level musicians who had studied the longest performed the best on the cognitive tests, followed by the low-level musicians and non-musicians, revealing a trend relating to years of musical practice. The high-level musicians had statistically significant higher scores than the non-musicians on cognitive tests relating to visuospatial memory, naming objects and cognitive flexibility, or the brain's ability to adapt to new information.
excerpt from Childhood Music Lesson May Provide Lifelong Boost. read the rest at medicalxpress.com

Props to aid muscle memory

2010-07-10T13:21:00.001-07:00

Excellent posture is a big goal for every Suzuki student. Getting that perfect posture can be frustrating when your child is going through growth spurts every few months. Here are some of my favorite props for helping students accomplish their posture goals:

1.) Dexter the Monkey. Most of the time, he's hanging off the music stand, but lately he's helping my students fix the dreaded "pancake hand".

You can find more Gund Magnatude animals like Dexter, here.

2.) BowHold Buddies. These accessories may seem a little pricey at $29.95, but they grow with your child (one size fits all) and spare YOU the headache of correcting a collapsed pinky hundreds of times. These are great for kids with double-jointed fingers, and they magically round and relax rigid bowholds.

3.) Hershey Kiss. An oldy but a goody! Set candy on the belly of your student's violin to encourage them to hold the violin parallel to the floor (as opposed to letting the scroll droop towards the ground). Also great for setting in the crook of their left elbow, to encourage the elbow to stay centered under the violin. If they can play a review piece without the Kiss falling, they get to eat it.

Suzuki Review Chart

2010-06-24T16:51:00.000-07:00

When students graduate to book 2, I usually give them a review chart to help keep their book 1 songs rehearsed. Songs like Etude and Gossec Gavotte can be completely forgotten if you don't practice them at least once a week!

Here's a link to the chart I use. There's also a link in the side-bar under "links for my students". The document is a pdf and the link will re-route you to adobe acrobat where you can print off the chart for yourself. USE IT! PRACTICE :)

Genuine, specific praise

2010-02-20T07:58:00.000-08:00

In my experience, delivering specific praise produces students who better listen to their teacher's corrections later.

It doesn't come naturally for most, but specific praise can become a habit. Teachers and parents just have to practice doing it! Did your student just play through a review piece? It probably wasn't perfect! Try hard to recall what they did well and compliment THAT.

Your student may be obsessed about a low 2nd finger they forgot, so if you say, "good job", back it up with a reason. Otherwise, they may be hearing in their head, "I'm sure you did your best even though you failed". Or, they may assume you don't pay attention to detail, and disregard your praise in the future.

An example of specific praise would be, "I'm so proud of you for playing that whole piece from memory! I know you had a couple of hiccups along the way, but we can go back and fix those now. Great job!"

Silly Words to help learn Suzuki Volume 1

2009-12-14T13:53:00.000-08:00

Growing up as a Suzuki kid, my mom (also a Suzuki teacher), and many of the teachers at Suzuki Institutes we attended, made-up silly stories and words to the Suzuki repertoire.

As I see it, silly words and stories serve three purposes:

1.) They lighten up pieces your student may be struggling to learn.
2.) Words can often help students comprehend a new rhythm.
3.) They help your student memorize melodies and/or the form of a piece.

Here are some of my favorite words and stories for VOLUME 1:

Var. B Twinkle:
Doc-tor Su-zu-ki
Says ne-ver get la-zy
Just prac-tice and prac-tice
un-til you go cra-zy

(I think credit for these words goes to the STELR program in Lubbock, TX)

Allegretto:
Can I play Allegretto with beans in my nose?
Would there be any argument, do you suppose?
Can I play Allegretto with sticks in my hair?
Do you think that my teacher would care?

I don't care what you put in your hair or your nose
Just as long as you know where your fourth finger goes!

Can I play Allegretto with sticks in my hair?
Do you think that my teacher would care?

(as seen on Little Blue School)

Andantino:
Dynamite Dynamite Dynamite POW

(thanks to Stephanie Ezerman for those words)

Etude:
This story about hiking in the Grand Canyon helps students remember the form of this piece...
A1 section: You set out on the trail, but OOPS you forgot something and have to turn back (1 D 3 A)
A2 section: You set out again with everything you need and head up a small hill (1 3 1 3)
First descending scale: the trail leads you to a small waterfall
Second scale: now you see an even bigger waterfall
A3 section with final descending scale: time to head down the hill and return to the campsite

(I believe this story came from Barbara Barber)

Minuet 2:
to help teach the triplet sections...
choc-o-late ice cream cone
and
choc-o-late ice cream cone with a nut

(I'm pretty sure my mom, Joyce McGlaun, made those up!)

Motivate your child to practice

2009-04-06T09:52:00.000-07:00

"If love is deep, much can be accomplished." - Shinichi Suzuki

This quote says a lot about Suzuki's views on learning, and the responsibility of the parent as the "home teacher". Dr. Suzuki encouraged teachers and parents to be gentle and loving when instructing children. To provide encouragement, and avoid criticism or shame. To build up, not tear down the child's self-image. Suzuki was always able to find something positive about a student's efforts and comment in such a manner. Is your child receiving genuine, specific praise?

There is always something positive to say even if it is that they stood still or had their feet in playing position! Instead of saying, "Your pinky was straight again, fix it", try saying, "You really watched your bow that time! Can I see your curved pinky?"

That being said, everyone gets tired of practicing! If you're struggling to help your child overcome a practice slump, often, a special reward between parent and child is more effective than a material reward such as a new toy. Reading a favorite book, big hugs, choosing dessert after dinner and playing a favorite game are all examples of non-material rewards. Sticker charts work well for some families. Here are some other ideas:

Develope a board game with your child to help them practice. Take a piece of cardboard and draw a track made up of boxes. The track can wind around the board and should have a "start" and "finish" box, much like Candyland (see image below). Parent and child can together come up with, and write in, tasks to complete in each box. They can be fun (play Mississippi Hotdog while standing in the bathtub) or serious (perform a review piece with great tone). Use a penny for a game token, and a dice or spinner to determine how many boxes to move forward, and play your way through practice time!

Incorporate your child's favorite stuffed animals or dolls into practice time. Use the animals as "puppets" to give instructions. (Sometimes a small child will receive directions better from Mr. Bear than from Mommy.) Have the animals help by observing the child perform a recital or encouraging the child. Have the animals demonstrate rhythms. They can be your child's students. Many children retain information better once they have imparted their knowledge to someone else! Lastly, let the animal (if it's small enough) take a "ride" on your child's violin. This will force your child to hold the violin parallel to the floor to keep the animal from sliding off. They're developing excellent posture and they don't even know it!

Also, here's a great list of practice motivators I found on the SAA forum...

"6" things a day - pick 6 things to practice. For example - 10 perfect bow holds (counts as 1 thing), some drill work on the working piece, 3 review pieces, preview for next piece.

Birthday Candle - Light a birthday candle (make some type of holder) and have that be the length of the practice session.

Violin Tour - take the student "on tour" --playing something different in each room of the house (the big tone produced in the bathroom is very exciting!), in a different place in the yard, or at different neighbor's or relative's homes.

Student as Parent - Let the student be the parent for one day of practice. This can have mixed blessings because a parent will often see his own behavior reflected in that of the child's.

25 minutes = 25 cents - practice for 25 minutes, earn 25 cents.

Dice - Roll a dice to determine the number of repetitions of a piece or for drill work (ex - play this section the number of times you roll on the dice.) Or, roll the dice to determine the piece to play. Ex - 1 = Twinkle variation A, 2 = variation B, etc.) Buy a package of math dice - these dice have more sides with higher numbers.

Deck of cards - like the dice game, only use cards. Assign pieces to each card. Have child pick cards to determine the pieces to play and the order.

Draw a name - write the piece names on pieces of paper. Put in a hat and draw to determine piece to play and order. Or put practice item on paper (bow holds, scales, etc.)

Silly Cards - make silly cards and let child draw a silly card as a reward. Ex - stand on one foot, stick out your tongue, sing the piece, play pizzicato. For example, if child needs to play twinkle and draws "stick out your tongue," must play twinkle with tongue out the whole time. It's quite amusing.

Make a video - regularly video tape your child playing violin. You'll be amazed at the progress they make.

Chip Game - use "chips" (pennies, marbles, any kind of token). Set a goal - for example, keeping thumb bent while playing piece or keeping a good violin posture for entire piece. Give child and parent 5 chips each. If child meets goal, gets a chip from parent. If misses goal, parent gets a chip. Keep playing until someone has all of the chips.

What size violin does my child need?

2009-04-05T20:13:00.000-07:00

the following text and images were copied with permission from Nashville Violin's website...

Violins and violin-family instruments come in smaller sizes to make it easier for children to learn to play. An instrument that is too big can be nearly impossible to play, while one too small may not produce the best tone and technique.

Measuring with a yardstick:

With the left arm fully extended, palm up, and a yardstick under the chin to simulate a violin, record the measurement in the center of the palm. At this point you don't want any slack in the arm, the measurements below will indicate the correct size of the instrument with a proper bend in the elbow.

Violin:

Under 14" = 1/32 Size
14" to 15 3/8" = 1/16 Size
15 3/8" to 16 7/8" = 1/10 Size
17" to 18 1/2" = 1/8 Size
18 1/2" to 20 3/8" = 1/4 Size
20 3/8" to 22 1/4" = 1/2 Size
22 1/4" to 23 5/8" = 3/4 Size
Over 23 5/8" = 4/4 (Full Size)

Measuring with a violin:

If you have access to a violin already, here's how you can determine if it is the correct size. With the arm fully extended, the child should be able to fold his fingers around the end of the scroll and still have a slight bend in his elbow.

There are a few other factors to consider when determining the proper size of instrument. It is usually best to get an instrument that is too small than to try and play an instrument that is too big. This is especially true for beginners.

Reasons Why...

2009-04-04T07:52:00.000-07:00

Musical Training Can Be Started Early

by Elizabeth Mills

A child’s powers of observation and ability to imitate are tremendous by the age of two.

If the child hears music instead of random sounds its profound love of music becomes intuitive and provides the best foundation for rational responses later in life.

Challenges, such as the differentiated tasks for each hand, are coordinated with the ear. They help to develop neurological control patterns.

When the child is very young it is more likely to accept a learning relationship with its parent than when it is older and seeking autonomy.

Children are less self-conscious in the early years and like to share their enthusiasms with friends in and out of school. They develop healthy self-images as their friends respond to their ability to play fine music.

Before they are eight, children have more time for music than they will later. If they have reached a level of self-confidence by the time they are eight they are less likely to drop-out of their later musical studies.

Young children LOVE to play – unless someone spoils things. The study of music after the age of seven is apt to become more intellectual and mechanical.

Becky's Note: I've heard it said before, and I agree, "If they can tinkle, they can Twinkle".

Supplies Needed Before Your 1st Lesson

2009-02-12T12:58:00.000-08:00

Before the first lesson, you will need the following supplies:

A violin outfit. This should include the proper size violin for your child, the proper size bow (with real horsehair, not synthetic), a cake of rosin, and a violin case. I highly recommend avoiding online auction sites for violins. You never know what condition the violin will be in when you receive it. It may cost more to make the violin playable than it's worth. Try visiting the shops listed in the sidebar (to the right of your screen) for rental outfits and violins to purchase.
A shoulder sponge or shoulder pad
Suzuki Violin School, Volume 1 book
Suzuki Violin School, Volume 1 CD

Studio Policies

2008-06-19T17:30:00.000-07:00

Tuition:

payment is due at the beginning of the semester, either in one lump sum, or in up to 4 post-dated installment checks.

Lesson Makeup Policy:

Each fall and spring semester, students are scheduled fifteen lessons. Tuition pays for fourteen of those lessons. The 15th lesson is considered a make-up lesson or "bonus" lesson. All other missed lessons are non-refundable and will not be rescheduled. If the teacher cancels a lesson, it will be made up.

Prodcutive lessons are those that occur after a week of consistent practice. If your child is younger than 10, it's advised that a parent attend the lesson. This allows the parent to better aid the student at home with their practice.