From: strom@watson.ibm.com (Rob Strom)
Subject: Re: Early music training
Date: Mon, 31 Aug 1992 21:06:20 GMT
Disclaimer: This posting represents the poster's views, not necessarily those of IBM
Organization: IBM Research

In article <4570259@hpfcdc.fc.hp.com>, janem@hpfcdc.fc.hp.com (Jane Marcus) writes:
|> Emily, our 4 year old, will be enrolling in a new preschool in
|> September.  This preschool also happens to have a Suzuki method
|> violin class that can be attended as an add-on.  My husband and I
|> have spent a lot of time in our lives on musical pursuits, and my
|> husband in fact played the violin for many years.  Emily likes to
|> be able to do things that we can do, therefore she's said that 
|> she'd like to learn to play (of course she probably has very little
|> idea at this point whether she'd like to play or not).  I know personally 
|> of many parents who've put their kids in these early classes, only to be
|> disappointed that it doesn't work out (the kid hates it and musical
|> instruments forever more, or the kid likes it but won't practice, or 
|> kid feels pushed by parents, etc.).  I myself always vowed I would not 
|> be a pushy stage parent, and I'm hoping to remain true to my resolve, 
|> but on the other hand, this could be a positive experience and 
|> we won't know how it might turn out if we don't give it a chance.  
|> Does anybody have a success story with early music training (ie. kid 
|> loves it, parents love it, everybody's happy), or is this a useless
|> endeavor?  Our goals for the training would be a fun activity for 
|> Emily and a fun one for our family if we all can play together.
|> 

Our son started Suzuki violin at age 3.  He is now 14 and
the violin is still very much a part of his life, although
he now studies with a traditional teacher.  He wants a
career in the performing arts (not necessarily as a violin
soloist, however).  And he has a deep, lifelong love
of music, so I think this qualifies as a "success story".


The Suzuki philosophy is that learning music is
like learning language --- it is easier and more
joyful when done at a younger age.  That was certainly
the case with my son:  when he was 3, he played the
Suzuki tapes dozens of times a day and sang the
music wherever he went.  His major problem with
Suzuki method was that this method proceeds by
*very* tiny steps:  each step is required to be perfected before
proceeding to the next.  My son wanted to run
before he could crawl --- he wanted to play the
Bach Double Concerto before he could master the
bow hold.  It took him some time to understand
the discipline of "going to lessons". 

If you enroll your child in Suzuki, you should
feel at least somewhat comfortable with the
philosophy.  Read Suzuki's book "Nurtured by Love".
Remember that especially in the early stages,
listening to the tapes, group lessons, and
parent participation are as much a part of
the method as are individual lessons and practice.
Parents are much more part of the loop in
Suzuki method than in more traditional music
instruction.

Some people have objected that the aural approach
of Suzuki causes problems later when the child
is required to learn to sight-read.  I have heard
this objection, but it was not a problem for
my son, or for any of his fellow students.

Good luck.  Your daughter will enjoy the experience
of the music whether or not she becomes a musician.
You're not being too "pushy" --- exposing children
to new experiences and skills which they may
choose to become proficient in is a fine thing
for a parent to do, in my opinion.
-- 
Rob Strom, strom@watson.ibm.com, (914) 784-7641
IBM Research, 30 Saw Mill River Road, P.O. Box 704, Yorktown Heights, NY  10598