Or why our young violinists stall in mid-Book 4 because they don't seem to have the concentration to remember the complicated bowings and fingerings. If we as parents and teachers expect our children to magically learn from their general life experience how to find a centred calm, then we are out of touch with the contemporary child's world. Our children have ideas, people, activities and stimulation of every sort flitting in and out of their spheres of awareness at an astonishing rate. Somewhere they need to be taught how to filter out distraction and focus on what is important. Learning to find a centred calm within and to focus this calm on a single thing may be the most important ability a child gains through Suzuki music education.
Most cultures practise activities which lead to an experience of centred calm.
Many of us turn to these sorts of things when our lives seem to be spinning out of control. It is the turning inwards of a calmly focused mind. Playing music beautifully demands this ability, and when we teach music we should teach this skill as well. It is helpful if we as teachers practice our own inward focus regularly to remind ourselves what it is all about. A few exercises will serve to illustrate and refine this focus within ourselves.