Suzuki Violin

Taken last year when we actually owned three different sized violins.  We have since sold the middle one. The largest is my daughter's current violin and the smallest is about to be my son's violin. 

My kids take Suzuki violin.   Before you write me off as a Tiger Mom, my daughter pulled us into this journey.  We started talking about playing violin when my daughter was two and a half.   My husband had to go to Korea for an international trip as part of his MBA program.  We were trying to help my then 2 1/2 year old daughter understand where Korea was and what Korean people looked like. Somewhere we found a Korean child playing the violin.   My daughter was captivated.  She wanted to watch the youtube video over and over and over...you get the point.  Next, she started asking to play the violin.   This is a child who loves to experience life.  We thought this might be something she just wanted to experience.   The earliest you typically start a child in violin is age 3.  We put her off for a few months.   She kept asking to learn to play.   Then, we moved cross country. She kept asking to learn how to play.   We got settled in our new house and she kept asking to learn how to play.   During this time, my husband started researching how to teach child to play violin.   We decided that the Suzuki method was a developmentally appropriate way for a child to learn violin.  Finally, after her fourth birthday, we let her start violin lessons.

Her first teacher was Christina David.  My husband did the initial search for a teacher and found her.  We went to observe a lesson.   I really liked her so we signed up.   She had me read Nurtured by Love by Shinichi Suzuki and to Learn with Love by William and Constance Starr.   She started my daughter on a box violin and encouraged me to learn to play as well.   My daughter and I started learning the Twinkle Variations on a Foamalin.   After about four months with Christina, she found out she was moving to California.  We started our teacher search again.   I met three teachers.   The first one said she used the Suzuki, but I think that was false advertising.  The second teacher was good, but I didn't really connect with her.   By this time I was getting discouraged.   I heard of a good teacher, but she was in a suburb of Houston a good distance from my house.  Finally, Jason started scouring the violin shop teacher lists in search of a good teacher and found Meredith Harris.   I went to observe her and really liked her.   She recently graduated from Rice with a Master's degree and was building her studio.  She was a Suzuki kid going through book 10 of the Suzuki literature.  We started lessons with her.  One day she noticed my church bulletin and mentioned she went to my church as well.   It was a God thing that He lead us to this wonderful teacher who was also a Christian.   We've been with Meredith now three years and love her.   My son now takes with her as well.

One of the benefits of learning the violin is that it challenges the kids' minds.  My daughter can not just get it right the first time.  She has to work at it to play well.   This is developing her work ethic and perseverance.   My son has a very laid back approach to life.   Violin challenges him to focus and work hard as well.  As an educator, I love thinking about the various pathways they are forming in their young brains learning to play the violin.  Yes, I just said that and yes, I'm a nerd. 

My daughter loves to perform for a crowd.   Through violin she gets to play at recitals and organized events.   She loves it.   My son is the polar opposite and doesn't like getting up in front of a crowd.   We cheer if he will participate in the studio recitals.  It stretches him outside of his comfort zone, but in a safe way.   He has loosened up a bit about getting up in front of people. 

Most people ask me about practicing.   Do the kids like to practice?   I wonder, "Do you like to do something over and over again to master it?"   Um no, but the Suzuki method encourages lots of positive feedback and gently corrects the imperfections.   They kids can also self correct.   We practice everyday, well 6/7 days is truly accurate.  It seems one day a week our practice is sabotaged for whatever reason.   Meredith gives us lot of creative ways to practice, so that the kids can find joy in it.   Usually the hardest part of practicing is getting the practice session started.   Once we start we can roll through it and the time passes quickly.   There are days where practice is a struggle, particularly learning a new piece or breaking an incorrect habit the kids have picked up.   On those days, I break practice into tiny tasks that can be small victories for the kids.   We put those victories together to make up our lesson.  There are days when we put the violin aside and end our lesson prematurely.   Typically, the child will ask to finish their lesson when they are collected again.   We  persist in daily practice and enjoy the fruits of seeing progression. 



If your child thinks they might want to play the violin, interview some teachers, take a trial lesson, and see if it is right for your family.   It is a big commitment, but for our family we think it is worth it.