This was in an email from my daughter's Suzuki piano teacher summarizing a recent lecture about the value of music education. Apart from the grammatical errors I think it is worth thinking about and discussing. The Suzuki method of learning how to play an instrument is based on listening to the music, learning to play from listening first and then learning to read the abstract symbols. Suzuki also emphasizes a nurturing relationship with the teacher who offers positive feedback and encouragement. The parent works closely with the student until they are older. Some Suzuki students begin at 3 years old.
Please share any thoughts or ideas you have about music education and the place for it in our society.
"Music is a Luxury. Isn't it?"
Notes taken from the SAU Parent Lecture by
Cathy Hargrave
Most people think music is a luxury, but it is not. Our past ancestors lived at a time when only the rich could play an instrument. Today we have so much research that shows how music helps us in our society and with our own brain development. When a music program is cut in the school to save money, the grades of the students will go down.
Suzuki music training is character training. Many think that teaching music is just teaching the music and accepting money. Teaching is much more than the music. It is about the character training. We develop mutual respect between child and teacher. We help the children learn the skills needed to build great character.
Parents work hard to get their children ready for college or even just to be an adult. It is hard to know what to do to get them ready. There is a lot of information that we expose ourselves to TV, cell phones, internet, and video games, but it is better time spent to develop character. We as Suzuki teachers are teaching them to be sensitive to music. Teaching children to develop beautiful tone helps them develop more sensitivity. When a child applies this to everyday life, they become more sensitive to others and more sensitive to how violent movies or video games affect them. We are creating world peace.
Neural musicology is a new major at college. It is the study of how music affects the brain. The first graduate from this field was a Suzuki flute teacher. The research from this field shows that music actually trains the brain for higher forms of thinking. Listening to, and participating in music also creates new neural pathways in your brain that stimulate creativity. When babies are exposed to classical music it helps connect all the new neural pathways.
People tend to believe that your IQ is a set number, but it can change. Even the people who created the IQ test will tell you that the number can change. You can increase you intelligence through music.
Dr. Suzuki taught that when people practice their music in repetitions the brain waves work in a certain way that helps you think clearer. We are teaching students how to learn. It is not about teaching piece to piece but how to learn so they can apply it to other fields of study.
Musicians are desired for many careers such as computer tech, architect, and navigations. Almost all navigators are musicians. Musicians develop logic, eye hand coordination, self control, self discipline, patients, seeing things through from start to finish, the ability to can talk in front of people, commitment, great memory, working together in groups, leadership and much more.
Cathy relayed a story about a family she taught and about the effect that the Suzuki method had on them. Natalie had developmental problems with talking and walking. Her older sister was taking piano lessons from Cathy when Natalie started her lessons at three and a half. Even at this young age she enjoyed practicing the piano for 2 hours a day because she wanted to spend the time with her mom. Her mom wanted to put her kids in music lessons because she was wild as a child. She thought that if they were busy practicing they could not be wild. Natalie graduated with top grades and is now at Ithaca College majoring in piano performance. Her older sister, Sarah, is very energetic. Her school teachers thought she was attention deficit and wanted to put her on meds to help her. Her mother was a nurse and said "no way". She grew up and got perfect score on her ACT, and now is in veterinary school. When Sarah was checking out all the top Ivy League schools she found that they have practice rooms for all students not just for the music majors. Every dorm had a grand piano to practice in the lobby. Their youngest sister, Loran, is just graduating from High School and has been given a scholarship at a top university has a rear opportunity with a full ride scholarship and a chance to be part of a group of eight people to work on special projects and live in a special dorm. All these girls over came great challenges and now are reaping the reward for their hard work.
What does it mean to be well rounded? Cathy met the admissions advisor from Louisville University recently. Cathy asked her what it meant to be well rounded. The advisor listed, "good grades, helps in community, and a musician." She told her that some colleges are getting 22,000 freshman applicants each year. Parents tend to think that well round means lots of sports, good grades, AP classes, tutoring, civic duties, and keeping kids so busy that they don't have time to be great at any one area. The problem is that when these kinds of kids get to college they can't think things through. When you develop the skills you learn from mastering an instrument you become an asset and a highly recommended person.
As with Natalie, her music helped connect the things need for her development of her body. Music is not a luxury it is a necessity. In the teenage years kids tend to go crazy and don't practice much, but don't stop. It will help them in the future. Our goal is not to make musicians, but to help them develop the skills needed for their future careers.
(This document is created by Connie McCullough from the teaching of Cathy Hargrave presented at SAU's parent lecture on April 23, 2010.)
Teachers - please forward this message to all your studio parents.
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This is a comment from a friend that has trouble posting her because of her internet connection.
ReplyDeleteMusic to me in school was not taught long it seamed, and my way of seeing music was in images. I drew pictures on the sheet music each song conjured images.
Learning in the way music is traditionally taught (or how I was taught I should say) proved an impossible and painful task. So I became instead music illetterate-mute in a way and unable to recreate the beauty of a sound
But one day many years later I found myself hearing a sound so huge it shook me to the bone and I began to draw with a kind of fever all the sounds I was hearing in the song!
It was amazing.
Music like math create a certain kind of order with spacing and silences interrupted like lines in drawing or colors and tons. I have yet to be able to play or reproduce correctly a sound of music but I can draw my feeling of the motion of sound. It is like a wave a conversation, a dialogue, a passionate beauty, a tortured lament, all colors and depth in lights and textures and structures and papers.
Music is the wind that enthrals my soul and drawing music creates at times a visible link to the tempest in the wings or the gentle tear collecting on my eye lash and slowly falling to the ground in it's own perfect sound.
A few thaughts today.
This is not edited by a spontaneous moment of sharing. "