Ming Ming had been begging to learn the violin for a whole year now. I knew that her motivation was not really musical per se; it was mainly because Avi and Nourit are both learning violin (and Oscar Cello). But at least she was motivated. Since I did not get a job offer this spring, I figured that spring would be a better time to start her violin classes (rather than the Fall when I will be on the job market again). I made her promised that she would practice everyday, and then we went to the local Suzuki Institute in Hyde Park to observe a lesson, and promptly signed up for more.
Mamie and Papou were still in Chicago then. And we enjoyed a trip downtown to the beautiful Arts Building to rent a violin for Ming Ming. The reason that we are renting is that Ming Ming will need different sizes of violin as she grows, so it does not make sense to buy one right away. Mamie was generous, she paid for the first three months of rental. (Fortunately, the money did not go to waste, the violin was used everyday in the past three months!!)
Ming Ming was too proud to have her own violin, and carried it herself during the whole trip home.
But, as it turned out, learning the violin was not as easy as she imagined it. For some mysterious reasons, all kids seem to think that they can play the instrument once they got it. So the beginning was a little bit hard. The first two weeks were all about standing and how to hold the violin and the bow. The fact that they were not allowed to play (make sound/noise) frustrated many kids. Ming Ming had her share of frustration, but was obedient enough that she would still practice daily (as long as I gave her some leeway to make music after the required homework.)
Yes, the idea of homework has been essential for our daily practice. Since week 4, her private lesson teacher Hilary started giving us homework sheets with assignments. If MM finishes her assignments everyday, she got a prize from Hilary during her private lesson. And so far MM has only failed once in reclaiming her prize.
Although I started with little idea what the Suzuki method consists of, over the course of the past 11 weeks I am quite convinced by it. In the beginning I was a bit defensive, mostly because that other than the weekly private lesson (30 mins) and group lesson (1hr, so that kids get used to performing in front of other people), the Suzuki parent had to attend a ten-week course (with reading assignments) ... on how to be your kid's violin teacher at home even if you don't play the instrument. The parent classes turned out to be a really good experience for me.
The Suzuki philosophy, if I sum it up in one sentence (after the rather tedious read of Dr. Suzuki's autobiography), is that talent is not innate but acquired through practice. Just like every kid masters her native language perfectly, music is a language that everyone have the ability to learn if given the right environment, i.e. lot of opportunity to listen to and to practice, lots of patience... remember how you taught your baby to say mama and papa? Since learning an instrument is like learning a language, the teacher of your kid has to be YOU. Kids learn how to play the instrument through those daily practices, not from the half hour lesson every week. So the Suzuki method is really about teaching parents how to teach their kids music even if they aren't musical themselves. Hence, at the parent classes we discussed a lot of strategies to get kids to practice everyday and to accept their parents as teachers at home: games, scheduling, parent's attitude, etc... And we even learnt to play the first Twinkle variation that our kids will learn in order to appreciate how hard it is for them.
Armed with these strategies, here is my experience with MM's daily practice. At first it was hard, Ming Ming started whining that she should have picked piano instead ("you just have to hit the notes rather than holding the violin with your neck, chin, and shoulder..."). She would not let me touch her because I am not her teacher and because I don't know how to play myself... even though touching is essential to correct her positions and gestures. But she has always been an angel at classes and respects the homework her teacher gives her. Gradually things get easier, and she is more willing to practice once she knows that practice is non-negotiable. Then one day she told me after a perfect class with Hilary, "Mama do you know why I play so well in front of Miss Hilary and not so well in front of you?" "Why? I really want to know." "Because I am afraid of making Miss Hilary angry but I am not afraid of making your angry." This is our second stage, although she is not afraid of making me angry, she has accepted that I am her teacher at home (even though her playing sounds a lot better than mine). At the end of her first quarter I think we hit our third stage, now she is pretty good with practice. And she restarts her piece without prompting when she sees that she has made a mistake.
So, quite unexpectedly, I feel empowered in this process of learning violin together with Ming Ming. I know that kids change quickly, and whatever is working today may not work tomorrow. But going through these initial steps with her gives me a method, and makes me feel like I can tackle anything with her... maybe even Chinese, as long as we set it as a priority.
