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Suzuki Recorder Teacher Training Level 5
Alyson Elliman October 2020
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Contents Page
Title
ESA reference
3
Essay
5.10.1
13
Evaluation of training
5.7.2
16
Other Suzuki teaching -SECE
19
Workshops section
5.9.1
Discussion Organise a one day workshop Parent talk slides 25
Teaching points
5.3.1
53
Supplementary material
5.7.3
56
Observation forms
5.6
70
Child and adolescent psychology
5.4.2
76
Developing musicianship
5.3.2
77
Suzuki philosophy and reading material 77-Listening 81-Starr-To learn with love
5.1.2
83-Honda -Suzuki changed my life
5.1.2
86
Toshio Takahashi
88
The autonomous teacher & artist
5.1.1
91
Helping parents to change teachers
5.4.1
92
Taking up responsibility in Suzuki community
5.1.3
2
Meeting the needs of all children and adults in my approach to teaching the recorder: Everyone is special (5.10.1)
Introduction At the start of any teaching I keep in mind the needs of everyone’s individual strengths and weaknesses, and their educational and developmental level, motivation, physical and emotional status. Home circumstances, including parental engagement for children with Suzuki philosophy and how they understand the need to fulfil the role of home teacher for young pupils will be discussed, and whether the environment is conducive to pressure-free enjoyment of the instrument will need to be addressed. I feel there is no such thing as the ‘average’ learner or family, and try not to make comparisons.
I would like to consider and relate differences and challenges around general themes:
A. Age-related: Very young children in SECE Pre-schoolers -recognition of alphabet and naming notes ABC v phonics Concentration and distraction techniques Early years at school -individual needs versus group Pre-teens and adolescents Adults -previously learned versus completely new; old habits to overcome. Health/ageing issues Mixed age groups
B. Mixed ability groups C. Special physical, developmental and emotional needs: ‘A child or young person has special educational needs and disabilities if they have a learning difficulty and/or a disability that means they need special health and education support, we shorten this to SEND’. NHS England
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There is a class of Specific Learning Difficulties, such as dyslexia, dyscalculia and dyspraxia. These are characteried as being neurological, and are often familial, in people with normal intellect. Diagnosis may be delayed, and in Suzuki teaching of young children markers may be difficulty in singing and remembering tunes and rhythms, being fidgety and not following stories to the end, being ‘clumsy’ and forgetful regarding colour learning and names. Fine and gross motor development and speech may be behind the expected milestones.
1. Dyslexia is a fairly common difficulty which often takes many years to diagnose and help. There is the need to establish good head, upper arm, trunk stability to support hands and fingers for writing and other fine movements such as would be required for recorder playing. The British Dyslexia Association (BDA) lists a developmental approach, with tips at each stage if there are problems. Identification of dominant handedness, acquisition of a tripod grip for writing is also needed for thumb plus finger 1 and 2 to make the window shape in each recorder hand position. Independent use of the fingers is also needed for example making rabbit ears and helicopter hovering over the holes of the instrument rather than exaggerated elevation once a finger is lifted. I have a relative who was not diagnosed as dyslexic until her 60s, mainly seeking testing as she recognised severe difficulties in her daughter whose written English and spelling were not of the required standard for the highly intellectual PhD that she was undertaking. She started piano lessons in late life, and commented how slow her thought processes were, how there was extreme difficulty in coordinating her two hands even though she understood what was required, and the need to get really close to the score even though she had corrected visual acuity with glasses. It took a long time to memorise a piece, and even though that may be achieved within one practice session, she did not retain her learning.
There is guidance on the BDA website to aid diagnosis in the ages from pre-school to secondary level for non-specialists, and I certainly recognise some of the indications in one of my pupils (see below, Boy O).
2. 3. 4. 5.
Fine and gross motor control -also relevant in dyslexia and dyspraxia Elective mutism Emotional lability/safeguarding issues Psychological self-doubt and performance anxiety
Age versus developmental level I have been trained to level 2 in Suzuki Early Childhood Education (SECE), where I was able to observe children from a few weeks old up to 3 years. Here the principles (Every Child Can Learn, Ability Develops Early, Environment Nurtures Growth, Children Learn From One Another, Success Breeds Success, Parental Involvement is Critical, and Encouragement is Essential) were clearly demonstrated. The most interesting aspect for me was (as Suzuki observed within the households of his violin students) that younger siblings who have been exposed to the playing in even a passive 4
way become faster learners in their turn. I run two mixed-age and mixed ability after-school clubs, using the more advanced students to be role models and help, whilst also giving them the opportunity to progress at a faster rate by challenging them with learning the treble recorder, and playing more complex rhythms and harmonies for ensembles. A challenge for me has been to keep their commitment to coming again, within an environment of multiple termly options for clubs, and private school lessons on other instruments. To encourage their interest in the marvels of the recorder family and repertoire, I have an open house policy offer of a free private lesson at my home, where I can show them the range of recorders (garklein to contrabass). This has led in a small number of cases of children wishing to continue privately, in parallel with the club situation.
Pre-schoolers may not yet recognise written letters, and I am conscious that many may be taught differently when they do enter school. Sometimes capitals are not used initially, and the sounds for A B C may be phonic rather than as adults tend to say them. Using Music Mind Games in conjunction with the initial auditory learning of the repertoire can thus be a bit conflicting. Even having to explain and internalise the concepts of up/down, higher/lower (pitch), mirror-image left/right when demonstrating fingering can be challenging. In SECE classes, and observation of Dalcroze lessons, up and down are always body-centered. In SECE, the mother/carer lifts the child to the word ‘up’ and comes down again with ‘down’, and also with glissandi on the glockenspiel.
Recognition of left and right are harder to develop before dominant handedness is established (usually around the age of 3). Even at school age some children I have found do not readily or consistently answer ‘show me which hand you use to pick up your pencil/spoon?’. Games such as Peter Pointer can help identify fingers, but is not so good for which hand is which (I ask the children to keep their left hand behind their backs initially to concentrate on finger control with the right hand).
Here are some examples of my pupils who have challenged my success, including their general background and ways I have found to be of help.
Boy, A, age 5, Description of problem/need: severe physical limitation This bright and enthusiastic lad developed normally until he suffered encephalitis aged 2. This affected his gross and fine motor development. He used a walker-frame once in the class but was transported to the venue by wheelchair. He needed a body brace to help keep his trunk upright, and leg braces. He had generally weak muscles, and poor control of his fingers,
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He was more able to use strength for covering holes with the left hand so we tried left hand at the bottom of the recorder. Approach: I often ended up giving him a castanet to use and participate with his peers rather than the recorder, which tired him and was frustrating for him. I have now discovered the Nuvo plastic recorder with pads to press to cover the holes which may have suited him better, albeit with very inferior tone and tuning when I tried it. One-handed recorders are also made, and the OHMI Trust provides support but I was not aware of this at the time. I did use the ‘partner playing’ -he tongued the rhythm and I fingered the notes. As it was such a large group, and all the children were either high as kites or really tired after a full day at school, I used a lot of changes of position and physical jerks to run off some steam or energise them, and obviously he was severely limited even though he liked to try to change position from his wheel-chair to sitting on the ground, to being supported standing at his walker. He started the cello later, with him using the bow and the teacher supporting the instrument and placing her fingers on the strings. I have since seen him on the playing fields with his walker being cheered on by other children but not actively able to move fast enough within a team. So despite his multiple physical challenges it was heartening to see him persevere and mainly remain positive and motivated. He was very pleased to come to my house to see the other sizes of recorders, but left the club after 2 terms.
Boy, R,age now 8 Description of problem/need: emotional problem This boy from an English-second-language family is a selective mute, with no speech outside the home. He is well able to understand English, but speaks in his native language when at home. Initially at age 6 he joined a large after school club where I used Suzuki repertoire. He often pointed to his stomach with his face screwed up indicating pain or the need for the toilet, and so was frequently in and out of the lesson. I had to send him to the school office more than once for a parent to come early to collect him. He was going to be part of a school assembly where parents had come specially, but he cried and went to sit with mother. Family issues of relevance: Father plays the button accordian so can join with accompaniment/harmonies Approach: I offered home lessons with his father present to try to catch up as had missed many classes, but he showed more of an interest in my piano. Father requested piano lessons, and he was much more able to show enjoyment. Although not a Suzuki piano teacher, I was able to give him the basics of technique and he is currently progressing well with Thompson Piano Book One of which he is nearly at the end, giving him confidence for music ability in general, using Suzuki approach to repetition and review, and one or other parent is always present and involved in reinforcing the issues to be worked on. I am using music mind games, and concentrating on whether notes in each piece are rising or falling, moving by step or jumps, using body work to show loud and soft, up and down, staccato or legato walking. This child’s behaviour can be erratic and often he is very tired (coming straight from school). He on occasion is restless, coming down off piano stool to wander around room, point to toys of interest, and becoming distracted by playing with them I use the toys 6
then to identify progress when he repeats a sequence even if just by clapping a rhythm. I use the reward of him cheeping a toy bird which he likes when has consistent success with a task, or asking parent to cheep the bird if they think he has played prescribed few notes correctly for repetitions. I have to think on my feet and jump to an activity that keeps his interest depending on his mood. His father had initially thought playing the recorder may have encouraged him with his refusal to speak at school, as he would hear sounds coming from his mouth, but whilst working with him there has been no progress on that front, for which he is getting special help at school. Interestingly, on a very early piano lesson, he brought his kazoo, and ‘sang’ the theme of Fur Elise (which his father had played to him), and also picked out the notes on the piano without any prompting. I made no comment about the sound coming from his mouth but this may be hopeful for the future. In wishing to know more about selective mutism I found the Selective Mutism Information and Research Association website (www.selectivemutism.org.uk)helpful in gaining understanding about the condition, which is linked to social anxiety.
Sisters, K and I, aged rising 3 and rising 5, shared lesson with mum. Description of problem/need: Lack of consistent attention from both children, and interference from the younger one. Approach: I established that the younger child was more secure with tapping beat and rhythm than her sister. Establishing fingers going down and up for One Bird took a while, and at my suggestion mum made a long scroll with big arrows pointing up or down for the children to point and move along while mirroring the action on the recorder. As there was a lot of physical encroachment of the older one’s space by her sister, which persisted despite separating their mats more and more, I felt trying to reason with the 3 year old was not helpful. They have to attend together with mother. I have tried giving individual attention with the other sibling looking at a book, but often it soon degenerates into squabbling. The older one in the lesson shows she wants to progress but the younger one starts kicking and whining. Mother reports she is unable to give individual time to the older one at home where practice sessions are sabotaged by younger one. I have suggested waiting until father comes home, but this is too late in the evening during the week. Mother works full time and comes straight from collecting the children from all-day nursery to lessons, with more activities after the recorder lesson. We continued for 9 months until older child had been at school for a term, until the mother realised she was putting too much strain on the children (and herself) by too many activities, and asked for lessons to be put on hold with the aim to return after a few months but that never happened despite many emails from mum asking if I still had space for them on certain day. They had succeeded in taking part in a concert while learning with me with my other students and were pleased to have their non-playing friends there to see them. I felt sorry for the children as life was presenting them with unachievable goals within a culture of Eastern European over-ambition, stretching them too thinly to really enjoy and progress in any one of them.
Boy,O, aged 10 Description of problem/need: 7
Inconsistent emotional and intellectual development -possible dyslexia/dyspraxia.
I have been teaching this boy in a shared 30 minute lesson with his now 5 year old sister as mother cannot afford to pay for 2 lessons, for the last 3 years. The boy is also a Suzuki violin student, currently on book 4 and plays well (bringing his violin to group lessons). They also have an older sister who is a Suzuki flute student. Mother approached me to teach the youngest one so that she would have something special for herself, and the boy came to the lessons also, quickly volunteering that if he had lessons too he would be able to help the sister at home. He finds it hard to assimilate ideas such as: • • •
relative note values (both on the page but also in clapping back recorder tunes which he listens to and are to be learnt), ideas of phrases and sentences (so I insist on using the words to the book 1 and early book 2 tunes to get the idea where breaths can be logically taken), ideas about up and down when looking at a stave. As he is so advanced on the violin, I had assumed that he would have had a lot of input regarding early music mind games, but the mum says his teacher has never spent time in lessons other than learning and playing new repertoire which he does by rote even having graduated at level 3.
When I asked about phrasing on the violin he says he doesn’t have to understand it as his teacher only teaches each phrase at a time. Mother asked me to give him some coaching on music theory and reading as he was hoping to get a place at a good secondary school, currently being homeeducated. I found him a bit resistant but did ‘get’ the basics after quite some struggle. However several months later when looking at the music for the last few pieces in book 1 he reverts to not seeming able to grasp the mathematics and difference between beat and rhythm. His hand-writing is good but very slow, and mother says he should write in his practice book and be responsible for his own practice tasks. When I look at what he has written it may just be ‘practice’ but he has not grasped the main point of the lesson, so I discuss it with him and add to what he has written. He is very resistant to review, wanting always to move on. I use a lot of supplementary material to keep his interest (choosing pieces relevant to the particular issue I need to address) and he seems to enjoy this, also involving the little sister in a mini ‘group’ lesson. His tone is good, and when I query why he is peering so closely at the music, he says he can see it fine when I move him back a little. Trying to teach him wrist rotation for Come Lovely May is I expect not that much more difficult than it would be for many children, but we haven’t as yet got him to recognise the action needed (eg turning a door knob). He is extremely slow at tying his laces, more how I would expect to see a much younger child approach this, and he does often seem to have sporting bumps and injuries. Emotionally he often asks to go to the loo just as we are addressing an issue that he finds difficult which both myself and mum feel is just an excuse to relieve any pressure. I have not raised the issue of any possible diagnosis and specialist help as she has not talked to me about this. I don’t have access to the coloured filters that are often used by those with dyslexia, but these may help to stabilise what he is looking at.
Boy, N, age 8
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Description of problem /need: emotional issues and safeguarding concern I have had this boy in my after-school club for a year, where he is often disruptive and noncooperative. He is known at the school (and by his peers in the club) as having temper-management issues. I have had to strike a balance between the needs of the group and his obvious attention-seeking. Having attended Expo 2018 and heard a talk on early traumatic experiences and consequent lack of self-belief, and difficulty accepting help, I recognised that he may have had very specific needs. The school had given me no pre-warning about any issues, and I didn’t have a dialogue with them until a safeguarding issue came up. He was very clingy to me at one session, and voiced that he didn’t want to go home as his mother always criticised him and he could do nothing right. He actually said ‘I hate my life and don’t know why I am here’. I empathised with him and asked if his teacher knew how he was feeling, and said that I would like to talk to someone in the office, which he did not want me to do, as he thought his mother would be even more cross with him if she knew he had said these things. I waited as usual to hand him over to his parent, and his mother was the last to collect him that day. I said he seemed upset and I wondered if she knew why that should be. By then they had both cuddled up in a very appropriate way so I was not concerned about immediate harm. After they had gone I went to the school office to record my observation and concern, which would be passed on the safeguarding lead the next day, and I wrote my own report which I kept on file in case it was needed, but I have heard nothing back. The boy attended the club until the end of that term and then stopped lessons. I have subsequently seen him at school assemblies where the current recorder club students perform, and he seems calmer.
Boy, D,aged 7 Description of problem/need: difference of approach between myself and parent. I started lessons with him when he was pre-school. Mother is a professional musician, and he has been exposed to lots of excellent music from birth. When I produced the taped recorder, mother said she felt it more logical to start from note B and work down, adding one finger at a time which is more intuitive than the see-saw action needed to get from F# to E, but agreed to give it a go. Musically he was far in advance of other beginners, with an excellent ear, and very quick grasp of pitch and rhythm. However he had trouble adequately covering the 3 lower holes and became frustrated, and was emotionally quite labile. Despite showing mum my mat, on which he did agree to stand still for short bursts, she failed to make or buy one for home practice. Mum requested a break from lessons until he was settled in at school the following term, and it was actually a break of about a year in all. When I next went, all the tapes had been taken off, and he was keen to show me how he was managing good covering of everything from C to the D above and even E with no trouble. None the less I started again at the beginning of book 1, and he was also able to sight-read with very little trouble the supplementary material I provided, and some that mum had acquired. Getting him to copy and thus memorise rather than read notes is hampered by mother’s wish for him to know how to read the music. As he is now playing Clouds, this is not so much of an issue, as it is often at a time that other memorisers begin to put music mind games into action on the repertoire. Granny is also a musician and occasionally is the carer when mum is at work -she is very much on board with Suzuki ideas even though she isn’t a recognised teacher for the recorder. The same applies to an uncle who has on one occasion been the carer. We have used music mind games which he finds easy, but when playing pieces gets upset if he does not play perfectly and 9
resists my attempts to get him to concentrate on repetition of a very small passage. He has even found for himself alternative fingerings, noting that the tiny differences in pitch can be identified. When I play him 2 notes with my back turned with no previous reference note, instead of just saying if one is higher or lower, he will play them back to me. I have to keep one jump ahead of him, and provide lots of historical background to for example the Suzato dances, and Tallis’ Canon. It is interesting that he is in a recorder lunch time club at his school, and although he is so obviously way ahead of what is being taught, seems happy to continue there. His tone and tonguing are always excellent, and visitors to the house when he is practicing feed back to me how lovely he is making his instrument sound. I do hope to be able to continue teaching him in the future. I cannot comment on his other abilities but suspect he is an all-round ‘able child’, nurtured by his parents to have a strong enquiring mind and opportunities to find things out himself, but he seems to be lagging behind emotionally, maybe due to frustration.
Boy, T, pre-teenager, now aged 11 Description of problem/need: running before he can walk, wishing for autonomy This boy is the elder of 2 children, both of whom have been in my groups from years 1 and 2. He showed great prowess on the recorder and requested individual lessons, which we fitted in before the school day starts. His ambition was to enter a grade exam which initially spurred him on, much to my surprise. He also took cello lessons at the school, and I chatted to the teacher about him -we both found his enthusiasm got in the way of the type of structured progress that we were aiming to instil. He could be disruptive both in group and individual lessons by breaking into tunes he had worked out for himself. As the oldest in the group lessons, there was a degree of showing off, and the cello teacher also found it difficult to keep him on track. He then gave up the cello and wanted to learn the saxophone. By chance I was able to loan him my son’s long-forsaken instrument and music, and he has also sped ahead with this, and gave up the recorder lessons. I was asked to give him some theory coaching as he had not formally had any and wanted to audition and be interviewed for a music scholarship at his next school. He is a lovely lad, a big fish in a small pond, and to some degree I have some concerns for how he will find it at the new school, entering puberty just at the time so many other changes are in process. Approach: I followed what he seemed to need at each stage, and he enjoyed success at music assemblies and concerts. Interestingly although he and boy O had not met before the day of the concert there was a little competition going on as to who was the more advanced in book 1. They both did well on the day. His younger sister has been reluctant to continue her recorder playing at least in assemblies, and I suspect there is a mixture of relief at not having to be compared with T within the group, but also insecurity with her peers.
Adult, D, aged 67 Description of problem/need: physical limitation
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4 years ago this mother of my daughter’s school friend became my first Suzuki student. She had already played the descant for many years and asked my advice about upgrading to a wooden instrument. As she lived in another town, we had skype lessons for a couple of years and were progressing well up to book 2 -larghetto, but gradually she was becoming unwell with lung problems. She subsequently became wheel-chair bound while awaiting double lung transplants and did not resume lessons until around a year ago. These were enjoyable for her but soon she became breathless which did not initially prevent playing, but then things developed into rejection of the transplant and she had to stop again. She reported that she was able during that time to take up singing in a choir with less trouble that sustaining things on the recorder, which had been her first love. I had tried to find supplementary material and returning to early book 1 pieces that would not tax her breathing, but sadly she has not returned for lessons.
Adult, M, aged 75 Description of problem/need: pain, lack of proprioception This lady was awaiting surgery for severe back pain when she told me she loved music and would like to have some recorder lessons. She had never played an instrument, but didn’t mind in the slightest being presented with a taped recorder and One Bird. She found difficulty standing, and even seated was in obvious pain, so lessons were brief and we did a lot of fingering the notes on a table. The surgery proceded and she was disappointed that her recovery was slower than she had hoped. When she tried several months later to play again she found it too uncomfortable to raise her arms enough for a good playing position. Although this gradually improved to a certain degree, she has decided not to continue just yet. The challenges at the initial stages were in being confident which finger was where in space (maybe a bit like Dr Suzuki’s blind child and bow placement and control), and maybe slowing-up of being able to acquire new skills.
Adult, T, aged 55 Description of problem/need: performance anxiety This singing colleague also plays violin, and we were to work on a Telemann Canonic Sonata to perform at a choir concert. She confided that her confidence had been severely eroded during performance of recent solo violin solos, such that she ‘didn’t want to let me down’. We discussed what happened, and she described severe performance anxiety. At this stage, 3 years ago, I totally identified with her concerns, but tried to put myself in her shoes and not talk about my experiences. She described starting out ok, even though she recognised nervousness, but quickly was almost paralysed by an uncontrolled bowing arm and ineffectual sound production. She was aware of breathing very fast, sweating, and having stomach pains. I talked in general terms about the normality of the adrenaline rush, which could be used for good, and positive visualisation. We managed several rehearsals, which we recorded and played back, and she began to have a bit more faith in herself, and we gave a good performance. She reckons she has now got over the hurdle and is really glad that I ‘persuaded’ her to go for it.
Adult,E, aged 72
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Description of problem/need: previous ingrained habits This lady was a regular recorder player in ensembles and wanted to find out what sort of level she was playing at in order to take a grade exam. I explained about the Suzuki way of learning and she was happy with the approach. It became clear from the start that she had been taught some German fingerings and alternative fingerings as standard, and trying to change a lifetime of learning continues to be a challenge. She also plays the treble, telling herself the descant fingers and transposing them, rather than being able to identify the treble fingering outright. We have worked on anchor notes, absolutely but also relevant in each piece, and she is beginning to ‘get’ it. Her breath control is ok for sustaining but inconsistent in terms of steadiness with the unintentional vibrato, but this is improving. She is hampered in her playing at home by her husband who doesn’t like the sound of the descant, or some of the slower pieces (like Chaconne). Things are much better with the Schikhardt!. As she plays regularly with a group of friends, I have suggested one or more of them may like to come for some ensemble coaching, as she demonstrates some misconceptions in regard to notes inegale. As yet none of them have taken me up on this idea. She has very little music theory knowledge, only just now with my help beginning to understand key structure and modulation, and she doesn’t read bass clef, which would help her as she has the accompaniment books.
Conclusion:
These examples seem to indicate that I have a high proportion of my 10 or so Suzuki pupils and approximately 30 children in class/small groups without their parents, and 5 adults who have been learning with me over the last 4-5 years who have some difficulties. I could quote very many others for whom the journey has been more straightforward, but I do feel it important to take whatever comes to me, believing there is always a way to help the pupil if I understand the needs. As my own learning with how to be a Suzuki teacher and better performer has developed, I recognise barriers and prejudices to suggested improvements, and this helps me to understand the needs of my pupils. I feel I have developed skills where I constantly review both my own and my pupils’ progress, in an environment which makes learning fun. Suzuki philosophy includes small steps, which I sometimes struggle to keep on track especially as I use a lot of supplementary material, often at the request of the children who may have heard pieces played by others. I do however always bring back the learning relevant to the level of what they are working on, by including the mixed level ensemble work. Parents are involved in the lessons only for some of my pupils; I have tried to encourage good communication about the aims to those whose children learn in the group situation in schools, and demonstrate where required. Communication channels such as email is well used by those parents when they have queries; I learnt to modify the way I described the first lesson regarding hand position through this. I had sent home information about how to help their children between sessions, saying ‘the right hand is placed at the bottom of the instrument, over the red tapes’ and immediately got a query as her child is left handed and therefore that was their ‘right’ hand! Working with a variety of ages and abilities, I feel I myself get the most fun from teaching. If my enthusiasm transmits to the pupils, I feel I have achieved a good basis for their musical journeys.
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Evaluation of Suzuki recorder teacher training Levels 1-5 (5.7.2)
I started my training in Summer 2014, having attended an open day in February that year and passed the audition shortly afterwards. At the beginning, I knew little about the philosophy of the mother tongue method, and have now assimilated the principles of the importance of listening, repetition to internalise and add new techniques to earlier repertoire, the workings of the teacher-pupil-parent triangle, and ways to make lessons fun and build a local and national community of players with other Suzuki instrumentalists and trainees.
I have found the training environment very nurturing, with sharing ideas and learning from each other. Modelling the way to give feedback has been helpful watching teachers with pupils, but perhaps not so much from the tutor to one’s performance and observed teaching -my experience in other training environments would always be to ask the student what they thought they had done well and what they needed to improve, before stating those things to them. For very young students, engaging the parent in that assessment is helpful (although in the week between lessons one would not expect the parent to point out errors, only what is done well).
Definitely fun is part of the training, and learning about other trainee’s backgrounds, cultures and nationalities informally and in group discussions is enriching.
The main thing I have gained personally is the way to practice to achieve success. Before training started I was very much a keen amateur player who enjoyed lots of repertoire but not to a high standard, mainly preferring ensemble repertoire of the Renaissance and Baroque eras. Learning about French baroque ornaments took some time but I now feel I understand the context better. As my teaching is currently only up to books 2 and 3, I have plenty of opportunity to refresh my knowledge of the teaching points and passages to work on. It is of course quite a leap from that level to playing books 7 and 8, and often the students far outweigh my level of skill at least in terms of rapid tempo and fast passage work. I think that through using the principles I have mentioned this is definitely improving.
The way the reading material is placed in each level has been very helpful. There is much overlap of ideas regarding how the philosophy is presented (acting as review), and builds on the authors’ personal connection with Suzuki and how his ideas were disseminated worldwide. All this helps with parent talk preparation.
Small group discussion of the reading material, sometimes shared with similar level trainees of other instruments, has been very enjoyable and productive. Each person takes away their own take on the ways their understanding has been deepened.
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My teaching style has changed since starting the training. I had had no in depth recorder teaching experience, and began while training for level one rather informally with my 3 and 6 year old grandchildren, squeezing in a weekly lesson when their mother was free from her own piano teaching commitments. Looking back at some past videos I realise I was trying to do too much each time, although this was in part dictated by their attention spans, feeling the need to engage them in the fun of it in as many ways as I could. The instruction I gave to their mother about what to work on each week rather fell flat, as I knew she wouldn’t be able to keep to daily practice, and father’s time with them was around bed time. In my early observed teaching practice at training weekends I was aware the feedback often centred on providing more demonstration and less explanation, and I feel I have improved over the 5 years in this element. When I began taking paying pupils, I had a family where Suzuki was well established for other instruments, but did not feel the mother really was giving the method much input. I taught her pieces to be aware of what were the main areas to work on; I did not want to appear critical of the other Suzuki teachers, where she reported that one did not do any theory games at all (and to some degree I think one of the children had some difficulty with the concepts -he struggled with reading although on his other instrument he was in book 4).
I have also had experiences teaching Suzuki repertoire from book 1 to adults who have acquired ‘bad’ habits in their recorder playing over the years, and feel I am becoming skilled in resetting some of those.
I ran some group lessons twice a term for a while but my pupils are geographically widespread and often I got last minute apologies or late arrivals. I included some local children whom I taught in an after-school club, using Suzuki books and lots of supplementary material, where their parents also attended and took part. I have managed to keep the balance between planning too much and not enough for the hour. Feedback was always that the children had enjoyed the groups and looked forward to the next ones. Now my ‘group’ lessons consist of pairings of siblings who attend for consecutive or concurrent lessons, and the school clubs. I am about to take on 14 children in one school in school time in three groups, none of whom have played before, and it will be interesting to see how this works out. I anticipate possibly joining 2 or 3 groups together when they make a bit of progress once or twice a term for a review session. I have been prewarned about 2 of the children who are quite chatty and disruptive in class, and I may have to separate them.
Planning lessons is a skill still in progress. I study the teaching points, and try to make the tonalisations and preparatory segments relevant, but realise sometimes I have not extracted the most important things. I have been inspired of course by observing the other teachers at national events and our own training sessions, particularly in the repetitions needed to improve a child’s playing. For mixed level groups I think I have been successful in keeping everyone’s interest, with a balance of challenge and consolidation,
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Three of my pupils are Suzuki ones -two from a Suzuki family with other instruments, and one inherited from another teacher when she moved, who is now into book 7. So far I have not persuaded any of my other private pupils to join the BSI, despite them showing admiration for the Albert Hall concert video, and interest in coming to the Easter workshop, but dates always clash with family holidays etc. I would love to bring them to summer school, but again this hasn’t been possible. There are also clashes and over-commitment and financial constraints due to attendance at the summer schools of the other instruments that they play. I very much like the graduation system, and the process for self-evaluation through the recordings has been valuable. I have so far had one pupil graduate level one, and am hoping another will submit for this at level 5 this November.
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Other Suzuki teaching Suzuki Early Childhood Education (SECE) with recorder tunes substituting for some elements. Summer School July-August 2019, Malvern Marian Robertson and I devised a modified week one syllabus of SECE at Nancy’s request, to include some known recorder pieces. Working out how these would fit in and still follow the well-designed flow of week one (ie alternating calming with more active pieces, using gestures rather than words for explanation etc) required trial and error between us. We learned day by day how to share the leads, and smooth the hand overs. Maxinum number of children who attended was 5 (including an 8 month-old, one 2 and one 3 year- old, and two 5 yearolds), 2 of whom wanted to play recorders. One dad came with 2 children so needed help for the lifting up and down. Not all children came to the 4 sessions, and there was some attendance with one and then another parent. I also gave an individual quick run through with one parent with her 10 month -old plus 5 year -old brother after the last group class had ended. We had four 45- minute sessions (SECE would normally be one hour). As we did not know in advance which parents would be coming, it was not practical to ask them to listen to the repertoire with their children at home first, which would have been required for those undertaking SECE classes. We had a couple of teacher trainee observers for one of the sessions, whose feedback wa s very positive about the way the activities flowed seamlessly. Due to conflicting timetabling not more of the trainees were able to come -I think it would be helpful to give a brief talk about SECE either during another training session or workshop event, as the concept is relatively new. In various SECE training events, teachers found that participating in SECE has led to seemless transition at age 3 to instrumental learning, and the parents of course are well versed in the ideas of listening and repetition of the activities at home as the home tutor.
Piece (original SECE) Ball rolling to Eine kleine nacht music CD
Cuckoo -where are you? Good morning
Walking drum
Being lifted up and down 16
Our substitution
Skill/atmosphere Come in to calm atmosphere where teachers are rolling ball to each other turn taking Turn-taking for children to sing ‘here I am’ in falling 3rds Handshaking and singing -confidencebuilding in group. Demonstration then each child controls beat As some children too Glockenspiel -each heavy, stand or crouch child takes turn to
(Little tommy tucker)
One Bird
(Pop goes the weasel)
Now we sing
(Michael Finnegan) (Humpty Dumpty)
Mary Daddy long legs
Introduce with bird tweeting Toy cat or puppet for the ‘pop’s -lifting children in the rests Story book Bang on ‘hurt’
Scarf dance
Falling 3rds
(Criss cross)
Rain rain/scrambled eggs/own suggestions
Clown dance
Stamp rhythm on ‘dee-dle-dum)
Wee willie winkie Bow wow wow 6 little ducks Mulberry bush (To market)
Twinkle
(This old man)
Allegro
Story time/parents complete observation log +discussion from leaders
Body positions for the different notes Actions for sleep and wake
control what the others do (wood block) Playing, actions or singing (circle) Turn taking for the puppet going up Singing Waiting for place to bang the lollipop drum Boccherini -fun, improvise movements, interact with other adults and children Xylophone with set rhythmic pattern, body awareness, imagination and putting sticks away when each turn ended Sing Turn taking on glock Turn taking, solo singing Story, singing, counting, actions Circle and actions Ideas linking pitch and position Triangle for alarm clock Calming
General comments. One dad with the 2 children had been attending formal SECE classes led by Karen (his wife) in York for about a year. The older sibling concentrated and cooperated with us very well contrasting with how he was in the family situation. Some of the children were very tired after later-than -usual bedtimes, and snuggled into me while I was reading to them. I gave as much freedom as possible once I knew if a child was able to maintain a steady beat themselves on the drum, and get a reasonable sound on the glock (better when I guided them for a better control of the stick). The parents seemed quick to grasp how to write up their observations each day -we were looking for things they saw their child do that indicated progress or unexpected elements they were surprised 17
by. Examples included cooperation, confidence to come forward for the activities, sharing well and helping a younger child reach a ball etc. All the children seemed keen to come each day, and the parents fed back how much they had enjoyed the sessions. If we repeat this venture, maybe with the week two syllabus, I think longer preparation time and actual try-outs would be helpful.
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Workshops AIMs are: Fun, motivator to keep going through summer etc. And provides motivation for parents and teachers, solving common problems. Common goals and philosophies. Social, musical, educational stimuli. Inspiration for parents how to help children. Jane Williams in First Class Tips for parents -environment made it special. Group activities -review etc. Listen to concerts from teachers and advanced students. Opportunity to perform. Playing in a large group. Learning from teachers other than your own. Social experience most importance. Teachers meet colleagues and share ideas. Trainees opportunity to observe and learn from other teachers.
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Organise a one day workshop (5.9.1) Elspeth Robertson and I planned and run a day workshop for pupils aged 5 to 14 kindly hosted by Marian Robertson in Kent. We researched the format of previous workshops run at summer school during the National Suzuki Easter workshop, and put together a draft programme that would involve both the children and parents. Elspeth and I divided the tasks needed for both the organisation and materials. Nancy Daly was our guest tutor and made suggested changes, and provided ensemble scores for the older children to work on their music reading, to run in parallel with music games lead by Marian. The final timetable and details of the groupings are attached.
I started the day with ice-breakers, which involved elements of rhythm, memory of names, and identification of the number of syllables in the child’s first name.
The parent talk was developed from a joint level 4 submission on practising habits, to include transitions as the children get older. From that talk I had made a powerpoint presentation, which Elspeth jazzed up with illustrations. The presentation was very free-flowing, involving both of us and experiences and suggestions from the parents.
The day was enjoyed by the 10 participants, and I had some observations:
Difficulty in getting buy in from some parents: 1.One child attended alone, although was a relative of one of the tutors so not totally unsupported. 2. One child attended with mother who seemed either disengaged, or at times sleeping during sessions, and also came with 2 other siblings who do not play and were very reluctant participants in the initial ice breaker and did not seem to mix with anyone else during break times
3. One parent had arranged to come with her 3 daughters but left at lunch time to take the youngest one to a party, which mean that child did not attend the full day, and the other siblings were left unsupported during the concert.
Illness or injury on the day meant that 2 children were unable to come. One of these children with his arm in a cast did come to listen to the concert, but I think felt a little sad not to be taking part. I had previously sat in during his left-hand only Suzuki piano lesson that morning, and think he would have been a very lively and cooperative contributer to the recorder workshop.
A local power cut, and the weather varying from sunny to drenching rain, meant some of the activities had to be moved to allow for the maximum of light from the windows and some creative use of torches for safety and visibility when needing to read music. We were fortunate to have the IT 20
and other practical back up from Bob Robertson to overcome these difficulties, and I think I would have struggled if these things had occurred in an unsupported and unfamiliar venue.
Overall I think the day was a great success, and many of the children said they looked forward to another one. On a personal level I was delighted that a child whose teacher had warned me was likely to have wandering attention and difficulty with the correct hold of the recorder did engage fully and played well both in the masterclasss (with help recruited from another participant),and during the concert. As he had no parent present, I should have taken him more under my wing to ensure he had his recorder with him for all the sessions, and in the end we did not realise the recorder lent to him had the tape still covering the 6 th hole so his version of One Bird 2 was hampered!
Learning points for me were: One can never plan and silently rehearse enough to ensure all eventualities are thought about. We did not think about the transition from the masterclass session to the concert in terms of what the childrens’ solos would be, so it felt a little ragged.
Ice Breakers -workshop 8.6.19
1. Sit in circle -Knee knee clap clap. I announce my first name in rhythm plus an animal whose letter starts the same way (eg Al-ly-son Aar-vark) . All repeat in same rhythm. Pass to next child for their name and after 4 children, ask all in circle to start with me and go up to the 4 th (ie remembering). Hard with 10 children plus 2 siblings who don’t play recorders to carry all the information. 2. Hands up if your name has one syllable -all play D. for those with 2 syllables, play F#, anyone with 3 play high D. Could have also added musical notes in names, and groups where syllables matched for 1 st and 2nd names.
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Recorder Fun Day 8th June 2019 at Maltmans Hill Farmhouse, Smardon, Ashford, Kent
Teachers: Nancy Daly -guest tutor Alyson Elliman Elspeth Robertson Marian Robertson
Programme 10.30 Arrival and introductions
Alyson
10.45 Getting to know you: ice breaker.
Alyson
Recorder warm ups: tonalisation and play together
Elspeth
11.15 Break 11.35 Masterclasses of current repertoire: Books 1-2
Alyson
Books 3-4
Marian
Books 5-8
Elspeth
12.30 Parent talk on practising -questions and answers Repertoire
Alyson, Elspeth Nancy
1.0
Lunch
2.0
Musicianship with games
Elspeth, Marian
Ensembles and music reading
Nancy, Alyson
3.0
Break
3.15
Play out/mini concert
4.0
End
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All tutors
Parent Talk at One Day Workshop
What is Practice?
Parents and Practice
1
2
It all depends on motivation!
How to build motivation Watch other children in group lessons Come early to their own lesson Let them perform to the next child who also comes early
Workshops and graduations – socialising as well as playing Attend concerts Listen to recordings from other artists
3
4
Habit building
5
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What worked before may not now!
6
Where, when and how
Have fun
• • • • •
The environment is key Build expectation of a time a day that suits family best Must be daily, or at least CD listening Concentrate on the ‘one point’ –leave others to the teacher for next time • Help child monitor their compliance with practice charts
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8
See the benefits ‐MUSIC
Your child is unique
Get to understand what makes the child ‘tick’ Understand differences from your own style Give them choices within the allotted sessions Let them teach you and appreciate frustrations
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Teaching Points Level 5(5.7.1)
Teaching Points –Level 5 (Template include range of notes, and which recorder played on, time signature,form, tonality, tempo)
Book reference: 7.4 What shall we do this evening Piece: What shall we do this evening (Wat zal men op den avond doen) Van Eyck 1589-1657. From Der Fluyten Lust-hof ,vol 2, published Amsterdam 1646. The whole work has 2 versions -1st bk 5 in fluyten lusthof, 2nd version in trinity grade 8, and this is another version of the Trinity. Subsequent ones in triple time. Ours here is a mixture of the 2 versions. Theme Version 1
Version 2
Original Page 56 Variet(ie) 1 V2 V3 V4 V5 Slightly different theme V1, V2, V3-4 V5
Suzuki Book 5.4 5.4, modo 2 x 5.4 modo 4 5.4 modo 5 X X X Book 7.4 (Trinity grade 8)
Main Teaching Point ; double tonguing –practice with metronome to ensure fingers and tongue are in synch. Artic varies on CD -learn all demisemis double tongued, all slurred, all slurred in pairs. Also dotted practice. Do it steady speed. Background re composer : Blind from birth-Dutch nobleman (born Utrecht) and musician. He was one of the best-known musicians in the Netherlands in the seventeenth century as a carillon player, expert in bell casting and tuning, organist, recorder virtuoso, and composer. Wrote Der Fluyten LustHof (Flute’s Garden of Delight) for solo soprano recorder, variations on 140 psalms, church works, dance tunes and folk songs. It remains the largest work for a solo wind instrument in European history; it is also the only work of this magnitude to have been dictated rather than written down by the composer, but there is some debate about the accuracy of original intention. Affect: jolly, throw away, celebratory, conversational Phrasing 4/4 time, starting 1st section on 4th beat. Style Renaissance diminutions. Lots of sequences. Analysis of form of piece: AABB Keys and modulations: C major, G maj, A min
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Performance: tempo needs to be such that theme can be identified. Ornamentation –effectively written out Variation in articulation Tonguing lingua reversa -dldld, Dldr Drlr. treatise. Dall Casa – treatsie ‘il vero modo’- 3 lingue types: reversa (reversed ‘t’ on palate, or l dl ), Dretta (touching teeth with a forward ‘t’) and teche (on the palate near teeth).Some dotting of hemisemis on CD in bar 2. Types of double tonguing see above Alternative fingerings How did I learn What did I find difficult. Where the next lot of runs starts. Tonalisation –staccato, legato slurred scales Prep studies C major scales and arpeggios in different artics. Pick out demisemis.. Artic varies on CD learn all demisemis in 3 ways: double tongued, all slurred, all slurred in pairs. Also dotted practice. Do it steady speed. Review pieces Book 5 variations. And Daphne. Preview pieces: Developing musical awareness –listen to different performances, analyse what students prefer and why. Ideas for group lessons: Finding mini phrases and alternating in 2 groups. One playing tenor theme. 4 different rhythmic patterns -group per pattern then play whole thing smoothly between the groups. Pick out the theme –not quite a good fit to play that with the variation, but harmonic bare bones and tune identifiable. Highlighter for those notes.
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Book reference: 7.5 Sonata Prima –Dario Castello 1621-?1644 (varying dates quoted online) Piece: Castello Sonata Prima Main Teaching Point –different sections and styles, articulation variations Background re composerThere is no biographical information about Castello. Even his birth and death dates are unknown. It is thought he may possibly have died during the great plague of 1630; certainly, he published no new music after this date. The title page of the 1629 edition of the first volume of the Sonate Concertate records him as Capo di Compagnia de Musichi d'Instrumenti da fiato in Venetia, indicating that he led a Venetian company of piffari, a band that could include trumpets, sackbuts, cornetts, shawms, bagpipes, drums, recorders and viols. The title page of the second volume (1644 edition) of the "Sonate Concertate" lists him as Musico Della Serenissima Signoria di Venetia in S. Marco, & Capo di Compagnia de Instrumenti, indicating that he worked at the great Basilica of St. Mark's where Claudio Monteverdi was maestro di capella. Castello's use of the stile concitato (agitated style) —with quick repeated-note figures— is consistent with his association with Monteverdi.There are records of other instrumentalists with the surname Castello working at St Mark's, and it is possible they were relatives of Dario.He was Instrumental in developing Canzona into the sonata.Sonatas published in Rome but kept in Venice. Originally for violin. He specified which instruments should play his music including cornetti.. Affect different sections with different moods (hopeful, triple are dancelike and playful). Tempo dictates the moods. Adagio bar 51 plaintive. Phrasing Style Of his music, 29 separate compositions survive. Castello's music is inventive and technically challenging. Strictly worked polyphonic sections alternate with dramatic recitatives over basso continuo, in keeping with the title of the publications "in stil moderno"; however he also uses some of the older canzona technique, which uses short sections of highly contrasting texture, and active rather than lyrical melodic lines. Unusually for the time, Castello often specifies the instruments for each part, calling for cornetti, violins, sackbuts(Baroque trombone) and dulcians. That these works were still being reprinted in the 1650s attests to Castello's influence. Modern editions of the complete sonatas are published by Ut Orpheus Edizione. Tempo -free, improvise in adagio, different ornamentation, trills beginning on note and repeated notes. Lots of freedom within the sections. Analysis of form of piece – 6 sections, allegro (freely), presto, adagio, allegro, allegro, adagio –the last being extremely florid and fanfare-like. Operatic –influenced by Monteverdi. Keys and modulations Amin, d maj. Ends on A maj -tierce de Picardi. Performance: Alternates 4 4 and 3 2, where crotchet becomes the minim. So double tongue the quavers in the triple (and semis in 44).: . Finger vib long note Barr 55. Ornamentation Variation in articulation Fragments bar 14, 46-7, 48-50 and think how would articulate it Cd slurs the demisemisemiquavers. Throat repeat like Monteverdi singing style (bars 57 and 61) Types of double tonguing . dg in semi and dl in demisemis Alternative fingerings How did I learn –more and more need to listen. 27
What did I find difficult. Building up speed and memorizing what comes when. Tonalisation Scales in thirds Prep studies scales A min, D maj, Scales in thirds also for Tonalisation. Learn the bar 118 triplet section in time then rubato. Review pieces Frescobaldi book 6 Preview pieces Developing musical awareness Supplementary -Fontana and Sonata seconda Castello. Sonata prima for violin with harpsichord, gamba and lute: https://youtu.be/3G7vJXYlNbE Ideas for group lessons One group play accomp (bass line) while others play tune. Alternate sections of the melody. Make up story with contrasting sections.
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Book reference: 7.6 J S Bach sonata G minor Adagio ma non tanto, mvt 1 of BWV 1034
Dedicated to Potsdam flutist , Michael Gabriel Fredersdorff, employee of Frederick the Great. 4 mvt sonata, in sonata di chiesa form (for the church). Piece: -From flute sonata in E minor, BWV 1034 (?1725). The basso continuo can be provided by a variety of instruments. For example in complete Bach recordings, Stephen Preston on Brilliant Classics (originally recorded by CRD UK) is accompanied by harpsichord and viola da gamba while on Hänssler Classic Jean-Claude Gérard is accompanied by piano and bassoon. The piece is largely believed to have been written during Bach's Cöthen period (1717–23), when he was employed as Capellmeister for Prince Leopold of Cöthen. However, there is some evidence that this may have been written slightly later, after Bach's move to Leipzig. Main Teaching Point New: Lots of jumps and high notes. New note Bb’’. Long phrases, breath control. Long notes which need to be coloured for interest and leading to next one. Where to start vibrato determined by harmonic underlay. Background re composer (1685-1750) Written when in employ of Duke Leopold of Anhalt-Cothen, during 1717-1723, at a time when he could concentrate on instrumental music as he had no church duties. Affect Burbling flute melody over a descending bass figure. Searching quality after the initial 5313 (DBbGBb) rises to the 6th (Eb) Phrasing Long phrases that often lead straight into the next one eg bar 19 where pattern of starting phrase after a quaver rest would be as at beginning. Can use tenuto to shape the phrases. Style Analysis of form of piece Steady trudge, lots of sequences, breaks into descending thirds. Keys and modulations G min (transposed minor 3rd up from flute original in E minor) . G min, Bb maj, D min, C min Performance: Tempo -not too slow, determined by the long notes. -affect -searching, conversation between phrases eg bar 6. At times passionate, expressive. Sighing in descending thirds. Flowing. Unrelenting flow of paired semiq. Tempo adagio non tanto -feel a quaver beat. Or crotchets. Ornamentation: tours de chants, passing notes, turns, cadential trills -ask the pupils to find the ornaments. Variation in articulation smooth, paired semiquavers, breath vibrato. Types of double tonguing nil Alternative fingerings
Michala Petri on her sonata of Bach sonatas says ’It was as if the less I did and the less I thought, not only about the interplay (with the continuo) but about my own playing –and the more I just felt, the better it got. It was a kind of …existing right in the moment.’ 29
How did I learn Analyse harmonies to find surprises What did I find difficult. Breath support and control, where to take breaths so as not to break up the lines. Tonalisation long notes, vibro, octaves, fragments -eg bar 21, bars with jumps to high notes. Prep studies scales in thirds, arpeg, G min ,Bb maj, D min, C min Review pieces Bach slow mvt book 6, Handel slow movements Preview pieces Corelli book 8 Developing musical awareness Listen to different recordings (Michala Petri, Piers Adams, Frans Bruggen Ideas for group lessons Ask students to identify the ornaments and conversations (Q and A) and play in groups.
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Book reference: 7.7 Bach Andate Obstinato 6 bar quaver moving bass. But feel it as in 3 crotchets per bar.. Piece: BWV1034. 3rd of 4 movements. 1st adagio 7.6, 2nd and 4th mvts are allegro. Main Teaching Point –Breath and shaping of long phrases. Interplay with bass. Background re composer Affect –calm, searching. Flowing Phrasing Style Analysis of form of piece .Theme and variations on moving quaver ostinato bass, which has a 6 bar introduction first, then repeated twice more before altering note lengths and modulating Keys and modulations original for flute in e minor, transposed to G minor. This movement in Bb major. Bb maj, G maj, F min, C minor Performance: Ornamentation Mordants, cadential trills. Variation in articulation Slurs in pairs and groups of 4. Vibrato for held notes. Types of double tonguing Alternative fingerings
How did I learn Sort out the differences between the sections. Finding logical places to sneak breaths –not easy as end of sections run into start of next. What did I find difficult. bar 42 -awkward run -Nancy does something different. Tonalisation as for 7.6 Prep studies as for 7.6 Review pieces Purcell Chaconne for ground bass. Preview pieces
Developing musical awareness Listen to different interpretations. Ideas for group lessons Create a story. Feel the cues for the following movement (final allegro)
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Book reference: 7.8 Giuseppe Sammartini :Allegro from concerto in F major 1st mvt –(2nd Siciiana in book 4, 3rd allegro assai in book 8.8. Written for descant recorder.
Main Teaching Point -stamina
Background re composer 1695 (Milan) -1750 (London) Italian oboist, initially taught by his father along with his younger brother, Giovanni Battista. baroque composer. Native of Milan moved via Brussels to London where he played in Handel’s Opera orchestra 1727 as an oboist. Frederick Prince of Wales, for whom he was employed as a music teacher in his household, was his patron and played in his chamber concerts. Compositions: His first composition was an oboe concerto published around 1717 in Amsterdam. He wrote a lot for treble Recorder, 6 concertos for harpsichord, 12 trio sonatas, concerti grossi, and on e opera (Judgement of Paris , words by Congreave). This concerto is his best known composition. Affect Light, jolly, cheeky, syncopations. Solo passages enquiring. Q nd A bar 57-8. Triplets -play with rubato. Unusual interval from the initial tonic 2 octave (bold) up to D (6th). Phrasing Phrases mainly of 8 bars. Some arranged in 2 lots of 4 bars (27-30 and 31-34) and 10 bars (17-26, and 47-56) Style Energetic, bold fanfare at start. More classical than baroque. Analysis of form of piece ABA (ternary) Many sequences. Tutti and solo sections with interplay between melody and accompaniment. Keys and modulations F major, C major (with dominant 7ths), C minor, G maj, Bb maj, quite chromatic in sequences. Pedal note in bass bars 72-76 while modulations in harmony. Performance: Form ABA (tertiary) Ornamentation Variation in articulation Types of double tonguing - double tonguing -dl or dg. (To keep tongue quieter keep it further back). 32
Alternative fingerings -bar 141 E’BbGBb -Normal E, then alt Bb Th1356 and put down 2 for the G. Bar 143 play the Eb with 123456 How did I learn I knew the concerto from 40 years ago when I played it and was very familiar with the direction of the piece but from music. Memorising not as difficult as with some other parts of the repertoire. Practising in sections, slow downer for flourishes in repeat. What did I find difficult. Leaning notes for sequences. Breath control. Tonalisation -octaves Prep studies F maj, C maj, D min, Amin . Scales in 3rds. Arpeggios, dominant 7th A,D, Bb,,C, and dim 7ths on C on C. A min melodic (bar 152). Metronome work. Bar 141-145. Prep and alt fingerings. Review pieces Review -Siciliana from this concerto. Preview pieces Vivaldi 8.7and Corelli 8.2 Developing musical awareness Listen to other recordings particularly with regard to ornamentation. Ideas for group lessons Can be played with a school string orchestra. Bass could be played on treble and annotate with the harmonic structure.
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Book reference: Book 8.1 Piece: Corelli Adagio 1st movement from Sonata in F major Op 5 no. 4 Originally for violin, written in 1700. Main Teaching Point Written out ornamentation. The simple version is also published. Divisions of the demisemiquavers grouped in 4s, 11s, 12s (the last 2 subdivided for playing and learning as 6+5, 6+6). Background re composer Archangelo Corelli -1653-1713 Affect Stately, flowing ornaments. (Italian style, and improvisatory with free florid runs). Vibrato on held notes for decoration. Long phrases. Tenuous, rubato. How to treat to the upbeats Phrasing 2-4 bar phrases Style Baroque. The ‘Corelli clash’ is evidenced in bar 12 where the melody line plays Bb while the bass note is B. The ‘English cadence’ (as in a lot of Byrd) and notable in Monteverdi (eg in Lament of Arianna, ‘cibo de ferra dispeata’ -C against bass C#) has the same unnerving effect and expresses anguish. The delayed resolution of an appoggiatura to the initiation of a trill is the same sort of thing -creating a suspension. Analysis of form of piece Single unit Keys and modulations F, C maj, D min Performance: Ornamentation -free and florid Variation in articulation -lots of notes slurred Types of double tonguing Alternative fingerings How did I learn Metronome useful -subdivision of the beats. Looking at the accompaniment. What did I find difficult. Tonalisation 34
Prep studies F, C maj, D min -scales. Play simple version 1st. Fragments of the demisemis, dotted, memorise. Play the simple version first Review pieces Bach book 6.6, Barsanti bk 6. Preview pieces Developing musical awareness https://youtu.be/gwOxYBuGF8U for violin playing simple version Ideas for group lessons Make up own ornaments and compare with Suzuki version. Some players to play simple phrase immediately followed by others playing ornaments.
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Book reference: 8.2 Piece: Corelli allegro 2nd movement of Sonata in F major Op5,No.4 Written for strings which has lots of movement of the bow going string to string - we have lots of thumb work over the breaks. Main Teaching Point Interplay between solo and accompaniment which does not come in until near the end of bar 5 with imitation in the bass line. Background re composer See 8.1 Affect Happy, flamboyant, lots of movement towards peak of each phrase. Contrasts of mainly bouncy movement between intervals, and more legato feel in the parts which are more accompanying the bass semiquaver passages (bars 47-51). Duet in 3rds with the bass bars 51-53). Phrasing Starts on 2nd quaver of bar which together with the repeated next 2 quavers sounds like an upbeat. When pattern comes back in bar 11 (and with the imitation in the bass in bar 5) it is more of a true upbeat 3 quavers to the next bar. Crescendo affect bars 51-53 with rising sequence of semiquavers. Style Baroque Analysis of form of piece Adagio at bar 60 to end like a written out cadenza. Keys and modulations F C Dmin, Very straightforward harmonies -no surprises. Performance: Make contrasts between ‘busy’ semiquaver sections and more accompanying ones, and take time for breaths between end of 25 and start of 26, and change from semiquavers at end of the semiquaver sequence in bar 53 and the start of return of the theme. Also half way through bar 27 (the D could be considered the resolution of the 1st 2 semiquaver movement beats but also the start of the next semiquaver sequence). Ornamentation -just short trills (to sparkle in the non-cadential placements) and cadential one at the very end. Variation in articulation -a little vibrato in the tied 4th crotchet of adagio at the end. Strongweak for semiquavers 26. Types of double tonguing dugu for semiquavers Alternative fingerings: Es in fast semiquaver passages (bar 31, 34)
How did I learn Fast passages (slowly) in isolation but being aware where they were leading to.
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What did I find difficult. Stamina to keep going bars 20-32. Tonalisation Repeated notes with emphasis on going to next note (growing crescendo) -could be done on scale of F major, or rising a 4th (dominant to tonic -as at opening) or 5th (tonic to dominant -as in bar 53-54) Prep studies Scales in 3rds. Arpeggios. Fragment end of bar 4-5. Review pieces Fast movement in the fast section of the Air Italian Preview pieces Vivaldi concerto allegro 8.7 Developing musical awareness https://youtu.be/gwOxYBuGF8U listen to the whole sonata (just violin plus basso continuo so you really hear the imitation and harmonic progression) Ideas for group lessons Some players on recorder line, others on bass line. Conversations end bar 32 -mid 33, mid 33-mid 34 etc). Echo effects bars 47-50.
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Book reference: 8.3 Piece: Telemann fantasia in F minor TWV 40:7 -Dolce (1st movement) Published 1732-3 in Hamburg. For flute -D minor.
Telemann -the composer who wrote most music for either flute or recorder. 36 fantasias for harpsichord, 12 for violin ,12 for gamba. Avoided keys that were awkward for one-keyed flute. Transposed up minor 3rd to fit on treble. Contrasting movements almost like a sonata/suite. Inegale bar 12 and 28, tenuto on rising steps bar 7. Main Teaching Point 1st piece in F minor -awkward fingerings, chromatic progressions and large jumps. 1 st baroque piece in syllabus that is unaccompanied and very free in style. Background re composer George Philip Telemann 1681-1767, godfather to CPE Bach. Affect Searching, mournful, big gestures for despair (operatic). Rising to the high f near end -despairing Phrasing 4 bars then 10 bars 1st section, 4 bars and 12 bars 2nd section. Style Analysis of form of piece Binary form Keys and modulations Fmin, Ab maj, C min Performance: Ornamentation -only in the repeats Variation in articulation - very legato and slurs. Vibrato high C bar 12 ?finger or breath. Types of double tonguing Alternative fingerings
How did I learn Sing the intervals and analyse the leaps, then try to find fingers. Identify where octave leaps came, tritones (particularly descending). What did I find difficult. 38
Keeping map of structure in mind. Tonalisation Octave leaps Prep studies Prep Fragments -bar 3 and 17. Ab min trill. Review pieces Alto bk 1 minor pieces eg my little boat. Mary -play in f minor. Telemann affetuoso re chromaticisms. Valentini book 3 for the semiquavers that should be on the beat but children tend to play too early (see here for bar 11 and 27). Sammartini slow movement. Preview pieces Vivaldi largo (E min) 8.6; Developing musical awareness Pamela Thorby CD, youtube performances on flute and recorder. Ideas for group lessons Play as a dialogue with bass notes and higher passages.
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Book reference: 8.4 Piece: Telemann fantasia F minor TWV 40:7 -3rd movement Spirituoso Moods vary in the different sections. Main Teaching Point Rondo with dance-like theme. Background re composer See 8.3 Affect Cheeky, spirited, lively, jazzy re rhythm changes from 3 to 2 (fun for groups to identify). I feel the influence of Polish dances/folk tunes that he used also in some trio sonatas. Phrasing 6 bar phrases Style Peasant-like theme in baroque style Analysis of form of piece Rondo form with 3 variations. Keys and modulations Fmin, Ab maj. A section (rondo) F min, B section in Ab maj, C section C min, D section Db min) Performance: Ornamentation -. Short ornaments but long appog bar 36. Variation in articulation Staccato mainly. Slurs mainly in pairs but longer ones in stepped passages. Types of double tonguing Alternative fingerings
How did I learn Look for the tonality, chromaticisms and tritones What did I find difficult. Remembering where the Ab start to variations B and C went Tonalisation Good attack and fast breath for clean top notes (F and G). Octave tonalisation (F’-F’’ and G’-G’’). One bird from the preceeding note (eg Ab-F’’ bar 9-10). 40
Prep studies Arpeggio and scales. bars 10-11; 23 up to the top G; 31 Review pieces Rondo- book 3 de la Guerre. Preview pieces Developing musical awareness As for Dolce Ideas for group lessons Jazzy re rhythm changes from 3 to 2 (fun for groups to identify)
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Book reference: 8.5 Piece: Telemann Rejouissance (rejoicing) from Suite in A minor for recorder and strings (5 th movement)
Main Teaching Point Light playing with simple harmonic structure, forward movement. Background re composer 1681-1767. Written for ‘fluto’ which meant recorder but now often played by flutes. Affect Lively, joyful, horse galloping. Phrasing Starts on 3rd of 4 beats. Does not feel like the start of next bar is a strong beat _?mirrors a dance move of the time. Bar 25 into 26 -could be that the C start of 26 is the start of the new passage, or the end of previous one with a wait before the semiquavers. Style Declamatory semiquavers particularly the start of 2 nd section. Analysis of form of piece Binary AABB. Recorder very much in dialogue with the orchestra. Keys and modulations Amin, C major, F, D, G Performance: Ornamentation -could break the long high G bar 20-21 with an arpeggio. Short snappy noncadential trills (more like mordants). Not much room for variation of ornaments in the repeats as not an expressive movement. Fill in note high A after the C crotchet penultimate par. Variation in articulation -staccato, slurs of 2,3 or 4 notes. Original publication had no slurs. Types of double tonguing -dugu Alternative fingerings How did I learn Slow practice with music whilst listening to CD. What did I find difficult. Runs and growing through the sequences bar 8 -make tenuto 1st semiquaver. Tonalisation Octave leap G’ to G’’. Slurred sequences of 4 notes, and slurred pairs with smooth connections. 42
Prep studies A min, C maj scales and C,F,D,G (bars 27-31) arpeggios. Long tones on high G. All the semiquaver passages. Review pieces Telemann Minuet book 5 and Air Italianne, Bach allegro book 6. Preview pieces Vivaldi allegro molto 8.7, Sammartini allegro assai 8.8 Developing musical awareness Explore all the movements, focusing on the different styles (Italian, German, French, Polish etc). Ouverure (French),Les Plaisir (French), Air A L’Italien (Italy), Menuet 1 and 2 (Polish),Rejouissance (French), Passepied 1 and 2(?), Polonaise (Polish). https://youtu.be/1iyTqwaI-Gg -Frans Bruggen https://youtu.be/Ekij2QZrxjM Giovanni Antonini and Il Giardini Armonico – breakneck speed and trills near the end of the held high G. Ideas for group lessons Alex Ayres edition for recorder ensemble. Some play just the bass line from our edition while others play the melody to see the interplay and imitation.
Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767) played the recorder himself and wrote more music for the instrument than probably any other composer in history: duets, solo sonatas, trio sonatas, quartets, concertos, suites and cantatas, as well as obbligato parts in a vast repertoire of vocal works that we have hardly explored. In 1936, towards the beginning of the twentieth-century Telemann renaissance, Eulenburg published an edition of a ‘Suite in A minor for flute and string orchestra’ which rapidly became the composer’s most widely performed composition. Modern flautists took it up with alacrity, but recorder players soon took note: Telemann called for fluto, a Baroque word for recorder rather than flute, and the key and the compass of the solo part fit the treble recorder perfectly. By the 1960s, the suite had become the most widely performed work by any composer for recorder and orchestra. If the Vivaldi concertos have now edged ahead of it in recorded performances, it is because of the modern recorder professionals’ love of display. Nevertheless, Telemann’s suite is not without its own technical challenges, and it was clearly intended for a professional—presumably one at the Hesse court in Darmstadt, in whose library the manuscript is found today. Telemann actually called the work an Ouverture, the designation for a French-style overture followed by a suite of dances. But if we are expecting a standard pattern of dances such as allemande, sarabande, courante and gigue, we are in for a surprise. Rather, Telemann treats us to a mixture of movements such as we could not find in the works of any other late Baroque composer. He was the leading proponent of a mixed style of composition that blended French, Italian, and German elements. And what set him further apart from his contemporaries was his use of elements 43
of ‘Polish and Moravian [folk] music in their true barbaric beauty’ (autobiography, 1740), which he had heard during his stint as Kapellmeister in Sorau in 1705-08. Telemann was also the pioneer of a mixed type of work which the critic Johann Adolf Scheibe called Concertouverture (concerto-suite)— a suite with parts for one or more concertante instruments (in our case, of course, the recorder) in addition to the customary strings. The overture to the A minor suite commences in that French manner invented by Jean-Baptiste Lully, all courtly dotted notes and ornaments played by the recorder and strings together, then a fast section in four-part counterpoint. The texture is simplified to usher in the Italianate recorder, whose three concerto-like solo sections become longer and more impassioned. Les Plaisirs (the pleasures) is a capricious French dance movement with a hint of Polish folk music about it. After a first part for strings, the recorder has the trio accompanied by basso continuo alone. Then follows an ‘air in the Italian style’, like the slow movement of some magnificent concerto, with a twisting, turning melody line and many chromatic surprises. But the biggest surprise is the sudden transformation of the movement into an Allegro, with passage work reminiscent of Telemann’s recorder sonatas over a simple accompaniment. The first section then returns da capo. The ensuing Menuet for the strings has an angular melody and an alternation of emphasis between first and second beats. The recorder dominates the trio, which has the character of a double, or ornamental variation, although the harmonic scheme is altered, and the style again owes as much to Poland as to France or Italy. The next movement, Réjouissance, rejoices with lively snippets passed between strings and soloist as well as contrasting passage work for the recorder, at first stepwise leading to a climax on g”’ (the note that Vivaldi avoided), then arpeggios. A pair of sprightly Passepieds follows the pattern of the Menuets heard earlier: a first dance played by the strings alone, then a trio for the recorder, this time accompanied by the basso continuo and, for the only time in the work, switching to the parallel major key (A major). The last movement is a Polonaise, a Polish dance far removed from the civilized examples of Chopin over a century later. The folk style comes to the fore in the snapping rhythms of the strings and the recorder’s repeated notes and winding, slurred groups of semiquavers, like some inspired tavern fiddler warming to his task. from notes by David Lasocki © 2004
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Book reference: 8.6 Piece: Vivaldi -Largo from Concerto in C major RV443, 2nd movement, for sopranino recorder
Main Teaching Point Very lyrical -sustain breath for long phrases in 1st half. Background re composer Antonio Vivaldi 1678-1741 (the ‘Red Priest’) composed very many concerti for a variety of instruments, for musicians at the girls’ school where he taught (Ospedale della Pieta) in Venice. This concerto may have been played on sopranino (flautino) in F, or a French flageolet in G. He himself was a violinist. Affect Pensive, floating sound of sopranino above the strings. Triplets are florid with plain accompaniment. Rubato -broadening out of time bars 12-13 (end). Phrasing Highlight which notes are important in the direction of the phrase. Style Baroque Analysis of form of piece AABB 2 bar phrases in 2nd section, 1st section more like 2.5 bar phrases. Keys and modulations E min A min, g maj, B min Performance: Ornamentation trills, appog, port de voix. Do something to lead back to 2nd section (scale down to the B). Variation in articulation Slurs, legato, vibrato on sustained notes. Types of double tonguing Alternative fingerings
How did I learn -playing with CD What did I find difficult. -easy to ‘hear’ intervals before reaching for them. Tonalisation Scales and arpeggios. 45
Prep studies E min A min, g maj, B min scales Demisemiquaver runs in bar 4 and 6. Review pieces Siciliana bk 4 (Sammartini) Preview pieces 8.7 Vivaldi allegro molto Developing musical awareness Listen to whole concerto on youtube. Ideas for group lessons One set play bass line, others the solo. Analyse the harmonies. Invent cadenza to take back from end of 2 nd half to its repeat.
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Book reference: 8.7 Piece: Vivaldi allegro molto from concerto in C major for sopranino RV443, 3 rd mvt
Main Teaching Point Long movement, with energy throughout Background re composer See 8.6 Affect Playful throughout, unrelenting quaver mvt in bass most of the time Phrasing 1st 8 bars seem to be one phrase. Style Baroque. Tutti and solo sections. Analysis of form of piece Lots of sequences(eg bars 42-5, 50-52, 52-53, 66-67 Keys and modulations C G D B Emin Amin Performance: Ornamentation Variation in articulation -. Probably written without any slurs. This edition has groups of semiquavers slurred followed by non-slurred (bar 16).
Types of double tonguing Alternative fingerings - bar 35 th,1,3,5,6 for the D sharp and take off thumb for the F sharp, and normal B (put back 2.
How did I learn Lots of slowed down listening. What did I find difficult. Keeping going without flagging. Memorising differences in where the tutti theme recurs (bars56) Tonalisation 47
Prep studies Scales C G D B Emin Amin Fragments - 24-5, 16 , all triplet and semiquavers passages. Do slowly Review pieces Sammartini fast mvt 7.8, Telemann rejouissance 7.5 Preview pieces Sammartini 8.8 Developing musical awareness As for 8.6 Ideas for group lessons One set play bass line, others the solo. Analyse the harmonies.. Split the arpeggio sections where the same one is played again consecutively. Call and recall short fragments bar 40-41.
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Book reference: 8.8 Piece: Sammartini allegro assai (3rd movement from Concerto in F major)
Main Teaching Point Bring out tune in bar 36-7 upper notes. Will sound out more as highest notes, but still keep the repeated C quieter. Lots of breath control and stamina to maintain energy of the piece. Background re composer see 7.8 Affect Optimistic opening then minor pensive section. Operatic. Driven. Phrasing Alternating varying number of bars, between tutti and solo sections (sometimes as short as 3 bars eg 11-13) Style -baroque
Analysis of form of piece Ternary, with A2 section (starting bar 110) slight variation in solo ornaments and bars 17 v 126 different rather than straight repeat of A section but otherwise the same. Keys and modulations F major, C major, D minor, C minor, G maj, G minor, Bb maj, Very chromatic writing in bass line (bars 39-43) and pedal note in bass (46-48). Performance: Ornamentation -trills in bars 31-35 only last a quaver and not cadential. Some appogiaturas played short and others longer (bars 75-76) on CD. Variation in articulation slurred triplets, otherwise generally crisp. Types of double tonguing -dugu Alternative fingerings
How did I learn Listening to find the flow . What did I find difficult. -keeping going through long passages. Tonalisation Chromatic smooth connections (for bars 58-60). 49
Prep studies Scales in 3rds and arpeggios in the keys of the piece. Thumb work bars 100-109 Fragment trills in 32 onwards. 12, 31-5, 69-75 Review pieces 8.7 Vivaldi (fast movement) Telemann Air Italienne Passpied Fischer for thumb work Preview pieces Developing musical awareness Listen to different recordings/youtube Ideas for group lessons Tutti and solo separate groups. Keep the conversation going. Bass line.
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Book reference: Own choice: Piece: Antony Hopkins, Pastiche Suite for treble recorder and piano
Main Teaching Point Modern take , written 1944, on earlier style of compositions . 3 movement suite -Allegro molto guisto, Alla sicilano and Vivace non troppo Background re composer Born 1921, died 2014. Awarded CBE 1976 for services to music. Excellent communicator about musical style and form, eg on BBC radio series ‘Talking about music’ from 1954 for almost 40 years. He published many very readable books illustrating his analysis of music form and particular conductors. Studied composition with Gordon Jacob for a short while and then Cyril Smith at RCM. While there he joined Morley College where Michael Tippett gave informal composition lessons. Later Tippett asked him to compose incidental music for theatre and radio productions. I was at Dartington Summer schools in the 1960s when he conducted Tippett’s Child of Our Time, and gave fascinating lectures on the background and analysis of the work, which he knew intimately from his association with Tippett when it was being composed. Wrote for radio, cinema and theatre. His compositions had never been gathered for recording. John turner fund-raised in 2011 to produce a double CD album of his instrumental and vocal music, to which I contributed in memory of my mother, with whom I had spent many happy hours ‘at his feet’ metaphorically while listening to his broadcasts. The Pastiche Suite was one of the recordings on the CD, played by John Turner. The CD notes are typically modest: ‘During the 1940s I was often involved with the musical activities at Morley College where Walter Bergmann was the choir’s accompanist. He was a keen recorder player and often asked me (then in my twenties) to write something for him. I must have obliged with this suite, although I have now absolutely no recollection of writing it. Amazingly the manuscript turned up many years later in, of all places, the musical library of Stir Thomas Beecham. Why and how I shall never know!’ Affect - Lively and playful outer 2 movements (allegro molto guisto and Vivace non troppo, (which has time changes 6/8 to 3/4) and pastoral alla siciliano. Lots of interplay with piano. Phrasing Allegro-4 bar phrases with time changes 4/4 and 8/8. Siciliana -4 bar lyrical phrases, 6/8, with some starting on 2nd beat. Vivace-2, 3 and 4 bar phrases, in 6/8, 3/4, quasi 3/2
Style Different styles mimicking baroque movements. 51
Analysis of form of piece -3 contrasting short movements. Keys and modulations: Allegro -E maj, d maj Alla siciliano -G maj, A min, Bb min, Gmin bar 16/ Feeling of blues. Vivace -E minor Performance: Ornamentation -tremolo, trills starting on main note. Variation in articulation -a lot of slurrings with staccato note as the last one in the run. Types of double tonguing -double tonguing for some of the unslurred runs in the vivace. Alternative fingerings -B’ to C#’ trill, thumb for F#’ in bar 18, and the E’-F#’trills in bar 13 of allegro. Bar 42 of vivace F’ to A’ tremolo -no thumb. How did I learn Learned the recorder part in tandem with lots of listening to accompaniment -1st movement hardest to synchronise with the changing rhythms in the piano.
What did I find difficult. Octaves under slurs vivace 29-30 (2 octaves F) and C#’- C# bar 20. Bar 9 of allegro E’-E’’. Tricky finger passage bar 20 allegro -jumping octaves. Tonalisation Smooth octaves Prep studies Octave leaps slurred. 2x5 hemidemisemiquaver runs bar 10 alla siciliano. Review pieces Tricky octave passage in Telemann fantasia book 8. Preview pieces: Anything modern -Rubbra, Berkely etc. Developing musical awareness: Much emphasis on interplay with accompaniment and off-beat rhythms Ideas for group lessons: Find the bars that are in synch with the accompaniment in the outer 2 movements. Middle movement -split group into those playing recorder line and others perhaps playing melody of the piano right hand, or chords if children able to play those.
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Supplementary Material Why do we need it? Fun, consistently, starting to read music, listening to and playing other genres, other movements of sonatas on the repertoire, review of techniques in other formats. Keep their interest. Duets and ensemble skills. Studies for technique. Seasonal pieces. Rounds. Ah poor bird -D minor -like Hungarian dance. Purpose: Consolidate learning, Promote literacy, insert extra pieces where not enough new notes (eg after Daddy long legs -Incy wincy spider -substituting some notes ), Ode to Joy starting F sharp. Add interest, variety. Add other repertoire from other Suzuki instruments -long long ago (cellos, in D) fireflies. French folk song. Humoresque. Rigadoon. Bergamasca. Fireside. Lots of Suzuato. John Pitts - Blues, Rags and Boogie. (Could do better by ear as looks more complex on the page). Has a CD, and melody is played on different instrument. Sarah Watts. SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL, MUSIC & RECORDINGS: LEVEL 5 MUSIC: Trinity/Guildhall publications/exam syllabus - attached Associated Board Exam syllabus - attached Also play: 2nd & 4th movements of Bach’s G minor sonata 3rd, 4th & 5th movements of Corelli’s F major sonata 2nd movement of Telemann’s F minor fantasia The complete Suite in A minor - Telemann 1st movement of Vivialdi’s C major concerto Telemann Duets - Amadeus BP 2426 & 2427 Quanz Duets - Amadeus BP 2070 & 2071 Telemann Methodical Sonatas Play Along publications: Dowani • • • •
Telemann Sonata in C major - DOW 2507 Vivaldi Concerto in A minor - DOW 2511 Bach Sonata in F major - DOW 2512 Sammartini Concerto in F major 20th Century:
• • • • •
York Bowen - Sonatina. Norman Fulton - Scottish Suite Lennox Berkley - Sonatina Hans Martin Linde - Music for a Bird Christopher Ball - Pagan Piper RECORDINGS: Grace & Gesture (Bach and Before) - Marjolijn van Roon (Van Eyck & Bach)
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Virtuoso Recorder Concertos - Michaela Petri (Vivaldi & Sammartini) Recorder Bravura - Piers Adams Early Italian Baroque - Vicki Boeckman (Castello) Italien Recorder Sonatas - Frans Brüggen (Corelli) Brit Hopmann Philips Upbeat classics Kontrapunkt 32059 Das Alte Verk Telemannn Overtures & Concertos - Frans Brüggen Telemann Der Getreue Music-Meister & Essercizii Musici Recorder Concertos - Michala Petri (Vivaldi & Sammartini) Vivaldi Recorder Concertos - Piers Adams Virtuose Recorder Music - Amsterdam Loeki Stardust Quartet Shine & Shade - Piers Adams The English Nightingale - Piers Adams David Bedford Recorder Concerto - Piers Adams THE ART OF THE RECORDER - Marion Verbrüggen “LES PLAISIRS” G P Telemann - Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment (Monica Huggett) with Marion Verbrüggen The Genteel Companion - Richard Harvey Gaudeamus 117 Jacob van Eyck, Der Fluyten Lust-Hof - Marion Verbruggen HMU 907072 Fire Beneath My Fingers CD: Dorian DSL-90704 - Judith Linsenberg and Musica Pacifica perform Recorder Concerto in F Major third movement Allegro Assai by Giuseppe Sammartini http://www.youtube.com/watch? v=OE8rTn9L_lQ Arcangelo Corelli TACTUS: 650309 - Maria Giovanna Fiorentino and I Fiori Musicali perform Corelli http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kVXG8wG4- E&feature=player_embedded#at=11
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(Van Eyck) Das Alte Verk Camerata Köln Harmonia Mundi Phillips United L’Oiseau-Lyre Tremula Albany Records AMC Trio sonnerie Additional pieces I like: Boismortier duets 2 volumes Op 17, Amadeus pub, BP2043 Boismortier Vier Konszerte op 38 -Heinrichshofen, N2055 Pepusch Two sonatas in F for 2 trebles (or works with recorder plus violin or oboe) -Nova, N.M.219 Loeillet de Gant -Sechs Duette, Schott OFB55 and 56 Hotteterre Premiere suitte de pieces, Muziekuitgeverij , Amsterdam, XYZ 641 Orlando Gibbons Three Fantasias , Faber Music Ltd for unbarred 2 part writing -lots of cross rhythms Neopollitan Baroque Masters for descant and treble, Orpheus HS137 Purcell 11 Trios -Schott, ED4365 (collection including our chaconne, and Three Parts Upon a Ground) Recordings: The Division Flute, Emma Murphy, Signum Classics Jill Kemp -Aztec Dances, Primafacie.ascrecords.com PFCD052 Jill Kemp -English Recorder Works (includes Rubbra meditazioni sopra 'Cours Desoles), Music and Media Jill Kemp -Recorders -Jillkemp.com IJK001. Includes Monti Czardas (Suzuki violin repertoire) Pamela Thorby Ammonite, Grand Tourist Records Quinta essential quartet -Falando Brasilerio, Flanders Quartet - Concerti -Aeolus, AE-10216 (contains arrangements of Vivaldi by Bach, Purcell Three parts upon a ground, and modern piece 'Motion' by Piet Swerts)
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Observation Forms L5 EUROPEAN SUZUKI ASSOCIATION Your name: Alyson Elliman Tonalisation
Observation Form 1-4
Teacher observed: Renata Pereira
Lesson length:4x15 mins Book level:5-8
Date: 2-5.8.18
Ages: 10-14
............................................................................................................................. ..................................... QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER: What was the main point of this lesson? What do you remember from this lesson? Do you have any questions about this lesson? If you were teaching this lesson, what would your teaching point be? POINTS TO CONSIDER: Tonalisation/Technique/Review/New Material and Preview/CommunicationTeacher/pupil/parent. Verbal and Non-verbal Tonalisation class 1 -Renata. 2.8.18 Twinkle slowly. Asks what key -D, then do in C, A. Identify which note is out of tune (=C sharp. D’). Tune to A and E . Goes round circle ping pong twice so children should hear and adjust on the 2nd circuit to match her tuning. Alt C sharp ? 1.3.5.7. Then play tune through again. Tonalisation Day 2 3.8.18 Cllapping Music 1 12 123 12 1 from Steve Reich. Play f for 1, high f for 2, v high f for 3. Keep good recorder position and stac on top F. 2 groups starting a beat apart. Then with Gs then As (only 2nd finger and pinch).Then with recorder on lower lip and tonguing. And Fsharp. Tonalisation day 3 4.8.18 Renata Toy for showing how to sharply tap tongue to just behind teeth for high F. Do pattern with recorder in mouth then outside it on lip. Round circle with just high F, concentrating on posture, tongue, fast air stream and thumb position. Gives individual attention to those having problem. Recorder to be straight. when too noisy, talks in v low voice and gets attention. Tonalisation day 4. 5.8.18 Numbers, clapping, f, f sharp, g at first together then divided, down again, drop out one by one. Finish on the low notes. The change over to getting recorders ready to play breaks the magic I thought. Repertoire class day 4 All Suzuki instruments play Twinkle but in different keys (D,C,A,E). Book 5 Musette (in A) has Twinkle basis. One group plays twinkle while other group plays Musette. Egg timer for breath control after full breath out, take in, play one note until empty. Then same again using how much time had before to completely empty by controlling speed . Van Huene says
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should be able to keep for 40 seconds. Brilliant vibrant ideas to keep children engaged. Much cajoling to get children to stand for even part of the session. Ideas for repetitions and assessment: if you do it right, I give you chocolate. If wrong I either give you broccoli or you give me chocolate. Fun throughout. Usually only one parent present, and not much communication to him. ………. EUROPEAN SUZUKI ASSOCIATION Your name: Alyson Elliman Masterclass
Observation Form 5-16
Teacher observed: Renata Pereira
Lesson length: 4x45 mins Book level:6-8
Date: 2-5.8.18
Ages: 11-14
............................................................................................................................. ..................................... Sam (age 11)day 1 –Allemande, Hotteterre. Getting him to have clean start with top F with minimal tonguing. Slow it down to hear all the ornaments and allow for more stately dance. Think of the waterfall. T D for ends of sections. Ornaments on beat and just shimmering (my word!) and take off quickly. Articulate td not tt for the runs. Sam day 2 -Allemande Think of posture and temperament of French court of the time. I notice he plays ineagale like triplet or double dotting. Better tempo so ornaments are clearer. Make more colours for contrast in way he plays (softer, more forceful, weak and strong). Don’t play in black and white. Different colours in articulation for the 1st and last 2 notes - not t t, but t d. Practice high F with tongue in right place, start with recorder lower (right place, then recorder higher but same tongue position. Sam day 3 -Allemande Play like jazz for inegale.. Different colours for special notes (eg top D near start of 2nd section). T D always not T t. Gap before final T Ds.Use flattement on long notes. Sam day 4 -Sarabande Hotteterre. Emphasis on 2nd beat. Using different colours. If emphasize a note, the note before should be less stated, or shorter. Inegale quavers -French td td td td (Italian would be more dotted).Asks him to say if way she plays is French or Italian. Don’t use on jumps. Articulate last note of ornaments. General observations: mum there for all the lessons, taking notes. Sam pays attention well to the other students when they play. I asked if his teacher had taught him to play Allemande so fast, and she said no, he just likes to do things at breakneck speed! He responded well to Renata’s requests, and became much more French in style for allemande over 3 days. ………………….. Matty (age 14) Day 1 –Daphne van Eyke (his concert piece for tomorrow) Need to expel air rather than taking in more and more. Don’t rush the semiquavers. As in my exam lesson with him, not correct timings. Run of 4 semis take longer on 1st one. Lots of rubato on last phrase. Relax more into the music. (In the concert he took lots of breaths at natural break points during sections, rather than between the sections, which is what I think Renata was suggesting to 57
avoid odd timings, and he seemed to be very nervous, which seemed to make the sections bitty). Matty day 2 -Rececarda Take time to prepare -breathe out fully first then take in and start. Contrast from v stacc to more lyrical in section 3. Don’t breathe in the syncopated section long notes. Matty day 3 Recercada Make timing flexible within the beat. Worked on last section, with preparing the breath. Honey bee prepares for e f# g e. Matty day 4 Recercada Duets through last section to show where can break. Sections like honeybee pattern. Then one player keeping the breaks. General Observation: Matty seemingly paid no attention to the lessons of the others, and chattered with Lily or wandered in and out of the room. Relucant to stand correctly. Gentle attempts by Renata to get him to engage more. His mum was there for some of the days, but little communication with her from Renata. Enjoyed his successes but looked puzzled when asked to do things differently from how he had been taught. Rececarda –no corrections from Renata re F naturals/sharps from the written score which differ on the CD –did not ask about listening. Lily -Corelli (age 14) Day 1 Corelli allegro bk 8 More contrast and mood at various times. Feel of introduction and new beginnings at various times. Sing more syncopated notes bar 13-14. Bar 20 new section -short notes and grow dynamic through the bars. Plays plain notes 1 and 3 with her in the semiquavers. Dynamic contrasts throughout the fast passages -grow. Make it feel easy. Lily day 2 Corelli Make clearer break between phrases in bar 11 . breathing not problematic if decide where to break music and take off to make up time. Lilly day 3 -rejouissance bk 8 Tell the story by making breaks rather than rushing through. Trills very rhythmic. Experiment with where to make the breaks -make surprises rather than straight sequences. Note where orchestra echos the recorder in bars 13-14 and 15-16. Vibrato on high G to grow through it. Bar 26 different mood.1st note (c) is both the end of a sentence and start of next. Linger on it. Lilly. Day 4 Rejousisance Linger on 1st of 4 semiquavers and make contrast through the repeated patterns. Slow the tempo to concentrate on the fast sections. Contrast is key to expression. General comments Same comments as for Sam re non-engagement/ disruptions. So quick to internalise what Renata is requesting in the playing. Mum was there for one session (has younger child in another group). Not any communication from Renata. She feels the styles of the music superbly, and have found it very useful to hear pieces and tutor suggestions from book 8 to start me on my own journey to L5. 58
………. EUROPEAN SUZUKI ASSOCIATION Your name: Alyson Elliman
Observation Form 17-20
Teacher observed: Renata Periera
Type of class: Repertoire -Group
Date: 2-5.8.18
Lesson length: 4x 45 mins Book level: 3-8 Ages:10-14
Handel book 4 larghetto Identify most difficult parts- Larghetto: big jumps and sequences and analyse what is happening. D to B, G #, and sequences. Split group to do alternate phrases. Then switch. Identify start and end notes of each sequence to get to next phrase. Then play whole sequence together. Handel Tempo di Gavotta -the trills. Circle and each play in turn. 2 children don’t yet play this piece, but useful to practice before learning. Position to move fingers faster is recorder held out not down. Stop before last note of the trill bar 21. Couperin Air: 5.4 -gentle and clean French ornaments. 18th century. Identify key -G major, 2nd part D maj. Make a break bar 5 for new phrase as dancers need time for the new step on next down beat. And same in 2nd section 5th bar. Takes pieces much faster than some children are comfortable with. Ways to finish note :tongue, recorder away, less air. Choice dependent on mood of piece -think of the dancers. Couperin day 4 –shows that pattern of Twinkle theme (in A) is replicated in the Air, plays twinkle while children play the air. Looks of amazement on childrens’ faces! Handel Siciliana (alto) and Bouree (sop) with change of instruments Lyrical style of siciliana with forward movement. Accents not really discussed in Bouree. Telemann Menuet A min suite 1 soloist for each section and tutti repeats. Work on chromatic section separately, and the 2 sequences before it. Maybe could have done with more work. Had done a lot of work on clean top F in tonalisation classes so reminded of crisp tonguing and holding recorder high.
General comments: Gives many children opportunity to play solo or in group of 3 (tutti for repeats). Encourages those who are not yet playing higher book items to begin to learn. Work on tricky runs at end of gavotte not really addressed with soloist who did not have it well under her fingers (and at concert was a little ropey). Many parents present but little engagement from Renata. Room too hot and stuffy affecting concentration and willingness of the children to stand in good position (drooping into chairs whenever they could and begging to play sitting down). Informed and encouraged children to think about the dance steps and needs of the dancers to inform how endings and beginnings are managed, and lots of information about style of pieces. …… EUROPEAN SUZUKI ASSOCIATION 59
Observation Form 21
Your name: Alyson Elliman Individual
Teacher observed: Nancy Daly
Lesson length: 15mins Book level:Pre-Instrument
Date: 4.8.18 Ages: 4
.................................................................................................................................................................. Corin (just 4)Older sisters play (books1-4) so he has been listening for a long time and showed interest in trying himself. Nancy had given him 1st lesson yesterday with initial stages but not yet tonguing. We had been told how lively a child he is. Semicircle of observer, mum present. Mat, Bow, feet, sing OB1 with actions, then tu tu for OB!. Nancy blows on his hand to show tu tu. RH and shake. LH round top of recorder. Wave, shake hands, finger to thumb, then other fingers. Mr thumb where are you, here I am. Could only do with thumb, and 1st finger but too hard to do little fingers. R thumb on rest, recorder on chin, move R index finger. Cat with cork in head joint. Whisper tu tu, then into head joint. Nancy v quietly spoken in lesson to contain his energy and make him listen. Can concentrate on what she says rather than with any distractions. Only looked away once to mum, otherwise not at observers. Not yet coordinated with thumb to all the fingers. Could only wiggle fingers of both hands on the recorder when asked to wiggle right hand fingers (very normal developmentally). Nancy explained content was more than she would normally do in one session at this stage. Other suggestions in discussion after lesson: Sing all songs up to Rhody with tu, and whispered tu. Straws on bottom lip. Tissues. Clapping identify which song it is. Decide now for which one to do. Copycat rhythms. Dice (can get them up to 20 faceted sides). Castenets, macaroni. Foot mat and Jaap has hand mat but doesn’t name right and left. Finger puppets. Windmills. Perception is he will make rapid progress compared to a child who has not seen siblings play. ……. EUROPEAN SUZUKI ASSOCIATION Your name: Alyson Elliman Ensemble
Observation Form 22-25
Teacher observed: Nancy Daly
Lesson length:4x45 mins
Date: 2-5.8.18
Book level: 4-8 Ages: 10-14
.................................................................................................................................................................. Mixed level of sightreading ability, and mixed ability to read with treble fingering. Session immediately after break. Cooperation flagging, and ability to listening to instructions and be quiet very challenging! One child not native English speaker but managed fine. One mum present and playing some of the time (descant for the treble line). The River (from Through the Arches of Time by A.V.Purnell)–greeted with enthusiasm as had played it at previous summer schools. Special effects (singing while playing, clumping bottom of recorder on palm, covering windway of bass for wind). Emphasis on feeling the atmosphere, good dynamic contrasts. Some sectional rehearsing, but not long gaps for others. Lots of chattering between teenagers, so missed instructions and held us up. Serenade in Mambo (Paige, Bert and Stone, arranged by Brian Davey) 60
One ‘expert soprano’, other parts not so challenging. General comments I asked if could put our names on the parts at the end of 1st session to anticipate easier and quicker distribution at subsequent days, as people would not necessarily remember, but not taken up so a bit of time and patience wasted subsequently. Also need for every stand to have a pencil as lots of instructions were not written in so not remembered always. Nancy built up complete pieces via sections and joins, with emphasis on dynamics and mood. Quite a lot of tricky fingering for past passages –alternate ones suggested for keeping half hole used for bottom note when going quickly to next note. (?not sure of the notes). Children enjoyed playing Serenade in Mambo to open the play out. …. EUROPEAN SUZUKI ASSOCIATION Your name: Alyson Elliman tonalisation
Observation Form 26
Teacher observed: Jaap Delver
Lesson length: 30 minutes
Book level:
Date: 7.10.18 Ages: Teacher trainees
............................................................................................................................. ..................................... Stretches -up to sky while breathing in, then down like a weeping willow to touch toes breathing out. Loosen shoulders and open up rib cage with arms outstretched. Shake limbs in turn. ‘Brush your teeth’ ie move tongue around mouth. Vibrato: Rise on feet then bend knees down with body. Accents conduct and do on 1st beat of 4 or 3 time. All on one note or going up. Circle facing out -he goes outside circle and when comes into view play any tone. If he trots play short note, if walks play long note. …. EUROPEAN SUZUKI ASSOCIATION Your name: Alyson Elliman Tonalisation
Observation Form 27
Teacher observed: Jaap Delver
Lesson length: 30 mins
Date: 23.3.18
Book level:1-5 Ages: Teachers!
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High note has a hiss when tu but softens when moves jaw down and tongue down to say toooooo. Show the contrast. Practice no extra notes when changing fork fingerings etc -concentrate on the finger(s) that have to come up. Eg Eb to F. One bird slurred Eb to F.
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Keep recorder up -Renata’s toy to support like a teddy bear -strap round neck so can’t put arms down by side. (Nancy will send picture). …. EUROPEAN SUZUKI ASSOCIATION Your name: Alyson Elliman Tonalisation Group
Observation Form 28
Teacher observed: Tessa Oakley, cello
Lesson length: 30 mins
Date: 16.4.19
Book level:1-2 Ages: 4-12
.................................................................................................................................................................. Book 1-2 Ages ?4-12 Start with cello in position with bow on string and LH pointing/moving to head, etc. Twinkles (Piccadilly circus). Then with harmony parts. Posture demonstrated throughout -right/wrong. Last note. -when ends keep bow still and hear it ring. Eyes closed to listen -eyes open/ take bow off when sounds ends. Scales down. Legato (French folk song) tune. Lift bow off string at end of last note while watching teacher to get it together. Parents sing French folk song -children only play the long ones. Close gap between the end of the long note and beginning of next phrase. Make that last bow very slow to last longer and can then go on to next phrase. Cellists to breathe while playing. Mainly non-verbal, parental involvement, aim to keep attention to follow her for starts and ends of pieces/phrases. … EUROPEAN SUZUKI ASSOCIATION Your name: Alyson Elliman
Observation Form 29
Teacher observed: Karina MacAlpine, violin
Date: 16.4.19 Masterclass
Lesson length: 1 hr
Book level:5-7 Ages: 8-14
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Natalie: Vivaldi 1st mvt. Straight into playing. Working on position of RH pinkie -not to creep up, as 1st finger is creeping itself. Twinkles with waving with all fingers on and off the bow to replace it correctly. Check 1st finger position on bow after each pattern of notes. Check finger before start, middle and end. Review earlier piece where there is also a lot going on in LH, to concentrate on the bow fingers. Tyne: Vivaldi 3rd mvt G min .No bow. Straight into piece. Bk 5 Work on bow wrist looseness as preview of Handel in book 6. Loosen and wiggle wrist. Yo-yo. Energy going down then springs back up, Bounce a ball. Tip of bow on left shoulder and wave wrist. Keep elbow in a square. Asks mother and other children to look and comment.
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I noticed unnecessary curling of LH little finger under violin when not in use, and odd thumb position. Ewan: bk 5 Gigue Veracini Long bows for twinkle. Veracini needs to be played on lower half of bow. Work on finger action of RH -nails too long and getting in way of pulp needs to make the contact with the bow. Thumb and 5 have to work together and other fingers follow. Practice it on a pencil for bow ‘hold’ (should be called bow touch-natural position when soften wrist). Fingers will be quite close together. Let body do its natural thing -brain does less. Gabriella: bk 7 ?piece Twinkle with deep down bow and light up bow. Ask if she notices anything different from when was playing the piece -pupil didn’t. Thumb is pivot of the seesaw, and 3,4,5 provide counterbalance and 2 is for stabilizing. Twinkles with checking finger action of bow. Piece of paper between thumb and middle fingers which have to bend round to keep it in place. All players keen to play piece right through (some with the music as still learning). At end of piece, tutor moved straight to bow hold/finger position etc and did not use the music again during the lesson -only on twinkles. I wondered if a little frustrating for the students, although all improved with the demonstrated corrections. …. EUROPEAN SUZUKI ASSOCIATION Your name: Alyson Elliman Date: 16.4.19 Masterclass
Observation Form 30
Teacher observed: Shih-ching wei-prichard (piano)
Lesson length: 1 hour Book level:2-4 Ages: 5-8
............................................................................................................................. ..................................... Joshua -Arietta Announce piece and bow. Then Beethoven sonatina 2nd mvt-just learning. RH alone. Concentrate on correct fingering. Shows dad -video. LH alone with correct timing. Teacher plays RH. Then 1st mvt which he knows well. Plays v fast and misses some notes. Work on spread chords. Teacher talks about the composer. Find out for tomorrow. Contrasts between main idea and frills. Keep body movements small compared to romantic period. Stacking cups to show cres and dim. Naomi -Bach, concert piece. Beethoven -very gentle and expressive. Phrase off for sequences. Explains to mum. Child’s hand on hers to feel the lift/break. Bach Menuet 5. Twinkles octaves in rhythm of long short short. 63
(Adaptable to Recorder Menuet 5 -open mouth between the 2 Gs so as not to rush, or clap beats, or get others to do so).
Very gentle tutor, fully engaging the pupil and parent. Kept it light and with humour. Made the musical ideas understandable to the children. … EUROPEAN SUZUKI ASSOCIATION Your name: Alyson Elliman
Observation Form 31
Teacher observed: Angela East, cello
Date: 16.4.19
Group Lesson length: 1 hour Book level:2-5 Ages: 4-9 .................................................................................................................................................................. Cello books 2-5 . One child only in book 2, others in 5 and will switch from another group tomorrow where child is the only book 5 and others are lower down. Judas Macbeus. Asks pupil to tell story -soldier in battle, elephant kills enemy, then celebration. Fast full bow to be brighter and contrast. Start with tip of bow on floor then go for the 1st note. Split the tune between the players. different levels of experience of 2nd and 3rd positions. 2 Grenadiers -different emotions. Catapult for the bow being drawn and released with crescendo as draw bow back. Vibrato -with finger tip note pad. Berceuse-teacher plays tune others 1313,2323 (harmonies) and listen for which fits each bit of the tune.
Impressions: Rather stern approach from tutor, not much praise. Hampered by different levels and child needing to be taught rather than review. Larger than life demonstrations -I felt children may be a bit intimidated. I liked the visual imagery for the bowing. I didn’t observe much in the way of parent involvement.
… EUROPEAN SUZUKI ASSOCIATION Your name: Alyson Elliman Tonalisation
Observation Form 32
Teacher observed: Heather Clemson
Lesson length:30 mins
Date: 17.4.19
Book level:4-7 Ages: 8-13
............................................................................................................................. ..................................... Bow with crescendo/diminuendo clapping. Twinkle bow movements with elbow up and down over 2 strings without sound. Piccadilly Circus for each string -call out the number of the string. Twinkles in all 4 keys. Hand positions and wrists -jelly fish, candle. 64
Twinkle always going to key note on higher string -rocking the bow Clap rhythm back only if it is not the same as previous one. Bow -wrist like a swan looking down in water. Hold it horizontal in 5 levels -what will be found on each floor? Animals. Play perpetual motion. Fun, quick pace for some of the younger ones. Parental involvement. Virtually all demonstration -quick lead into the copying -maybe a bit fast for some of the younger children to get ready. … EUROPEAN SUZUKI ASSOCIATION Your name: Alyson Elliman Tonalisation
Observation Form 33
Teacher observed: Heather Clemson
Lesson length: 1 hour Book level: 3 violin
Date: 18.4.19
Ages: 4-11
............................................................................................................................. ..................................... Tonalisation Heather violins book 3 D3 Wrist actions for twinkle.. Bow horizontal side to side and up and down and round and round both ways. Different speeds, moving one hand to nose, head etc. Spiccato bows different rhythms. Climb up and down the bow with one hand above the other in rabbit hold (thumb and 2 middle fingers). Time it for up and down -under 10 seconds. Then spiccato again at balance point of bow. then bow onto opposite shoulder. Twinkle legato then spiccato. Song of the wind. Half group starts staccato, when she claps next group carries on spiccato. Then switch. Another tune? 1st 2 lines spiccato, then legato. 2 arms different things elephants trunk up and down while other hand uses steering wheel. Perpetual motion: spiccato.Interrupts tune to put bow on head, bend down etc and return to bowing. Gets faster and faster. Very little talking -all demo and full engagement of the children. One ?12 year old boy looked embarrassed throughout and did not do all the actions. Asks group what they learned today.
… EUROPEAN SUZUKI ASSOCIATION Your name: Alyson Elliman Musicianship
Observation Form 34
Teacher observed: Heather Clemson
Lesson length: 30 minutes
Date: 17.4.19
Book level:1 violin and pianon Ages: 4-9
.................................................................................................................................................................. Musicianship Heather Clemson D2 Book 1 65
Don’t clap this one back (1 1 1/2 1/2 1). Only clap other rhythms. Don’t clap back pattern if same as previous one. Pass rhythm round circle. Child then chooses a rhythm to send round. If passed incorrect, most children corrected it before passing it on further. Pass round to adults. Then stand in a line to tap so can’t see previous rhythm . Sit facing parent: Cards with rhythm being shown to child to clap and memorise. Cards taken in. Heather claps one of the rhythms and child and parents get up run round the lines and up through the middle back to place. A bit of health and safety concern when children had outstretched legs close together and when sitting children lolled backwards for the running child to navigate between them. Rhythm bingo- clapping and saying tea coffee Coca-Cola, then another round without the words. 3 rhythms -tea t t t , coffee c c c ,Coca-Cola . 3 groups -1 rhythm each, and change to next one with green flag or reverse to previous one with red flag. A lot crammed into this session and the rhythm bingo was too long I felt to keep attention of all the children. I boy seemed to have no concept of rhythm –‘he tried his best’. … EUROPEAN SUZUKI ASSOCIATION Your name: Alyson Elliman Musicianship (piano)
Observation Form 35
Teacher observed: Jo Highly
Date: 18.4.19
Lesson length: 1 hour Book level:2-4 Ages: 7-12
............................................................................................................................. ..................................... Knee knee clap with saying name on 4th beat. Stamp 1,3 and all say own name while walking around together. Find someone with same rhythm and walk together. 3 or 4 children at each piano in a line to the keyboard. All sharps major scales 2 octaves then flat scales. Secret circle. Based on Circle of 5ths but easier. To start from C (major) or A minor -no sharps or flats and use Father Christmas Gave Dad an electric Blanket (order of the sharps) or Blanket exploded and father got cold feet (order of flats), knowing the F# and Bb are the first sharps or flats to find place to start in the circle. Minors: A minor no sharps then follow same pattern as major to find out how many sharps or flats are in each scale. Draw their own circle to take away. Choose a piece to play in a key the teacher says. Asks each child to name the key which has set number of sharps or flats. All at piano for diminished 7ths.
I think some of the children struggled with the secret circle -gently encouraging without giving them the answers, only how to find it. I think circle of 5 th could have also been explained -working out from key signature what the key is (without having to count all the accidentals). As I was sitting in 66
front row and had difficutly seeing over the childrens’ heads to what they were drawing, I think the parents behind would also have had some problems during the session. Good to have something to take away, but not sure instrunctions would have been remembered.
EUROPEAN SUZUKI ASSOCIATION Your name: Alyson Elliman Tonalisation -violins
Observation Form 36
Teacher observed: Heather Clemson
Lesson length:30 mins
Date: 18.4.19
Book level:3-7 Ages: 8-14
............................................................................................................................. ..................................... Tonalisation Heather violins book 3 D3 Wrist actions for twinkle.. Bow horizontal side to side and up and down and round and round both ways. Different speeds, moving one hand to nose, head etc. Spiccato bows different rhythms. Climb up and down the bow with one hand above the other in rabbit hold (thumb and 2 middle fingers). Time it for up and down -under 10 seconds. Then spiccato again at balance point of bow. then bow onto opposite shoulder. Twinkle legato then spiccato. Song of the wind. Half group starts staccato, when she claps next group carries on spiccato. Then switch. Another tune? 1st 2 lines spiccato, then legato. 2 arms different things elephants trunk up and down while other hand uses steering wheel. Perpetual motion: spiccato.Interrupts tune to put bow on head, bend down etc and return to bowing. Gets faster and faster. Very little talking -all demo and full engagement of the children. One ?12 year old boy looked embarrassed throughout and did not do all the actions. Asks group what they learned today. … EUROPEAN SUZUKI ASSOCIATION Your name: Alyson Elliman Playtogether -violins
Observation Form 37
Teacher observed: Jane Afia
Lesson length:1 hour
Date: 18.4.19
Book level:5-7 Ages: 8-14
Play together violins D3 Jane afia and trainees Bb frere Jacques. Copy and response with different rhythms for the tune. Round. Finger pattern for Bb. Other piece would be G minor. Circle with top of bow. Get faster and stronger. Whole bow one, two, three, four, five notes etc. From tip 12 short notes. Perpetual motion -lots of notes per bow. Witches dance -stamp feet and end with hey!.
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Practice putting violins down quietly. Coordinate clapping with teacher. Then playing a note.
Fun and full engagement from the children. … EUROPEAN SUZUKI ASSOCIATION Your name: Alyson Elliman Masterclass piano
Observation Form 38
Teacher observed: Jo Highley
Date: 18.4.19
Lesson length: 1 hour Book level:2-4 Ages:
............................................................................................................................. ..................................... Piano lesson Sue Finn D2 book 2-4 Casper -G maj scale. Roll hand up for black notes.Toy under hand to keep in good position. Review book 2. Breath before 1st note. Dynamics of 3 notes and stop before that passage comes in the piece to think. To mum -the 3 notes strong, medium, soft. Soft sounds is the lesson today, particularly with LH thumb. Isabella -Beethoven sonatina Scale -care when thumb goes under that don’t accent it. Scale passage -smooth and aim for the top. Put words to the notes. Clap dotted quaver semiquavers. Good planning for what she will want to work on tomorrow. Alyssa Focus on feet for pedal work. Put weight on feet flat - move piano stool back to enable flat feet and swing with upper body. Gavotte Bach. Jump to a chord -isolate the finger that is hampering smooth transition Lots of ideas for parent to help with , and checking children have understood. Fun -balls with smiley or scowling faces shown after each repetition. ………………………………… Suzuki summer school 2019 Observations Eija x4 Tonalisation 15 mins each day. Virtually no speech, all demo including relaxations, posture (chicken arms) and what she wanted copied. D to D’ parts of scales, octaves. Winter creeps. Then D’ upwards to B’’, and early tunes at the octave. Maybe a little fast paced for some of the children, but always encouraging and established rules for listening to her before copying. Gestured smiling before turning round to audience for bow. Counting in English, Finnish and Icelandic.
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Elspeth x 2 45 minute masterclasses with top group books 7 and 8 and jazzy piece that she had played at exam and concert. Lots of praise and demonstrated repetitions, breaking down tricky passages to share the notes and reverse. Top Fs, and alt fingering for slurring F to F sharp (pinch, half of 1 - - 45).
Nancy top group ensemble-x4 and at play out. Crowd control with teenagers experimenting with Paetzold C and contra basses. 2 children also playing tenors for 1st time. Great achievements. Stormy sea by D. Porro with sound effects - virtuoso sopranino part. Some tricky rhythms. Worked on separate passages, and encouraged all to listen sectionally, but attention not so good. 2nd piece Whistling Rufus . Again some boredom during sectional working although teacher showed how it all fitted together and importance of listening. Could perhaps have been clearer where she wanted us to start each time, particularly after just a section rehearsal, and maybe people misheard whether she wanted just instrumental parts to start or everyone.
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Child and Adolescent development -relevance to developing musicianship Teenage and adolescent psychology (5.4.2) Jaap Delver 23.3.19
Rebellion against rules and parents. Celebration or disappointment with body changes. Body and brain changes: ice cream scone -cone=brain stem, and 2 scopes - 1 regulates emotions, other logic. 3rd scoop is prefrontal cortex develops later in 20s. Changes in hormones and experiences also create new pathways, and others pruned if not being used. Thus finding a new identity with their new body. So hard for adults to learn new things -need continuity from childhood. Want to belong to peer groups, experiencing a lot of things to choose from so would need guidance from adults and boundaries (which may be ignored, but heard). Risks not really understood. Think they are invincible. Overwhelmed by changing moods due to hormones so want it to quiet down so may take drugs. Age could be 8-mid 20s. Attention span, processing speed etc could be adult at 15. But parent choice for them to continue lessons with eg baroque music rather than pop music. Can play with Suzuki peer group with whom they have bonded for the pop etc. May be embarrassed to admit playing recorder to other peers. Parents have to understand they are no longer the ones in control. Have to allow them to make mistakes. Be a safety net for them, suggest safe ways for them to do the new things they want to do. Keep relationship honest so they can talk to you about what might be risky. Have to learn to know that their actions have consequences for others.
Physiological brain changes in teens: Increased sweat stress response. Medial prefrontal cortex is active when thinking about the emotion of a situation -this peaks at around 15 years old. Prefrontal cortex areas are still not fully developed, leading to risk taking. Even adults’ brains can change. Taxi drivers learn ‘the Knowledge’ to gain their license -a real feat of memorisation and visual mapping- and can take up to 4 years to master; brain scans before and after the training shows the post hippocampus (re spatial memory) has grown after training completed. (Musicians learn languages more quickly due to plasticity. Einstein’s brain analysed post-mortem showed an increase in the size of the area controlling the left index finger, which was most important in violin playing).
………………………………………………………………………………………………… Child Surveillance Handbook, 3rd Edition, 2009. Hall, Williams, Elliman,D 70
Although this comprehensive coverage of UK programmes to enable early intervention for childhood health and wellbeing does not cover teenage years, there is a great emphasis on parental influences on later development. As it is more difficult to correct or guide once things go awry, parents should always be supported to understand their child’s developing independence and insecurities. I think the foundations for this are laid in earlier childhood, where the balance has to be made between maintaining a safe environment but allowing experimentation within those limits, whilst always maintaining an interest and acknowledging progress.
………………………………………………………………………………………………… Kadiatu Kanneh-Mason: House of Music This famous UK family of 2 musical parents and their 7 children, now ranging in age from 11 to 24, has hit the headlines in the last four years. Their deep love and understanding at a very mature level of musical expression, facility in grasping new ideas and repertoire, dedication to practice to be the best they can, and wonderful achievements, pay tribute to the nurturing environment provided by the parents. 4 of the 7 children have been or are currently scholarship holders at the Royal College or Royal Academy of Music. Kadiatu, the mother, writes with such insight into their changing needs and expression during adolescence. In some ways the children, all attending state education with a great emphasis on music as part of everyday life, were incredibly ‘mature’ in their outlooks from very early ages, and the changing family dynamics, particularly with the middle ones, played such a part in their sense of belonging and achievements. Adolescence itself is acknowledged, and the way the parents demonstrate unconditional love and recognition of potential pitfalls during this time is very sensitive. Interviewed at the Wimbledon Bookfest in October 2020, Kadiatu describes the financial and personal sacrifices so willingly made, giving each child choices and respecting their differing personalities. She asked Sheku, the first black winner of the Young Musician of the Year in 2016, aged 16, on his cello, how he would rate his happiness 4 years on, when is now a recorded international musician, and is delighted when he replies 9.9 out of 10. ………………………………………………………………….. https://raisingchildren.net.au/pre-teens/development/understanding-your-pre-teen/braindevelopment-teens Teenage brain development: the basics Children’s brains have a massive growth spurt when they’re very young. By the time they’re six, their brains are already about 90-95% of adult size. But the brain still needs a lot of remodelling before it can function as an adult brain. This brain remodelling happens intensively during adolescence, continuing into your child’s mid20s. Some brain changes happen before puberty, and some continue long after. Brain change depends on age, experience and hormonal changes in puberty.
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So even though all teenagers’ brains develop in roughly the same way at the same time, there are differences among individual teenagers. For example, if your child started puberty early, this might mean that some of your child’s brain changes started early too. Inside the teenage brain Adolescence is a time of significant growth and development inside the teenage brain. The main change is that unused connections in the thinking and processing part of your child’s brain (called the grey matter) are ‘pruned’ away. At the same time, other connections are strengthened. This is the brain’s way of becoming more efficient, based on the ‘use it or lose it’ principle. This pruning process begins in the back of the brain. The front part of the brain, the prefrontal cortex, is remodelled last. The prefrontal cortex is the decision-making part of the brain, responsible for your child’s ability to plan and think about the consequences of actions, solve problems and control impulses. Changes in this part continue into early adulthood. Because the prefrontal cortex is still developing, teenagers might rely on a part of the brain called the amygdala to make decisions and solve problems more than adults do. The amygdala is associated with emotions, impulses, aggression and instinctive behaviour. Have you noticed that sometimes your child’s thinking and behaviour seems quite mature, but at other times your child seems to behave or think in illogical, impulsive or emotional ways? The backto-front development of the brain explains these shifts and changes – teenagers are working with brains that are still under construction.
Building a healthy teenage brain The combination of your child’s unique brain and environment influences the way your child acts, thinks and feels. For example, your child’s preferred activities and skills might become ‘hard-wired’ in the brain. How teenagers spend their time is crucial to brain development. So it’s worth thinking about the range of activities and experiences your child is into – music, sports, study, languages, video games. How are these shaping the sort of brain your child takes into adulthood? You are an important part of your child’s environment. You mean a lot to your child. How you guide and influence him will be important in helping your child to build a healthy brain too. You can do this by: • • •
encouraging positive behaviour promoting good thinking skills helping your child get lots of sleep.
Behaviour strategies for teenage brain development While your child’s brain is developing, your child might: 72
• • •
take more risks or choose high-risk activities express more and stronger emotions make impulsive decisions.
Here are some tips for encouraging good behaviour and strengthening positive brain connections: •
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•
• • • • • •
Let your child take some healthy risks. New and different experiences help your child develop an independent identity, explore grown-up behaviour, and move towards independence. Help your child find new creative and expressive outlets for her feelings. She might be expressing and trying to control new emotions. Many teenagers find that doing or watching sport or music, writing and other art forms are good outlets. Talk through decisions step by step with your child. Ask about possible courses of action your child might choose, and talk through potential consequences. Encourage your child to weigh up positive consequences or rewards against negative ones. Use family routines to give your child’s life some structure. These might be based around school and family timetables. Provide boundaries and opportunities for negotiating those boundaries. Young people need guidance and limit-setting from their parents and other adults. Offer frequent praise and positive rewards for desired behaviour. This reinforces pathways in your child’s brain. Be a positive role model. Your behaviour will show your child the behaviour you expect. Stay connected with your child. You’ll probably want to keep an eye on your child’s activities and friends. Being open and approachable can help you with this. Talk with your child about his developing brain. Understanding this important period of growth might help your child process his feelings. It might also make taking care of his brain more interesting.
Teenagers are often passionate about their interests, especially ones that give them opportunities to socialise. You can help your child develop skills and confidence by supporting her interests, activities and hobbies. Thinking strategies for teenage brain development Brain growth and development during these years mean that your child will start to: • • • • •
think more logically think about things more abstractly and understand that issues aren’t always simple pick up more on other people’s emotional cues solve complex problems in a logical way, and see problems from different perspectives get a better perspective on the future.
You can support the development of your child’s thinking with the following strategies: •
•
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Encourage empathy. Talk about feelings – yours, your child’s and other people’s. Highlight the fact that other people have different perspectives and circumstances. Reinforce that many people can be affected by one action. Emphasise the immediate and long-term consequences of actions. The part of the brain responsible for future thinking (the prefrontal cortex) is still developing. If you talk about how your child’s actions influence both the present and the future, you can help the healthy development of your child’s prefrontal cortex.
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Try to match your language level to the level of your child’s understanding. For important information, you can check your child has understood by asking him to tell you in his own words what he’s just heard. Help your child develop decision-making and problem-solving skills. You and your child could work through a process that involves defining problems, listing options, and considering outcomes that everyone is happy with. Role-modelling these skills is important too.
Sleep and teenage brain development During the teenage years, your child’s sleep patterns will change. This is because the brain produces melatonin at a different time of the day. This makes your child feel tired and ready for bed later in the evening. It can keep your child awake into the night and make it difficult for her to get up the next morning. Sleep is essential to healthy brain development. Try the following tips: • • • •
Ensure your child has a comfortable, quiet sleep environment. Encourage ‘winding down’ before bed, away from screens including phones. Reinforce a regular sleeping routine. Your child should aim to go to bed and wake up at regular times each day. Encourage your child to get enough sleep each night. On average, teenagers need 8-10 hours each night.
Risk-taking behaviour and the teenage brain The teenage brain is built to seek out new experiences, risks and sensations – it’s all part of refining those brain connections. Also, teenagers don’t always have a lot of self-control or good judgment and are more prone to risktaking behaviour. This is because the self-monitoring, problem-solving and decision-making part of the brain – the prefrontal cortex – develops last. Hormones are also thought to contribute to impulsive and risky behaviour in teenagers. Teenagers need to take risks to grow and develop. You can support your child in choosing healthy risks – like sports and travel – instead of negative ones like smoking and stealing. All risk-taking involves the possibility of failure. Your child will need your support to get over any setbacks. Stress and the teenage brain With so many changes happening to your child’s brain, it’s especially important that your child is protected and nurtured. The incidence of poor mental health increases during the teenage years. It’s thought this could be related to the fact that the developing brain is more vulnerable to stress factors than the adult brain. Teenage stresses can include alcohol and other drugs, high-risk behaviour, experiences like starting a new school and peer pressure, or major life events like moving house or the death of a loved one. But too much protection and attention might not be good for your relationship either.
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Instead, staying connected and involved in your child’s life can help you to learn more about how your child is coping with stress. It can also help you keep an open relationship with your child and ensure that your child sees you as someone to talk to – even about embarrassing or uncomfortable topics. It’s thought that children are more likely to be open to parental guidance and monitoring during their teenage years if they’ve grown up in a supportive and nurturing home environment. Every teenage child is unique, and teenagers respond to stress in different and unique ways. You know your child best, so it’s OK to trust your instinct on how to support your child if he’s going through a stressful time. It’s also OK to ask for help from friends, family members or professionals like your GP. Getting help Every child experiences changes at a different rate. If you’re concerned about your child’s rate of development or you have concerns about your child’s changing body, thinking or behaviour, you could start by talking to a school counsellor or your GP. If you’re really worried, you could look for a counselloror psychologist. You don’t need a referral, but you might prefer to have your GP recommend someone. Other parents can also be a great source of support. Try talking with friends, relatives or parents at your child’s school.
……………………………………………………………………………………………… Also see regarding rivalry which plays into the peer group pressure/belonging debate. https://bulletproofmusician.com/the-potential-upside-of-having-a-rival/
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Developing musicianship and interpretation skills in advanced repertoire.(5.3.2)
This should build on what has gone before but at a higher analytical level. Revisit earlier repertoire and see if there are adaptations to make them more interesting. Theory skills and music analysis should now be well established. ABRSM theory in practice books. Analyse the moods of piece/affect, rhetoric, the harmonic structure and modulations, and particularly cadential elements including hemiolas and any ‘surprises’. Buy accompaniment books to look at harmony and bass. Identify places where one phrase seems to end but also that note starts a new phrase (in Bach adagio, Telemann Rejouissance and Corelli allegro particularly). Look for ‘2 part’ writing within the solo lines (eg Telemann Dolce), repeated notes at top or bottom of fast passages (in Sammartini 3rd mvt) -aim to give different ‘voices’ to each part. Identify performance differences from just playing the notes. Historical context. Find out 3 things about each composer. Find out about the dances etc, costumes. Country-specific things (food, art, music, dress). What are our tools? • • •
Articulation, alternative fingerings for softer endings etc, range of recorders to give different timbres (eg sopranino v treble in Vivaldi concerto, tenor instead of soprano in Amaryllis)
Listen to other instruments playing the same piece, other recorder players. Renaissance recorders -note what is different in design and sound (and some fingerings). Listen to other recordings of our repertoire -what do you think? Attend concerts. Video and critique themselves. Improvisation and ornamentation/diminutions. Demonstrate and get them to listen to different performances. Preferences to be identified with reasons, and try to copy.
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Suzuki Philosophy
The importance of Listening -with material from books on the reading list and related relevant ones: Importance in early stages -same as mother tongue way of learning. It is always present and pick up sounds and intonation, pitch. Can be active or passive listening and assimilating it while playing, eating even if not paying sole attention. The more they listen, the easier it will be when starting the instrument. Self correcting when playing via what they have heard on recordings. Listen to more advanced students -helps develops their own style. Determine what and why they like particular recordings. Children hear more than just their parents’ voices. Encourage adult/other method students coming to start listening and begin memorising. Needs good quality reproduction. Importance never diminishes; helps with ornaments etc rather than just reading from music; helps with different styles of the music, guided listening -to discriminate how meshes with accompaniment, what colour, mood the music is, comparing recordings. Understand there is never only one or right way to play, may change mind about likes and dislikes at different times. Listening creates motivation -want to copy and imitate when young, but continues to be encouraging to try to play in that way or try their own. Will be listening to tune, pitch, different articulation, types of sounds they make like alternative fingerings (timbre identifiable). Babies hear adults talking, so should also expose them to later CDs at early stages. Listening helps develop awareness of intonation. Listen to themselves playing to critique their own performance (cf graduation programme -choose the best one over the year to submit). Identify what needs working on by listening to own recording Starr in To Learn With Love (1983, pages 124-9): Development of a discriminating musical ear is paralleled by his ability (through constant listening, experimentation, refinement via feedback and review) to discriminate local variations and nuances in spoken language. Recognition of previously heard musical patterns has been demonstrated from the earliest stages of infancy. Suzuki stated that the listening should be to excellent music. He also trained a young wild nightingale to sing well via changes in its throat after listening to and imitating a good-voiced one for a month. Imitation shows good listening, as there will be different sounds if the song is only played on a record, including the scratchy sounds of the needle going over the surface of the record. Equally if the bird only hears poor singing, that is how his own singing will develop. Taking children from regions with different dialects, he thought that physical changes occurred in the vocal cords to replicate what was heard. Listening needs to be an established daily habit, be it in the background, or actively engaged with. Suzuki stressed that the young child’s rate of progress (with music lessons) is directly dependent upon the amount of listening he does. New music previously heard over and over is learned almost automatically, with their fingers finding the right notes without thought. Hence it is important to listen forward to what has not previously been mastered, to make acquisition easier in due course. 77
The importance of listening also to previous pieces is also crucial, to aid the review that is necessary for performance. A very advanced violin piece (Seitz concerto movement) when listened to for 6 months before starting to learn to play it enabled extremely rapid progress when practice started. Children may self-select their favourite non-repertoire music, or parts of it, to listen to over and over again without prompting. Spontaneously they may then start to sing the tunes, and jump or dance to them. Advanced players need to listen in great depth to be able to distinguish (and correctly play) ornaments, and nuances of mood. Here I found the Amazing Slow Downer is invaluable as the recordings on the recorder CDs make it hard to fully appreciate the way some passages are played (I found this started with French ornamentation at the end of book 2 (Dieupart) and book 3 (de la Guerre), and was crucial in the Hotteterre suite in book 5. It is also valuable in being able to distinguish where the CD differs from the written score (eg in ficta, rhythmic variation, articulation details, use and quality of vibrato etc). Helping to develop their own musicianship depends on being able to discriminate differences in different recordings and concert performances through detailed listening and being able to express what in particular they like or dislike. Just as when a child is surrounded by language, he will want to copy and learn to speak, so listening to the recordings will move him forward on his desire to play the pieces. Being able to pick out the piece without needing to look at the music and memorise a piece is vastly helped by having internalised it via repeated listening. The parents are also listening and should be able to know when a child is playing an incorrect version.
Michael Griffin in Learning Strategies for Musical Success (p147-150) discusses the value of listening as a way of self-discovery. He quotes David Malouf, an Australian novelist: ‘One of the opportunities art offers us is simply to stand still for a moment and look, or to sit still and listen: the pleasure of being fully present while the ego goes absent and our consciousness is filled with something other than ourselves’. He quotes Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (1990. Flow: the psychology of Optimal Experience, pub New York –Harper Perennial) who says ‘teenagers who cannot bear solitude sometimes have difficulty in later life with tasks requiring serious mental preparation’. Music is special among the arts in the degree of emotional reaction it generates –Stephen Handel (1989. Listening: An introduction to the Perception of Auditory events. Pub Cambridge: Bradford Books) says ‘Listening is centripetal, pulling you into the world. Looking is centrifugal –separating you from the world’. Thus Griffin argues that music can enhance self-knowledge due to one’s unique emotional response to it, and therefore teachers should encourage children to listen to many different styles. For teens, their preferred choice may be music that represents rebellion and experimentation, but exposure to other genres allows more self discovery. He goes on to argue for ways to identify emotion in music (with descriptors), and then what connects people and increases self-knowledge.
Edward Kreitman in Teaching From the Balance Point (1998, p61-65) describes the value of listening critically to one’s own playing in recordings to highlight which figures need more technical or musicianship work. The latter could include making sure there is variety in repeated notes, when and how to use vibrato, and by extension this would include articulation for recorder players. In Teaching with an Open Heart (2010, p85-87) he focuses on what happens in the child’s body when he hears 78
the sounds he makes. The elements of a sound (attack, sustain and release) all have different responses. He distorts one element and asks pupils to identify which phase this is, and after that plays a perfect note with no distortion.
The Genius of Simplicity –Linda Wickes 1982 –quotes psychologist Steven Keele (The Structure of Motor Programs: in G.E. Stelmach Motor Control: Issues and Trends, New York: Academic Press, 1976) about the repeated and early listening to structured music before starting to play the violin in order to develop an accurate template of desired feedback: ‘sometimes the template may be established prior to learning movements. This may be the procedure underlying the outstanding success of the Suzuki method of violin teaching. In the Suzuki method very young children are exposed to selected pieces of music, sometimes for months or years, prior to actually handling an instrument. Perhaps the detailed music templates that the children store in memory allow them to subsequently recognize errors in their own sound production and alter the sequencing of movements that lead to the sound’. A clear mental image of the music to be learned aids the learning, so that the teacher only has to teach the mechanics of how to play it. The excellent sound (tone) of the recordings is what is being aspired to through the listening. Going back to the mother tongue method of speech acquisition, Rosamund Shuter (in Psychology of Musical Ability, London, Methuen and Co, 1968) suggests ‘The development from babbling all possible sounds to speaking one’s native language is probably paralleled in music by the development from the earliest vocalisations to singing the notes of a specific musical scale’. We know that Suzuki requires the child to be able to sing the new song before attempting to play it, as well as mastering the rhythm, mirroring what Piaget (The psychology of the Child, translated by Helen Weaver, New York: Basic Books, Inc, 1969) writes that ‘language is necessarily acquired in a context of imitation’. Demonstration is needed rather than verbal instructions, which require a further process to decode.
The aim is to develop the child’s ability to internally hear the correct intonation rather than to train the fingers (of the violinist). (Havas, A new Approach to Violin Playing, London: Bosworth and Co. Ltd, 1961).
Benjamin Zander, the conductor, when giving interpreation classes on Bach’s BWV 998 (prelude for violin arranged for lute/guitar) at minute 20.26 in this link: https://youtu.be/I1dvg2Ofk70 talks about the art of listening –from both the audience and the performer’s perspectives. He indicates to the performer when taking a bow at the end that his interplay with the audience should be aware of their facial expressions as a connection he has made with them through the music, and in doing so he should show that he knows how it has made them feel. Truly listening to oneself whilst playing requires absolute and constant attention so that inconsistencies of tone and tempo can be identified. Zander also points out the interplay between the ‘voices’ in the prelude (eg ‘cello’ as the bass and fluttery ‘flute’ bridging the harmony and giving them different characters). Through intense listening Zander also recommends tempi different to those currently used for Bach and Beethoven –engaging the listener much more in what he feels the composers were trying to communicate (eg Moonlight Sonata he takes at a lick to get round the repetitive and he feels boring arpeggios and bringing out the harmonies in the left hand). In the Beethoven violin concerto 79
interpretation class (https://youtu.be/EPswBIPioX8) he notices how most performers speed up at various times, so he recommends trying the whole work at the faster pace which matches Beethoven’s tempo marking. Beethoven said ‘tempo is character’. Sheila Warby in ‘With Love in my heart and a Twinkle in my ear’, (1997, pages 40-49) she cites listening speeds learning, and that the earlier a child is exposed to music the more likely will attain perfect pitch. Sufficient listening is needed for achievement (quoting how learning would not happen if the number of repetitions of listening is not enough as in Suzuki’s story of the parakeet only achieving his first word after 3000 hearings, and subsequent words being achieved after 200 and eventually true mimickry happened after only one hearing. The ear should take priority over the eyes (not rushing to try to read the music at the expense of internalising the sound). Repetition of listening is as important if not more so than repetition of practising. She talks about how listening speeds the acquisition of musical understanding and self-discovery. Through listening the child should be able to sing, clap the rhythm and the shape of the tune. Musical understanding is also helped by listening to other performances, and other instruments in excellent recordings. Passive and active listening both have their roles, and indeed can be a comfort at times of stress.
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Synopsis of To Learn With Love (5.1.2) -William and Constance Starr- a companion for Suzuki parents. Written in 1980s. Nancy Daly Nov 2015 and Nancy 18.11.18 The authors are a husband and wife who are Suzuki teachers (violin and piano) and taught their own 8 children. They studied with Suzuki in the 1970s in Japan. It covers issues like how a baby learns, focus on nutrition particularly elimination of sugar, memorising and responding to previously heard music including in the womb. They admit their own mistakes and how one should always be aware of individual differences in helping children according to their temperament and learning styles. As there is no such thing as a perfect parent (only ‘good enough’ -Donald Winnecott, British paediatrician,1950s), I liked their lovely quote: ‘The principle of perfect parenting is simple to express Err, and err, and err again, but less, and less, and less’. Piet Heim It is also important to stress to the child that everyone makes mistakes, even at the highest level of musicianship, and that is how learning increases. Positive thinking by the child enables learning. Self-image: belief in possibility of achievement. Affects how they learn and relate to others. Parents have to realise how much their voice and body language feeds back to the child's self-worth. Keep discussions with the teacher of difficulties the child may be having for out of lesson time. The love given to the child should be unconditional and he must feel that he is not letting the parent down with a less than perfect performance –‘I would love you as much if you had not scored that final goal’ etc. Motivation has to be ‘primed’ by actions rather than for a child being innate. So getting started is harder than keeping it going, where a child enjoys their success and realizes the benefits themselves. It is the principle problem for teachers and parents. Observe other lessons. During lesson parent must fill in notebook, silence is golden, no negative body language, attend, ask for clarification then review and discuss with child afterwards Mind over matter and visualization - arm outstretched and someone else easily bends it, but when child is told to imagine the arm is the rigid pipe providing water to put out a fire then is able to resist being bent. Also use visualization for situations where child will be playing/performing –‘run a video’ in your head of how it will be. Body-awareness: Think all of your weight down and you will be more solid. This also helps ‘centre’ the mind for learning. A game to increase identification of different fingers - hold up each hand with fingers extended and name the fingers, then close eyes & teacher touches one of the fingers and asks which one it is, then asks them to move finger number x. Start with one hand then use both. Coordination of mind and body -keep centered, relax, keep weight going down, then extend 'key' outward thrust to life-force. Phases of learning -understand the task, what to practice with meaningful feedback, automatic execution with distractions such as others making faces, or walking around the room looking at objects. 81
Encourage listening and asking questions rather than just writing down what they have heard (older children). Game -to respond to a challenge -book 1 song, each child has one note then group has to play the song only playing their own note. Relaxation -the mind has to be calm in order to have a calm body. Focus on what is the task (Japanese culture with little distractions). Teaching your own child -tone of voice changes with inner attitude. ‘Please treat me as a stranger’ (not mum). Listening: young child's rate of progress directly related to the amount of listening they do. Children don't tire of hearing same music over and over unless attitude of boredom has been picked up from the parents or until they get older. Potential conflicts • • •
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where the parent is also the teacher -clear boundary about the role as instructor and then home teacher for practice. At national workshops where invited teacher may differ in approach to the normal teacher the child is used to Mixed ability group work -keep the older ones engaged with extra challenges (eg playing on viola if a violin player, using treble and bigger recorders).
Suzuki changed my life -Masaaki Honda (Summy Birchard 1976) (5.1.2) Japanese doctor (born 1913-2011), who moved to USA aged 6, not speaking English, when his parents took him there to live with his aunt and uncle, whom he previously thought were his parents. He learned English and then went back to Japan at age 12 (1925). He switched from medicine to advocating world-wide for the Suzuki philosophy of education. Understands what a good teacher is when missed school because of illness -fell behind, but teacher organised catch up lessons -have to work out what steps are needed, building on what is already known and filling in missing links. Learning to swim -hard at first but something you learn ‘in the body’ is not forgotten. Class being taught English by American lady -he quickly progresses. Enters English-speaking contest and realises the motivation, which comes from success, and work required, and how memorising speech enables him to concentrate on feelings to be transmitted to audience. Did research into acquisition and recovery (vitamins A and C respectively) from influenza and the development of vaccine for influenza (1943). Suffered from TB. 1945 first heard Suzuki on radio -Every child can learn. Daughter starts to learn violin aged 4 with Suzuki method. Had resisted his demands to tidy up and then he realised his insistence was counterproductive -fable of woman wrapping cloak closer to body when wind blew/ he was developing her ability to resist. Meets Suzuki when he visits daughter’s class. Inborn v environment discussion -Suzuki: the hereditary factor is the speed with which we adapt to circumstances or grasp something in our minds. Importance of mastering one thing before moving on -otherwise building on loose foundations. Becomes director of Talent Education. “talent education is total human education’. Method’s use of graduations increase motivation. It takes twice as long to erase a bad habit. Memorising -compares humans (where things even if not used for a long time are stored) v computer, where once a thing is erased it is gone forever. Summary of Suzuki method: Purpose =to give all children opportunity to develop the amazing potential which is illustrated in their ability to learn their mother tongue. Starts with rhythms on open string (takataka te te). Mother present. Absence of etudes and scales. Moves quickly to challenging musical literature. Baroque music is melodically and rhythmically interesting. Repetition enables faster progression once basics are learnt. Challenges of slow learners, lagging in sight reading. Order of preparation to play: fingers, bow, then play to avoid poor tone (like get set, ready, start). 83
Tonalisation equivalent to vocalisation, (but for the tongue, the breath and the fingers) thus developing feeling alongside technique via good recordings. Growing roses like raising children -good soil (mother’s physical and spiritual enrichment), pruning (cut strayed or withered branches and encourage the straight stem to grow -before infant expresses his own desires), keep free of disease. Japanese culture -tea ceremony. Engage with spirit, contemplate quietly, appreciate things around one like flowers, different seasons. Welcome and thanks should be heartfelt.
1964 USA tour. Link with Rotary movement in US -do good things for others like Suzuki method (Talent Education). No stage fright as children ‘speaking through their violins’. Daughter having to learn English – music is international. If I did not speak English, I should starve to death or die of thirst. They say necessity is the mother of invention, but I think necessity is mother of developing abilities. Heredity v environment -Suzuki says ‘Man is born with the laws of heredity and develops with the laws of ability.’
Method of teaching – violin bow going up first, as children develop put things to their mouths first (recorders right hand index finger is the one they master control of first).
Keeping the tone of excellent recordings in our hearts to stimulate us and give us piece. (eg Suzuki heard Kreisler and Thibaud). ‘there is indeed a life in tone’. Ability can be developed at any age, if one tries hard and repeats often. Puberty is boundary line for acquiring perfect pitch or speaking a foreign language perfectly.
Education is by music not for music. Teaching -consider teaching environment (with individual student’s needs), home environment, cultural development through praise without needing rewards for practising. Emphasis on listening and memorising so class time can be spent on tone production and musicianship. Note reading introduced when student is ready technically and handles instrument with proficiency. Make the most of time which is given equally to all. Playing with children from other cultures without prejudice or discrimination -hope for the future. Developing sensitivity -story of S teaching a blind boy. Analogy -things look impossible (eg steering a ship through what appears to be blocked channels, but when get closer -ie keep trying- notice gaps that become wide paths). Increase observation skills -realising small childrens’ drawings represent their stories that they cannot yet verbalise.
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1970 -1st visit to Europe, including London. Speech by Honda –‘If all the children in the world have music in their hearts, people of tomorrow’s world will understand each other much better.’ Later in `USA a Dutch lady ‘forgave’ Japan for their part in the war. Meets William Starr. Meets Dr Rick Heber, Prof of Psychology, Winconsin, who experimented with education of children with very low IQ (and whose mothers also had low IQ), showing vast improvements over time. Again raised the nature v nurture/circumstance debate – ‘In physiology and anatomy I believe there is a hereditary factor. But in culture, I think circumstance has more than 80% effect. I think we all receive different hereditary traits from our parents and ancestors, but to develop these traits depends on circumstances.’ (Honda). Really ‘knowing ‘music after intense listening -the involuntary sense of being filled with a certain sound, experiencing a piece of music entering our blood. Babies absorb sounds from their environment (‘from birth’ but actually in the womb as well) before being able to vocalise themselves. Persevering with apparent non-cooperation until the child is ready (eg to make the bow) until motivation kicks in to try, and then leads to motivation to try lots of other things which seem insurmountable. Glenn Doman -How to teach your baby to read, from Institutes for the achievement of Human Potential (for brain-damaged children whom he restored by stimulation). Same philosophy as Talent Education. No limit to what they can learn -the adults are the retarded ones. What is a ‘normal’ person NOT using if the brain injured can do the same things. Honda honoured by International Forum for Neurological Organisation. 2 rivers with different colours, temperatures and speeds merging -like 2 different nations meeting, becoming one and mighty. Indian prayer ‘Great Spirit, grant that I may not criticize my neighbour, until I have walked a mile in his moccasin’. Shakespeare –‘Give every man thine ear, but few thy voice; take each man’s censure, but reserve thy judgment’ . Tours – 1972 to England and USA where was a shift in previous expectation that only Japanese mothers would cooperate and have the time to be home teachers. Casals visited Tokyo 1961 -Music will save the world. Potential for all -every baby is the same at birth, marked differences by age 1 and so much more so at age 10, due to environment. Evidenced by John Goodell filming children from all over the world. Film always a New Beginning 1974. Brain damaged children helped by Glenn Doman, and when restored still had disadvantage compared to peers in access to readiness for university etc. Centre set up to address this successfully.
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Toshio Takahashi -Diana 6.10.18 Born ?1939 (Google says 1949!) -now aged 79. Japanese flutist who built up the Suzuki flute method from which the recorder syllabus and tonalisations were developed by Cathy White (USA). Flute has a new book 1 and recording, which previously was not of sufficient quality. Includes new Tonalisations -simplified for young children. Different methods of flute playing according to country -he is of French school (taught by Marcel Moyse) so tongue behind teeth whereas others don’t. (?Cosmic sound article). Diana (and Nancy) have met him at summer school in Seaford. He is not typical a Japanese -6 foot 2inches tall and very fit. Age 25 had 2/3 stomach removed. Stomach cancer in his 70s. Wife was a Suzuki piano teacher and ill for a long time. Career: Interpreter in Tokyo and tour guide in his 20s - one of his clients was Marilyn Monroe (which has not been verified!). Black belt karate; worked in police for a while. 1957 (aged 19) heard Doppler fantasy (flute book 7) and loved the sound of the flute in a music shop. Put down money on a copper?brass flute, and saved enough in 6/12 to have it (equivalent of £45). Japanese learn to read music and start on music education at school. Taught himself to play Mozart concerto in a year, using fingering chart, his ear and what he had learned at school in terms of music. Practised up to 13 hours a day when not working. 1960 –formed the Sonore ensemble to make money. Early 1960s booked lessons with Suzuki -learned about embellishment, phrasing, articulation. 1966 left wife and small children in Japan to go to USA to try to meet Marcel Moyse. And maybe earned money by interpretating. Met William KinCabe who said Moyse was in Vermont, so went there. Studied with him 2 years, and went back to Japan 1968. Suzuki then asked him to develop the method for flute (finished 1970). Moyse came to Japan ?bringing his USA students (2000 people). Then recorded book 1 by Takahashi, and book 3 by Moyse (poor quality so Takahashi re-recorded it). He owns the copyright to all Moyse’s recordings. 1980s became main trainer at Matsumoto. Ran opera classes -interested in expression. Decided would use the French method of playing and open sound. “Sound comes from the generosity of the heart’’. Pedagogy is not at the heart of his teaching according to Takahashi. His 3 main ones that he liked: 1. ‘Man is the child of the environment’. -talk to them with love, and learn alongside that. Flip side also. 2. ‘Sound breathes life -without form it lives’. Importance of Tonalisation (not forced, like warming the voice). 3.’Where love is deep much can be accomplished’. 4th dimensional musical sound: ‘I imagine the tones of Kreisler on the violin, Casals on the cello, Cortot on the piano or Moyse on the flute -sounds which have ‘liveliness and warmth’ as well as being ‘gracefully flexible’. Strong emphasis on tone, clarity of articulation, interpretation, expression, phrasing and form. Kathy White observed with Takahashi and breaks his lessons into: 25% Tonalisation and sonority 86
25% fingering and articulation 50% musical expression. Suzuki says tonalisation should be minimum of 1/3 of a lesson. Takahashi says: Flute playing is 90% body and 10% instrument. Preparation: Exhalation (mouth mvts), stretches to open up chest, horse face. Checks alignment of the joints of the flute. Head joint turned in a little (not many of Diana’s teacher trainees use this). Free emboucheur. Floating both lips, and good lip position is only small part of developing good tone, so need to lower the tongue and raise soft palate, drop jaw to lower the tongue . Air stream is like the bow and lips are the string. ‘Body possesses a violin worth millions of pounds if you can produce a good tone on flute’. Flute emboucheur : Upside down triangle -2 muscles above corners of mouth below nose, and the one above the upper lip. Curved head flute not give the same quality as straight head but he feels should be the same. Compare flute tube to fingerboard of violin, and oral cavity to body of violin. Emphasis on elements of sound (like a fish –head = clear attack, body= rich colour for sustaining, tail =pretty echo, reverberation after note ends)
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The Autonomous Teacher and Artist -Independent but Supportive. (5.1.1) Definitions (my ideas!) : autonomy is ‘the ability to self-govern’, ie be independent in one’s actions rather than dictated by others. In order to develop autonomy one has first to be confident in one’s own abilities and curiosity. A toddler may appear to want to be autonomous but does not have the capacity to follow through any actions or decisions without the support of trusted elders. For our teenage students they are also at a crux where they think their thoughts and actions are independent of others but do not yet have the full maturity to consider the outcomes and risks, as would happen when adult. Decision making (for example in regard to medical treatment) should be what the patient opts for, and doctors have to respect what they themselves may consider unwise, as long as they think the patient has the mental capacity to understand and consent to the course of action. If this condition does not apply, others have to make the decisions in the best interest of the patient, taking into account the wishes and beliefs of those close to them. In all this, support is crucial and this will apply to teachers themselves within the Suzuki community, and their students. To become autonomous, there is a continuum from being fully dependant on others to being confident enough to make their own choices. At any stage of life there may be situations where the point on this continuum changes (examples may be being told which piece to play next to making their own choices, or within a piece following guidance totally or experimenting with their own interpretations). What do the terms Challenge and Support mean? Challenge –going beyond one’s comfort zone into risky areas –how that turns out depends on being ‘held’ or supported to prevent crashing down. If the teacher gets this balance wrong the learner is ‘put down, maybe in front of others and will resist further challenges from himself or the teacher. The structure is a grid of high –low challenge crossing with high to low support. Students can be encouraged to provide their own challenges, alone or in a group by setting tasks that are openended with no ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ answers, and giving choices of alternative ones. Checking in that the student understands what is being asked will allow good experimentation. Autonomy is reinforced when negative feedback is given in a supportive way (the model I use in medical teaching always starts with asking the learner what they think went well and then what could be improved). For teachers –there may be a tension between our own interpretations and ways to teach but be limited in terms of imparting this as we are also part of a prescribed method. We should encourage students to have own ideas but support them in their choices even if they seem very much at odds with the teacher’s views. Being supportive in this encourages further experimentation, and it is important that students do not feel they have made wrong choices. Making mistakes (as we might see them) is part of the learning process, and valuing their ideas encourages further experimentation.
Here I digress to what has supported me to think ‘outside the box’. A series of You tube videos by Benjamin Zander, a conductor from Boston, called ‘Interpretations for Music –Lessons for Life’ are both fascinating and inspiring. He works with a variety of soloists and ensembles, not as a masterclass in instrumental or vocal technique, but what the music means and how it an can be communicated to others. He asks his students to free themselves from the technical aspects of playing and making and observing the emotional connections they have with the audience. He pays tribute to their views, and brings it back to his research about what the composer intended, often changing the tempi so that it always sounds fresh and musical lines and meanings are not lost. It can 88
appear that he is being didactic, but is encouraging the students to think in a way different from how they have been taught. This may of course result in interesting discussions with the performers’ teachers when they return to them, and trying to please two masters may be tricky. A parallel with this is at national Suzuki workshop masterclasses, where the teachers may have different views to the student’s own teacher, and would not ‘correct’ this, but certainly for older pupils provides opportunities to think about musical phrasing, articulation, tempi etc in a different way. In order to make decisions, the student may need help in analyzing the music, to provide structure for them to make own decisions. The teacher trainee may also wish to question the phrasing etc on the CDs, but the trainer will have communicated her own views on where this can be tweaked still within the method. We have to be a model for our students Encouraging people to be autonomous as teachers to express their own unique qualities whilst also working to support one another and to learn from one another and from one another’s strengths. (Ie teacher trainer and then us teaching students). We as teachers are responsible to the whole Suzuki organization. Can still question their decisions. Free to ask questions and not follow everything verbatim. Should be able to justify changes. Independence is shown by creating one’s own ideas not just copying other peoples’. Being creative together and learning from each other is empowering. We are here to help each other. Teachers can be an artist in teaching (tailoring according to the needs of each student) and performing.
In recognising the tension between need to be autonomous and also dependent/supported, there may also be the ability develop being supportive of others. Rudolf Steiner (1861-1927) talks about 7 year cycles with physical changes and developmental changes. From our point of view this extract about teenage is the most pertinent to this discussion of autonomy: ‘With the age of puberty the astral body is first born. Henceforth the astral body in its development is open to the outside world. Only now, therefore, can we approach the child from without with all that opens up the world of abstract ideas, the faculty of judgement and independent thought. It has already been pointed out, how up to this time these faculties of soul should be developing — free from outer influence — within the environment provided by the education proper to the earlier years, even as the eyes and ears develop, free from outer influence, within the organism of the mother. With puberty the time has arrived when the human being is ripe for the formation of his own judgements about the things he has already learned. Nothing more harmful can be done to a child than to awaken too early his independent judgement. Man is not in a position to judge until he has collected in his inner life material for judgement and comparison. If he forms his own conclusions before doing so, his conclusions will lack foundation. Educational mistakes of this kind are the cause of all narrow onesidedness in life, all barren creeds that take their stand on a few scraps of knowledge and are ready on this basis to condemn ideas experienced and proved by man often through long ages’.
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We have to give pupils permission to experiment , giving lots of options and asking them to critique which they prefer. Challenge them also when they made a certain decision. We show support for their decision as there are no right and wrong answers. How do we provide with them with challenge? • Give them different tasks in group lesson and interact with each other. • Give a new piece to come back with next time. Piece could be from our repertoire or other. • Listen to CDs but come back with their own ornaments, tempi, articulation etc Support them by explaining what you want and they understand what we want them to do. Promote their self -confidence by praising them even when giving negative feedback in a positive way. Sadly because of financial restraints, pupils that come to Suzuki lesson may be from a more privileged background. Being autonomous is a state where people feel in control of their lives and destinies, and this is not open to all in societies even in the developed world. References Learning paths –Teacher support and teacher challenge in promoting Learner Autonomy by Luciano Mariani in Perspectives, a Journal of TESOL-Italy, vol XXlll,no 2 Fall 1997. Rudolf Steiner – the Education of the child, 1927, Anthroposophic Press, New York. English translation George and Mary Adams.
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How to help parents and students when changing teachers (5.4.1) -Nancy April 2019 See Winning Ways p42 -taking leave, is there a right way to end the teaching relationship (Karen Andrews) . P44 -changing a triangle. P35 the ability to feel another person’s heart. P37 -changing teachers.
P208 of to learn with love -when seeking another teacher don’t assume the best player will also be able to be a good communicator with the pupil.
Reasons given for the change: Moving away for either you or them. Changes in scheduling. Teaching style/personality may not match the learner’s. Parent may not trust the teacher’s approach, or commitment may not be good enough. Child may not be motivated. Child not progressing to match parent expectation. Parent may have heard pupils of another teacher who sound better. Unproductive lessons if things have become too comfortable.
How to approach issue -always keep child’s needs at forefront: Have an honest discussion. What would be best for the child. How to create an environment to enable honest communication without offending the parent? Have regular discussions within a friendly setting. Be aware of incipient problems eg queries about lack of progress or lack of motivation.
How to help the transition? Suggest other teachers in the area that you trust in a positive way. Don’t take it personally if they leave. Handover to the other teacher for the sake of the child. Could try a lesson together with the other teacher.
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Taking up responsibility in your Suzuki community 5.1.3
We have had previous discussions with flute and piano teachers during level 4 training about the Suzuki family, and two-way involvement. Having now attended the first ERTA recorder convention in April 2019, many ideas were discussed and presented for further thought. Models of dissemination in other countries, particularly Iceland, have been inspiring both in terms of getting more trainees and pupils. For us in England we are doing quite well for trainees and teachers, but the geographical spread to get more pupils could be better. We discussed what was going well and also what and where the gaps were.
What is my own Suzuki community? Students and parents, fellow teachers and joint concerts. Icelandic teachers have student review days (paid by government). They play through the repertoire. Could be possible here. Interacting with colleagues regularly. Join with flutes. Other Suzuki teachers in the area. Play together -try to join with violin, in Wallington, and piano teacher SECE in Putney and flutes in hub. Europe-wide community to be part of. Parent education sessions to bring community together more. Be involved with national Suzuki association. Charity concerts to raise money for local organizations. Wider community at workshops, conventions, summer school. Piggy-back onto other European Suzuki organisations eg ESTA and EPTA where recorders are not currently taught in certain countries. Offer to be present for demonstrations etc.
There is the need for an overall publicity leaflet Europe-wide giving information about the method, training opportunities, and local contact details, possibly also through a website. Issues here are the need to keep the materials up to date, and I don’t think any country-representative would have the time to do this unpaid job. I would be willing to help where I could but not to take overall responsibility. I also would be happy to proof-read any materials and comment on design. People from the other European countries where the recorder method exists will be translating the materials, and through our networks people in other countries could be approached.
I have already made contact with friends in Scotland offering people to contact me directly if they wish to know more about the training.
At national events, encourage trainees of other instruments to observe our sessions.
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Miscellaneous Prevent Pain-go for gain. Heather Clemson. 16.4.19
Hamster wheel of what you have to do in life but if only do the ‘pain’ and nothing for pleasure ‘gain’ leads to burn out. In teaching, provide opportunities for gain -workshops, groups etc with food! Don’t be bound by rules. Our gain persona: Enthusiasm, persistence, enjoyment and fun, involvement, support, listening and understanding, inspiration and creativity. endhe day feeling you have made progress and are moving forward. Momentum makes you feel balanced and energized, gives hope for the future -balance-producing satisfaction and happiness in our lives. Einstein: not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted. No deadline for the things that will bring you the greatest results in your life. Rarely have time for everything so you need to make choices.
Reflection: Very interactive session, delivered beautifully on time and with passion. Good to have time to reflect on one’s own needs and strategies, both in home and work lives.
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Alyson Elliman 19.4.19
Alyson Elliman 10.10.18
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Parent talk -Diana Aug 2018 Transition into practice: How to help child to brush teeth -reward them explain why needed, make regular time, if not done would need dentist. Make practising instrument not optional. Must have good note taking at the lesson. Have to treat child same way you would like to be treated -always give warning that game will end in 5 minutes for practice time. Could give warnings at 5,3 minutes. Routine difficult to maintain as they get older and have more activities and homework. Peer groups also influence as may not want to own up to having to stop something to practice. Just reaffirm how important the practice is. Give choices about when to practice. Rewards can be problematic -perceive the practice as something negative and the reward as positive. Can’t control how they feel on any day -could do review, listening if not willing to play. Pre-practice briefing: Older children could write a list of goals for the practice session (eg in depth practice, determined by the teacher in the lesson). Older child -ask them what they want to focus on in the practice session, 95
particularly if not going to be there with them. Maybe by age 11 would be practicing alone. Beginners: stop the practice before they are ready to stop. Thus make it something they want to do again tomorrow. Cards for options for child to choose what point to do or to practice etc. SEE PHOTO. Good to say I love to watch you practice/see you working so hard/give feedback how nice it was. Fun at the end of practice could be review pieces to transition out of the session. Let them see Youtube versions of their piece. Review strengthens the foundation for building new levels.
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