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Rausch
Music Studio
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Private Piano Lessons I offer private lessons to families that wish to study piano in the Suzuki style. The best time to begin is between the ages of 3 & 6 but any age can start. Please read the Suzuki Philosophy links to understand the parental commitment. For parents who can not make this commitment I offer Group Piano Lessons. Suzuki: I got my love back for teaching piano after going to my first Suzuki Institute for teacher training. Here I had a Master’s degree in music and had taught in public schools and privately for 10 years but was very frustrated with the many piano methods I was using. I quickly found it wasn’t the methods that were the problem. Suzuki training taught me how to really “teach”. The Suzuki Method is not just about the music. It’s about the philosophy of teaching each student so they CAN learn- connecting with the student to guide her/him to be an independent thinker that makes good choices. I can apply this philosophy to any teaching I do now. Before I just taught the music and now I teach the student how to enjoy making music. I choose to teach the Suzuki Book 1 & 2 curriculum to private students because it is so easy to teach all the technical skills needed to play intermediate level music and works so well with the very young. I use many of the other method books as supplements for developing reading skills. Suzuki Book 3 is the same intermediate (Sonatina) music that is found in most other method books of that same level so I branch out into my favorite editions after Book 2. Bow: We always begin lesson with a bow. To me the student’s bow means s/he is ready to focus on our activities, the teacher’s bow means s/he is going to give 100% focus to the student, and the parent’s bow means s/he is ready to write notes and follow along. We do not bow until we are ready to focus. Often we all have many things we just got to tell each other. We get this done before the bow. We bow at the end of the lesson as a way of saying thank you to each other. Feet & Seat: I use an adjustable foot bench so students feet feel flat on a floor and knees are at the right angle. Dangling feet cause restlessness and loss of focus very quickly. At home students can stack thick catalogs and duct tape them or buy a foot bench. I also use an adjustable seat bench so students’ elbows are at a right angle to reduce back strain. At home students can use carpet remnants stacked up to proper height. Routine: We follow a routine for the lesson tasks. Students are much more secure with consistency. We do leave room in each section for the student to make choices. I try to ask and not tell what to do. They are so much more willing when they have some control. 1. Keyboard Skills- scales, chords, cadences, arpeggios 2. Finger activities- basics to Hanon type exercises 3. Suzuki assignment 4. Reading / Sight-Reading 5. Theory, ear training, composing 6. Favorite gameTop 6 Reasons I Love Teaching the Suzuki Method 1. I really enjoy starting with the 3 to 6 year old. (that age before they lose their first tooth) According to Howard Gardner this is the age their music ability is most keen. I have taken several Multiple Intelligences workshops for teacher re-certification and it has really helped me teach to the child’s learning strengths. Also I have taken a Brain Gym workshop then observed a Brain Gym teacher at work with this age group to develop motor & brain coordination. The skills these young ones can develop before reading and their aural acuity are amazing. 2. I get to see the special bond between parent & child grow as they go through this positive process of learning and achieving together. If you want to learn how to parent well study Suzuki parenting and Love and Logic parenting. 3. Not having music in front of us gives me the freedom to: *Design fun ways to teach concepts that fit each child’s learning style (auditory, kinesthetic, visual) and focus on right brain- left brain learning. By the time the brain is developmentally ready for “reading” (usually after the first tooth is gone) the child has mastered many technical skills and has been exposed to a lot of theory and ear training. *Break down each song into many small tasks so that mastering a task is more important and gives more a sense of accomplishment than passing a page. If a task is not mastered in one week than “I” did not break it down enough. As time goes on the student can break a song down & find the patterns just as fast as I can. This teaches a child that any task in life can be accomplished if broken down into manageable pieces. *Work at a pace that the student is comfortable with- some are driven to go-go-go, others want to bask in what they have accomplished for a while before moving on. Some need to gently be drawn into trying something new while others can’t wait to learn new things. As time goes I try to push them out of their comfort zone. This teaches a child to trust themselves to “risk”. 4. We are not just at the piano the whole lesson. We’re on the floor, at the white board, using digitals or keyboards, on the computer. We work hard but hopefully the student leaves the studio wishing the lesson wasn’t over. It challenges the student, parent and myself to be creative and think of new ways to teach a concept. 5. The parent is at each lesson. She/He writes down what I say and do so that they know exactly what to practice at home. This also gives me more time to focus on the student instead of stopping all the time so the student or I can write the notes. I am able to give ideas directly to the parent as it applies so they can be creative at home with practice sessions and make it fun. Parents often choose to continue being a part of lessons even when the student doesn’t need them to be there anymore. It is such a special bonding time. 6. Once we start reading music we get to READ. We already have the motor skills and theory knowledge so we can read just like reading a book. I often do the reading like the Pizza Hut Book It program. We do challenges like “Can you read an entire lesson book in one week?” The parent has to ok each page to pass. 3 mistakes are allowed per page. I own a five drawer file cabinet of just reading books from about every piano method out there. Thank goodness for free samples from music publishers, garage sales, retiring piano teachers, and discount bins. Students will read many level 1 books before moving on to level 2. I find students much more willing to sight-read without fear with this reading method. I also use a sight reading system. As of now there are 60 mini-books to read and I am slowly writing more. Students earn a reward every 10 books. They are allowed to try to pass 1 book per week.SUZUKI PHILOSOPHY LINKS: Suzuki Philosophy http://www.suzukipianolessons.net/suzuki.html I agree with everything on this page & feel it is well written. Australia Suzuki Assoc. http://www.suzukimusic.org.au/phil.htm This page hits all the highlights. Wikipedia Definition http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suzuki_method Basic & accurate. Suzuki Style Education http://theheartstring.org/suzuki_philosophy.htm Well done. British Suzuki Method (http://www.britishsuzuki.org.uk/rpmServer/generatorSystem/asp/rpmServer_GoGenerate.a sp?intSiteID=15&intPageID=5&intNavbarOpen_Level1_ID=3) Also click on the Philosophy and History. |
