O’fish’ial Suzuki Book 1 Review

It's been a while (almost two years!) since I last posted.  Life gets busy and some things drop off.  However, this week our family got COVID and that means we get to stay home for at least 10 days.  We can't go anywhere, or do anything.  I've felt too sick to clean my house or do laundry, but not sick enough to stay in bed all day.  The result is a lot of new printables created.  Yay!  

Here is a great review game.  In my experience, just about all kids love a good fishing game.  I've been wanting to make a fishing review game for a while now.  I don't have any kids in Suzuki Violin Book 1 anymore, but I have students and I plan to lend this game out. I used brass brads for the eyes that connect perfectly to the magnet fishing pole.

While I had the fish graphics ready I also made an easy chart with all the Suzuki Book 1 pieces.  The idea is to mark off the piece when you play it.  You don't erase the chart until you've played every piece.

Lastly is a blank chart with 60 fish.  Color or cross out a fish for every review song you play.  Have a celebration when you complete the chart.

There you go, folks.  Three games in one printable.  I hope you enjoy it!

An Easy Practice Game

I finally got back in the groove with practicing with this little game.  It's so simple I can't believe I didn't think of it sooner!  It's been so successful that it's been the standard way of practicing with my 5-year-old for over a month now.  Never has a practicing game lasted so long, but this one has!

BINGO!

I first got this idea from one of my student's moms who always comes up with great ideas to get her 5-year-old to practice.  There are lots of different ways to use this chart - and not only for beginners!

I have two blank charts available at The Practice Shoppe.  One is 6x6 and the other one is a typical 5x5 Bingo chart.  Fill in the blanks with the current practice points (if you don't want to always print out a new chart you could laminate it and use a dry-erase marker.)  Use different things to mark off the pieces such as chocolate chips, goldfish, gummy bears, acrylic jewels, etc.  When a line is completed the student gets all of the treats or items on that line.

You could also print off TWO copies of the bingo chart and cut one up and put in a bowl or ziplock baggy and randomly pull out the different practice points to practice.  When a BINGO is made (a line completed) practicing is over.  My daughter LOVES to play this way because every once in a while her practice session isn't very long (but not very often.)  With this rule, I've told her that if she gets a BINGO before she practices her recital piece then we still have to practice that at the end.

Some more ideas from my student's parent:
Sometimes just for variety, I'll include variations like the following:

"Play ______ with your eyes closed" 
"Play ______ with a distraction"  (I got this from dog training.  You pick something they should know well and have them play it while you are trying to distract them);
"Play ___ Scale to your favorite animal rhythm"  (She has to figure out the rhythm of the animal name, like hip-po-pot-a-mus, then play that rhythm for each note on the scale - she LOVES this);
"Pitch Page"  (sing a pitch page from the I Can Read Music book);
"Rhythm Page"  (clap a rhythm page from the I Can Read Music book);
"Play a piece for your dog" (whatever dog is parked on the couch becomes the audience and she enters the stage, I pantomime opening a curtain, she gets into position, plays, bows, etc.);
"Play your favorite piece"
"Play your most challenging piece"

As a teacher I had a student's mom ask how to motivate her daughter to review Book 1 since she just wants to move on and learn Book 1.  So, I used the same concept and put all the pieces in Suzuki Violin Book 1.  This would be an excellent way to practice Book 1 - maybe a special practice each week devoted only to Book 1 review.

I hope you enjoy this game as much as we do!

The Playlist

I love my iPod. What I love most about my iPod that wasn't as easy or convenient with my good ol' portable DVD player or walkman is the PLAYLISTS. Since the Suzuki method is so focused on listening it becomes a daily part of my life. My playlists makes it easier to listen to the Suzuki music over and over and over and over and over again....




Here are some examples of playlists you can have on your iPod:

• Put your whole Suzuki book on and add the next three songs 2, 3, 4, or more extra times so it gets extra listening.


• Include different versions of the pieces you're learning. In the upper books there are multiple versions - often in an orchestral setting or with a different instrument.


• Include outside pieces your teacher is having you learn. Most of the time there is a recording.


• Make a playlist of only accompaniment songs. This is great for kids in the upper books to use for review.


• Put all the pieces from every Suzuki CD you own on one playlist for background listening.


• Insert some of your child's favorite songs as well as the Suzuki pieces on the playlist so they can do some fun listening as well as the Suzuki listening.


• I make a car playlist with songs for each of my children. This includes Book 1 songs, Book 5 songs, nursery rhymes, and some Kids Bop (from McDonalds) for my son.