Big Ear Contest

I recently got an e-mail from someone frustrated that her students didn't understand the importance of listening.  Of all the many discoveries that Dr. Suzuki made about young children learning to play an instrument LISTENING is one of the big ones.  I recently found this blog with a great little article on listening.  I've seen the benefits firsthand with myself and my own children.  How can a child learn well WITHOUT listening?

So....here was my reply.

I've always wanted to do this, but haven't - lack of time, I guess (isn't that always the excuse these days!)  Anyway, I was thinking of having a "Big Ear" contest.  I have a chart on my website for this.  A student would mark an ear for every hour they listened.  There could be some sort of time requirement (1 month - or something like that) and everyone who finished the chart in that period of time would be the winner.  You could have some sort of award for the winners.  One award I've thought of for some of my students who accomplish big tasks is earbuds.  Here is the link to the page with the Big Ear chart.  

Hope this helps!

Are you listening?

This post was contributed by the lovely Tabitha Ricks!

This month's post is on the three types of listening. Edward Kreitman says there are three types of listening: passive, parallel, and active listening.

Passive Listening

This is the type of listening done in the car or at home...or anywhere where it's not the primary activity going on.

This is the way the student learns melodies, quality of tone, and intonation.

Another good idea for this type of listening comes from Michele Horner. She calls it "listening like a maniac." Each day, you listen to the song you're on at least 10 times in a row, then switch to the next song 10 times in a row, and finally the song after that 10 times in a row. Michele Horner did this with her own daughter and was able to learn faster. I have been doing this with Seth, and it has been much easier to for him to learn the next song. One thing to mention is that it's important to listen to the rest of the CD and the other CD's also.

Parallel Listening

This type of listening is listening to the higher books while you are in a lower book. For example, listen to book 4 while you're in book 1. You should listen to all books as early as possible.

This listening builds great vision for the parent and the student (and they will know the pieces much better). It is also good to hear other classical music as much as possible.

Active/Targeted Listening

This is where you have the student listen specifically to one part of the music during practicing and hear specific detail to learn from listening.

This has been helpful to us for a couple of reasons. It has helped Seth learn the song easier, it gives him a break of playing during practicing, and it is training his mind to listen to the details of the piece. When he was learning Humoresque, I had him listen specifically to the order of the piece with the music in front of him. Since he is learning to read music, having him look at the music and identify the sections gave him confidence in reading music and added visual input to help him learn the piece. He played it in the right order a lot easier than some of the pieces before that.

Here are some examples of other questions you could ask:

"How many slurs do you hear in each line?"

"Do you hear the 1st or 2nd ending here?"

"Does this section repeat?"

"Where does the first part end?"

"Do you hear legato or staccato bowing?"

"Are the notes on or off the string?"

You can even point to the music to show how the slurs are or the staccato bowing is written...where the repeat is, or where the 1st or 2nd ending is.

All in all...KEEP LISTENING...it might save you from going crazy!!!

Another Post on Listening

I love a quote from the SAA Journal I got in the mail yesterday by Debbie Meece, "Not listening to the CD is like putting a baby in a sound-proof room where he cannot hear his language spoken. He will not learn to talk without listening to his language. And so it goes that the young child will not learn to play music without hearing music played."

My baby is just learning how to talk, and like with each of my other children I'm amazed at the progress. The other day she came up and pointed to my elbow and just said, "e bow." Each day I point to her body parts and say the name. It's starting to click.

I have some people ask how my daughters move so fast through the Suzuki literature. I'll admit - even though I have this practicing blog - we are not amazing practicers. I contribute most of their success to listening. They've been listening since they were born - we listen when we are in the car - they hear my lessons when I teach. My 4-year-old whistles pieces way beyond her level because she knows them.

My 8-year-old is now learning Vericini Gigue from book 5. After one week of preview spots she played through the piece almost flawlessly. She was so happy and exclaimed, "Mom, forget everything I said about listening (referring to her grumbling when we turn it on every day in the car). This is awesome! I know this whole piece because I've been listening to it."

Listen listen listen! I cannot say it enough!

listen!

Listen!

LISTEN!!!

Beethoven's Wig

Do you hear your kids sing songs they hear on the radio? Sometimes you may notice that your children know all the words to a particular song and wonder how they learned it....did they study it? No, they probably just listened to it over and over and over again. This is one of the fundamentals of the Suzuki Method: LISTENING!

 

I have found an awesome CD to listen to in the car or in the kids' rooms. It's called Beethoven's Wig. There are four different CDs (I checked them out from the local library, but you can also look online to buy them.) This CD puts creative words to popular classical tunes. The words are hilarious and fun to sing. I have found that after listening to all of these CDs a lot while driving in the car my kids have a huge repertoire of classical music in their heads. It brings me so much joy to hear my kids whistle a little Beethoven or Liszt. They'll know this music for the rest of their lives!

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.