Hi everybody! My name is Sue and I have a 3 1/2 yo daughter who has just started Suzuki violin.
I've noticed that the Japanese students I've seen (very few) seem more disciplined and 'into' their playing than American children. I would like that for my daugher but am not sure what, exactly, the teachers and parents do differently in Japan than in America. Are they more stern or demanding or less so? Does anyone have any ideas for me? Perhaps a general primer on Japanese parenting style vis-a-vis American would help! Thanks in advance.
My e-mail is mellgren@skypoint.com if you care to send directly to me. Also, if you happen to know quite a bit about Japanese parenting or Japanese Suzuki parenting, please e-mail me and I'll give you my phone number and perhaps you could call me (collect) and we could discuss it! sue mellgren

I'm happy to answer any Suzuki questions I can! Personally, I think three is a bit young, but there are teachers that excel with three year olds. Ask the teachers available to you what age they prefer to start.

The other option, which I would recommend to you at this point, is to hunt down a Kindermusik class in your area. These classes, which I have taught in the past, are excellent introductions to both music and structured time with kids. They don't have to concentrate nearly as much as at a lesson, and they learn many important fundamentals of music that will benefit them in private lessons. Your child would fit into the "Growings" category, and would probably just adore Kindermusik. In my personal opinion, I think starting children out in something like Kindermusik makes more sense, and is tons cheaper. A great option! Then, after a year or so, move him over to Suzuki lessons.

So, in retrospect, I would advise holding off on Suzuki lessons for a year or two. What they accomplish in the first year (when they start at three) is basically just standing still, following instructions, and working with mom. All things you can accomplish on your own. Suzuki lessons are expensive! I have had my best success with four year old boys. For some reason, girls don't do well until five. I don't know why. Some developmental quirks, I suppose. What Suzuki lessons produce that other methods don't is:

-a truly good "ear"; the abililty to discern pitches aurally
-a love of classical music
-self-discipline
-command of self in public performing (good for self confidence)
-productive working relationship with practice parent (this
benefits in other areas too!)
-development of memory skills (useful for school)
-development of small muscle motor skills
-violin provides cross-body coordination skills (great for
stimulating both sides of the brain)

As to knowing when your son is ready, go and observe a lesson or two. Go at different times of the day. The teacher will probably be able to tell you if he's ready or not, just by observing him observing the lessons. Talk to the teacher about her criteria for readiness. And if he bugs you to start lessons, put him off a bit and see if the interest is still there in a month or two.

These are just the benefits that come to mind quickly. Hope this helps!

Ann Cirvencic
cirvann@stratos.net

Hi,
My son is 3years and 9 months old. Could anybody please give me some idea that what is the right age to start violin lessons and also how can I find an English speaking violin teacher who comes at home?
I see a lot of piano teachers, but so far havn't seen a single violin teacher.

Regards, Sraboni

Hi!
I am a violinist of The Tokyo philharmany symphony orchestra, and teaching the violin.
If you interested in me.please visit my web site or send me e-mail directly.
http://www5e.biglobe.ne.jp/~achamie/
achamie@mtd.biglobe.ne.jp

I am looking forwared hearing you soon. Thank you.

Yoshiyuki Asami

Hello,
I've received my Master's and Bachelor's degree in Violin Performance at Mannes College of Music in NY and have long experience in teaching violin in English. If anyone is seeking a violin teacher who comes home, please contact me.

Best Regards,

Akiko

We are coming to Tokyo for a year from September 2003, and we will need a three-quarter- size cello for our ten-year-old son. Does anyone have one
they are looking to get rid of, or know where you can get one in Tokyo?
Please e-mail me on
david.gellner@anthro.ox.ac.uk

We are coming to Tokyo next January (2004) and as our child (he will be 5 years old by then) has had already violin suzukimethod lessons, we would like that he will continue with it. Does anybody know where he can keep doing it? There is any place in Meguro, Meguro-ku? We think that violin suzuki lessons in japanese would not be a problem although he doesn´t speak it yet. He is bilingual spanisch-german.
We would like that we learn japanese also (my husband does since he was a child and I have learned some years). Does anybody know where he could learn it in our area?
Please e-mail me on
torrijosgloria@yahoo.es

I have used a company called MIC to find music teachers. They have teachers that have some English ability (other languages too I believe) but many of their teachers are Japanese. You can email Max Shimizu maxshimizu@mic-tokyo.co.jp.
I have older boys and we had private Japanese lessons for quite a while but I didn't find it very effective as practice is the key. I think going to a Japanese preschool is the best way to learn. Private and public programs are available.
Jill

Hello Gloria,
I have forgotten my password and therefore cannot access to the discussion. I am sending the following directly to you but can you post it on the discussion for me so that someone else who might want to know about similar things can read it as well? Thank you.
My daughter takes Suzuki Method violin lessons. There are several centers in Tokyo. The Tokyo main office is in Ochanomizu. I called the main office to ask them to refer the closest center to my residence. The Ochanomizu telephone number is a free dial number at 0120-556414. The website is www.suzukimethod.or.jp. My daughter goes to the Kichijoji center and they have 2 violin teachers that speak English. My daughter’s teacher has been to the United States to teach and to train staff there. He is supposed to be a relative of Mr. Suzuki and takes his job very seriously. His lessons are therefore quite strict. I have to attend all the lessons, take notes, and be responsible for a lot of practice at home. There are also quite a number of concerts to attend in a year, which I think is a good practice goal for children. On the other hand, it is a lot of work for the parents, especially those with young ones. These concerts do not apply to all teachers. I know that piano teachers at our centers do not have as many concerts. Having my daughter practice for 30 minutes everyday is a constant battle as I am a full time working mother. We started in November last year (she was 3 and half then) and we are still working on basic things such as standing position, Japanese haiku, etc. Our teacher emphasizes strongly on the basics and I am sure it would be true for a lot of teachers. I do think the basic is really important but it can be quite boring for young children and frustrating for parents. If anyone has any suggestion on how to motivate young children to practice, I would be very happy to hear their advice.

EMAIL: from ANN anntc@easternpearl.co.jp

I am a Japanese violin teacher using the Suzuki Method. I am quite interested in this discussion, but unfortunately can't speak/write fluently to give advise. Somehow, I would like to introduce a book to all Suzuki Families or those who have any interest.
To Learn with Love: a Companion for Suzuki Parents
by William and Constance Starr
(Warner Bros. Publications)
Professor Starr once visited Suzuki and stayed to learn his method, went back to America and became the first president of the Suzuki Association of the Americas. He is also father of 8 children. He wrote many advices in the book, easy to understand. For instance, there are chapters like "Practice", "Motivating the Young Child", "Home Environment for Growth","Family Lifestyles", and lots more.
He also tells us the difference between Japanese and the Western people, which is fun and interesting to read.
I really wish every child and parent enjoy life with music using the Suzuki Method. I started the violin when I was 3, and I am sure that I would continue this throughout my whole life! I am also grateful to my first teacher who gave me good basic structure. "Divide the steps as much as you could." This is the best way to teach a 3 year old. And repeating things children are able to do already; most children enjoy doing this with others in groups. There might be hard times, but more happy days in the future!

Dear Suzuki Method Teachers and Parents,
Totally discouraged, I am seeking some concrete advise from parents or teachers that may have had similar experiences with the Suzuki Method.
I have a 4 year and 5 months old daughter. She started Suzuki Method violin lesson from November last year. It is about a year now. On her bad days (most of the days) she is still not doing well with her standing position and her 'takataka'. I know that she can perform if she really tries because she has done so. However, she cannot seem to concentrate for 5 minutes. Some of the things she does after she loses her concentration are like: sitting on the floor, wandering her eyes around the room, not following what the teacher or the mother asks her to do, wanders off the room when the lesson is not finished etc. Sometimes at lesson time, she plays around the room and the teacher would get frustrated even we have told her that at lesson time she needs to get on to her position immediately. At lessons with the teachers, if any of the actions described above occurs, the teacher would say, "looks like we cannot go on with the lesson, come back next week". (That really irritates me further because I take hours of leave from work to take her to a lesson but to be told to leave in less than 5 minutes or so, not mentioning how much I am paying for each lesson!). All in all, lessons with the teacher only went well once in the past year. That applies to group lessons as well. At home, I can only do the practices in the evening when I get back from work. (The teacher thinks that is a bad idea.) Mornings just won't work for us because she cannot practice on her own yet and with making breakfast, packing lunch, getting her changed and all make the mornings impossible for practices. Evenings are not good I know because we are both tired and ugly but that is the best we can do. When practices do not go well, I find myself raising my voice and even screaming at her. I have used positive reinforcement (candies, surprise trips, toys etc) and negative reinforcements (scolding and even spanking). Nothing worked. Last week, her teacher said to me, "I have never experienced a child like her. Why don't you go and observe lessons from other teachers. You may find a teacher that suits her better." (That upset me because that just indicated to me that the teacher is giving up). I asked him how my daughter was progressing as compared to others and the reply was "She is ten times slower than students who started with her". (That really hurt my feelings as I thought of the effort I put in and the result that I am getting). I can never get enough time to talk to the teacher about my daughter's problem as he has a line of students waiting for his lessons. So, I called him one evening and I was told that my family education has a problem. For her to do well, I need to change the whole family education on her. One example he gave was, I should not take my daughter to a lesson in a stroller (I do that because I do not have time to walk her to lessons and putting her in a stroller saves me lots of time). The whole conversation made me felt absolutely guilty and incompatible to apply the Suzuki Method to my child because I am a full time working mother. Also, it seems to me that only the "properly disciplined" and the "good ones" can learn from the Suzuki Method. And I do not believe that my daughter is not disciplined and not good because she has done very well in things other than the violin. She has shown extraordinary concentration (hours of concentration) in other works. She has shown love of music in many other ways (playing with the keyboard, composing songs of her own, perfect pitch ability, memorizing almost a whole song after it has been sung to her twice).
I have sat my daughter down and talked to her about violin lessons. Each response I got was "Mom, I want to stop violin lessons. I want to do the piano."
I have asked opinions from different people. Some said I should change her to the piano because that may be her real interest, some don't agree because if I do I just teach my child to run away from problems. Some said that I should change a teacher since both mother and child have bad feelings with the teacher now and some said I should stick to teacher because it is his paid duty to find ways to teach my daughter and teach for 20 minutes full in a lesson. Should I start her with the piano and keep the violin and find out later what is best for her? Should I stop music lessons all together and wait till she is older? I am desperate to find an answer to the problem. Maybe some education specialists can help me with this as well. Thank you.

By Ann anntc@easternpearl.co.jp

I think both you and your daughter have done your best. One whole year is definately not giving up, if you push her any longer she's really gonna hate the violin even more.
I would change to the piano, sell the violin and buy a (portable) keyboard rather than a piano though (the better ones have headphones and the keys respond to hard/soft).
If she complains about the piano just say "Well, this was your idea so give it at least a year before making up your mind that you don't like it"
Good luck!

Dear Ann
First let me say that I have 16 years of teaching experience and 4 children of my own

Not all people who brandish the SUZUKI METHOD on their business cards are necessarily tuned into kids. Its one things to know how to play and quite another to know how to deal imaginatively and creatively with young learners. It may be the teacher but it may not.

First you need to relax. You are not preparing for a PhD in music education at this age and if you are you are You will find that the rejection will spread across into mealtimes, packing away and all other areas of your child's development.

Your child should be comfortable to explore the possibilities of music in a fail-free setting. You need a very special teacher that is aware of Early childhood needs. Ask around.

Maybe you should try another teacher, but, from the frustrations you discussed here, I believe that you may be more central to the root of the problem than you realize.

I am guessing that you are right there in the class with your child, get out. The risk of failure is ten times greater when Mom is watching.

Second are you putting too much emphasis on the violin as the center of the day. If a child needs reinforcement, positive or negative, then it's not working. The learning should be intrinsically rewarding in itself.

By the way, a 5 minute concentration span is absolutely normal for a 4 yr old. The teacher should be changing the activities within the lesson every 5 to keep a young learner on track.

Is the lesson private? It is not a good idea for littlies. they respond much better to peer modelling in a class situation than the high pressure that a private lesson offers.
You try it yourself....try a 90 minute private lesson in something new, lets say Greek and see if your eyes dont wander around the room and you dont feel like plonking yourself on the floor. Ask your husband or someone else to sit in the corner during that same lesson and observe your attempts at the new language and see if you can imagine how the world appears from your daughters eyes as you watch cautiously over her.

I dont believe she actually wants to play the piano, she is using what we early childhood people call a very well know evasive tactic. Feeding you a line to get you off her case. Amazing how smart these littlies really are.

My advice before giving up

Go for a class lesson rather than private

Drop her off and pick her up rather than attending class
Change schools if there are other Moms watching too... just as threatening as having you there.

Reward with a play in the park nearby the Suzuki class after the lesson rather than with food... that leads to a whole new area of problems. This will encourage her to walk and add some quality mommy time. By the way if the physical area of a child is not stimulated equally with the cognitive side it will eventually catch up and destroy any progress made on the cognitive side. This is a notable problem in Japan with bullying rife due to parents only focussing on the head skills and neglecting the emotional, social and physical skill stimualtion.

Practice time can be moved to the morning if evenings are too late.
I have 4 children and work fulltime as well. We make lunches together at night. The kids love to make their own. Frozen sandwiches are great. Even Bentos can be made the night before. We choose clothes for tomorrow after bathtime and place them in a "clothes for tommorrow drawer", or for my 2 yr old, lay them on the floor in the shape of a child we nick-named Sammy. This helps him dress himself.
We have simple rules.
Dressed and hair done before breakfast and in the afternoon we do homework then they can have free play time.

When we go to tennis lessons or music we do homework when we get home. We have no TV Mon - Thu, so the kids are certainly creative and happy to do any practice in the afternoons. Fri - Sun some TV is OK but after any homework or practice.

We make practice time fun by making concert tickets and programs to sell to Daddy or Grandma once a month.
Other ways to make practice fun and get the housework done is to mop in beat to the music and freeze or go slow when it stops.

If you are both laughing or smiling at practice time you are certainly on the right track.

You could also negotiate breaking practice into 10-15 mins after breakfast and 10-15 mins in the afternoon.

Let them make a "MOVIE" of their practice with the video camera on a stand. This is fun especially if you buy a toy microphone to introduce the performer for tonight's show... and it becomes a record to show them how much they have improved.

Most importantly keep the activity child focused, imaginative and fun. Laugh at mistakes rather than scold. Praise mistakes with words like "I can see how hard you are trying", and NEVER punish with music, eg extending practice time or something like that.

Give the violin one more shot but like your teacher politely tried to advise you, change your attitude to music education and think of it as creative play accompanied by music and you will see results over night.

I hope this helps, Janine janinebbboyd[at]hotmail.com

Dear Janine, you've given me a lot of ideas for how to approach other areas of growth (such as getting my kid to do a few chores around the house). I'm not a natural at making learning fun for a kid. Thanks for the tips! I just wish it didn't get dark so early in Japan. It's hard to play outside after doing homework when the sun sets so quickly.

My daughter at 6.5 years old still can't focus on most things for much longer than 5 minutes. The only way to get her to stay with anything is to keep it moving constantly. We are having a lot more immediately apparent success right now with sports (swimming and gymnastics) than with academics and music. She loves singing songs, and listening to music, and is very intrigued by the idea of playing an instrument, but I decided to wait until she is able to sit still for a bit longer before investing the time needed to get her to music instruction. Mainly because of my own personality and stress levels!

I've never heard of freezing a sandwich for a lunch box. Does it just naturally thaw out by lunch time? This answer is probably already on the web somewhere; I'll see if I can google it up.

Dear Janine,
I am very thankful for the suggestions you have made. I realised that I could make other learning experiences fun for my daughter but not with the violin. No wonder both of us were so stressed out with it. Your suggestion about not being present at the lesson was a GREAT help. In the past, I had one lesson when I left the classroom (due to frustration)and that lesson went better than the others we have had. I did not know why until I got your explaination. I will definitely point that out to the teacher next time I talk to him.
I am trying out the suggestions that you have made. I have yet to tell how everything will go.
Thank you for your time in explaining these things. And like Cornelia indicated, your suggestions were helpful in areas other than music lessons.

Ann

Mizuhodai, Saitama -- English Speaking Violin Teacher! - Welcoming New Students!

I am a 29 year old female violinist graduated from San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and later received scholarship and attend Escuela Superior de Musica Reina Sofia in Madrid.
I teach all levels- ages from 4 to adult
private lesson time varies from 15min. 30min. and 45min. depends on age and level.
I live in Mizuhodai, Saitama on Tobu-tojo line, 5min. walk from the station.
For more information, please contact miki@temjin.com or call 049-255-2630

Hi everybody, further up this conversation I said that I was waiting to introduce my daughter to a musical instrument. Well, a few weeks short of 8 years old, she has now started violin about 3 weeks ago and she loves it. It's at school so I have no part in it, except that she does make a bit of noise on it at home about 4-5 times a week! And I've had to learn a bit of new vocabulary which I thought I'd share with you:

rosin for the bow -- matsuyani (pine resin)
strings -- gen
case -- keisu bokusu, violin keisu
tuning fork -- o-onsa, tuning forku

By Cornelia on Friday, January 21, 2005 - 11:03 am:
Someone asked me what school I am sending my daughter to school to where they have violin starting around 8 years old. It's the New International School in Ikebukuro (NewIS). Violin is part of the music curriculum for all students starting from Primary B. I believe the teacher is using Suzuki method primarily because my daughter has not yet really learned how to read notes and we got a Suzuku method CD sent home from school.

Hi, my family is moving to Tokyo in April. My girl who is 4 now, has started violin last December 2005. She is interested in it though she is a bit too young for it. I want her to continue practising violin as it's a good way of training her patience.

Does anyone know any good instrument school near Roppongi Hills? Or any good instructor recommend? (The instructor can come to my home if she is in on private basis).

Hi
This is the talent education research institute website. Call them to find out about various suzuki schools in and around Tokyo. We got to know about the suzuki school at kichioji thro this.

http://www.suzukimethod.or.jp/indexE.html

I am looking for an English speaking violin teacher for my daughter. She is 11 and has very basic lessons.