Welcome

Hello! and welcome to this site. Let me tell you a bit about myself. I live in Edinburgh,Scotland, and run a private piano teaching practice. Initially I trained as a class music teacher at Newton Park College of Education, which at the time was part of the University of Bristol education department. Later I specialised in piano teaching and for a number of years I taught class music lessons as well as giving individual piano tuition.

I have taught in all manner of schools, situated in the south of England,Brussels,and now Scotland. Although I specialised initially in secondary education my teaching experience has embraced all age groups ranging from three to seventy three! My school teaching posts have included several as head of department,as well as other senior positions.

Always searching for new ways of doing things from a more holistic and therefore alternative viewpoint I eventually trained as a Suzuki piano teacher. This nurturing, mother-tongue approach to learning an instrument works so naturally and organically that I now cannot imagine teaching the piano any other way. But I still like to include other repertoire as and when appropriate and my students often take higher graded practical examinations or at least follow the syllabus. Certainly I like to encourage the exploration of a wide range of styles.

I also enjoy composing and arranging and have recently written material for my students' use. These have been performed at my own gatherings and concerts as well in school on the students' own initiative. We have had a number of notable successes in the EPTA(European Piano Teachers' Association) young composers' competitions and recently I have started up a special group for those aspiring composers from amongst my students. During the summer months I organise a mixed age-range music activity club and teach at the Deeside Suzuki Piano Festival which is a highly popular event in the Scottish Suzuki piano calender and a very special experience.

Complimentary to my teaching I have qualified as an NLP( Neuro Linguistics Programming ) practitioner and as a life coach. I constantly find myself applying the skills I have gained in these areas to my teaching. I also love writing stories for children as well as educational articles on musical subjects. The object of this site is to make these and other materials I have produced available to parents, teachers and students. I hope you will find it helpful. Good wishes. Marie.

Sunday, October 21, 2007

Nourished by Music

DEESIDE SUZUKI PIANO FESTIVAL


Parent Afternoon

Saturday, 14 July 2007



“Nourished by Music?”


An exploration of the role of practice within the Suzuki environment



Introduction

Dr. Suzuki said “only practise on the days you eat”. In William Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night” Duke Orsino opens the play with the famous words “If music be the food of love play on”. And a passage from Suzuki’s “Nurtured by Love”, that little book which describes the growth of his philosophy, reads:


“One day the principle of Talent Education, based on the way we learn our mother tongue, will certainly change the course of education. No one will be left behind; and based on love, it will foster truth, joy and beauty as part of a child’s character. If nothing else, it will at least teach children ….. to be warm-hearted and enjoy doing kindnesses to others”.


A dictionary definition of nurtured is nourished. So the consumption of music through, ideally, daily practice might, therefore, be compared to the daily regular intake of nourishment received from food.


Please think about the following in preparation for discussion in groups:

How perhaps could we apply the components of a good, healthy diet to the practice routine, in order to produce the kind of results Suzuki speaks of? Here are some ideas to chew over (sorry!). You may think of others.


  • regularity
  • timing
  • ingredients
  • appetising and appealing
  • balance
  • variety
  • health giving (versus junk)
  • digestible
  • environment (where and how practised/consumed)
  • social (times to be together)
  • preparation for special occasions
  • well presented
  • experimental
  • element of choice
  • planned
  • spontaneous
  • suited to the individual (dietary needs)
  • growth and development


Each discussion group will need a scribe so that ideas can be gathered in and collated later on.


See the follow-on discussion.

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