Discussions on 'Nourished by Music'

Discussions on 'Nourished by Music'

July and September 2007

Continuing our discussion on the topic of practice, which began in 2006 in Deeside and Edinburgh,we explored the idea of music practice as daily nourishment. Initially aimed at Suzuki pianists, this topic can of course be applied to other instrumentalists as well. It was inspired by Dr. Suzuki's famous quote:- 'only practise on the days you eat.'

In Suzuki's view therefore, daily practice is essential for the healthy maintenance of technique and repertoire, in the same way that a daily intake of food keeps us fuelled. But it also poses the question of the kind of food we should consume in order to have a good, healthy diet as well as how we consume it. In the same way it begs comparison with what and how practice is carried out.

At Deeside, the parents and teachers concerned were sub-divided into five groups. Between them they managed to cover most of the points on the list provided for consideration. (Refer to 'Nourished by Music' Deeside Suzuki Piano Festival parent afternoon by returning to the Home Page). The findings are as follows:-

Regularity

The idea of regularity could make a parent feel very guilty which would have a destructive effect upon practising. It was also dependent upon the moods of the parent and child, nevertheless it was acknowledged that practising became more difficult if regularity was lost. The parent could take control of the irregularity and make compromises with the child if they wished to change times through negotiation. Regular practice depended for the most part on the child. And regularity did not necessarily involve a specific time of day, but more the fact that it takes place at frequent intervals (some even do it twice a day!). The same can be said of mealtimes – practice has to fit around individual lifestyles. For some children, 'creatures of habit', a particular time worked well. But some parents had to juggle the day's routine, so even though they had the time to do the practice the child would not always be willing to cooperate with that. This was summed up by the identification of two types of child:-

1. those (often boys but not necessarily) who go back and forward throughout the day.

2. those (often girls but again not necessarily) who need security and routine.

Regularity enabled practice on specific sections of the music to take place resulting in familiarity. This would in turn make regularity more appealing. Linking and attaching practice to another physical activity was considered helpful eg. practice before telly. Reward schemes could be used if they worked successfully.

Timing

Again, this was considered to be dependent upon the child. The parent needed to be sensitive to their commitments. These could be used as a way to find the time to actually get the practice done. It was important that the practice schedule did not compete with other activities, so the child must choose the time to fit around these. Certainly the practice didn't need to be the same time every day. And timing of practice could change with age, as indeed eating does. In general, the worst time to practise was considered to be just after school and the best time just before. But of course this is a very individual thing. Sometimes split practices produce the best results. Daily charts, with agreed timings were often helpful as were reward stickers for completion of practice. Flexibility over the length of practice was thought to be important because of concentration.

Ingredients

The ingredients of practice were listed as:-

• what you play (basic recipe)
• how you warm up (heating the oven first)
• detailed ingredients (list given in recipe book). These would include review of 'rusty' tunes, maintaining concert pieces (always having a prepared meal stored and readily available should there be an unexpected dinner guest, which can be compared to being asked by someone to play on the spur of the moment).
• twinkles, scales ( like preparing the cooking utensils such as greasing the dish, lining the cake tin etc.)
• lucky dips (like the dips we eat from time to time, why don't we have them in practice too?)
• CD with games instead of normal practice (rather like a quick, alternative snack)Ingredients had to be broken down into using the usual learning aids and having bite-sized bits to work on.
• ingredients of practice/food as a menu. Parents are essentially responsible for this, just as a cook is for the meal. However, it is very important that the teacher, as instigator of the recipe, initiates and makes clear just what is appropriate between lesson times to work on – they are the authors of the cook book!

Appetising and Appealing

It was noted that 'weeds in the garden come up' – perhaps amongst the vegetable plot?! By this it was meant faults in the parent/child partnership existed and needed to be addressed in order to make practice both appetising and appealing. To make it so, it was considered good to let the child choose the practice content. This suggestion was countered by the reminder that there is a core curriculum, and that 'you can't be eating ice cream all day long'. A teacher's dyslexic 13 year old liked to do unconventional things in his practice, but Bach was still essential in order to progress forward. Another teacher pointed out that there can be a need to deviate in order to keep the show on the road, and it was agreed that teachers need to be aware of new opportunities that may motivate the child. The Suzuki method therefore need not exclude other things. It was a two way process and it was sometimes necessary to divert in order to come back. Variation, fun, a sense of humour, positive remarks, single points to work on and minimal verbal intervention were therefore thought to be the main constituents here. Experiment was also considered important , for example starting a tune on different notes, or beginning in the middle of a tune.

Balance and Variety

Again, this embraced different sectors of work:- learning,concert and review pieces, Balance and variety could also be brought about by not concentrating too much on a new piece. 'Small but new, lots of review'. 'Going with the flow', introducing non Suzuki books and a variety of listening was thought to be a good idea.

Health- giving versus Junk

What was meant by junk exactly? Perhaps it was a quick fix, like pressing a button on a keyboard and getting a sound effect which gives instant gratification. No need for the hard slog of practice then, as fast food doesn't require time spent on gathering together the ingredients and the preparation of a health-giving meal. The Suzuki approach is health giving, with no watered down versions of well known pieces eg. 'Fur Elise'. But junk was also seen as negative parental behaviour and the difficult attitudes of children. It was all about how to cope with this. Linking up with the child's interest was one way to do so, which ties in with making the practice material digestible, well presented and enabling an element of choice of pieces to be practised. This and previous topics also embrace the idea of the experimental with planning versus spontaneity. Working with the child could also be equated with dietary needs. The digestible element could be considered here too, ensuring that practice did not contain too much material on items that were difficult to attain in one go. Small amounts were healthier. This involved an element of understanding and learning how to speak up, thus pacing and enhancing the practice with language and voice tone.

Environment

Dr. Suzuki's philosophy advocates a nurturing environment. As stated earlier, it does have a lot to do with the mood of the parent. The ideal is of course a happy, friendly and peaceful environment with a prepared parent. Within this topic a question was posed as to what age do pupils come to a lesson without a parent? It does of course depend on the individual and will become a subject for future seminar discussions.

Social

It was seen as useful to bring children together so that they could practise more. Special occasions also enabled this. Being well prepared was seen to be essential; just as it would be necessary in a catering situation. Here, each individual should have done their preparation well but there was also a need for the teacher to consider all the individual pieces/dishes to provide balance and contrast within the concert framework. This also provided a chance for children to dress up and develop their social skills further. It was certainly thought advantageous to make an effort, even if just a hair clip!

Experimental

It was believed that this needed handling with care. Certainly it was good to allow children to experiment and not simply follow a pre-ordained menu. Some children liked to play a tune in a different key or to make up another left hand, which encourages improvisation and musicianship. However care should be taken for doodling when used as a smoke screen. Doodling though, sometimes develops into interesting ideas that are brought along to lessons and the teacher can then encourage continuation of an idea in future practice sessions. Some worthy compositions develop this way.

In conclusion to the Deeside discussion groups, it will be noted that the list of topics relate closely to one another. However compartmentalisation made it easier to draw comparisons with food. In the first Scottish newsletter, piano teacher trainee and psychology student Maria Falsone writes under the heading 'Scales as Protein'. Her younger brother, interested in dietary matters in relation to being a healthy sportsman, sees scales as providing this necessary requirement! And one group at Deeside summed up the discussion well by stressing the importance of encouragement. This included creating situations in which children can listen to lots of good music and the parent can explore ways to stimulate the imagination.

Almost two months later a group of parents met for the 2^nd Suzuki Piano Support Seminar held in the Candlish Hall at St. Georges West Church, Shandwick Place, Edinburgh. I presided over the meeting and was delighted that Mary McCarthy could also join us. Also present at the discussions were teacher trainees Isla Pitkethly, and Maria Falsone. To my great surprise Maria had invited along my ex student Nicola Sukatorn who is now at university. The three of them were able to make extremely interesting observations as they had all learned the piano by the Suzuki method . This proved to be a great inspiration to the parents who attended.

We continued the theme of 'Nourished by Music' by walking the talk as for the first half hour we socialised over glasses of wine and nibbles! Before we split up into two main groups we had an open forum at which parents were invited to ask questions. As it was the end of the long summer holidays the topic of how to keep practising going over that time was raised. Attending the various clubs, workshops and masterclasses laid on during the summer helped enormously. Impromptu get-togethers were also encouraged, particularly as Suzuki said 'children teach each other'. Giving small concerts or simply playing to each other was as important as playing together away from the piano. The social aspect was then of great benefit, more so than the musical activity itself. When away on holiday with no piano the linguistic aspect of music could be developed by doing lots of listening. This emphasised the need to go back to the sound in order to engender quality.

The main discussion around the theme of food continued. The first group agreed that practice was a good analogy with food. It was acknowledged that each family and each individual is different. Letting go of control was the key here, replacing this with positivity even when mistakes were being made. This was described as gut-free fun! There was a new spin on healthy practice, the need for pianists to practise hands separately first. As to regularity, not many people might be able to practise at the same time every day – regular becomes something that changes regularity! It was also thought that not everyone gets exactly all the necessary nutrients everyday, so it was important to be realistic. The social aspect was also addressed; Suzuki keeps parents and teenagers together more than other methods of learning, and Suzuki children are much more comfortable playing to other people because they have become used to it.

In the other group similar themes were covered. The fact that different people eat in different ways for example. 'Social 'meant times for family members to be together and that spontaneity was really important. One mother said her daughter was particularly difficult to feed, what she liked one day she disliked the next! She had to learn to match her moods and to slide into that frame so it was a case of different things for different days and it was the same for practice as well. Again, fast food practice was compared to diving in hands together. There was also likening of the Suzuki approach, as the mother-tongue method, to language, which involved both listening and doing.

This then, completes the study on 'Nourished by Music', in as much as it could ever be concluded. It was hard to get those gathered at this event to leave, so engrossed were they by this subject. And it is one which I am sure will live on the daily lives of all those who took part in these discussions. I hope also that it will be the same for those who are now able to read and reflect upon these evaluations.

Marie Barton. October 2007.