Let’s Light a Fire! (10/20/23)
When we think about educating our children, we sometimes think we want to see our children light up with excitement and burn with passion for music! Many families come to us because they see some spark in their children that has them drawn to music, and so they seek us out as we are known for our expert teachers who are able to teach music to young children, and we are successful at this.
However, not all children are like this. As Suzuki educators, we believe this does not matter. We want to create an environment of positive nurturing. Thus, one ingenious concept that Dr. Suzuki observed is that all children learn to speak their native language. When living in an environment where Japanese is spoken, children learn to speak Japanese! But not only the Japanese children learn Japanese, but American children living in Japan also learn to speak Japanese. This idea inspired Dr. Suzuki to call his method of teaching the violin, the "Mother tongue" approach. He believed that every child can learn to play beautiful music if given an environment filled with music in the same way children learn to speak their mother tongue. He believed that children should listen to beautiful music every day. It is true that we can hear music on the radio and in the stores while we shop, but he meant quality music played by artist-musicians. This is why the Suzuki repertoire includes access to professional recordings of all the repertoire such as the most recent releases by Hillary Hahn, a world renowned classical violinist.
We ask that children listen to music every day because this is how we create an environment where beautiful music is normal. Unlike the match that sparks a flame, we prefer the slow burn. Constant, steady, and consistent attention to high quality and details lead us to believe, understand, and expect this in our own environment. We want all children to believe in themselves. They can learn to play beautiful music if encouraged and surrounded by listening to this quality music. It is a slow burn.
In leadership training, we spent a great deal of time in self-reflection. The other participating directors and I were encouraged to think about self-care and what motivated ourselves in our work, at home, and in our lives. Among the images shared, was the image of building a fire. It is necessary to lay different thicknesses of wood to build a fire. We need the twigs and kindle to light the fire, and we need to add medium sticks and thick logs to sustain the fire. However, if we lay down too much wood, piling on too many logs, there is no passageway for oxygen. In order for the wood to burn, it needs air. We need to leave space between the branches in order for the oxygen to pass through and the fire will burn. We must delegate different size pieces of wood to sustain the fire. If we only have fast burning twigs, they will burn out in just a few seconds. We need experiences in life that are thick logs that will burn for a long time.
We have seen that in our society, we schedule ourselves and our children with many activities. I have heard of situations where a family might want to sign up for music lessons only three times per month because once per month they have another activity. Parents may see these gaps in their schedules as holes that need to be filled. I disagree. We need to maintain those holes and gaps so that we may breathe and clear our heads. From there, we are ready to learn more and with more intensity as we are refreshed and ready to absorb new information. Like the fire, we must allow the oxygen to pass through. As adults, we are models for our children. We, too, must learn to take the time for ourselves to reflect and breathe.
In the Suzuki pedagogy we like using metaphors! In the remaining days of our Listening Challenge, we want our Dr. Suzuki caterpillar to grow. We hope that the opportunity to listen to music is an important one. I truly believe that this can be a relaxing activity to share together. It will allow ourselves a moment to slow down and to focus on music of high quality. It will make practicing more efficient AFTER the listening is accomplished. Let us allow the fire to burn by allowing it to include the oxygen we need.
Sachiko Isihara
Executive Director
Suzuki School of Newton