- Learn from listening
First feeling the music then reach the intellectual level. Dr. Suzuki thought the way how children learn music should be the same as learning their mother tongue. Parents should put the Suzuki book CD, as well as good classic music at home all day in order to create an environment which children could grow up surrounded by the music. Actually the process of listening good music as a background is the way how children manage to know intonation, tempo. rhythm etc.
- Constant motivation
“The moment when you really study is the moment when your feelings are being touched”. Motivation is very important for children. There are some ways we could encourage our children to play better:
- Play what you hear. Kids feel motivated to play the piece they feel familiar with.
- Always telling positive things to the kid. This will help them to build their self-confidence in order to let them know that good work is always based on hard working.
- Never prejudge. Without self-confidence, knowledge will not be developed.
- Each child has their own way to study.Every student has their own character, teacher should find a way to encourage them always.
- Ignoring the competition. Every student has their own pace to study. It is important letting them know the goal and helping them when they meet difficulties. Step by step, finally they will achieve better result.
- Respect the studying pace
The ability of each child are different. The studying pace is not depending on the age.So we can not require everyone study in the same pace. Parents and teachers should fully understand that when children are studying something difficult, what we need is to figure out why they can not study well.If it is because the technique they study is far more beyond their ability，we should calm down and take more time to solve our difficulties.
- Create an appropriate environment
Dr Suzuki said:¨Everyone is the product of the environment.¨If a child grows up in an unsuitable environment, he would not develop his skill well. Parents are obligated to create a good environment for their children in order to develop their potential skills. In addition, in this way, it is not only developing the skill but also building good characters, better learning habit etc.
- Parents involvement
Parents support is an important part in Suzuki Method. But there is one thing that parents should be always be careful is: Never do more than what they should. Such as doing homework for the kid etc. So what should they do? For example, it is always good if parents can fully understand the class then at home they can give correct suggestion for their kids’ study, or truly encourage their kids every day to build their confidence. To be honest, accompany kids at home is the hardest job in the world. But if parents are working well at home, sooner or later the kid would have a great job, not only in music study but also in many other espects.
- Daily practice
Daily practice means daily progress. Practicing every day is far more better than just practice one day a week. In addition, teachers need to take control of students’ practice every day. We should treat our daily practice as brushing our teeth. Study something should be a routine, which is always an effort for the parents and the kids. Children normally learn something fast but forget easily. So daily practice makes them repeat the things they should manage and make it better and better.
- Development of memory and concentration
For children it is very easy to memorize things which would give a benefit to them for all the life. They can memorise the music by structure (in order for the brain to keep the information). At the beginning it starts with short rhythms, notes sequence, short structures and later combine a variety of structures to practice.
The memory also enhances the body position and music expression.
Constant piece review: create the repertoire through the memory in order the student may play it whenever they want or whenever someone requires them to do so.
- Sensibility
All the pieces should be played expressively. We should believe that children can play good sound.
- Global training for the person
What we need to teach is helping the kids become a better person, not only being a good musician. Children will learn to listen others opinion, have a good manner and always have a positive attitude in their life etc…
- Early education
The perfect age to start Suzuki method is around 3 to 4 years old according to the theory because in this age, children are very depend on their parents and their minds are free. For parents, they would feel the learning process is very slow if they are not clear about the goal of the learning in each step. But step by step children will be better and better. For teachers, they should be clear about which step are the students in, enjoying the process and predicting the nearest goal for the students.