{"id":34183,"date":"2021-11-06T09:16:00","date_gmt":"2021-11-06T15:16:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/suzukiassociation.org\/?post_type=journalarticle&p=34183"},"modified":"2024-09-18T10:35:25","modified_gmt":"2024-09-18T16:35:25","slug":"setting-habits-for-success-how-being-a-suzuki-student-can-transform-your-childs-brain","status":"publish","type":"journalarticle","link":"https:\/\/suzukiassociation.org\/es\/journalarticle\/setting-habits-for-success-how-being-a-suzuki-student-can-transform-your-childs-brain\/","title":{"rendered":"Estableciendo h\u00e1bitos para el \u00e9xito: C\u00f3mo ser alumno Suzuki puede transformar el cerebro de tu hijo"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In The Power of Habit<\/em>, journalist Charles Duhigg explains how our brains can be transformed by the repetition of some activities and how we can work to perform tasks with more effectiveness and less effort. Likewise, the Suzuki daily practice routine can turn children not just into great musicians, but it can also transform their brains and help them to be successful in every aspect of their lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Learning to play a musical instrument is a valorous tool for any child\u2019s development. But it is not always easy to make the first steps of the musical learning process productive and enjoyable. It might take a parent\u2019s time and perseverance to set a beginner student into a positive practice routine. This article relates experiments about the construction of habits described in Duhigg\u2019s book to Dr. Suzuki\u2019s directions and other scholars\u2019 research on daily practice and its benefits to the student\u2019s musical development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Suzuki believes that \u201ctalent is no accident of birth\u201d (Suzuki 1969, ix). His teaching philosophy says that in the same way every child can learn its mother tongue, this child can learn to play a musical instrument. A child just needs to be inserted in a favorable environment, listen to music from the earliest age, and receive the appropriate instruction. After a certain number of repetitions, this child will naturally develop their musical skills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is the same principle Duhigg preaches when he says that \u201chabits aren\u2019t destiny\u201d (Duhigg 2014, 20). Everything people do in their lives, Duhigg writes, is the result of the examples and the environment they were exposed to, and the number of times they repeated the same behaviors and actions during their lives. Daily practice is fundamental to develop any skill in life. Successful learning is based on daily small practice sessions, where the child repeats specific tasks that help them learn good posture, beautiful tone, and correct intonation habits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the chapter of Nurtured by Love called \u201cPlanting the seed of ability,\u201d (Suzuki 1969, 5) Dr. Suzuki tells a story about a little parakeet called Peeko who used to live in one of the Talent Education schools in Tokyo. This bird was able to say: \u201cI am Peeko Miyazawa\u201d and also \u201cPeeko is a good little bird.\u201d According to Mr. Miyazawa, a program director in Tokyo who taught the bird to say the phrases, \u201cIn the beginning you must have much perseverance, energy, and patience. In order to make the parakeet speak, and develop its ability, it is necessary to repeat the same word repeatedly. Just when you think it is useless, you are finally rewarded with some results\u201d (Suzuki 1969, 7). Mr. Miyazawa would repeat the phrases to the bird about fifty times daily, which would result in three thousand repetitions in two months. This was the process that made Peeko\u2019s speaking possible: daily repetition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tom Yang, in his American Suzuki Journal article called \u201cCompound Interest, Every Day Practice and Review,\u201d (Yang 2013, 49-51) demonstrates the benefits of daily practice by comparing two beginners: Bob, who practices small five-minute daily sessions, and Jane, who practices four days a week for 30 minutes. Bob plays 35 minutes a week, while Jane practices for 120. Bob knows he must practice every day, making it easier to settle into the routine, while Jane is always trying to negotiate to have the day off. As Bob\u2019s sessions are short, he learns that practice is easy. Jane feels practicing for thirty minutes is onerous. Gradually Bob\u2019s parents started to increase his amount of time, getting to 15 minutes a day. It takes Bob to 105 minutes a week while Jane keeps practicing for 120. But, as he was trained to do it every day, Bob learned how to overcome the inertia of starting a practice session and turning it into a habit, while the lack of regularity in Jane\u2019s schedule makes each day she must practice stressful. Thus, although Bob practices fewer minutes per week, his achievements regarding motivation and effectiveness are unquestionably bigger than Jane\u2019s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Musical learning can affect children\u2019s behavior positively in many ways: they learn to have self-discipline, improve their attention levels, and develop their willpower and good relationship with other children. As Dr. Suzuki said, \u201cI just want to make good citizens. If a child hears good music from the day of his birth, and learns to play it himself, he develops sensitivity, discipline, and endurance. He gets a beautiful heart\u201d (Cook 1970, 76). The Suzuki Method is based in a philosophy that believes music can be an effective way to teach children much more than just playing an instrument, but turning them into better human beings and helping to develop discipline and attention skills that will be useful for their whole lives, even if they will not be professional musicians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Duhigg affirms that \u201cWillpower is a learnable skill, something that can be taught the same way kids learn to do math and say \u2018thank you\u2019\u201d (Duhigg 2014, 134). Children can be taught to have willpower and they can develop their self-regulatory skills. \u201cThat\u2019s why signing kids up for piano lessons, or sports is so important. It has nothing to do with creating a good musician or a five-year-old soccer star\u201d (Heatherton 2011, 140). Instead, it is totally connected with Dr. Suzuki\u2019s ideals about the construction of a better character using the development of music skills as a tool.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Self-regulatory strength helps in the development of good and consistent practice habits in music. \u201cWhen you learn to force yourself to practice for an hour or run fifteen laps, you start building self-regulatory strength. A five-year-old that can follow the ball for ten minutes becomes a sixth grader who can start his homework in time\u201d (Heatherton 2011, 140). The habit of daily practice is highly helpful to create self-discipline in children. It is also the best strategy so that children can develop their musical abilities consistently and enjoyably. As Dr. Suzuki says, \u201cEvery child can be educated; it is only a matter of the method of education. Anyone can train himself, it is only a question of using the right kind of effort\u201d (Suzuki 1969, 37).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Duhigg also describes in his book the way habits are created, citing the three-step loop: \u201cFirst there is a cue, a trigger that tells your brain to go into automatic mode and which habit to use. Then there is the routine, which can be physical, mental, or emotional. Finally, there is a reward, which helps our brain figure out if this particular loop is worth remembering for the future\u201d (Duhigg 2014, 19). The cue is the motivation to make something, the routine is the act by itself, and the reward is the prize you achieve each time you have some specific behavior. We could exemplify it in a beginner music student as:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cue: Playing the instrument.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Routine: Holding his instrument in proper posture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reward: Be able to play with a beautiful sound and receive compliments from the parents and teacher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Students that feel motivated by their teachers and by their parents are more successful, and this motivation helps them to develop consistent practice habits. If they are applauded for their achievements, they have a reward for their efforts which motivates them to keep practicing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Habit loops help our brains to focus on what is most important and to make basic tasks less effort. \u201cThis process\u2014in which the brain converts a sequence of acts into an automatic routine\u2014is known as \u2018chunking,\u2019 and it\u2019s at the root of how habits form\u201d (Duhigg 2014, 17). After we repeat the same process of a loop several times, it will be automatic, turning that action into a habit. After many days practicing an instrument with a well-balanced posture, the student will acquire the habit of proper posture and it won\u2019t be necessary to concentrate that much to keep it. That means the brain will be more able to learn new skills. \u201cEase comes with training,\u201d (Suzuki 1969, 42) Dr. Suzuki believes. \u201cWe simply have to train and educate our ability, that is to say, do the thing over and over again until it feels natural, simple, and easy. That is the secret\u201d (Suzuki 1969, 42).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Children that practice every day develop habits that can make their playing most comfortable and pleasant. And each time they get used to specific skills, like good posture, good sound, and intonation, they can focus on learning new concepts. When children practice every day, they are training their brains to develop habits. As soon as they have these good habits developed, children\u2019s playing is more natural and their brains are ready to develop new skills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Nurtured by Love, Dr. Suzuki wrote, \u201cDo not rest in your efforts; this is another fundamental rule. Without stopping, without haste, carefully taking a step at a time forward will surely get you there\u201d (Suzuki 1983, 46). This quote demonstrates that all of Dr. Suzuki\u2019s teachings can be effective to develop children into good musicians, successful people in all aspects of their lives, and better human beings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

References<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cook, Clifford A. Suzuki Education in Action: A Story of Talent Training from Japan. New York: Exposition Press, 1970.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Duhigg, Charles. The power of habit: why we do what we do in life and business. New York: Random House, 2014.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hermann, Evelyn. Shinichi Suzuki: The Man and His Philosophy. Athens, OH: Ability Development Associates, 1981.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mills, Elizabeth, and Therese Cecile Murphy, eds. The Suzuki Concept: An introduction to a successful method for early music education. Berkeley, CA: Diablo Press, 1973.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scott, Laurie. \u201cAttention and Perseverance Behaviors of Preschool Children Enrolled in Suzuki Violin Lessons and Other Activities.\u201d Journal of Research in Music Education 40, no. 3 (1992): 225-35. [url=http:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/3345684]http:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/3345684[\/url].<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Suzuki, Shinichi. Nurtured by Love: The Classical Approach to Talent Education. Translated by Waltraud Suzuki. Princeton: Suzuki Method International, 1983.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Suzuki, Shinichi. Where Love is Deep: The writings of Shinichi Suzuki. Translated by Kyoko Selden. Saint Louis: Talent Education Journal, 1982.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yang, Thomas. \u201cCompound interest, everyday practice and review.\u201d American Suzuki Journal 41, no. 3 (Spring 2013): 49\u201351. [url=http:\/\/libproxy.lib.ilstu.edu\/login?url=https:\/\/search.ebscohost.com\/login.aspx?direct=true&db=rih&AN=A817624&site=ehost-live&scope=site]http:\/\/libproxy.lib.ilstu.edu\/login?url=https:\/\/search.ebscohost.com\/login.aspx?direct=true&db=rih&AN=A817624&site=ehost-live&scope=site[\/url].<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

En El poder de los h\u00e1bitos, el periodista Charles Duhigg explica c\u00f3mo nuestro cerebro puede transformarse con la repetici\u00f3n de algunas actividades y c\u00f3mo podemos trabajar para realizar tareas con m\u00e1s eficacia y menos esfuerzo. Del mismo modo, la rutina de pr\u00e1ctica diaria de Suzuki puede convertir a los ni\u00f1os no s\u00f3lo en grandes m\u00fasicos, sino tambi\u00e9n...<\/p>","protected":false},"featured_media":34803,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":true,"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"pmpro_default_level":"0","_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"0","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false,"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":""},"article-tag":[858,805,814,772,788],"journalsection":[],"class_list":["post-34183","journalarticle","type-journalarticle","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","article-tag-brain-and-neuroscience","article-tag-brain-development","article-tag-pedagogy","article-tag-practice","article-tag-suzuki-environment","pmpro-has-access"],"acf":[],"taxonomy_info":{"article-tag":[{"value":858,"label":"Brain & Neuroscience"},{"value":805,"label":"Brain Development"},{"value":814,"label":"Pedagogy"},{"value":772,"label":"Practice"},{"value":788,"label":"Suzuki Environment"}]},"featured_image_src_large":["https:\/\/suzukiassociation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/IMG_20210718_205816_162-1.jpg",960,960,false],"author_info":[],"comment_info":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/suzukiassociation.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/journalarticle\/34183","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/suzukiassociation.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/journalarticle"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/suzukiassociation.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/journalarticle"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/suzukiassociation.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34803"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/suzukiassociation.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34183"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"article-tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/suzukiassociation.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article-tag?post=34183"},{"taxonomy":"journalsection","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/suzukiassociation.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/journalsection?post=34183"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}