Late to the Party

I pride myself on my punctuality. In music training, I learned that if you’re on time, you’re late. That’s why I always arrive at school at least half an hour before my class starts, why my wife is always frustrated with me when we arrive at the airport with hours to spare, and why I’m embarrassed at how long I taught strings before I discovered the pedagogical benefits and the effective teaching strategies inherent to Suzuki methodology. The pedagogy of string instruction has been greatly influenced by this approach to skill development since the early 1960s and its implementation in varying school settings has more recently proven to be enormously successful. By using a Suzuki in the Schools approach in my classroom, I’ve transformed the way I teach and the musicianship of my students for the better. 

I began my teaching journey in high school providing bass lessons to middle school students as a way to earn money. I had no idea what I was doing. If a student couldn’t do something, I’d keep throwing ideas out until something stuck. I thought I was doing a good job because my students started to get better. My experiences and perceived skill as a bass instructor led me to pursue a degree in music education and spend nearly 10 years teaching public school orchestra at the middle school and high school level. I had many wonderful mentors during this time who provided me with a wealth of wisdom, experience, and insight. Some had Suzuki backgrounds, though they never encouraged me to pursue my own training. 

At this point in my career, I felt I had developed a logical sequence of technique and selected repertoire that was as engaging as it was instructional. Despite the progress I witnessed in many of my students, I noticed that my teaching was primarily reactive—responding to gaps in technical and musical issues as they arose rather than preparing students sequentially in a way that allowed technique to develop more organically. I wanted more for my students and myself.

I stepped away from my job and returned to graduate school. During this time, I took my first Suzuki teacher training course. I was introduced to Suzuki in the Schools by my mentor, Dr. Laurie Scott, who has developed a successful framework for Suzuki in the Schools courses with her colleagues, Winifred Crock and William Dick. These three pedagogues have extensive experience integrating this methodology in elementary through high school orchestras and have now trained hundreds of others to do the same. The Suzuki in the Schools course content supports an overarching philosophical approach to creating a learning community of parents, teachers, and students that supports the efforts and abilities of all learners. The course utilizes core repertoire and supplementary literature while continuing the development of key tenants of learning such as group instruction, aural skills, literacy, and ensemble skills.

What follows are three aspects of my classroom teaching that have benefited from integrating this Suzuki in the Schools approach, which I have come to understand as pillars of Suzuki methodology and philosophy.

Sequencing instruction

As a young orchestra teacher, I thought I was doing the right thing by choosing fun and engaging repertoire for my students to play, passing out parts, and sight-reading from beginning to end. I didn’t give much thought to the myriad skills required to play a piece like Dragonhunter from start to finish for a musician with only six months of instruction on their instrument. When we finished a piece, it would go back on the shelf, never to be performed by that class again. My students weren’t really listening, learning, or succeeding to their fullest potential.

The Suzuki methodology systematically prepares students for the technical and musical demands of the upcoming pieces. I now understand the benefit of sequential repertoire, allowing the technical skill required of a new piece to unfold naturally. What may have previously been technical roadblocks for my students have now been prepared for to facilitate an uninterrupted pace of learning. The small sequential steps help to ensure success at every stage of learning and provide engagement and motivation without prompting a reactive approach from the teacher. Most crucially, students are always listening to their former, current, and future repertoire, creating models for independent learning and self-assessment.

Adapting this preparatory mindset with my orchestra ensures success for many more students. Before a new piece is handed out, students receive a list of measures called “pass-off spots” which are the most pedagogically significant sections of the piece that I teach early and often. If I’m teaching multiple pieces (as orchestra teachers often do) at once, I’ll rehearse the trickiest spots from the most demanding piece first. I’ll also prep the technical skills to execute these passages months before a concert during warm-up and fundamentals time.

My orchestra students also get a playlist with all their music for the year to listen to and internalize. They listen to their spring concert music in September so when spring arrives, they already have an aural concept of the piece. Recordings of our repertoire are playing before school when students are dropping off instruments, entering the room, or packing up. We also actively listen to current repertoire during class, when students can follow their own part or the score as they listen. These exercises have resulted in more integrated learning and independent self-assessment. My favorite part has to be when they leave class singing their parts all the way down the hall to their next class!

I now have a “core” repertoire of sequential pieces important to the technical and musical development of my students. This allows for multiple performances of repertoire, music ready for run-out gigs and spontaneous performances around the school or community, and literature that can be used as a vehicle for future technique development. An added bonus is that when contest season comes around, we already have several pieces that are ready to play and that students have performed in a variety of contexts.

Competition

Music education at the secondary level has become increasingly competitive, particularly in American schools. Contests and competitions for school music programs have prompted many teachers to spend the majority of the school year preparing for a single performance at the annual adjudicated festival—potentially at the expense of broadening the scope of technical or musical instruction. In some school districts, a music teacher’s annual evaluation can be determined by contest scores in comparison to other schools, rather than by the comprehensive nature of their curriculum, the number of students participating in the program, or the musical growth of their students.

Earlier in my career, I spent many extra rehearsal hours preparing for contest performances. Back then, my perception of self-worth as a teacher and as a person was deeply tied to the contest results. It can be hard not to feel that way given the effort and time directors pour into their teaching. While going to contests can be an educational experience, I wonder if all I was doing was reinforcing the premise with my students that a judge’s opinion of their performance at a single point in time determined their musical worth. This approach to music education can impact students’ self-worth, self-efficacy, and development into autonomous, caring members of society. We may never be without competition in American music programs, but the Suzuki philosophy offers an alternative way to approach competition.

Contests should be approached as an educational opportunity; students get to perform in a new acoustical environment and learn how to shape their performance to that stage. Students also get a chance to hear groups from other schools perform, which can further help develop their aural representations and allow self and group evaluation by helping them contextualize their individual and group performance skills.

To prepare students for a contest experience using Suzuki methodology, I offer my students opportunities to play in different acoustical environments. An empty classroom or an auxiliary gymnasium can provide a rich variety of listening environments. I also invite colleagues from around the school to come listen to a rehearsal and offer praise. By integrating these Suzuki-inspired approaches to my regular classroom routine, performing at contests is no longer a novel, high-stress event for me and my students. Instead, it’s simply one more performance during the school year when students have opportunities to share music-making.

Parent involvement

For much of my career, I kept parents at arm’s length. There wasn’t so much a Suzuki Triangle as there was a circle with myself at the center, my students on the perimeter, and parents far beyond the circumference. Perhaps I felt that inviting parents into the conversation regarding their child’s music education also invited criticism of my work, however, welcoming parents and trusted adults into the conversation in my classroom and my studio has profoundly changed my students’ musical outcomes.

The Suzuki methodology has shown me that parents are partners in the learning process rather than adversaries to be avoided. Remember the listening lists from earlier? Parents receive those as part of a weekly email and are encouraged to play the music at home or in the car. I’ve also begun to offer instructional sessions for parents on how to help their children practice effectively at home, where parents can practice becoming effective listeners and offer support, encouragement, and guidance. For students who may struggle to find practice time with a family member or another adult who is willing to listen, I encourage them to perform for a faculty member at school. I keep a list of faculty members who have demonstrated enthusiasm for listening to students. The arrangement is mutually beneficial, allowing the students to build a deeper connection with another adult in their lives who cares for them and for the teachers to see a different side of a student than they may normally experience. This arrangement also provides a means of actualizing the Suzuki Triangle for all students in the school orchestra program regardless of their home environment.

I’ve also conducted a series of lectures for parents of rising sixth and ninth graders targeted specifically at those who are seeing their first child enter middle or high school. The sessions I conduct center around the social and emotional changes students typically experience when beginning a new school, along with the ever-increasing academic demands, extra-curricular options (including my own!), and challenges with time management. I also run sessions for parents of high school juniors and seniors regarding post-high school options, including college, trade school, and military options. Yes, I talk about what it takes to be a music major, but more often I talk about the importance of pursuing some form of continuing education in today’s society and avenues toward lifelong music-making. Most of these talks are about how parents can help their children thrive socially and emotionally during major developmental and educational transitions. Intentionally supporting the evolution and flexibility of the modified Suzuki Triangle to include the contributions of other school community members and peers can widen the base of support for every student and increase a program’s visibility.

Conclusions

Utilizing Dr. Suzuki’s philosophy of developing students as human beings has allowed me to contribute to the overall emotional, intellectual, and musical development of the child. Only when a student feels safe and cared for can they truly discover themselves as musicians. Tending to the emotional needs of my students concurrent with their musical needs allows me to maximize their musical experience. Acknowledging a student’s desire to be validated for their identity and individuality, their need for my approval, and their need for autonomy, competence, and relatedness could enable them to be more willing to listen to recordings, practice pass-off spots, and prepare beautiful and engaging music for performance. 

We all make mistakes when we’re young teachers. I thought I could do it alone and that I knew everything I needed to know when I first got started. Discovering Dr. Suzuki’s teachings and writings after fifteen years of reactionary pedagogy has been a game-changer both in the classroom and in the studio. Even though I was late to the party, I’m so glad I showed up.