Suzuki Moms Unite

The purpose of this post is mostly to document and explain how to modify the Suzuki Method to accommodate our adorable non-linear learners.

First I would like to introduce the concept of the wet cement....
When a child first learns a new tune or piece...it is as if the child, parent and teacher are starting out with clean, freshly laid wet cement. Schinichi Suzuki rightfully uses listening to imprint the cement with the knowledge of the piece that comes from listening...and the recording never makes a mistake....there are no wrong steps in the cement.

When I started my non-linear learner (Isaaiah) on a new piece when she was little. I made sure that we didn't make ANY wrong steps in the cement. We sang the notation with the correct note sounds in the car. I would sing the first two lines or so in the car...asking them to sing along...but I was singing louder than they were....I would sing at least 10 times through....then I would start to drop out on a few letters to see if the kids were on track (asking them to sing loud)...After that I would sing with one child and then with the other. Eventually I would ask each child to sing the begining on their own, then we would sing it together, and then the other child would sing on their own, then we would sing together. I would sing the correct note loudly if they went off track...and we wouldn't speak of any mistakes. Do not call attention to mistakes (it deepens the mark in the cement)

After I had each child confidently singing the first line or so by themself...We would pretend to play the correct fingers on our INVISIBLE VIOLINS. Invisible violins do not wreck the cement. Of course I did this in the car, and couldn't see if they were correct on their invisible violins, but their errors are not glaring and they improve with finger accuracy if you are singing slowly enough.

Sometimes we wouldn't pick up the real violin, or work on the new tune, until I felt that I had an 89% chance of having no errors. Then as this video will show...I would sing the note and the notation before Isaaiah could make a mistake. This video is after she played this tune for a while....she is playing faster, but still struggling with what comes next.

If the child plays a wrong note...sing the correct note...louder than they are playing it...and go forward...do not call attention to the error.




If a non-linear style learning child has gotten hopelessly entangled in errors in a song....it is better to leave it....and do a better job of preventing problems on the next song. Note order, and remembering section orders is an ongoing challenge...having problems with this is normal for any child. A linear learner will use cognitive clues to figure out what to do next...and Non-linear learner will play along with the music in their head...which has hopefully been laid cleanly down.

When I talked to teachers about a child's learning style, I mostly got blank stares...when I talked about the cement....I got blank stares. If I had let the teacher TEACH my child....we would have had a disaster...I always hurried to prepare my child enough so that the teacher wouldn't cause damage to the cement during the lesson. It was a little nerve racking.

Here are some Suzuki play through videos showing Lorita having fun with the kids in Book 1.


In the previous video, Lorita is helping the children remember to lift the bow, by associating it with a happy thought...the parents stand up and clap on the lift...and the children feel in control ....GENIUS!!

In the next video, Loretta is leading the children a world tour with Aunt Rhody, they go to Egypt (low ones), Antartica....and some other places, changing the style of Aunt Rhody to match the geography or custom. In Antartica...Aunt Rhody is freezing that is why the children are playing like shivering....



Lorita did many other amazing things with music, now I wish I had documented them all. I'll try to remember more or find more video.