Kathryn Drake

Suzuki Violin Teacher

Archives for March 2018

A Formula for Teaching Master Classes

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master class formula

At the Ithaca Talent Education winter workshop this past weekend I logged over 13 hours of observation. A combination of group, master, and enrichment classes filled up Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

I had the privilege to watch and assist Ann Montzka-Smelser, an incredible Suzuki teacher from the Chicago area. After observing hours of her small masterclasses with groups of four students at a time (institute style) I started to pick up on a pattern.

Latching on to, and transforming, an aspect of a student’s playing in 15 minutes or less requires honed teaching skills.

Ann’s efficient routine, obviously refined by years of experience, left parents, observing teachers, and most importantly students, satisfied after just a quarter hour of work.

This is the formula for a satisfying master class lesson, as I observed in Ann’s teaching.

1. BREAK DOWN THE AWKWARDNESS.

Figure out a way to cut through the students’ initial nervousness, either by joking around or asking personal questions. Remind the student this is not a performance, just a lesson.

2. WATCH THE STUDENT PERFORMANCE CLOSELY.

Use this time to gather as much information as possible. Walk around the student to see their posture from behind. See what red flags stand out to you. By the end of the performance pick ONE thing to work on.

3. COMPLIMENT.

Resist the temptation to start working on that point right away. First take time to note to the student what worked very well in their performance. Be extremely genuine, saying what you know to be true. If finding something to genuinely compliment is difficult, consider basic aspects of posture, tone, and musical expression to comment on. Ideally you will also choose something true but that you don’t think they would expect. For example, if it seems a student is very left hand centric make a comment about the beauty of their bow hold or comfort at the frog.

4. SUGGEST A WORKING POINT, CONDITIONALLY.

At this point in master classes I’ve seen teachers dive head first into an uncomfortable technique for the student or smatter the lesson with 25 “suggestions.” Ann on the other hand grounded her working comments by saying, “There is so much already going well, BUT I do need to choose something to work on.” She would often follow the statement up with some sort of guiding question about the working point she decided on during the performance. By starting work in this way, she lay a foundation of good will between her and the student and invited them to take ownership in the working process.

5. WORK ON ONLY ONE THING…

Ann chose just one thing to work on every student with. Sometimes the “one thing” was a giant topic such as tone or relaxed posture, others were incredibly specific such as pinkie pressure for tip support. The key is she chose just one thing, and didn’t let up until the student had success in that arena. Honestly with only 15 minutes, I am often perplexed teachers would dare choose more than one thing anyway.

By the end of the weekend I was often able to guess which aspect of a student’s playing she was going to choose. She strategically worked on THE ONE THING that most affected all other aspects of playing.

For example, she wouldn’t work on developing a particular bow stroke if there were any issues with the bow hold. She would never work on intonation issues before addressing left hand shape. Discussions of musicality could only happen if the student’s resonant tone was in good shape.

Here is a simplified list of teaching priorities in what I perceived to be Ann’s preferred order. [Read more…]

How To Keep Your Student “Right-Side-Up”

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In teacher training with Ed Kreitman a few summers ago, I learned about the meaning of “right side up” and “up side down” students. A right side up student, according to Kreitman, would possess technical capabilities far beyond their own working piece. On the other hand, and “upside down student” is working piece far beyond their own technical capabilities.

The other night I witnessed Christian Tetzlaff perform four of the six Bach Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin in one recital! Though Bach’s solo works for violin contain some of the most difficult elements of violin playing, it is abundantly obvious Mr. Tetzlaff’s technical ability is so expansive that he has the bandwidth to perform four in sequence with incredible musical endurance and sensitivity. Tetzlaff has played Bach for decades, has recorded repertoire from Vivaldi to Berg, and regularly performs to filled halls. He is also critically aware of his own capabilities as a concert violinists, and can reliably perform programs without faltering. His presentation of solo Bach the other night was an extreme example of “right-up-ship.”

Imagine, as a contrasting example, a student who isn’t even technically capable of playing Twinkle with good posture, intonation, or tone, attempting to navigate Gossec Gavotte. Not only are their skills underdeveloped, they are exacerbating the issue by playing a piece so technically out of their league. What is usually the most problematic about “upside down students” however is that they think they are successfully on track. They think because they did the work of note learning to get from Twinkle to Gossec Gavotte, that they are as accomplished as any person playing Gossec Gavotte. In other words they have the same mindset as Christian Tetzlaff, but none of the skill.

“Upside down students” dangerously measure success by the boxed number above each Suzuki piece in the repertoire books. The further they are in the book, the better they think they are. [Read more…]

Navigating the ‘Trial’ Lesson With a Transfer Student

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trial lesson transfer

I recently listened to an interview with Suzuki violin teacher Winifred Crock released on the SAA podcast series “Building Noble Hearts.” While studying the Suzuki method at the graduate level with John Kendall, Crock received a Rotary scholarship to study with Dr. Suzuki in Japan. Crock reflects on the official application she submitted to the Talent Education institute in Matsumoto, complete with recordings of violin sonatas and concertos.

On one of her first days in Japan the secretary handed her a bundle and the following exchange took place…

Secretary: Here’s your tapes… We weren’t quite sure why you sent them.
Crock: What. Why?
Secretary: Oh no one will ever listen to them.
Crock: What? You accepted me as a student didn’t you?
Secretary: Dr. Suzuki will accept anyone who is willing to work and willing to learn.

In the interview, Crock went on to say, “There wasn’t an acceptance in terms of my playing level. I was shocked. I was just accepted. I was accepted.”

The idea that Suzuki would accept anyone into his teacher training program is at odds with our competitive environment and culture of scarcity.

If we want to take on the radical work of acceptance which Suzuki championed, I think we need to understand the “willing to work and willing to learn” side of his acceptance.

In a blog post published a few weeks I grappled with the question, “Does being selective about which families I take on make me a bad Suzuki teacher?”

As a teacher who believes every child can, determining if whether a new family is ready to join my studio can be challenging. I previously outlined the approach Carrie Reuning Hummel uses to make the challenging decision about readiness with brand new students. [Read more…]

A (Not The) Way to Think of Suzuki Book 1-4

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guideposts

Ed Kreitman broadly thinks about Suzuki Book 1-4 with the following overarching goals.

Book 1: Balanced Posture
Book 2: Tone
Book 3: Musicality
Book 4: Virtuosity

So for in my teaching career, these guideposts have been incredibly helpful.

To think about Book 1 through the lens of posture allows me to stay focused, easily assess my success, and give appropriate feedback to my students. I know when to move on because I’ve assigned (or borrowed Kreitman’s assignment) purpose to the book. If I don’t accomplish balanced posture in Book 1, there is no way I can layer tone, musicality, and virtuosity onto my student’s sets of skills. [Read more…]

Music Administrator Job Application (and Interview!) Process

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interview

Moving from Austin, where I did my undergraduate degree, to Ithaca, where I’m pursuing my masters, has been a smooth transition. The two cities have many of the same values: localism, environmental sensitivity, strong academic centers, cooperative organizations, and fantastic local music. The first farmers market I went to in Ithaca blew me away. I was delighted that with just a quick bike ride I could find myself in the heart of a beautiful state park. The local bookstores, cooperative grocery, dive bars and art museum in Ithaca easily keep pace with Austin despite Austin’s much larger population.

One of the few things Ithaca isn’t able to keep up with, however, is the opportunity to teach.

An institution that prides itself on training music educators, Ithaca College offers an incredible range of courses on all aspects of musicianship and education. It places it’s undergraduates in a junior and senior student teaching assignment, and offers observations for string players at one of the pre-eminent Suzuki schools, Ithaca Talent Education, within walking distance of the college.

Because the college churns out so many amazing teachers who want to stay in the beautiful area, and because the area’s population is more college and older-professor aged, it is difficult to find young students to take on. Which is why I was delighted to be informed of the opportunity to work in an administrative capacity for the newly formed Cayuga Chamber Orchestra Youth Orchestra (CCOYO).

The CCOYO was started at the beginning of this school year by two ITE violin teachers, Sarah Cummings and Kirsten Marshall. Seeing the lack of opportunity for young students to play symphonic works in the Ithaca area, they built a youth orchestra from the ground up under the parent organization of the Cayuga Chamber Orchestra. Though the work of the youth orchestra is shared by Kirsten, the conductor, and a small board (Sarah the chair), members felt that the organization needed an operations manager to take on the bulk of the administrative duties and to be present at all rehearsals.

When Carrie Reuning-Hummel, my Suzuki teaching mentor, discussed the opportunity with me she emphasized how incredible the chance to work closely with Sarah Cummings and Kirsten Marshall would be. Beyond that, I easily saw value in the opportunity to hone my administrative skills at a time when I wouldn’t be able to teach very much. Most importantly, I knew that if I was offered the job I would be helping to lay the foundation for a very important organization in the Ithaca community.

Wanting to put my best foot forward, I took the following steps. I share these steps below not to brag about the process, but because they have been helpful thus far in landing me an important music administration job. I want to remind myself — and share with others — a process that can lead to successful employment in this field. [Read more…]