Kathryn Drake

Suzuki Violin Teacher

Archives for January 2019

Reading Generously vs. Reading Critically

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Every semester the music education department at Ithaca College hosts a symposium and invites speakers to come present.

This year they invited Randall Allsup, a professor from Teacher’s College Columbia University focused on social justice in music education.

He presented many thought provoking ideas about how equity is different than equality, how our spaces can affirm difference, and how challenging it can be to overcome financial stratification in our field.

The one thing I want to share with you today though is something he just mentioned in passing. He had us read into a project “generously” and then immediately afterward read into it “critically.”

We are often in classrooms, but in the real world too, are encouraged to either not think (be passive) or when we do think to think skeptically. We are taught to look critically at what we’ve been presented, to figure out how we are being tricked, mislead, persuaded maliciously. We are taught to look for the faults. We are taught to see how the project will fail in the future, why we shouldn’t invest in it.

Rarely do we THINK with enthusiasm, with generosity. [Read more…]

How To Explain the Suzuki Method to Another Musician

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One of the greatest challenges of being a Suzuki teacher is attempting to explain the Suzuki Method quickly and clearly.

The method is unlike others, especially other music methods, and therefore it can be MOST difficult to explain Suzuki to another musician, or parent with musical background.

Earlier this semester I had to do just that. I was assigned to teach a day of Strings Class — a course I TA for at Ithaca College– exclusively on the Suzuki Method. The students in our class are incredibly proficient non-string players (winds, brass, percussion, voice, piano) who are either majoring or double majoring in music education. The course is designed to give an overview of string technique and pedagogy while the students learn the basics on violin, viola, cello and bass.

I thought long and hard about how I was going to teach this class.

I wanted to capture the depth of the method alongside its practicality. I wanted to show how beautifully it is sequenced and well thought out for violinists, but how easily the approach could be mapped to any instrument or skill.

I knew we needed to discuss the following core principles of Suzuki
– every child can
– robust learning environment (like that of language)
– set repertoire and emphasis on review
– home practice + lesson with teacher + group class with peers
– knowledge + 10,000 reps = skill [Read more…]

Instruction = Technique + Musicality

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I’ve been attending Suzuki teacher trainer Kirsten Marshall’s Book 4 and 5 class every Saturday. Not only am I observing, she has actually allowed me to actively participate in every class.

On the first day she asked all the students to line up in order by height. She the looked at me, a graduate student in Suzuki Pedagogy, and with a wry smile said, “You too!”

Kirsten’s classes are exhilarating— equal parts energetic and methodical. She is as deliberate as she is spontaneous. Students know how they are expected to be (play, act, think at a high level), but have no idea what the class will hold when they walk through the doors.

I’ve noticed many features of Kirsten’s teaching, both macro themes and micro tips, which I want to share here.

One thing I’ve seen her do over and over again is use a formulaic pattern of instruction when talking in detail about the musical interpretation of a passage.

She firsts describes the passage with a colorful, often evocative emotion or image. She then follows up that description IMMEDIATELY with a handful of technical instructions to make that emotion or image come to life on the violin.

So, for example, she might say…
“The start of this gesture should sound like a bubble bursting in the air!”

And immediately follow up with…
“Start the bow on the string…

Of course the incredible power is not saying one or the other but saying them both.

A musical idea without technical instruction is ineffective.

Technical instruction without a musical idea to serve is one dimensional.

This is a simple idea, but I’m curious how often you actually engage the formula in your own teaching. If you’re anything like me, your instructions could use Kirsten’s finesse.

Suzuki In 2019 – What Does It LOOK Like?

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I’m fascinated by the way our brains choose to summarize a collection of memories, a wide variety of perspectives, or wealth of facts.

What do you think of when you think of your childhood?
What do you think of when you consider the value of algebra?
What does social justice look like to you?

The images we conjure are varied. They are unique and individual to our own narratives.

I remember Carrie Reuning-Hummel asking the graduate students of our Suzuki seminar what image came to mind when we thought of the Suzuki Method.

We went around the table and shared. One person thought of a parent practicing with their child. Another person conjured up the tune of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. Yet another imagined a gymnasium full of Japanese children playing the Bach Double in unison. 

Each of us had differing, yet valid, mental images of what the Suzuki Method is.

Our images must, of course, depend on our memories. Our memory of experiences in the method– or our memory of stories shared with us or training imprinted on our minds.

Each of our collections of images which consolidates into a flashing image which represents our view of the Suzuki Method is undoubtedly narrow.

I want to expand my idea what the Suzuki Method looks like. I want to update my vision from a historic 1960’s version, even an early 2000’s vision (when I was a student of the method) to an understanding rooted in 2019. [Read more…]