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.
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