Cultivating Deep Listening. . . part three

In this third segment on listening, I'm thinking about how beginning Suzuki students learn using the Mother Tongue Approach.  We approach the study of an instrument in the same way that all children learn their languages: by listening.  Students in Book One are listening to the recording to internalize the melodies and accompaniments.  This is different than learning by rote.  Babies don't memorize vocabulary, they internalize it word by word.  Mama, Daddy, blanket, ball--the first words are never separated from their meaning.  When the melodies from Book One are internalized, the child is humming them and singing along naturally.  Finding the notes on the piano should be easy.  If this is not easy, the pieces are not internalized yet and the parents should make sure they are putting the listening on for the child to hear.  Sorry, but it is true.  I see it in my own family.

This should be low hanging fruit.  It is easy to turn on music.  I too am guilty of neglecting the listening--I go in spells where I just plum forget to put it on, and my child stalls out on her progress.  Jeanne Luedke suggests six hours a day of listening to the recording.  See her parent education site: www.parent-child-education.com.  

I actually had a family do this once.  I'm serious.  The mom took me very literally and they listened for six hours a day.  They weren't even home schooled, she had it on for an hour in the morning and five hours after school.  All their waking hours. The girl learned the entire 18 songs with both hands in three months.  I couldn't keep up with her.  I'm totally not recommending that pace, but it was an example worth reflection.

If you are not listening, it is not the Suzuki Method.  You are not being fair to your child.  It is like expecting them to learn a foreign language by magic.

Especially if your child is in Book 1 or 2, please do more listening.  Dust off the CD.  Fix itunes.  Fork over the $30 for a jam-box in the kid's room.  After you own a copy--make more copies of the CD and put them in the car.  In both cars.  Turn on the listening softly when you sit down for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  Make playlists of the songs they are working on over and over.  This is even more important than practicing.  In Books 3 and above our listening changes, but that is a new topic.

If you feel like your child is struggling, have hope, piano doesn't always come easily to my daughter either, I'm going to recommit to making sure I am putting the listening on every day, as much as I can.