The Importance of Listening in the Suzuki Approach
Η μουσικη είναι θαυμάσια
What in the world does this mean and how do you say it?
Well, if you knew this was greek text, you could look up the Greek alphabet, learn the phonetic symbols and their sounds and practise reading this short sentence. You could then try to impress your Greek friends by sharing with them your newly gained skill only to be frustrated because they would not understand what you were saying for lack of wrong or poor pronunciation. This means you would have to go back and try to figure out whether the vowels were diphthongs or monophthongs and where the intonation lay. This process would be followed by practice reading the phrase over and over again and hoping that this time your Greek friends would understand you. Your effort at learning to read a single Greek sentence could take weeks of practice and end with you giving up.
Now, imagine if you attempted to learn this phrase by first asking your Greek friends to teach you how to say “Music is wonderful”, in Greek. This process would be minimally, if at all, frustrating, and, you would be instantly gratified and confident that you could learn more. Your Greek friends would tell you how great you sounded and you would experience success.
So, why is it so much easier saying a sentence accurately in a foreign language once you’ve heard it, as opposed to learning to say it by reading it without having heard it? When we know what the end product sounds like we know where we’re headed: we know our goal.
Music is first and foremost about sound, just like speaking. Before babies can say their first words “mama” and “dada” they have usually heard these words 2000 times. Moreover, parental positive reinforcement once babies utter their first word encourages them to want to say more. The next words come quicker and by the time children are five years old they have usually accumulated 5000 words, which they have learned by listening, saying and being encouraged to repeat them.
As Dr Suzuki said, “we are born with the natural ability to learn” and since “the perfect educational method [is the] mother tongue” method, the more young pianists listen to their pieces the easier it is for them to accurately play them because they know their goal and can self-correct in the process of reaching it. We can all sing familiar songs like “Happy Birthday” without voice lessons because we have heard these songs enough times to know what pitches to produce when singing them. If we know where we are headed, it is easier to get there; and, since music is an art for the ears we have to give our ears every opportunity to listen to the end product. Developing a talent and love of music is nourishment for the soul and happy soul is a happy child!
Tips for Listening to Suzuki Recordings
1. Listen daily at the same time
2. Instil the love of listening to music by listening with your child
3. Sing meaningful words to the melodies (you can personalize them about your child)
4. Take your CD with you on holidays. The piano may be too big but the music isn’t
5. Extra copies: copy the music and play it everywhere
6. New: talk about the new pieces your child will learn as you listen to the music
“Listening until we remember is not enough. We must listen until we cannot forget.”-Shinichi Suzuki
Blog post adapted from an article originally written for Twinkling the Ivories by ESPS teacher Joyce Sipsas