Violin through the Ages

Well, ok - it isn't exactly through the Ages... through a child's lifetime?

Delta at Violin Lesson - Age 4

(Sorry about the picture quality of some of these - they have been taken with a variety of cameras over the years, and not always the best!  And Blogger converts them so they take less space - which affects the quality too.)

In this video, you can see Delta (and the Saturday Beginner Class) playing the "E String Concerto" in the spring concert.  Delta is the boy on the far right (looking at them) - the one closest to the camera. This was 2008, and so he would be 4 years old, and had been playing the violin for about 8 months (the first 3 on a boxilin).

The next video is during a "Solo Day" in class.  Delta is playing the "E String Concerto" again.  Solos are selected to be a song the child is very familiar with, and not their latest songs.  Delta had just changed teachers a few weeks earlier, and could "Twinkle", but just.  He had now been playing for about a year and a half.  He is 5.

Not quite a year later, and a lot of progress has been seen.  On Solo day, Delta is playing "Long Long Ago". Delta is 6, and playing for 2.5 years.  (Unfortunately, the video gives an error when I try to upload it...)

About 1/2 a year later, I have a video of Delta playing at home.  He is playing Perpetual Motion (it wouldn't be considered solo ready.)   You can see that Delta has a firmly entrenched bad habit - the "Frying Pan" hand.  His left hand is flat supporting the violin, instead of the wrist being straight.  This ends up being a major problem.  (This can cause physical problems, as well as stopping the progress of a violinist.  Delta is 6 in the video, and would have been playing for almost 3 years.

The next year during Solo Day, Delta is playing Etude.  He would now be 7, and playing for 3.5 years. (This video won't load either...)

Another 1/2 year later, we have the Winter Concert, where he is playing Minuet 1.  Delta is the boy next to the piano (whom the director obscures as she rocks back and forth.)  By this time he is 8, and playing for 4 years.  His teacher had by this time decided that he didn't like violin and this was to be the end of violin (as far as she was concerned) for him - but she agreed to continue with him if he continued to practice.  (By this time in lessons he is at the start of Book 2)

Just a few months later.  Delta is leading his class in a Minuet.  This was probably his last class before his teacher decided she would no longer teach him.  He is at this point 8, and been playing for 4.5 years.

At this point, we took a year long break from doing violin.  Delta was "done" as far as he was concerned.  He has recently taken it up again.  I am a little disappointed to see how many songs he has forgotten.  I'm sure he will learn them fairly quickly again though.  We don't have a teacher, and probably won't be able to have one for several months.  The good thing though, is he is enjoying violin again.  And as far as I'm concerned - more important than the number of songs - he is fixing his bad habits.  I just took the following video - and see how straight his wrist is!  He has never consistently played with a straight wrist, and honestly did resist correction.  Now a quick reminder if it starts to flatten, and it is back to straight!  I think he is also being much more careful of finger placement as well.  We shall just have to see how it goes.

It hasn't been an easy trip - and certainly a lot slower than seems to be normal out in the Suzuki community. The thing is,  I love to hear him play, and I hope he will love to play now and in the future.

The many uses of Anki!

Quite a while ago, I posted that I was using a free flashcard program for things like Scriptures and other memory work.  However, it has become a lot more useful as time goes on - and I expect I'll find more uses for it as time goes one.

First off, what is ANKI?  Anki is a Spaced Repetition System flashcard program.  When you are first learning or memorizing something, you need to review it often for it to be remembered.  But as time goes on, you don't need to review as often to continue to remember it.  An SRS program uses the feedback you provide it for each 'card" on how easily you remembered it (or if you forgot it) to determine when you should review it again.  Things you remembered easily won't be reviewed for a longer time.  Things you forgot will be reviewed very soon.  This way you can spend the most time with the cards that need the most review.  It is a much more efficient way to learn and memorize basic information.  (There can be some drawbacks to that... but overall it is working well.)

One thing that is nice that was recently added is the ability to have more than one "profile" for Anki on the computer.  This is very important for us, as I'm using it for each of us.

So - what are we using it for?

Well, first off - we are using it for our Scripture Memory.  I have a list of scriptures we are working on.  The ones we aren't working on yet are "suspended" so they don't get presented.  Once the "new" scripture is learned (and Anki does tell you how many cards are "new", so as we generally only work on one) - I then unsuspend the next one.  Meanwhile, each day, we are given a few to review.  Along the same lines, we use it for other similar things to memorize.  Scouting promises, poetry, etc.

The next possibility - which we AREN'T doing yet - is also fairly obvious.  And that is to learn vocabulary for a foreign language.  This is fairly obvious, as that was what Anki was developed for.  The Lifeprint ASL course does have some sentence flashcards which I will probably add to ANKI.

Next thing we use it for is our All About Spelling.  This is a natural use, as AAS uses flashcards.  By using ANKI, I don't have to drag out the cards, and I don't have to try to keep track of the words for multiple kids (or have several sets of cards.)  I don't have to decide myself if a card is mastered or not.  I've entered all the cards in, and suspend them until we have done the learning portion of the lesson.  I've also entered the extra words (into a separate card "deck") so that we can study these too.  Although we are using pretty much the basic settings for review (and this works quite well for my students) - it might be too much review for some....  the settings can be adjusted.

The Dancing Bears program I'm using to work on improving reading also had some flashcards (similar ones to the phongrams for AAS).  So we have a deck for those.

And then Math is another great place to use it.  A simple use would be to setup the basic operations to memorize.  RightStart Math doesn't recommend rote memorization of the operations through flashcards, so I haven't put them in.  What I've done, however, is enter in the Practice Sheets.  I let ANKI tell me which Practice Sheet should be done by the student. We generally only do 1 a day, and when all the ones we are working on are mastered, I unsuspend a few more.  Basically, if they get any wrong on the practice sheet, it is marked as "Again" (that is, not correct.)  If they seemed to struggle with it, I mark it as "Hard".  If they didn't seem to struggle, but took a while to do it, it is marked as "Good".  If they do it fairly quickly, then it is marked as "Easy".

Something I have just added in very recently is the RightStart Math Games.  I'm going to try out letting ANKI figure out our Math Games.  I'm hoping to do a lot of math games this summer, and hopefully this will give us a good suggestion on the best way to use our game time.

Finally, there is one other thing I've used Anki before in the past.  However, it was an earlier version, and required a plug-in and a lot of tweaking.  I haven't really tried it in the new version yet, as I didn't get it quite how I want it.  I feel that Anki could be used very well for this with a LOT of tweaking with the settings.  And that is for our Suzuki music practice.  In theory, if I could find the right settings, I could have it help us decide which songs to practice each day - so that we focus on the songs that NEED more practice, and just do occasional reviews on the other songs.  But with anything close to the default settings, the songs would quickly move to hardly being practiced at all.  Because the goal with the music practice isn't to memorize the song, but to play it well.  And that takes more practice.

So far, I've been very happy with our use of ANKI.  My kids aren't using it on their own - I use it to tell me what to work on with them.  (So for instance, with the AAS cards, it shows me the word for them to spell.  Yes, in theory, I could have put an audio file on the "side 1" with me saying the word, and then them typing the word in - then check against the answer - but I just use it like the AAS program would have me use the physical cards.

One minor problem I have found is when you add things into ANKI to review that is already well known.  It takes ANKI a bit of time of reviewing things with you before it knows that you know it.  Yes, answering "Easy" moves the time to review further in the future... but you will still be reviewing the card more often than you need for a while.  In theory you can adjust the card manually, but I haven't played with that.  It can be a bit of a problem though when you start using ANKI for a subject partway through a course/program.  So, for instance, starting using ANKI for AAS 10 lessons in....  expect to spend some time reviewing for a bit!  It is minor, but can be a bit annoying.

A couple of more pieces of advice.... Don't go crazy and start reviewing large numbers of new cards all at once.  This is common for people to do once they discover this program, and can cause a large number of review cards due all at once.  A similar problem will occur after a long break.  (We see it a bit after a weekend.... and I'm a bit worried about after summer!)  AND - If you do find that you have a large number of reviews due (say after the summer) - the advice is to decide on a length of time to work on it, set a timer, and stop at that point for the day. Don't reset the deck - that would put you in a worse position!

Solo Day

It was Solo Day at our violin group class... the last group class of the year.

Echo played Allegro....

And Delta played Etude....

I hope you enjoy!

Scripture Memory System

We have been using the Scripture Memory System at Simply Charlotte Mason for quite a while, and it has worked well. However, I have recently made a couple of adjustments that work for us that I'd like to share.

With the original, you have new scriptures (or whatever) that you read daily... once they are known, you read them every other day (Odd/Even) and then as you learn more, they get moved to tabs behind Monday/Tuesday/etc.... then eventually to tabs 1-31.... so as you know the scripture more and more, you practice it less often... each day you are reviewing a few scriptures.

The problem we have, is that we aren't totally consistent. Sometimes we miss doing it a day. And there are some days we are more likely to miss (like Friday, which tends to be our "wild" day.) So then, the same scriptures are being missed in the review. I also found when we finished a new scripture, I couldn't ever remember which Odd/Even to change, and which one to change from the weekday tabs, etc.

So, I've made a simple change, which also means we use a lot less tabs! We have a tab labeled "New" (or Daily), one named "Alternate", one labeled "weekly", and one labeled "monthly".

So, behind New, we have our new scripture, which we read daily together. Behind "Alternate", we have 2 scriptures. We read 1, and rotate it behind the other one. Behind "Weekly" we have 7 scriptures. We read 1, and rotate it behind the others. Behind "Monthly" we would have 30 (we aren't there yet!) - and again, rotate through them. Eventually, I'd just increase the number of scriptures we read each day from behind the "Monthly" tab.

As for knowing which one to move to the next section when we learn a new scripture... I've just added numbers to our scripture cards.... so I just need to move the lowest numbered card to the next section.

Oh, and we do use this system for other things we want to memorize. We have put in things like Scouting Promises etc. While learning these types of things, they are added to the scripture ones... so we are always working on a new scripture, but may also have something else we are reading daily.

Hope this helps someone!

Oh, and just to add in - we are doing something similar with our review songs in violin... I used to have a chart - "practice these songs on this day, etc" - but risked missing the same songs over and over. Now our chart is a 6 day chart.... (6 days of practice, 1 of indiv. lessons). Now if we miss a day of practice, the next day we do the practice "day" we missed. So if on Tuesday we did Day 2 practice, then don't practice on Wednesday... on Thursday we would do Day 3 practice. The next week we just start on whatever day we are on.

Suzuki Violin Resources

Just wanted to pass on these free resources I found for Suzuki Violin here.

There is a free pack of Pre-Twinkle songs (similar to in Step-by-Step). There are fantastic articles as well, including the first 10 things to teach to a new violin student, and another on repetition that has some good practice games.

Enjoy!

Suzuki Update

I seem to be having a big drought of wonderfully insightful ideas to share with everyone, so I thought I'd share how Suzuki violin has been going with the Maple Hill Academy recently.

We just had our Winter concert, and that went quite well. Delta played in about 7 or 8 of the songs, including Minuet 1 which he had just gotten passed off by the teacher to play in the concert. Echo played in 3 of the songs. And I've discovered that my camera doesn't have enough space to tape all their songs anymore. It has the biggest SD card it can use, and that size card is so small that you can't find them to buy more. Oh well, I guess I know what is on my wish list.... but I don't think that wish will be granted for a while.

Delta has gotten a lot better with practices now. I had seen an improvement before, but the last couple of weeks he has really improved (although he still sometimes gets upset when it is time to start.... but then works hard.) I think he has seen the relationship between practice and progress. And he is in a group class now that is all boys about the same age, and all in the last few songs of book 1... and a couple seem to progress a bit faster, and he wants to play more songs.

Then, the last 2 weeks, I changed a bit of how we are doing the practice - giving him a little more input into things. The changes are based on things that I've read on the internet at various places.

First, I found a chart for handling review songs a bit better. Before we had been trying to do each review song once a week - but that just didn't always work. Now we have categorized all the songs he can play. A songs are ones that he doesn't feel he could ever forget. B songs are ones that he feels really confident on. C songs are ones that could use a bit more work, or more polishing. D songs are ones that really need work - either recent ones, or ones that he forgot. We will categorized the songs every 2 weeks. A songs are played once in the 2 week period. B songs twice. C songs 4 times, and D songs are done each day. A couple of the D songs are chosen to be specifically worked on. I let Delta decide where each song was categorized, and over-all I think he did a pretty good job. This was part of his input.

Then I took our basic checklist type practice sheet for the week. The list now seems a lot more manageable, as things are grouped together more. Basically, his list this week was: Tonalizations, Review Songs (he needs to do 3 to 4 a day to handle the A-C lists over the 2 weeks), His "Lick" assigned by the teacher (or any other assignments from her), his "D-list Songs", His "Name" song (will discuss below), his Reading practice, and his new song. He can pick which order he does these (and if he is going to do it all at once or break it up into a couple of different practice sessions in the day.) He also is selecting the review songs... sometimes he just chooses, sometimes he spins a spinner we have, and sometimes he draws from cards I made up with all the songs. If he picks one randomly that he has already practiced enough for the 2 week period, he just picks another (until they have all been done - then he can pick whatever.)

For the D List songs, we are playing the game from the "I love to practice kit" for the song we want to focus on most days, although that depends a bit on our time etc. We have only owned the kit for a few months, and the first few times we used it, he didn't seem to like it so much - so I put it away.... but he seemed happy to try it again, and when he saw how quickly he pulled together Minuet 1 from barely able to play through it to playing it well in just a couple of days, I think he is "sold" on it.

Now - the new incentive/progress tracking thing.... the "Name Songs". This also will tie in nicely with the "AAA club" that is new to our Suzuki program here. That is the Anytime, Anywhere, for Anybody club. Basically, there will be some recognition for students that have 10 songs that the teacher and student has signed as being able to be played with a skill of 10/10, and could be played anytime, anywhere, for anybody. However, the Name Songs is a little different, and was an idea I found on the internet. I used Word to make a sign that has my son's name and the words Book 1 on it. So it would say "Delta Book 1". I picked a nice font for it, and setup the format of the font to "Outline" so that the words can be coloured in. Then I took the printout, added a few lines to break the words up into 22 parts for the 22 songs in book 1, (6 twinkle variations, and 16 other songs) and then I numbered them lightly with pencil. For each song, there will be 2 stages.

The first stage, Delta will play the song CORRECTLY at home 25x in a week, not missing any days. (He is doing about 6x each day, to allow for the odd day when practice might be cut short and he can only play the song once...) Correctly means correct fingerings, correct bowing, but not necessarily with the dynamics. They can even stop-place-play if desired. Oh, the 25x correctly don't have to be in a row, but any incorrect playings don't count. Once he has played the 25x correctly, he gets a small sticker on the number on his sign, and moves to stage 2.

The second stage, Delta will continue to practice the song each day as much or as little as he feels necessary to polish in items like the dynamics and timing. Once ready he will ask the teacher to "test" him for the song for the AAA club (if we didn't have the AAA club, he would just ask to be tested on the song being polished). Once that song has been accepted as a 10 by both him and the teacher, he will get to colour in that part of his sign.

We just started the "name songs" a week and a half ago, and he has been working hard on the twinkles. Of course they are easy songs for him, but it is great to see him eagerly working at getting 25 repetitions in for the week. And it is creating a good habit of really working at repeating a song correctly that will aid him with the harder songs. I am looking forward to seeing him get to colour in his sign. The making of this sign has also made him notice how close he is getting (in the number of songs) to the end of book 1.

Now all that said, Echo hasn't been at all interested in her name sign, and has not wanted to work on her "name songs" at all. In fact, she doesn't seem to interested in practice at all, and isn't liking the "I Love to Practice Kit" still.

Year 0 Music

On a message board I frequent, there was a question on what a mom can do about music instruction with their Year 0 (and Year K) children when they can't afford lessons and don't feel confident enough to teach them themselves. This mom did intend their children to do Piano when they were older. Here is my response.


What you can do at home on your own may depend a lot on what music skills you (or other family members) already have. Listening to good classical music is a HUGE part of music education, even if you can't do anything else. That can make a huge difference when the child later learns an instrument. Find quality recordings by good artists. (I'd buy the Suzuki CD's for the Piano, or whichever instrument you are thinking of for the future - even if you don't plan to do Suzuki.)

And as hard as it can be for an adult - for year 0 kids, I would say that repetition can be more important than a huge selection. (My 18 month old "sings" the notes to "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" and "Allegro" because she hears them so often. (My older kids do Suzuki violin, and the oldest is doing home-taught piano based on Suzuki Piano. So we listen to the CDs for Violin 1 and 2, and the CDs for Piano 1 and 2 every day) (As violin has 6 different rhythm variations of Twinkle on the CD, and Piano has 8 Twinkle variations on the CD - my 18 month old hears a variation of Twinkle 14 times a day at least from the CD's - and then hears it at least a couple of times from daily practice of the older kids.))

I know that not everyone can afford lessons..... but look into bursaries. A lot of programs out there do have bursaries or scholarships for people that need it. Sometimes deals can be worked on a barter system, if you have a skill that the instructor could use.

For older kids, some Orchestra's have programs to help teach kids musical instruments that aren't as "popular" - ones where there tends to be a shortage of players for the orchestra... (Things like Bassoon, or Oboe, or Tuba - I'm not sure which ones but there are ones out there...)

Back to what you can do now - besides the listening a lot - I would say that rhythm is a major thing. (If you do get the Suzuki CD's, you will here the Twinkle Variations that are different IMPORTANT rhythms in classical (and other styles) of playing. They were selected for a reason. I don't know the reasons for all of them, but as we go further in music, I see the rhythms over and over. Clap these, or other rhythms. Get some cheap rhythm instruments. We have used plastic coffee cans from Mike's for drums... we have real maracas, as well as some toy ones. Cheap tamborines from the $ store. Shakers. Some of this can be homemade - but I think that if you can get quality real ones, the sound is noticable. Practice "marching" to the beat. rhythm is SO important in music.

If you have a piano at home - start singing some of the notes. (make sure the piano is tuned!) Play a C key, and sing "Seaaaaa (C)" do the A key and sing "Aaaaaaa" (try to match the key). If you start doing this young enough, your child is very likely to develop "Perfect Pitch" which is loved by choir directors and music teachers of any instrument. If they don't develop "Perfect Pitch", they will probably still have a very strong "Relative Pitch", which is also very helpful. Note that you are not trying to teach the child where those keys are on the piano - you are teaching them that that tone or sound has a name, and this is the name.

Great Weekend

Just wanted to say that we have had a great weekend.

First, Delta, along with other suzuki classmates, was asked to play before the Symphony this weekend. Basically, they played violin music in the lobby area as people came in. They had quite the audience - and they all did very well. We got 2 tickets for the symphony, and Delta loved it. He now wants to be a conductor when he is an adult.

I also got a package from Book Samaritan! They didn't send a lot (I don't think they get a lot of living books), but I did get a couple of books that will be great as they are on the Year 2 list (that I haven't finalized yet) - and I did get one of the Exploring Creation books too.

Oh, and Delta learned "May Song" on the violin in about 3 days. He learned a couple of parts of it from his teacher on Friday (with permission to finish it if he wanted) - and today he played it all the way through. (not at speed yet - but with no errors at a practice speed.) I'm impressed!

Suzuki Primer

I don't know if I will be able to write this as smoothly as what I had thought of the other day, but I'm going to do my best.

Sometimes being a Suzuki parent can be kind of confusing at first. Delta has been in the Suzuki violin program for 2 years now (starting his 3rd year), and Echo has started officially now too. It isn't the most experience out there, but on the other hand, I still remember the "fun" of being new... so here goes.

Rent or Buy

First thing first - your child will need a violin. You may need one too (depending on the implementation of the program.) When you look at the fact that your child is going to outgrow their violin, rental at first seems like a good choice. There may be times when that is still the best choice - but do some thinking first. How long are you likely to need a size of violin? Are there more children coming along that will need a violin too?

Where we are, you can get an excellent used child violin for around $250-$300. This is not necessarily a "concert grade" violin - but we have gotten used Suzuki brand violins for that price with a very good tone. Used violins can be gotten from a registry from your Suzuki group, or from music stores that rent or sell violins.

To rent a violin, on the other hand spreads the cost across the time, but you don't end up with anything for it. Where I am, the suzuki program has a limited number of rental violins for $10 a month.... and most of the stores rent violins for about $15 a month.

Delta was in the 1/16th violin for 2 years.... if we had rented for that time, even at the $10 a month, we would have paid out $240 in rental fees, and still not owned a violin. As you can usually "trade up" or resell the used violin for around 50 to 75% of what you paid for it if still in good condition (or even more) - it just doesn't make sense. Especially when you look at the fact that Echo is now using the violin, and probably Foxtrot will too.

For your adult violin, however, it is not as easy of a question. It depends on if you want to play on the long term or not. Assuming that the program where you are requires the parent to learn for a while, you will probably need a violin for at least the first year, possibly a couple. It might be worth buying an inexpensive violin, or you may just want to rent it.

Buying the Violin

One thing to keep in mind, is that the completion of sale should be based "On approval of the teacher." We have bought 2 violins - and we have taken 2 back for a different one. (1 was too big even though it was supposed to be the correct size - violin sizes are not totally standard. The other was ok, but the teacher said to see if there was a different one with better tone.) The store we have dealt with has been excellent at letting us get one that worked best for us.

I know that some of the other parents have bought violins through a mail-order place that the one teacher has recommended as having ok, inexpensive, violins. These violins were even less expensive than the ones I mentioned above, but are not as nice. One mom has bought very inexpensively off of ebay. There is a risk doing either of these, as you need to look at the shipping costs, especially if there is a problem with the violin and it needs to be returned. However, it is something to consider.

I have to learn too!

A lot of the suzuki programs require the parent (or "home teacher" - as you are called during practice time, etc) to learn the violin too, at least at the beginning. These seems to vary a bit from place to place - Some don't require it; some do until the child has earned their violin; some do until you have learned "Twinkle"; and some do further, until Perpetual Motion, or even the end of book 1. I've even heard of some that do until the child is passing the parent.

I personally looked forward to learning the violin, and I think I learned fairly quickly. I'm still working on it on my own (with the occasional check-in with the teacher.) I have to admit that it very quickly gave me an appreciation for how difficult it was to hold the violin correctly, how trying to move my bow straight didn't look the way I thought it would, and over-all just how difficult it is to keep track of everything. It made it a lot easier to work with Delta, and to sympathize when he said that his arm hurt, or that his fingers hurt.

Of course, the sympathy and the knowledge of how things are done is only part of why you are learning too - the main reason is that your child looks up to you and wants to do everything you do. By playing the violin, they want to emulate you and play it too. Also, if you practice daily, they see that as normal.

My child was given a BOX

Many suzuki programs start the child off with a Box violin (or a Boxilin) to work with. Especially the 3 to 5 year olds. It seems a bit weird to the parent at first - but it does make sense. It is a lot easier to see a child trying to hold the boxilin properly (with no hands) - and see it fall to the ground, than it is to watch a violin fall. (Although don't worry - you will for sure see the violin fall once or twice anyway!) The boxilin stage might last a couple of weeks - or it might last a few months - depending on the teacher and the child.

How long do we twinkle

Ok - this is hard to take at times - but you are probably going to listen to "Twinkle" every day from now on. (Twinkle Twinkle Little Star) Oh - and there are 6 variations. These are different rhythm patterns. Each rhythm pattern teachers your child a rhythm they will need later on. Also, the teacher will probably use Twinkle to learn new techniques, or new rhythms. Delta has done a couple of extra patterns to Twinkle to prepare for a new song.

It will take some time for your child to learn how to Twinkle. How long will depend on a LOT of things, including their age. We really took almost 2 years.... partly because we had a few problems with Delta. (Feel free to read about it on my other blog - see the side for the link.)

It does occasionally get tiring - but on the other hand, that is something I like about Suzuki. That each song is learned and kept, instead of "thrown away". Each song gets to a point where it could be performed - and kept there.

Practicing

Practicing can be a fun time - or it can become a battle. Don't make it a battle. We did ok the first year, but it wasn't every day, and some days it was a real challenge. I used a few games the teacher had given me - but the problem was that Delta would through a tantrum when an activity came up in the game that he didn't want to play.

With some observations from Mike, I made a few changes in the 2nd year, that helped. I would be VERY careful about making corrections (something I had tried to do) and always tried to find something valid to praise. I would play with him when I could (which wasn't easy at the pre-twinkle stage). I would call a concert and round up stuffies to be the audience. They would all clammer for their favourite songs...

Eventually I bought the "Step-by-Step" book and CD for book 1. It has accompaniment for each song at 2 to 3 different speeds, and Delta enjoyed playing with them. Also, surprisingly enough, I found for Delta, that the best practice plan was a chart with everything he was to practice listed. If he did an item happily, I would draw a smilie face in the box. If he complained, or had a tantrum - he still had to do the item/song - but would only get a checkmark. At the end of the practice I always had a "Happy Song" where he could play anything he wanted, with no corrections or anything. I would then count up all the smilie faces, and write the number under the day. If he got all smilie faces, he would get a star.

The first practice like that he got 3 smilie faces - and we challenged him to think of it like a race - could he beat his record the next time. The numbers got higher, and now we almost always get a star. He now wants checkmarks, so the odd time that he complains about practice, he gets a sad face in the box - but that happens so rarely. He is now to a point that most of the time, I can practice with him (unless there is a new technique or something that I am monitoring.) So he gets the choice of playing alone, playing with me, or playing with the CD.

In January, we did our program's 100 practices in 100 days - so we started practicing every day... and we haven't stopped. We are at about day 270...

CD Listening

There is no getting around it - you need to listen to the CD everyday. This doesn't have to be a hard thing - and your child doesn't need to sit still for it. I made a copy of the CD so that I wouldn't have to worry about it getting scratched (I have the master somewhere safe.) My kids have a CD player in the bedroom with the CD in it.... they often decide to play it while playing in their room. I often set it to play when they go to sleep (although I have heard that some children can get conditioned to get sleepy when they hear the music if you do that.... so watch for that if you use it for bed music). Some days I'll play it in the car, or while eating. Make sure that no adults in the house make comments about being bored with it - your kids love repetition, and are not likely to complain until they hear an adult complain.

(That said - my kids have their own taste in music, and have their favourites on the Cd, as well as a few they don't like so much.... I'm sure it will be "fun" to learn the songs they don't like...)

Anything else?

I've tried to think of the main points.... but if you have more questions, please ask!

And on a final note - sometimes the best teacher isn't the best teacher for your child. Our first teacher was wonderful, and is very sought after in the program... but Delta started refusing to do anything in classes with her. I know this was very difficult for her (and for us) and she worked hard to find out how to teach him. Eventually we switched teachers, and he has just taken right off. Switching teachers was a very difficult decision, and I know it was not easy on his first teacher - although she did agree and recommended his new teacher. If things are really not working, discuss it with your teacher and work together. If it is decided that it is best to change teachers, do it up-front with your original teacher, and try to keep things friendly. Ideally it is something that is worked out together.

Added

I remembered something I wanted to say. Sometimes a small lay-out of money can save you money. For instance, buying the "Step-by-step" books made a big difference for us - well worth the cost because it has "saved" us money in music lessons. Of course it depends on how you look at it - we haven't taken any fewer lessons, so really the savings here is academic.... but Delta and Echo are much further along than they would have been without those books.... so you could say that we have saved on the cost of lessons between where they would have been and where they are in their skills.

Another thing that has been worth buying for us was a "Chin Chum". It is a little soft caseing with some cushioning that goes on the chinrest and around the bottom of the violin and is held on by an elastic. It makes the chinrest softer - but it also protects the child's neck from the metal parts of the chinrest that hold it on. (Echo kept getting a red area on her chin until we bought one.) It provides this protection without sticking anything to the chinrest or violin, so it will not damage them. I made one for my violin that has worked well... I made one for Delta's new violin however, and it fell off 3 or 4 times during the play-in. I'm sure I could adjust it and make one that wouldn't - but as he has a major concert coming up (more info coming!) - I didn't want to risk it falling off! So I bought another one.

Another thing that is interesting - but not sure I would buy one (well, I guess I wouldn't because I didn't....) - is the Twinklemat. It is a rollable foot-chart that isn't slippery. Our 1st teacher made a footchart on cardboard that was a bit of a pain to transport. I eventually (After a year) made a couple by sewing felt footprints onto the non-slip shelf coverings.... can't think of the name. I can roll them up to make for easy transport. I've seen a good foot chart made with feet traced on a plastic table placemat.... I don't know if it would roll for transport. But if you don't want to make something, and want something more durable than most of the "filefolder" or cardboard footcharts you see - it is worth looking into.

Music Lessons in the Homeschool

"Violin Practice"

Musical instruction provides many benefits. It is great to see the sense of accomplishment on the face of a child as they play a song they love on an instrument for friends and family. They learn discipline, and that working hard produces results. There is so much more they gain, that it is hard to express. There is even research that suggests that music makes children smarter, and better at math.

Overall - it is fun!

I am not going to presume to tell you which instrument your students should learn - although I will tell you my plan.

Although Charlotte Mason did not generally advocate set lessons (in any subject) for children under the age of 6, I feel that the thoughts of some educators that came after her can be looked at. Please see my post on this topic. In this case, I feel that the work of Dr. Suzuki and his work with teaching young children to play the violin should not be ignored.

I feel that Suzuki music lessons on an instrument provide so much for children. My sister was a young Suzuki violin student starting in 1965, and although she does not regularly play violin, she can when she wants to. She also easily learned other musical instruments that interested her. I personally took Yamaha Organ Lessons (a somewhat similar program) starting at age 3, and I also learn instruments fast. We were also both gifted in math.... if it really is related.

At the least in Year 0, you should provide much quality music for your child to hear. This does not have to be a sit-down affair, but may be played in the background as they go to sleep, as they play, or in the car. My 3 year old daughter, Echo, regularly puts on a Suzuki violin CD by herself as she plays. I also recommend starting Suzuki lessons. If your child seems drawn to an instrument, see if there is a Suzuki instructor. (Note - make sure it is a Suzuki certified instructor if you are paying for Suzuki lessons! Many teachers use the books, without using the methods.)

In Year 0 or higher, I recommend learning some type of instrument. This may seem daunting if you are not musical yourself. If you find a good teacher, this will be quite easy. This is also my recommendation. However, if this is not feasible, there are other options. This blog has a good article on teaching anything (including music) when you don't already know it. Keep in mind that instruction by a person who is not qualified to be a teacher can end up limiting the student in that instrument. This happened to Dr. Suzuki himself, as well as many other people. If the student later goes to a teacher, the teacher and student may be frustrated while fixing bad habits in technique. However, it can be satisfactory within those limits - and this method will be used in my own homeschool.

If Money is Tight, (as it often is) - don't give up the hope of playing instruments! Music programs from places like Universities, Music Conservatories, or associated with symphonies may provide bursaries to students that need the assistance. Bursaries will not pay the entire cost, but can make a huge difference. Another option is mentioned above - learning ahead and teaching yourself. If you don't have any instruments, buy an inexpensive recorder (they have them at the dollar store here!), and download the first few lessons from the Nine Note Recorder website! If it goes well, the course is very inexpensive to buy. Recorder can be beautiful, and the site has many resources.

Our Homeschool Plan

Throughout - provide a variety of instruments. We have over the last few years bought or made cymbals, maracas, child-sized guitars (inexpensive), a xylophone, can drums and more.

Year 0

Suzuki Violin. - taught by Suzuki teacher

Year 1

Suzuki Violin - taught by Suzuki teacher

Piano - "My First Piano Adventures" - taught by me. (I play some piano...)

Later Years

continue with Violin and Piano - provide opportunities for self-teaching other instruments as can be afforded and as interest exists. (ie, recorder, guitar.) These other instruments would be only as the student is interested.

Remember, your choice of instruments and programs is up to you.... but do something, even if only an inexpensive instrument like a recorder or harmonica!