Suzuki Method versus traditional teaching method

[balfour-knight]

Shelley, your most recent post is not showing up here. But, it came to me in an email, so I will respond concerning the Bach Prelude in C. I play that piece on pedal and lever harp, and I prefer the C tuning for my lever harp. All you need to do for the Prelude is use sharps for the flats, and it is easier to play it this way, at least for me. For example, in m. 12, use A# for B flat, and do like-wise for all the other flats that follow. Accidental sharps are easier than flats on the pedal harp, since you just hold the pedal down with your foot for the time needed to play the sharp, then let the pedal go back up to natural (don’t latch the pedal!). For flats, you have to unlatch the pedal from natural and let the pedal go up to flat, then take it back down and latch it again in natural.

Also, you don’t have to race through this beautiful piece. It is quite nice played at about 80 for the quarter note (4 notes to a beat). It is very expressive on the harp–enjoy!

Harp Hugs,
Balfour

[Philippa mcauliffe]

Ray Chen is another great violinist who came out of a Suzuki background. There are as many versions of Suzuki harp teaching as there are teachers I suspect. Suzuki put hands together very early in harp book 1 so I cant imagine what that teacher
was doing. I started the harp with a Suzuki teacher but I already read bass and treble clefs from the piano so was never learning “by ear”. However, what has not been mentioned is that they offer a lot of ensemble/group work very early on and a huge number of performance opportunities including major showcase events in lovely venues. I agree that book 1 harp is nothing like book 1 piano or violin – far harder – so it can be hard to establish mastery of each work without pupils getting rather sick of a piece. I use some rep from the books but supplemented so they get more variety. When you remember that Suzuki violinists who finish hold every single book in their memory up to and including the Mendelssohn concerto (their final grad work) and often perform with muchyounger students there is a lot of inspiration around and young people hear rep they aspire to play all the time as well. They can always slot into an impromptu Bach double for the rest of their lives! No school subjects ever demand that amount of memorisation which is a plus if you end up performing by heart a lot professionally and it well may cross over into academic success as well.

[balfour-knight]

Good to see your post, Philippa! I still don’t see Shelley’s last one, but I totally agree about violinists who learn from Suzuki. Since they are only reading a melody line, I think natural reading ability would come sooner with the violin, like it does with band instruments. The problem of reading on the harp, piano, or organ is that we have to play “all the parts,” not just a melodic line!

I imagine that the writers of Suzuki believed that harp students would come to the instrument with some background in piano, from what you said. It makes sense, and then hopefully you would already have some music-reading ability.

Wishing you all a great day harping,
Balfour

[Shelley]

Balfour,

Thank you for this. You are so kiind to have taken the time time write it out for me. I am using G# for Ab. The tricky part for a beginner (as I am) is around the measures you describe where there are a few changes in quick succession. My teacher has helped with figuring out when to make them. Josh Layne, a Canadian harpist I follow on YT shows how to play it on a lever harp. He too plays it at a moderate speed. I’m learning it very slowly. It’s my reward for practicing the Suzuki tunes. There have been times when I couldn’t face practicing “Go Tell Aunt Rhody”–or whatever piece I’m working on now–one more time. Then I only practiced my Bach. When I told my teacher she said it is fine. Everything I’m learning in my Suzuki book right now is in the Bach. She added that one can never go wrong practicing Bach. I bought “Basically Bach” from here, and Midldred Dilling’s Thirty Little Classics, many of which I won’t be able to play on my lever harp but my teacher will help me to adapt the ones that can.

My fourth octove D string snapped in the middle of the night two nights ago. I used it as an opportunity to fix the peg which was sticking. I went on YT to find out how to do this and came across a video by Jacqueline Pollauf on replacing a lever harp. Watching it I realised why some of my levers are not holding the correct pitch when I sharpen the string.

[Shelley]

Philippa,

You have answered a question I didn’t know I had but was a problem I’m experiencing–the difficulty of reaching a point where the piece sounds good before fatigue sets in because the melodies are not interesting enough to inspire repetitive practice. My teacher told me early on to practice whichever piece I’m working in my daily session, twice, and then move on. This has helped. In the beginning it felt as if I would be with Twinkle Little Star forever! Since around Honey Bee, once I can play a piece reasonbly all the way through, even if it’s not at speed, we move on. I think it’s because I have my Grossi, which will eventually bring my technique up to speed. And I now have my beloved Bach to sustain me through days when the Suzuki pieces feel dull.

You mention Suzuki put hands together in the harp book. Did he personally adapt his selected pieces for all the other instruments that use them?

[Saul Davis Zlatkovski]

My wise teacher found that students who started with Suzuki method had more problems reading music than those who started with normal pedagogy. Her approach was to teach the student to see/place/name the note all at the same time, and it was effective. Try the ABC of Harp Playing. I don’t like the idea of involving the parents. The success of that totally depends on the kind of relationship the child and parents have. I prefer the idea of making music as being private, personal. I am not impressed by the Suzuki volumes of music.

[Author]

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