I was disappointed this morning. My son had his first lesson after the holiday break. We worked hard all through the holidays. We even practiced for fifteen days straight through Christmas Eve and New Year’s. I thought he’d made great progress. I was excited for his teacher to see how much we’d gotten done. It […]
Suzuki Method
Making Practice More Peaceful…
Practicing with our children is sometimes difficult. With all the other tasks on my to-do list, it seems like I often have no energy left to deal with delay tactics, tantrums, and other problematic practicing behaviors. Do you ever have thoughts like these? “Why can’t he just come to practice when I ask?” “Why does […]
2018-2019 Plucky Violin Teacher Book Club Schedule…
Hello my friends. I’ve largely been absent from the blog for the last year. I never intended to neglect the blog so long, and I’m so excited to be re-committing to writing and learning more about teaching. If you’re interested, over the last year, I… began teaching Suzuki Early Childhood Education classes became totally overwhelmed […]
Three Daily Practices of Emotionally Healthy Suzuki Parents…
What led you to become a Suzuki parent? I bet if we sat down together, you could paint a picture for me of the beautiful dreams you had of sharing music with your child. Building your family culture around music. Helping your child prepare for adulthood by developing life skills. There are hundreds of fantastic […]
Communicating with New Suzuki Parents…
Starting a new student is an exciting, fun, and a little bit scary process. It’s wonderful to get to know a new student and family, and watch their joy and wonder over the beginning violin steps. Especially with young students, this time is just magical. It’s also scary! There’s a lot of pressure to get […]
September Book Club Review: The Practicing Mind
The Practicing Mind by Thomas Sterner is an excellent book, and a quick read. I listened to it on audible last fall and loved it. The main thesis of the book is that, “Real peace and contentment in our lives come from realizing that life is a process to engage in, a journey down a […]
How to Make Changes to Your Suzuki Studio without Alienating Your Students
Occasionally, I will realize that I have really messed up my violin studio. I’ve not created boundaries around my time. Or I wasn’t clear about my expectations for practice or listening. I’ll come to the conclusion that things need to change. Maybe you’ve felt the same in your own studio. But how do we press […]
Six Life Lessons Children Learn from Playing the Violin…
Guest Post by Deborah Tayloe Everyone’s heard how about the value of learning music. It is supposed to help with school, social skills, and more. You are slugging through daily practice, driving to lessons, working hard. Ultimately, you try to assure yourself, after all this work, your child will eventually learn to play. However, you […]
5 Violin Teaching Tips, Tricks, and Resources 9/1/2017…
Hello friends, Thank you for all of the very kind, supportive emails over the past week. You are all amazing. Honestly, I felt a little nervous, ashamed, even guilty about telling people about how my studio had changed. I felt selfish letting students go to spend more time with my family, (I also felt guilty […]
How to Deal With the Turmoil of Changing Suzuki Teachers (For Suzuki Parents)
Transferring to a new Suzuki teacher is not an uncommon occurrence, and it can be a very good thing. There are many reasons why you might be changing teachers. Your teacher retired, you’ve moved to a new area, or it is time for a new perspective. No matter your reason, changing teachers is surprisingly difficult. […]