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Re: Memorizing pieces

Author: kdk
Date: 2020-05-08 21:41

ruben wrote:

> Why has the Suzuki method never been used with wind players-as
> far as I know?
>

I think for a couple of reasons.

(1) Suzuki developed the curriculum around the violin using his own experiences and music he was familiar with. You'd probably, to be effective, need a largely different set of pieces to develop each wind instrument idiomatically. Even the cello Suzuki books include different music from the original violin series. Someone would have to compile curricula for each instrument.

(2) But, probably more to the point, woodwind and brass players rarely start at the young age Suzuki's approach is meant for. Suzuki's pre-literate basis probably works much better with kids who in their language skills are pre-literate or who still read at a fairly low level and don't depend on it as an information source. And Suzuki instruction assumes a partnering between child and parent (they are supposed to learn the music together), which becomes more difficult as kids approach pre-teen years. Brass and woodwind players more often start at age 8-10 (or later) and, at least in the U.S., more often than not are motivated by the availability of a school band program. They already read (English). To play in a band or orchestra, reading music notation is realistically a requirement pretty much from the beginning. So, I suspect, there wouldn't be enough of a demand for Suzuki-style materials or for teachers who would organize their instruction around Suzuki's principles.

None of that is to say that there are no teachers of non-string instruments who teach younger students with a Suzuki approach, but not enough for the publishing world to make an investment in a whole program. Nor is it to say that those beginners whose instruction includes music reading don't fall back on memorization as they rehearse and hear their music repeatedly. But that's much more haphazard than true Suzuki teaching would be.

Karl

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Memorizing pieces new

ruben

2020-05-06 13:48