Three Levels of Learning
Liz Hodges and her students in costume
Dr. Suzuki suggested that we listen to master recordings of great artists. This week I have been listening to Kol Nidrei by Max Bruch. What are you listening to? The level to which we aspire as musicians is not only our best, but also to achieve a level of mastery that approaches the great artists. Most of all, we seek a level of achievement where the performance is a personal voice of expression by the performer. This can only be achieved by going beyond the notes on the page.
In the Suzuki pedagogy we talk about "review". Your teacher may ask "what are your review pieces this week?" Why does he/she do this? Dr. Suzuki explained there are three levels of learning, each one going deeper into the mastery of the piece. The first level is learning the notes, playing in tempo, getting fingerings and bowings correctly. Some may say the piece is learned and one should move to the next piece. This is only level one. In level two learning, we learn a higher level of technique. We teach shifts, pedaling, nuances and coloring through phrasing and understanding the harmonic language of the piece. This takes equal time as just learning the notes. Finally, in level three learning, we attain our personal voice. Can we create a mood by choosing the right tempo, are our dynamics matching the character of the piece, are we telling a story, is our tone beautiful?
I once taught a five year old the first page of Fur Elise by Beethoven. It is the famous theme everyone hears, but the whole piece is four pages long. The parent really wanted her daughter to learn this piece, so of course, I could teach her the notes. After the student could play all the notes, the mother asked me, "How come my daughter does not sound like you?" The answer was simply that I had years of learning that taught me how to produce good tone, proper phrasing, pedaling and expression making it possible for me to express the beauty of the piece. The daughter had just started her pianistic journey, and thus she could do level one, but levels two and three were going to take a few more years to acquire on such an advanced piece.
The repertoire of the Suzuki method is carefully chosen to allow for this progression of achieving deep learning. "Review" is integral to getting to the deepest level of learning and all Suzuki teachers are trained in developing mastery of the pieces by their students. We also believe that we should "never hurry, never rest" because we also believe that every child can get there at his or her own pace. In this current world situation, our lives have been impacted by the pandemic. We should be patient with our children, but also with ourselves. Learning may be slower due to fatigue and mental health.
"To make a resolution and act accordingly is to live with hope. There may be difficulties and hardships, but not disappointment or despair if you follow the path steadily. Do not hurry. This is a fundamental rule. If you hurry and collapse or tumble down, nothing is achieved. Do not rest in your efforts; this is another fundamental rule. Without stopping, without haste, carefully taking a step at a time forward will surely get you there." ~ Shinichi Suzuki