Music Exists in Time and Space
When we talk about music, we think of something abstract or something we hear that travels in the air. The elements of music are usually categorized by topics such as pitch, rhythm, meter, etc. and of course, the genre or style of the music plus the feelings they express and evoke. At first thought, though, we do not think that music exists as an object in time and space.
At the Suzuki School of Newton, the music we teach is basically Western European Classical music. That is, the music of Bach, Vivaldi, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Bartok and others from Europe. In reimagining the Suzuki philosophy that "every child can" we are more aware of the diverse music backgrounds of our students and we acknowledge that other genres of music may be important to include in our pedagogy.
Our Suzuki teachers are highly trained musicians with graduate level performance degrees on their instruments. We are classical music trained, and some of our teachers perform folk, fiddle traditions, and also World musics. One important tenet of the Suzuki pedagogy is that we should learn from the best teachers. Why is that? The different genres have styles that need to be perfected in the same way as the cadenza of solo concerto must be practiced and polished to a very refined level. Styles are different and thus require different techniques at a very high level.
At a basic level, classical music in 4/4 time has an inherent strong beat on the 1st and 3rd beats, while popular music and jazz emphasize the offbeats of 2nd and 4th beats.
Here is an interesting explanation for "feeling" and "locking" in rhythm in classical vs. jazz music:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEbUNDW9bDA
We can enjoy all styles of music, but knowing what to listen for, how the music is different, and how music is constructed is an important part of why we teach a musicianship class as part of our core program. The Suzuki pedagogy emphasizes from the onset that one should "listen" daily to the music one is learning. In this way, this music becomes part of the student, and the music and its details are being absorbed simply by listening. Listening to excellent musicians goes beyond hearing the notes, and helps us subconsciously or even consciously learn about style and playing like a pro. It reduces the amount of practice time the student needs to put in daily because embedded in the student's ear is the professional polished performances of the recordings. Do you listen daily to the Suzuki recordings?
Music takes up time and space. The sounds we hear are vibrations that pass through the air in real time. The notes on the page are like dots on a graph and going from the first note to the last note in a composition takes up time. If one only has 24 hours in a day, then some minutes of that day should be allocated to music. While we can listen to music while doing other things (like doing homework or driving in a car) practicing takes complete focus and takes time. If we are learning a 3 minutes piece and play it perfectly 5 times in a row, it will take up a minimum of 15 minutes. If we are practicing a piece and make mistakes, then we have to start over, fix the mistake, and practice small spots several times. In this case, practicing takes 30 minutes. That is, we need 15 minutes to do the small parts and then another 15 minutes to be able to play through pieces just to see if the working piece can be played smoothly. The rest of the time one should play their review pieces so that playing is enjoyable and smooth. These 30 minutes can be longer or shorter depending upon the individual's level, but they are necessary to be programmed into the day. If a person is also listening daily to the music they are learning, the practicing is more efficient and will take up less time.
There are 24 hours in a day. Assuming a person has a certain number of hours to sleep, a certain number of hours at work or at school, a certain number of hours for a sports activity, a certain amount of hours for homework or a second activity, where are the minutes for practicing calculated in? As adults, we are aware of the need for calendar reminders, scheduling meetings, and time management. This is something we can also teach our children. Allocating our minutes for music practicing, Musicianship homework, meals, and down time are all part of learning how to take on responsibility. As parents, we can model and assist our children to meet their best potential by participating in the time management aspect of our children's daily schedule. Dr. Suzuki says, "Only practice on the days you eat." We need time to have our meals, and we need time to listen to music, and we need time to practice. In this way, we can accomplish what we set out to do, and when we achieve this, we can be happy.
- Sachiko