Today is the beginning of Diwali!
Our Suzuki community is filled with many cultures and traditions. Yesterday we celebrated Halloween which originates from "All Hallow's eve" and today is the start of Diwali, the Indian Festival of "Light Over Darkness" which is also expressed as "Good over Evil" and "Knowledge over Ignorance." In the spirit of the Diwali season, there are rituals on lighting fireworks or candles to combat the darkness and to also cleanse oneself and put on new clothes as a way to freshen the spirit. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diwali) The special festivals of all our different cultures help us to build our community and also freshen our spirit with newness. In some ways, it brings our adult-world back to our feelings of childhood and belonging.
This week, I taught an online Suzuki teachers' course where we were discussing the very beginnings of piano lessons for young students of just 3 or 4 years of age. In our discussion of how we are building skills in very small steps, we also talked about what music lessons would feel like for the young child. In the young child, every step along the path of learning how to play an instrument can be akin to going to a playground or taking a gymnastics class. Each lesson is a discovery. We set the tone of the environment for the child, and the expert Suzuki teacher guides the student step by step towards making their first sound on the instrument. If a child were at the playground, the experience of going down the slide might be scary. We guide the child to climb the stairs or we even climb alongside the child. We hold their hand, we guide them down, and we catch them at the bottom with cheers and a smile. This step by step is essential in building the confidence of the child to learn new things. It is also the same step-by-step we offer in Suzuki lessons.
In the complex skill of the piano, we must learn how to sit at the right height and place the feet flat on the footstool (like climbing the stairs of the slide). We then must position the hand properly (like sitting down at the top of the slide). Then we guide them to play a first note (like going together down the slide or holding their hand as they descend.) We learn that teaching music we must go at the pace of the child, and we encourage the adults to watch, observe, and support this process. As in sliding down a slide, we do not rush them nor criticize the speed in which they are experiencing the slide, the swing, or the climbing structure as they discover each part of the playground. This is also the way it is in music: we want to allow the student to learn and discover at their own pace. It is important for us to observe their reaction and level of absorption in the Suzuki lesson. We do not want to force them unguided down a slide, but set up the step by step until they are confident by themselves.
In my understanding of many different cultures' traditions, the cyclical ritual of renewal is essential to all of our well-being. As we start afresh, we should put ourselves in the shoes of the child and also look at the world with the child's eye. What a world of wonder and splendor we have! How frightening was Halloween with the decorations, costumes, shrieks and screams? How wonderful was it to be greeted by smiling neighbors and be given some candy as you go from door to door? How marvelous is it to open the violin case for the first time-- even without taking it out or even playing it-- just seeing how beautiful an instrument it is. We can approach the world with the spirit and freshness of the young child---and thus find our own renewal in the process. We can brighten the world by bringing our community together over these special moments. Happy Diwali to all who celebrate!
