The Gift of Volunteering
Dr. Suzuki believed that he should nurture the ability to make beautiful music in his students so that they would have beautiful hearts. He also taught teachers how to become better teachers. We are always learning, and he was no exception. He was known to wake up very early in the morning and practice the violin for hours. He was thinking about difficult passages and how to make them easy. This dedication served as a model to inspire the many teachers who went to his school to be better teachers. These were musicians who already knew how to play the violin. So what did they need to learn? They needed to learn how best to enable children to learn in a step by step fashion. Suzuki training involves understanding that children learn by doing and through the senses. It is not efficient to give verbal instruction to children. One must model how to play and how to practice. A teacher should enable the student to use all his senses: listening most of all, but also watching, feeling the vibrations, and feeling the movements necessary to develop a new technique. Suzuki teaching is not meant to be like a sports coach who gives instructions from the sidelines, but rather a person who models good playing and a good heart.
In order to graduate from Dr. Suzuki's school in Matsumoto, playing the violin well (or any of the other instruments taught at the school) was not the criteria. Dr. Suzuki expected the teachers to demonstrate good character. He was known to say, "good character comes first." Children must learn to be polite to each other, respectful of others, and respectful of their environment. Hence, students and teachers participated in visiting hospitals and greeting special guests at the train station with their music. They were encouraged to do good deeds like helping seniors or cleaning up the school. Through service to others, all students--children and adults--needed to demonstrate to Dr. Suzuki that they were thinking of others and not just themselves.
It is this kind of dedication that is exemplified by the teachers and parents at the Suzuki School of Newton. We are dependent upon the wonderful volunteers who help us set up for concerts and transport keyboards to our outside venues. We have volunteers who planted new flowers and painted inside and out. Our teachers are planning for solo recitals, working on scheduling, discussing pedagogic issues and curriculum. Our Suzuki Preschool teachers spend their evenings and weekends planning activities and borrowing books from the public libraries. This is an extra effort that makes all the difference to the students in our school. In this way, our adult community models for our children.
In our role as Suzuki teachers, we are responsible for nurturing our students to develop their abilities and to teach them how to learn. We do this by teaching our students to make beautiful music, an ability that is commonly thought of coming from innate talent. Dr. Suzuki said, that talent is "extreme ability" which every child can achieve by practicing small steps and putting in the work. He even said that ability comes with repetitions of 10,000 times. This kind of dedication develops perseverance but also self esteem. This comes because the student hears the results of their work in solo recitals, book graduations, outreach concerts, and even in playing in our tour group, In Harmony. These successes build the confidence to look at difficult tasks as surmountable if an approach of small steps, repetition, and perseverance is utilized.
In order to build character, we must model the efforts first. We can pick up after ourselves in the classrooms, help set up rooms, and tidy up after group classes, etc. In this way, we nurture the whole child to become a wonderful human being. There are some of our advanced students who are "practice buddies" for the younger ones. We can use various events to help children learn that being a volunteer is a valuable gift to others.
We have an upcoming event, the Suzuki Playathon at the Shops at Chestnut Hill. It is a performance that is the culmination of a 100 days of practice challenge. It is also a fundraising event for our scholarship fund, where we want to build awareness in our students that their practicing and music making can be valued by others. Similar to 5K to 50 K road races, we ask students to find supporters to pledge a small amount towards their practicing efforts and their performance on March 16th. In this way, we are trying to build awareness of the good they can do, and of the help they can provide to students who cannot afford lessons. We are seeking parent volunteers to help at this 6-hours of continuous music but that requires advanced preparation of an hour before and an hour after the event.
Finally, participating in helping to raise money for the Scholarship fund for students who need financial assistance is a very meaningful effort. The Suzuki School of Newton is a very special place, and it would not happen with the many, many hours of volunteer hours that so many of you share with us.
Thank you!