11_Twinkle Lessons -Discrimination

Dear Parents,
The boys really enjoyed the class this week. They have gotten much better with the rhythms, singing the solfege and are recognizing the pieces. Being able to recognize and name the pieces is very good for sound discrimination.

On Practice time:
Some students are now able to figure out the notes of the songs on the piano. Please continue to let them do this as it develops their ability to hear sound patterns and find them on the piano. It also drives their motivation to play. So, this independence is important for their overall progress even as it reinforces some physical habits we are trying to evolve. Three points are important to make this activity beneficial:
1. They need to hear the disc many hours a day so that the tone on the recording is the internalized sound they are trying to produce on the piano.
2. They are doing it on their own without instruction. In this way they will not go too far beyond what they can naturally do.
3. Separate this free time to figure out songs from the structured practice time. You can do this simply by taking a bow before and after the actual "practice".


Learning Suzuki method enables a child to play in the "Flow" without words in the way of the experience. This happens if we do not give them too many instructions.
So, anytime you can use a physical que this helps. Please use a soft hand to help them find the correct posture. Then, you can speak softly with a few key reminder phrases that you get from the lessons. This way your voice does not interfere with the sound of the piano.


On the Bow: Please continue to improve the bow by asking for one point such as "please look down when you bow", or "eyes at the end please".

On the Twinkles: Please have them listen for different kinds of sounds.
Twinkle A is all short sounds. When the finger releases the sound the hand relaxes. Teaching short sounds first imprints the physical movement so that the hand does not hold stiffness after the sound is played. Playing the short sound with a good tone is like throwing the dart into the very middle of the dart board. Playing becomes focused and accurate from this practice.

Please ask your child to listen for every sound to be short. When they finish that one pattern ask them if all of the sounds were short. If they say no, please affirm that they have very good hearing! This listening and knowing what has been played develops concentration and discrimination.

Twinkle B the first step is to listen for the long sounds, and practice long sounds. Through this practice they will begin to relax on the long note and not hold the note down with tension. Notice when the sound is really good.
After they are playing the rhythm with the long sound you can direct their attention to the short sounds. Was the first note really short? "I thought so too."

If you practice Twinkles this way they will not become boring. They are of course work. But they will remain interesting. The key is that the practice is affirming what the sound was, how the finger moved etc. in a neutral way with non-judgment about the child. By involving the child in the process of this knowing we are enabling them.

Dr. Kataoka says:

Tone is the basic element of music. If we do not completely learn how to produce tone in our childhood, we become people who are uninterested in tone, and then we can allow ourselves to play piano with a terrible and noisy sound. People who play like this gradually begin to dislike playing the piano. But if we play carefully with soft fingers, making a resonant sound and avoiding a crashing noise, we can give our whole minds to the tone we are playing.

Here is a link to a great article written about the Twinkles by Dr. Kataoka:
Dr. Kataokas article on Twinkles


I posted a video of Marc-Andre Hamelin performing the Hungarian Rhapsody #2 by Liszt with his own original cadenza. Please watch it if you have not already.
Below is the same piece performed at the 2007 10 Piano Concert in Sacramento. You may recognize parts of it as the "Bugs bunny/Tom and Jerry song.

Andrew Loo who you have seen in previous posts is performing as well as my daughter Bria. The 10 Piano Concerts are a very special part of studying Suzuki Piano. This is a very fun piece and is a wonderful opportunity for the children to "play with one heart"



Part 1



Part 2

Again, thanks so much for taking the time to read these posts, to watch the videos and to work with your children daily. This is a big job, perhaps more than you previously imagined. The benefits will be seen many years from now, but also please enjoy the process too. As a mother of two grown children I have felt how long a practice time can be and how short a time it is from childhood to adulthood. They are both true. You are all doing a wonderful job.
Leah Brammer

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Exploring the Senses - touch/feel

When we think about the relative importance of touch in learning compared to the other senses we usually associate this difference as emotional. Touch is crucial. Blind people see in other ways. People that are deaf, adapt other forms of communication.

What about people that cannot feel? It's very destructive to the sense of self in relating to the outside world.
Is that bad? Well, no, not if you have a kinesthetic memory pattern that allows you to understand that reality without the actual physical experience. However in terms of initial physical imprinting for babies and young children it is probably the most important and the most directly related to intuition. This may seem in contrast to the idea that intuition happens outside of the physical dimension, but the embed formula has to be there through experience at some point.

In other words, babies feel. Children feel.
When does this become less important than what the mind thinks?
At about the point that a person has to cope with a difficulty that requires thinking.

In learning piano if a child can get direct learning through the awareness of touch in playing the piano to get different kinds of sounds they become very sensitive capable people. The sense of touch is the direct experience educator.


People can benefit greatly by developing the sense of touch and it's correlation to the hands as the communicator in addition to speaking. This develops direct ability at all kinds of computer/communication skills in addition to being in touch with the artistic value of making music.
Piano ability is life ability.

Exploring the Senses -Smell/Taste

Consider what you remember by smell, what it brings back in feeling and response to you.
How much did you learn about the world by the sense of smell?
Is it important to you now?
How important is it for learning?
Do we teach it?
Should we consider it a factor in education?
Is it part of a core education?

Graduation Concert

Congratulations!
The following students will be performing at the Suzuki Music Association of
California's Bay Area Piano Graduation concert on November 15: Sydney -Level 1 Graduation, Helen -Level 2 Graduation, Minnie -Level 6 Graduation. This event will be at Holy Names College in Oakland.
It is free and open to the public.
Mark your calendars.
See you there!

9_Twinkle Lessons -focus with the ears

Dear Parents,
The bow is much better! The body balance is improving. The ready positions are becoming more still. We will continue to work on these -for about the next 10 years!

Developing ability continues in a spiral so that we always come back to the most basic points as we advance.
At the same time that this is true, we are now able to focus more attention on tone.
Think about what you do when you seek to hear something -you become still. This is a kind of "focusing" with the aural sense. So, this is the place we are now.

Dr. Kataoka says this to students in her writings about tone:

"Students, when you begin to study piano, you take a lesson in tone from your teacher each week. (Don't worry if you hear the same things repeated over and over!) Please become a person who can, after ten years, make the kind of musical tone to which you can give your whole mind and soul. If you acquire this ability, you can play pieces freely and enjoyably, and the people who hear you will be happy."

It is interesting that the students know which is the good tone immediately when I ask them. So, they can already hear when the tone has tension in it, just as babies hear and respond to tension in a persons voice. How do we "teach" tone?
Again from Dr. Kataoka's writings:

"let us consider the matter of tone on the piano. With strings and wind instruments, and with respect to the human voice, sound may not continue unless we continue to breathe or to move the bow. Those musicians can actually maintain an interest in tone throughout their bodies because of this. How about piano tone? First we produce the sound (resulting in the initial "attack" if you will), and then we must do nothing but stay on the key in order to hold the sound. We really do not do anything. But in fact, just as with other instruments, we must listen intently to our sound as it is being sung, and breathe into it with our heart of hearts. However, it seems that it is not easy to find a teacher who teaches this from the very beginning. Consequently, most pianists think only of the initial attack as the tone of the instrument. This is a mistake. From the point of the attack, musical tone rings for a long time, gradually decreases, and dies out at the end. It is a most beautiful process when tone decreases and dies out. It is the essence of the beauty of piano tone. Please, pianists, enjoy beautiful tone."

We have been listening for short sounds in Twinkle A. We are beginning to listen now for long sounds as we learn Twinkle B. The practice of playing one sound and listening until it stops is very useful. Once they put their whole attention in it they probably will hear the piano sound longer than you do.

You will begin to notice the difference in how the note is sustained when it is played with a "hit tone", or with a relaxed moving finger. The hit tone is very loud at first and then dies off quickly. The "heart tone" has more of a bell shape to the sound.

Dr Suzuki says:

"Music is the language of the heart without words."
and also:
"Beautiful Tone, Beautiful Heart"

Parents often want piano lessons for their child because it will make them "smarter".
Of course this is true, but it is not just the brain that becomes smarter.
It is the heart.

Last week I posted a video of Andrew Loo from 2006 performing Bach Italian Concerto for his Level 8 graduation concert. I wrote at the top of that post that I remember his lesson with Dr. Kataoka on Dr. Suzuki's Allegro at the end of Book 1 before his level 1 graduation concert. As promised to Dr. Kataoka, he practiced his down-up spot 200X every day for about 2 weeks before the concert. When he played his tone was so beautiful that the sound filled the entire hall. This week I found this recording of his performance in my old 8mm tapes:


June 1998-Andrew Loo, performing Allegro by Dr. Suzuki for his Level 1 Graduation

On the assignment:
Please continue. Please help your child to have balance in the posture and in the hand without tension. Next, focus on the sound. Affirm when the sound is good without tension. Speak softly so that the sound of the piano becomes the focus and not your voice.
Thanks so much for this opportunity to teach your children!
Leah Brammer

*Three articles written by Dr. Kataoka about tone can be found in these online issues of Piano Basics:
Suzuki Piano Basics Foundation News -March/April 1998
Suzuki Piano Basics Foundation News - May-June 1998
Suzuki Piano Basics Foundation -July-August 1998

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8_Twinkle Lessons -The week of the Storm

Dear Parents,
It was a challenging environment for the students this week with the new schedule to understand and the storm as well. Thank-you to everyone for for being on time. The smaller groups will work well for the lessons once the routine is established. Please bring one book for them to read, or something to write/draw on by themselves that does not attract too much attention from the other students. I will always take time to look at the drawing or work that the students do while they are observing.

In group time we will continue rhythm study, and singing solfege. Please clap the rhythms at home and say the name "Twinkle A" etc.

The most important point for this week is to make sure there is no tension in the ready position. If we try to teach to much with words the result will be unnatural. The children need to feel balance over the keys with the correct finger touching the correct key. This is simple yet involves physical and mental stamina, as well as motivation and connection to something more interesting yet to come.

So, they need encouragement that this process will yield a result. Please let them know that their work is going to enable them to play the piano. Play the disc and videos and reinforce the concept that the practice they are doing is going to help them play well. This may seem obvious, but they need to hear encouragement often to keep working on holding a position at the piano without playing...

The ready position is both a beginning and a huge accomplishment. It takes time and care. It is the most difficult part of the process of playing, and a life lesson as well.


Please re-read this section from "How to Teach Beginners" by Dr. Kataoka:

Part 11: When the Lessons Begin

For some motivation here is a video I just posted of a former student Andrew Loo who is now a freshman at Georgia Tech performing Bach's Italian Concerto in his 2006 Graduation Level 8 Concert:


Andrew Loo performing Italian Concerto by J.S. Bach

Children keep us in the moment, whatever that may be
thankfully,
Leah Brammer

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7_Twinkle Lessons #6

Dear Parents,
I continue to be amazed at how much learning is going on. So much more than meets the eye of an adult. Watching the video is very informative.

The bows were so much better this week. I noticed that just doing the good bow made the students more serious about learning.

I put the new photos we took of each student on the Twinkle video blog section of the site, and also in the Current Studio Photos. We will do this again as their ready positions get better and better. Next class I will take a group photo.

I hope the boys enjoyed the little pumpkins and that they will remember the lesson this way.
It is very good to teach the children to give small gifts. It teaches respect and caring, and the gift of giving.

"What does not exist in the environment will not develop in the child. By no means only words or music, but everything, good or bad, is absorbed by the child." Dr. Suzuki

On the schedule/Creating awareness and importance in the environment:

They are all doing great. Because of this the lessons are getting longer and it is just too long to be in the environment now that the time is extended. Therefore, from this week forward the individual lessons will be divided into 2 groups. One group will go before the class time, and the other group will go after the class time. This will allow us to have the solfege singing, rhythm and other activities all together, but have a smaller group for the individual lessons.

With this new schedule it is really important that the students know exactly what to expect.
We need to continue to provide the structure in the environment for the students. This includes keeping the same format of coming in quietly, taking off shoes and placing them neatly on the shoe stand, washing their hands. sitting quietly, etc. This care creates awareness and importance. The knowledge of what is happening and what to do creates confidence and calmness. With this structure in the environment, the students can concentrate and learn fully.

On the Class Time: Please sing solfege at home with the recording so that the children are becoming more and more familiar with the notes. You can do this casually as the recording is playing. It is fine if you only know some of the solfege. Little by little it will become easy. If you sing this way with the recording it encourages the children to try to sing even if they don't know all of the solfege. It is fine if they do not sing. They will join in when they are ready.

On the Lesson:
Do finger numbers at the beginning of the practice. Begin with knowing finger # 1 and finger #5. Next Add finger # 2. When this is clear, focus in on finger #4. This is necessary to play Twinkle as it is the next finger they have to get ready on after the thumb.

Please have them get ready on each note of the twinkle before they play. Please have them wait for "go" . Especially give attention to finding ready on the note "So" with finger #4. Once the ready position on finger #4 is good, the other fingers are easy. Have them listen for short sounds.

The main point this week: Please work with your child at home in basically the same way you observe me working with them in the lesson. It is good for you to observe what is particularly successful in working with your child and also what is not. Every child responds according to their own sensibility. Being able to watch your child in the learning situation as the observer is such a critical part of being able to help them.

Thanks so much for your dedication to your child's progress and your attention to the lessons.
Leah Brammer

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Practice Sheets

Dear Parents,
I have uploaded the practice sheets so that you can print them at home as you need them. They are on this post, and I will also put the links on the sidebar for easier access in the future.

If the students and parents establish the habit and response ability to complete what is on the practice sheet each week, mark it on the sheet, and return it to the lesson, the practice time will become much easier and the progress will be much faster and more secure.

Please write out the assignment on the assignment sheet after the lesson. It is good if you can do this together with your child using the notes and video from the lesson. The main purpose of the lesson is to establish what and how to practice. So, as the teacher I first establish the core learning to be essential for the most effective learning, (the what) and next try several different ways of accomplishing that goal. (the how)
When the student can do well what is being asked in the lesson, then ability is being developed. This is assignment: to practice what they can do well. It is good to use the exact words that are effective at the lesson as ques at home. For specific spots, please also mark the spot in the score that you are using, and I will usually also have the student mark the spot in their score.

Of course practicing what they can do well also means learning new pieces. When the assignments on the pieces they are working on are accomplished the student is able to learn the new piece without struggle even if it involves challenge and focus.

There is also a main point to each lesson. This could be "follow and mark the assignment sheet". It could be "move your thumb", or "prepare for the recital" . Having one point to come back to is very useful, especially if you begin to feel overwhelmed!

I hope this helps.
Leah Brammer

Core Twinkle Practice Sheet

Core Book 1 Practice Sheet

Core Books 2 and up with daily boxes

Core Books 2 and up with daily boxes and more lines

Core Books 2 and up no daily boxes

Core Books 2 and up no boxes, wider format

6_Twinkle Lessons #5

Dear Parents,
I loved showing the children the bird nest from my yard and playing the two different Cuckoos for them. They will probably recognize when Cuckoo comes on the recording this week.
Here is a recording from 1994 when Kelsey, a 6 year old student of mine at the time who is now in college, traveled with me to Japan to study, homestay with a Japanese family, and perform Cuckoo and Chant Arabe from Book 1 in the 10 Piano Concert:



Here is a Youtube link to a recording of former student Lauren Schommer who now studies with Cathy Hargrave in Dallas Texas and is a senior in high school performing The Cuckoo from Book 6 for a graduation recording in my studio circa 2004:

Lauren Schommer performing The Cuckoo by Daquin

Here is another link to a recording of The Cuckoo performed by famous pianist/composer Sergei Rachmaninoff recorded in 1920:

Rachmaninoff performs The Cuckoo by Daquin

The recording is obviously very old, but the playing is so great it is worth it.

On the lessons:
The Listening: Identify which Twinkle is playing (A, B, C, D-Theme) on the disc as you are listening.

The Bow: Please work on balance at the end of the bow. They may be bowing too fast or going too low. It takes daily attention.

The Ready: All of the students ready positions were so much better this week! They can really do ready position well now especially with a little help. By practicing it many times they will be able to have good body balance and concentration immediately upon sitting at the piano without any tension, and without any help.

Twinkle: The Twinkle A rhythm on thumb is coming along. It is good to do only a few of these each day.

Finger Numbers: Please practice finger numbers in different ways. It is good to practice knowing the finger numbers by touch and not only by looking at the finger. So, have them close their eyes and say the finger number that you touch. When they can feel the specific finger on the note they are getting ready on they will not have to try to look down or hold the other fingers in a stiff way to see which finger is on the key.

Keyboard recognition: Have them find all the do's and the so's. It is good to do this standing up. If they like to play the notes while singing Do a deer this would also be good.

Main point: Practice and affirm what they can do.

This is nurturing with love.

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5_Twinkle Group Class #4

Dear Parents,
Thank-you for taking the time to come to the parent meeting. I hope that the discussion of the terms "mother tongue method", "Natural learning" , and "Ability Development" in regards to your questions was useful so that you can refer often to these in your thinking about education and environment for your children. The discussions about the class environment were useful too and I hope that you are feeling comfortable in the class and also in how to work with your child.

I am very happy that the boys are so eager to come to the piano and all are doing their very best.
They really just need time to really absorb the physical/mental/emotional/spiritual skill of "ready". Physically this means arms above the keyboard with thumb on the note "do" and the other fingers relaxed but not touching the keys. I think all of the students can be more above the keyboard and you can observe my helping them with this on the lesson video. Once they can do this playing the piano will be infinitely easier with a much better tone/sound. So, if you can have them get ready 5 or so times during practice (each time counting to 5 or another number) that would be great. When you look at the video you will notice how each time I had them get ready the position improved. Then with some of the lessons there is the point where the ready was not as good. That is because I asked too much. So, it is good to know that "too much is the same as not enough". This is the kind of research we have to do as parents and teachers.

The seeds are planted. We can cultivate with care. Remember the old adage of the farmer who was so eager to assist his crops that he went out at night and tugged on the new shoots.
Sometimes the most difficult thing to do is the same thing with faith that ability is accumulating.

The following video from my Youtube channel would be great for the students to watch as they can really see hands over the keys, and a beautiful sound. Zak studied Suzuki Piano Basics in my studio for many years.
Zak Beard performing Mozart Concerto #20, 1st mvt. part 1
Zak Beard performing Mozart Concerto #20, 1st mvt. part 2 -(it will also come up as an option on the screen at the end of part 1)

At the parent meeting we discussed playing a Mozart Concerto for your children as recommended by Dr. Suzuki to develop an aural understanding of the language of music:
Here is a link to Amazon for the Mozart Concertos #20 and #21 You can buy the disc or the MP3 download. I recommend the disc however as you can always upload it to your computer and then still have the disc and the information insert. It is only $7.98!!


you all are doing a great job,
all the best,
Leah Brammer

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Fall Performance Recommendations

Click on the links below for more information and tickets:

#1 Recommendation not to missed concert!
October 11 -Sunday 7:00PM -Davies Symphony Hall
Murray Perahia in solo piano concert

Other Great Concerts:

October 7-9 -Davies Symphony Hall
Yefim Bronfman plays Brahms Concerto #2 with the SF Symphony

December 5-Saturday 8:PM -Stanford
"From the Top" a live radio recording featuring young musicians-very fun

December 15 -Tuesday 8:00 PM -Herbst Theatre in San Francisco
Marc Hamelin in Solo Piano Concert

See you there!

Recital Announcement

Invitation to all Atlanta Friends!
You are Invited!

What: Solo Piano Recital by Peter Carter

Why: Senior Recital to share his music with family and friends

When: Saturday October 3 at 4:00 PM

Where: Southern Keyboards

Program

Prelude in D (WTC II) JS BACH

Sonata no. 8 (Pathetique) BEETHOVEN

Suite Bergamasque DEBUSSY

Ballade no. 1 CHOPIN

Everyone is welcome! Refreshments following program

Hope you can come.

Robin Blankenship

4_Twinkle Group class #3

Dear Parents,
In the moments of the class this week I felt very busy with taking care of the students and making good decisions about the environment. After viewing the videos I am so impressed with how the students are responding. Thinking through this carefully and remembering raising my own children I realize that often this is the feeling a parent has. It is in the looking back we are able to realize how much the child was learning. This is because children learn in a very different way from adults. They are able to take the whole environment in at a time. So while they are busy moving around and looking everywhere they are learning at a very high rate.

I traveled with my daughter to Japan regularly from the time she was 7 years old. From the very first trip she was able to communicate with our home stay family. The children and her immediately began running around and playing together while the adults tried to talk to each other without much success. When our Japanese host family would speak English with a very strong accent I could not understand them at all. My daughter however was immediately able to understand "Japanese English" So, I would say something in English and she would "translate" it into Japanese English-that is should would say it in English but with the Japanese accent. Suddenly they understood! How could she do this so easily and I was completely in the dark? Next she picked up a few Japanese words/phrases and began saying them over and over. One of them was "cheese-e-wa doku deska" which is part English, part Japanese and means something like "Where is the cheese?". (Obviously I still don't know Japanese) Anyway they kept buying more and more cheese for her! Mostly I was just concerned that we were offending them and didn't realize how incredible it was that my daughter had figured out how to get what she wanted while I couldn't understand the first thing...

And so it goes. Now she is fluent in Japanese and I still can only say "Thank-you" and 'I'm sorry" in Japanese. This story is not unique. Children in a foreign country will always will pick up language and accent faster than their parents. This is the natural learning process we want to preserve and nurture.
Children are so amazing. Please know they are learning even when it seems they are not "paying attention".

Next, we balance this with building skill step by step and affirming that which they are doing well. The general assignment this week:
Bow
Ready position- 2 0r 3 times
Twinkle A on thumb-3 or4 times if it was presented in class for your child
Please make sure the thumb is moving sideways, the sounds are short and the tone is clear. Soft is fine, Too loud means tension
finger numbers - begin mixing up which ones you ask, or have them point to your fingers and you answer
make-up sounds/song -black keys are great for this
Bow
mark the assignment sheet
Total time-definitely under 10 minutes, probably around 5 minutes with the make-up song

The following link is to the book "How to teach Beginners" by Dr. Kataoka. It was intended for teachers and is also great for parents to refer to as they are going through the process. Please keep the following link for reference and read the first part:

http://core.ecu.edu/hist/wilburnk/SuzukiPianoBasics/KataokaSensei/HTB.htm

From this point forward the lessons will be individualized according to the child's readiness on lesson day. So the exact assignment will vary from child to child. This is natural. As Dr. Kataoka says in "How to teach Beginners": " The difference is inconsequential."
We will discuss this and more at the parent meeting next Monday night at 6:30.
see you then,
Leah Brammer

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3_Twinkle Group class #2

Dear Parents,
Great second class! Here is a review:
Listening: The students are becoming familiar with the songs on the recording. Please keep up the listening and find more places/times to have the recording on. You can make extra copies of the recording from your computer so that you can have a copy in every room as well as the car and can put it on an MP3/Ipod type player as well. It is good to begin casually saying the names of the pieces as you hear them.

Also, please listen to the "Do a deer" links from the last blog entry if you have not already done so. This children will really enjoy this. They can begin to memorize the words to the song. We will continue to sing it every week. We will use this song to learn the names of the notes. Also you can sing the solfege for Twinkle when it comes on the disc. We will begin adding more songs to our solfege singing next week.

The Bow: Please read the Please and Thank-you article listed in the last blog entry if you have not already done so. Please bow at home together with your child in the same way that I bow with them during their individual lesson. This will be at the beginning and at the end of your practice time each day. So this week the children can bow (with you), find the ready position and hold, then bow again (with you) at the end.

Rhythm clapping and finger numbers: We are doing these as part of the class activities.
It is best to keep the actual practice to the bow and ready position for this week. We will add to the assignment gradually.

The Assignment Sheet: Please have the child put a mark, drawing, sticker, or color of some kind on the sheet for each day after the practice. This way they are being empowered by the accomplishment. The mark is a recognition and not a reward. This is an important distinction.

About the Ready Position: Ready is focus and intention. It is the point of integration of body/mind/emotion/spirit. This is the most important point for beginning. The body is still in balance with the hand above the keys without tension. The mind is in a place of no thought (words) which is present moment awareness. The practice of counting in the ready position is a way of centering the mind. This will enable the child to become still/ready.
Later, this is not necessary and the word "ready" will suffice to mean focus/intention-body posture/mind still.

The lesson videos are up on the Twinkle blog site. This last week was focused on helping you know how to adjust the bench and footstool for you child, and the beginning of finding the ready position.
You are all doing a fantastic job of supporting your child's progress. It takes real dedication to be a Suzuki parent! Your children will thank you for it - I promise.
Leah Brammer

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2_Twinkle Group class #1

Dear Parents,
Congratulations on a great first class. The videos of the lesson are on the video blog. I am sending you an invitation for that blog. They will be put each week after the lessons.
This week is up now so that you can view it. If you have problems viewing it please send me an e-mail.

The notebooks which were given out at the lesson for each student contain the calendar, assignment sheets, the first pieces in Book One with the solfege written above the notes, staff paper for writing notes on, and a disc of selected pieces in the Suzuki repertoire which you can use in addition to listening to the Book One disc most hours of the day/night.

The listening is the most important part of providing the optimum environment for learning. There is no such thing as listening too much! It is important to keep the volume down low so that it is in the background. Pretty soon you will find yourself humming the pieces when you are in the grocery store. This is a good sign.
When the children do this that means they are internalizing the sound of the pieces. This is the readiness for actually playing those sounds on the piano. This is natural learning.

The assignment sheet can be used this week to mark off each day they practice the bow. You can also mark the listening box. Please bring the assignment sheet back to the lesson so that they can show it to me.
It is good if they want to go to the piano to make sounds after the bow, and then bow again at the end of the piano time. Just a bow is good too. Each week as practice evolves you will bow at the beginning and the end of the practice in the same manner that the child bows with me at the lesson.

Please read the post in this blog entitled "Please and Thank-you". You can just click the link, or search it on the top by name or find it under Past Posts on the right side of this blog. Go to 2008, then down to October, and then you will see the title "Please and Thank-You".

You can begin writing the solfege notes in your score. You can use the photocopies as reference. However if you can sing the solfege without the names written above the note you do not need to do this. Also please sing "Do a deer" so that the children can learn the words as we will continue to sing it for the next few weeks.

Following is a great link for "Do a Deer":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UE3CNu_rtY&feature=channel_page

Enjoy!

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