We started our Fall Semester on September 3rd, and this school year is already off to a busy start! Each student got to start off the semester with a sweet treat, made by my mother (and I helped)!
We have some exciting things planned for this month, including a trip on the 28th to the Grand Rapids Symphony where students will be able to participate in a “Play-In” in the lobby before the concert. This concert is especially fitting for my students to see as it’s titled “For the Love of Violin”!
Each of my students is also starting out the Fall Semester with one month of reviewing their old songs. Once everyone is done with their review songs, then each student gets to pick a prize out of my prize box! A key component of the Suzuki method is reviewing a unified repertoire and playing with others, and we are able to do that in group lessons and with lesson overlaps!
I’m looking forward to all of the opportunities this semester has in store for us!
I was so thrilled for my students to have an opportunity to play music outside of the Suzuki repertoire and to do so in such a casual setting. Before now, my students had only had recitals to perform at. My goal for the next school year is to increase the number of fun performance opportunities for my students so they aren’t all high-pressure situations like a recital.
Dr. B and I played duets for about an hour, and then we had our students play 6 group songs: Twinkle Variation A, Carnival in Rio and Bow River Fiddling from Magic Carpet Violin, Cabbages and Swallowtail Jig from Wee Violin, and Old MacDonald.
We are so thankful to the Ada Village Farmers Market for hosting us and can’t wait to go back next year!
Last month, we enjoyed lovely performances from nearly every one of my students. I am so humbled by the growth my studio has shown in the past three years. At my first recital, I had 13 kids perform. I had nearly 30 perform this time!
Since we have grown so much, we had to find a new venue for our recital this year. Thank you very much to St. John’s United Church of Christ for hosting us!
We had solos, duets, a trio, and even a quartet! I am so proud of the hard work everyone put into their performances. We were accompanied once again by the skilled Noah Seim and I even tried my hand at accompanying as well! Grand Rapids area teachers should consider hiring Noah for their recitals – he is fantastic at accompanying young students.
At every recital, my students start with the first variation of Twinkle. Everyone gets to play as a group regardless of how young or old they are. One of my students’ parents got a great picture of us playing twinkle, but there were so many of us that not everyone is pictured!
This year I started including Pre-Twinklers in performances. At the start of the show, we sang the Rest Position Song and “played” Pop Goes the Weasel. Later in the program, all of my Pre-Twinklers played an open string duet with me from the books Wee Violin and Magic Carpet Violin.
Towards the end of the program, my more advanced students played some ensemble music.
And now with the recital behind us, we are well into the summer. I’m enjoying slower days and sunny weather, while also looking forward to getting back into the swing of things next year!
What a year it’s been! I’m so thankful for all of the opportunities I’ve had this past year and it makes me feel very fortunate to look back on what I’ve been able to do. When we are caught up in the grind and just getting by day to day, it can be hard to remember how much we have accomplished. I encourage everyone to do a yearly reflection and give yourself some credit for your hard work too!
Below are just 5 (of many!!) highlights from this past year.
I performed at 26 wedding ceremonies.
I originally started the year with a limit of 24 weddings. After the whirlwind that was 2021, I felt that I needed to limit the amount of weddings I was doing for my own sanity and for the quality of my performances. I ended up adding on 2 more, but am proud of myself for sticking so close to the original number I gave myself! A lot of planning goes into each wedding, so limiting them ensures that I am consistently providing my best work.
I started the year with 15 students and ended it with 27.
This is especially crazy, because my goal was 20! I am finally at a point where I don’t need to rely on gigs to supplement my teaching income. The constant plugging myself and posting on wedding sites appear to be in my rearview mirror- and hopefully I can keep it that way!
I recorded an album!
Albeit small (only about 30 minutes of music), my string quartet worked very hard and hired a sound engineer (Chris Avison at McBride Studio) to record music for my parents’ 30th wedding anniversary. They have exclusive access to the full album, but you can listen to clips on my About Page.
I Completed Book 2 Training.
It seems so long ago that it wasn’t even part of this year, but in February of this year I completed my Book 2 training with Jenna Potts. It was a very thorough class and I learned so much about teaching and Dr. Suzuki’s philosophy. I’m really looking forward to continuing my education in the Suzuki Program!
I held my first studio recital!
Words cannot express just how much pride I felt when I watched my students, aged 5-adult perform songs that they had worked so hard to prepare. My heart was bursting to see even my most nervous students perform so well. Each student put in so much work and the reward was a beautiful performance.
I’m looking forward to using these experiences to help me grow in 2023!
Did you know that violins come in multiple different sizes? It’s true! While most adults play on full size violins, there are 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, 1/10, and even 1/16 size violins for children. Whether your child is 3, 7, 14, or even if you’re an adult student yourself, getting the right size violin is crucial to learning the instrument. For children who need a fractional sized instrument, getting them the right size violin will allow them to handle the violin much better than they would with a violin that is too big.
Won’t my child grow into a full size violin?
While, yes, your child will very likely grow into a full size instrument, there are several reasons why this logic will end up hurting them in the long run. First, when I say “hurt”, I partly mean that quite literally and physically. Holding the violin is not natural – meaning no other time in life are you likely to hold up your left arm over to the side of you in the way you would to hold a violin. Even without an instrument to hold up, your arm is probably going to get tired after a few minutes of holding it up if you’ve never done this before! Violins seem like such little things, but they’re heavy when you hold one for extended periods of time. If your body hasn’t developed the necessary muscles and endurance to comfortably hold a violin for extended periods of time, we risk injuring the student by overusing the muscle. The smaller the violin, the lighter it is. If your child has the benefit of being able to start on a smaller size instrument, you will be doing them a favor as they will be able to develop their muscles slowly over time rather than rapidly putting stress on them.
Second, a smaller child is set up for failure if their instrument is too big to handle. We need to be able to move around freely on the fingerboard in order to play the instrument. There is a lot of work in the first year (and many times longer) with posture (holding the instrument correctly). The most common thing I see when a child has an instrument that is too big for them is that they’re not able to hold it properly. They need to have a straight left wrist in order to comfortably access every note on the fingerboard. If they’re struggling to reach the top of the neck of the instrument in the first place, they don’t have a chance of keeping that wrist straight. This will cause (on top of constant nagging from their teacher) them to play out of tune, making it extremely difficult for them to develop their ears. Playing in tune is a challenge when everything is set up right – it’s near impossible if the student also has other factors working against them.
All of this is sure to frustrate the student, and in my experience, they will be more frustrated than they will have fun. They will hurt, their teacher will be nagging them constantly about their posture, and they won’t be able to make a nice sound with their instrument. No child wants to fail. Having an instrument that is too big for your child will likely result in them losing interest.
Buying multiple instruments for my child as they grow sounds expensive.
I have great news! In a lot of areas, you can rent string instruments. When your child outgrows theirs, you turn in the violin for a bigger one. I recommend renting your first instrument to everyone, even if they’re an adult student who will be starting on a full size instrument to begin with. Here’s why: how many times have you or your kid been ALL about something, totally invested, can’t get enough… just to lose interest in a few months? I love the violin, but I’m not foolish enough to believe that it’s for everyone. It’s a rewarding, but very challenging, skill. To put it bluntly: the violin is too hard to enjoy if you just “kinda” like it. Renting an instrument is a smart option financially if you’re unsure of the commitment.
In Grand Rapids we’re lucky to have Meyer Music – your one stop shop for getting sized, renting, and helping with repairs for your instrument. If you go during normal business hours during the week, they’ll even change a broken string for you while you wait. All included in the rental fee! If recommend Meyer Music to all of my new students. If you’re not in the Grand Rapids area, Shar Music does online rentals. Even though they’re based out of Ann Arbor, they will ship you a rental instrument. They’ll help guide you through the process of measuring your child to see which size violin is right for them as well.
I would love to hear from you! Let me know what your thoughts are about this below!
What a crazy few weeks it’s been! Michigan has been under a Shelter in Place order for three weeks now. A lot of things have certainly not been easy, and that definitely includes the task of teaching violin lessons. Almost all of my students have been able to continue lessons online, which has not been a smooth transition for all of them. Some of my students seem to be doing fine, and others are heavily affected by their routines disappearing and life coming to a screaming halt. I have noticed this in their energy levels, concentration, and the amount that they have been practicing. I’ve tried a ton of different ideas to keep my students engaged and feel cared about, and I wanted to share some of my ideas.
1.) Take Care of Yourself
It’s like when they say in an airplane to put your oxygen mask on first before helping anyone else. You’re not going to be able to do a good job for your students if you’re not doing a good job for yourself. This does not mean the same thing for everyone! For some people it’s staying busy, and for some it’s being loving towards yourself and allowing yourself to have off days. Something important to remember is that almost no one is functioning at their normal levels right now and that’s okay. Acknowledging to yourself that you could be having a tough time will make it easier to realize that your students are having a tough time too.
2.) Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff
It’s your job as a teacher to critique your students’ playing. That means when you hear something that is obviously wrong, it’s your job to identify the problem and offer solutions for how to fix it. When you’re meeting in person, sometimes it’s appropriate to drill things for an extended period of time. However, when you’re teaching online, your student can’t easily read your body language, nor can you read theirs. Now is not the time to get “stuck” on one thing during your lessons. Of course address it and spend some time working on it, but if you get hung up on one thing, you and your student are just going to get frustrated about it. You can’t give the same kind of direction online that you can give in person, so consider that it’s not your student’s fault that they’re not understanding the concept you’re trying to explain. If something just isn’t working, move on. Come back to it at the end of the lesson or even at the next lesson.
3.) For Younger Students, Try Multiple Mini-Lessons
I have a couple of very young students who have trouble focusing throughout our normal 30 minute lessons when there isn’t a global pandemic. When I made the switch to online lessons, they were my first thought. How am I supposed to engage them for a full 30 minutes at a time when I’m talking to them through a computer without proper mics and speakers? That’s why I decided that for my younger students, I would do two 15-20 minute lessons a week rather than one 30 minute lesson. I’ve had a lot of success with this! It’s still hard to get complete focus, but you have to look at the small victories. Did your student play for half of the lesson? Great! Did they show you their toys for the other half? Also great, they’re probably so happy to have been able to show you. I’ve found that I’ve gotten a more personal look into their lives through this, and I’m thankful for it. Remember that you are teaching the whole person, not just the musician when you take on a young student. Maybe this is the time to inspire musicality through emotion rather than focus entirely on technical details.
4.) Connect With Other Teachers
Guess what? There’s no guide to this. And if you’re anything like me, you’ve been searching for tips online since this whole thing started. Unfortunately, there’s not much out there, because we’re all winging this. So, connect with your teaching friends! Ask them how they’re doing and what they’re doing to keep their lessons beneficial and engaging to their students. Right now, they are your best resource.
5.) Remember Why We’re Doing This
After several lessons with frustrating lag, audio difficulties, and lack of concentration from students, you’re probably feeling burnt out more than anything else. That’s okay, give yourself time to feel down and angry about the situation. It’s not fair! But when you’re done, remember that you are giving these students something very important. The reason we teach music is so we can share something we love very much with others. So help your students. Show them that even through a global pandemic, music will still be there and it will always enrich their lives. Make it fun! Let it be an outlet for them, not a burden.
What have you been doing to cope during this time? I would love to hear from you about ideas you have had for your online teaching.
