Nurturing Intelligent Individuals

Shinichi Suzuki believed a major purpose for teaching a person how to play an instrument was to create sensitive, intelligent, caring individuals. Ability develops into talent, he said, and he did not just mean talent in playing music. We can develop our ability to listen, to look for meaning, to work with other people, to motivate ourselves and others to further learning, to experiment and try new ideas, and even our intelligence.

In her blog Rethinking Genius, Suzuki violin teacher Danielle Gomez touches on how we can develop intelligence through music lessons. She says, "music doesn't just stop at learning the skills necessary to play an instrument beautifully.  In going through the process of learning an instrument, a student is becoming a more intelligent individual."

She notes that the dictionary defines intelligence as more than giving the correct answer. It is "The ability to learn or understand things or to deal with new or difficult situations."

Students nurture and grow their intelligence as they encounter new and difficult challenges in music, and learn how to move forward  through practice towards mastery.

I encourage you to read Danielle's full blog article here.

Piano Footstools

Proper posture at the piano is very important. A part of having good balance and posture is making sure feet are able to be flat and at an appropriate height.  For young children, a footstool is necessary to be sure they are developing fluid and easy technique at the piano. 

Here are two suggestions of websites with footstools or stacking wood boxes that can be adjusted as each child grows.

I have had students order from this first website before (The Piano Footrest). The footrests are very easy to assemble and will travel well if you play somewhere else and want to take it with you.
http://thepianofootrest.com/piano-footrest

This second option has been suggested to me before. If you prefer a more finished wood look, you can check these out.
http://pianofootrest.com/stacking-footrest.html

Assignment: Compose a Variation

Let's get ready to compose our own music!

Using the melody of the folk song "My Hat", create a variation. Be prepared to play it at your next lesson.

For ideas of what you can change to create a variation, click here.

Watch the video to learn the melody.
Sorry it is sideways. The first note is G.

You could make up a left hand part as well!

Play an Instrument: Grow Your Brain

This is an excellent video explaining recent findings by scientists about how playing an instrument uses more of our brain than any other activity or skill. Playing an instrument gives your brain a "full brain workout" and actually increases many abilities!

Theme and Variations: A Little Inspiration

This week group classes are composing variations of Mary Had a Little Lamb.

Ideas for how to change the theme to create new variations include:

• Add a note (or two or three) in between the melody notes.  An easy way to make sure they sound right is to use notes from the chords.
• Change what octave you are playing in on the piano.
• Change to the minor key.
• Put the melody in the left hand and the harmony in the right hand.
• Use a sequence of a few of the melody notes.

What other changes can you think of?

Click on the link below to see many of the ideas I listed above demonstrated by a pianist.

Classical Piano Variations on Mary Had a Little Lamb

Another Take on Variation

This young man created variations of Mary Had a Little Lamb by using other famous songs and putting the theme of Mary in them. The list of famous songs includes classical and pop favorites like Revolutionary Etude, Phantom of the Opera, Linus and Lucy, and Beethoven's 5th Symphony.