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Why Do This? |
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People study music for many different reasons. People have their children study music for different reasons; they themselves did not get to do it as a child, they have heard it will make their children smarter, their parent's made them and they were going to do the same for (to?) their child… While there are no "wrong" reasons to study music, I believe there are some very good reasons. |
| Better People |
| Surely our job as parents is to help our children be the best people they can be. We want them to be kind, industrious, intelligent, caring people. I believe that when children are immersed in music as they are in the Suzuki method, all of the above qualities are likely results. Dr. Suzuki was known to work constantly on the tone the student produced on the instrument (tone meaning the quality of sound produced). He worked endlessly searching for the warmest, most penetrating, most beautiful sound. One of his favorite sayings was, "Beautiful tone, beautiful heart." Through the quest for beautiful tone, the student will take on the qualities of a beautiful tone. I submit that we teach children music to make them more fully human, more beautiful and more alive. |
| Lifelong Joy |
 Another
benefit of music study is that there is room for music in every person's
life, no matter the stage. A student who has been introduced first hand
to the beauty of great classical music will always retain a love for music.
By studying music, we are giving the child their birthright of musical competence
and letting them discover that a day with music is far better than one without.
In addition, the student who attains a level of competence will have far less trouble as an adult resuming musical study. They will be able to attain a level of competence filled with great satisfaction on many levels. When our children study music, we are doing what we can to give them lifelong joy. |
| Love |
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The Suzuki method dictates that
the parent and child will spend hours and hours together in close contact,
working toward the attainment of musical beauty and instrumental mastery.
In this journey, there will be peaks and valleys, laughs and tears (more
laughs than tears, I promise!). There is a deep bond that grows between
parent and child through this continued activity. It is a beautiful thing
to go to a summer Suzuki institute, and see mother and nine, ten, or eleven
year old son walking from class to class holding hands. This is a sight
we are not often given the privilege to see in our society. Some days
I feel that the music part of the equation is negligible - that you could
do Suzuki basket-weaving, or Suzuki Chutes and Ladders, and you would
yield the same result. In reality, the music is obviously a key part of
the equation, but surely increasing the amount of love you can share with
your child is reason enough to look into the Suzuki method further.
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