In music, there is no equivalent to an eraser.
Category Archives: Teaching
Day 3: Ottawa Suzuki Institute
Today I have had a headache all day. Seriously. My prevailing theory is that the coffee in the cafeteria is actually decaf, or the dorm is infested with something awful. Grrr.
The day was fine, although probably involved way too many desserts. (Three). Let me explain.
The morning was much like the day before. Breakfast, three observations.
(more of Scott’s Bach Double)
Lunch was…I don’t even remember. Beefaroni type meal which I supplemented with iceburg lettuce, broccoli and cottage cheese from the salad bar. I was completely, utterly exhausted so I thought a piece of pie might help. It did. A little.
Then Holly and I went to the Fudge Shop. We promised our class we would bring them fudge. It is called Nana’s Fudge ‘n Stuff. We just got some of the regular fudge, which we were told is a best seller.
I am holding a small plate of fudge.
So in class I ate three small pieces of fudge.
Dinner was salisbury steak and mashed potatoes. Seriously. It was salisbury steak. I don’t know that I have ever had that before. I thought it only existed in fiction.
After dinner was the Brian Lewis recital, which was followed by a reception. The recital was lovely, and then we made a quick trip to Walmart (where I happened upon some fantastic fourth of July stuff!). We then headed to where we had been told the reception was…and there was nothing there. Absolutely nothing.
We were pretty ticked. There have been some organizational/communication issues here, and some room changes and venue changes, but if you email people to invite them to a reception and the reception venue gets changed, you should tell them.
We sat around briefly and moped. And then decided to hit up the DQ for mini-blizzards. I had Reese’s peanut butter cup. It was glorious.
Sotto voce
Yesterday in class we worked on how to teach the kids to play the slow movement of Vivaldi’s A minor in a sotto voce manner. Strange for me—I have spent way too much of my life trying to play loudly! It was a great lesson for me—I haven’t played that soft in awhile, plus it was a totally difference approach to the piece that I have had.
I took my camera out at dinner last night. Here’s Holly and Michaela (not sure of the spelling, must check!), my suitemates:
Holly ponders her fourth finger technique.
Scott awkwardly grinning for the camera.
Do I have an ethical responsibility to tell people I have a blog? I didn’t quite get up the nerve to mention it…
By the way, the food is horrific. Or I am just really picky? Luckily both lunch and dinner had a salad bar with TURKEY on it and chickpeas! Plus iceberg lettuce and broccoli. And I yoinked two bananas for later (yesterday morning they only had two sad looking oranges at breakfast, so I’m stockpiling fruit. Why, yes, I COULD go buy something at a store, but I have already paid for the cafeteria.)
Today is another busy day. After breakfast I’ll observe three classes, then lunch. After lunch we may be hitting up a local fudge shop before the afternoon class (dangerous, yes, but I feel confident I can manage–). Then dinner, and then a recital by Brian Lewis, followed by a reception that was pretty great last year (I recall pineapple, punch, and cream puffs).
I feel like I’m slightly less busy than last year, though. I think there was one additional parent class we did each day, plus yesterday I skipped the recital and the night concert because I wanted to have some chill out time.
Okay, I’m off! What are you doing today?
Patience is controlled frustration
That was a statement Terry Durbin made in a talk today at Suzuki Institute. I like it! After all, how many times have I written about my so-called patience, when I am clearly NOT a patient person. I’m controlling and easily frustrated…aha!
I don’t have too much time because I have a little assignment to practice for class, but I wanted to give a quick update on how things are going here. (Ottawa, Kansas for Suzuki Institute.)
This is my home until Friday. (Apologies for the wrinkled bed, it’s tough to make a bed that is in the corner, plus I just don’t care enough). I have my own room, but I share a suite with two other women taking teaching training who are actually quite fun and delightful! We’ve been chitchatting quite a bit and eating meals together. I always have an easy time making friends at these events since we all share a common bond—our love of teaching children to play violin and a constant desire to become BETTER at it.
This morning started early with an awful breakfast (the food is pretty bad…I am trying to take advantage of it and let this be a wonderful weight-loss/detox week.) The camp is a bit (understatement) disorganized this year and we still didn’t know what classes there were to observe. The course I am taking requires 15 hours of class time and 8 hours of student class observations. I always like to do MORE than the required observations since I’m here, so I really wanted to take up all my morning with classes. We finally figured out some options and headed out.
First I hit up Scott Conklin’s Book 5 Group Class. I went to school with Scott back in the day and I think he was a bit unnerved by my presence. Or just cause I was sitting next to my suitemate, Holly, who literally looks like Anne Hathaway (I’ll have to get a picture later…especially after Susan told us she couldn’t concentrate since we looked like models…Holly is like 6 feet tall, oh, and probably about 23 or 24…)
I decided to be a good blogger and snap some photos!
That’s Scott leading the class. They were playing Bach Double when I got there (late due to the misinformation) and then Country Dance here. The kids in the front didn’t know it yet so they were keeping an eye out for how the class was using their bows.
Next I went to Terry Durbin’s Class. I just love Terry Durbin. Last year he wasn’t teaching at the institute, but I know him from when I was a little girl attending Suzuki Institute. He is a truly hilarious, crazy, inspiring teacher. Part of my love of the violin came from classes with him. Years ago, after institute, I told my sister Leslie I wanted to be a Suzuki violin teacher just like him.
She said, well, you aren’t funny enough.
I suppose she’s correct.
Anyhow.
After that was a class with Beth Titterington, and then the aforementioned lecture by Terry Durbin.
I feel a little silly whipping out the camera, but seriously, why not? I’m loving the quality of my new camera photos, and some of these things just need to be documented, right? Like that hands on the nose/ear picture up there!
I am pretty funny, though, right? Probably not as funny as I think I am…but still, funny, right?
Let me just give you a few more things I wrote down today. These are for violin teaching, parenting, and life.
If you teach your children, you can change the world.
Understand the world on the child’s level. Come UP to their sense of wonder and awe.
Children can only hear what they are ready, emotionally and mentally, to hear.
Support your child by being there and support them by truly being there when you are there.
You should not play the violin for accolades or to impress others.
Welcome to Ottawa and have a nice day
Today I drove to Kansas. Along the way I listened to a CD that included Chariots of Fire and Raiders March. Then I listened to (and sang along with) the soundtrack to the movie version of The Sound of Music. Twice. And cried both times on a certain song. I am now in Ottawa, Kansas at the Mid-Southwest Suzuki Institute. Woo-hoo!
Last night Chris and I wanted to go out to dinner. Originally we thought we’d go get something good and healthy, but ultimately we ended up at Trattoria Marcella. Not unhealthy per se, but perhaps when you eat your entire plate of gnocchi. To be fair I hadn’t managed to eat lunch, but that’s totally not my fault. I played a 2 hour wedding mass and then had to run. Two hours. Seriously. And before you ask, no, it wasn’t the royal wedding. I know skipping a meal is bad, but I can’t recall the last time I did, so that’s probably a pretty good track record.
Chris had some fun with the water goblets.
A beautiful series of photos of me looking creepy…as usual. Why is that? I look really skinny though, huh?
Anyway, so far we’ve had three hours of class, one awful meal (ham, potatoes, iceberg lettuce—straight ahead!), and 30 minutes of waiting around for them to find my room key. However, now I’m settled into the dorm and I just have one more hour of class tonight. And might I impress upon you how much I love Susan Kempter? She is seriously awesome and brilliant and all of that madness. I rarely get this excited about people. Only about Titanic.
Originally I misread this sign.
Off to see the wizard!
I’m off to Kansas today for Suzuki Camp! I am taking Teacher Training for Book 5 with Susan Kempter at Ottawa Mid-Southwest Institute.
Picture of the dorm last year.
What is Suzuki camp? Well, firstly I should quickly answer the question, what is Suzuki? The Suzuki Method is a way of teaching children (primarily) to play musical instruments. The concept is that you learn your instrument the way you learn language—by starting early and hearing it all the time—and without pressure and with love. That is how I learned the violin and that is how I primarily teach the violin. I started at the age of five, and I listened to the music I was learning all the time. Was there pressure? Well, yes, but as you know I put pressure on myself all the time! In ANY case I am not going into my childhood story here but simply giving you a little information as to what I am up to this week.
Here’s the link to the Suzuki Association’s page “What is the Suzuki Method?”
The camp part is the next part of the question. Basically people come from all over and get together for the week for an intensive week of learning and camaraderie with other like minded people. For me, it’s continuing education. I am fully trained to teach the Suzuki method for all levels (there are 10 books), but I really wanted to take another class (here’s a link to last year) with Susan Kempter. Taking courses makes me a better teacher (and frankly, a better person!). I am really excited!
How many of you learned an instrument with the Suzuki Method? How did it impact your life?