I have agreed to take on a new teenage violin pupil who has learnt by the Suzuki method. She has reached Suzuki book 3. I am extremely nervous as I know very little about the Suzuki method and I have only ever taught beginners of primary school age before. I am worried that it might be difficult for someone of this age to adapt to a different style of teaching.

What can I expect?

Does anyone have any advice about how to handle the change from the Suzuki method to a more traditional method of teaching?

Be open minded!

She will probably have a good ear and strong aural memory. She will probably read well. Her tone will probably be fabulous - Suzuki puts a lot of emphasis on daily tonalisation work. She will probably be used to a positive teaching approach.

Do ask again after the first lesson and do expect to be pleasantly surprised.

And she'll probably do a little bow to you after the lesson! I've taken on 3 ex-Suzukis - more info about it when I have time.

Violinia

I bet she won't given that she's 13 not 3!

Well, we've had the first lesson. I was very impressed by the way she held her violin and bow. She could hear when she played out of tune and could correct it. I think her tone will be good when she is not so nervous.

The problem is that she has had another teacher in between learning with the Suzuki method. That teacher seems to have taken her straight from Suzuki book 3 to preparing for grade 5 and she is now keen to take the exam, but her playing is just not at that level. She can read music in the sense that if I ask her about individual notes she can answer correctly, but if I ask her to play very simple sightreading she struggles even to play a single bar without stopping. She is, however, a bright child and listens well so I think she will learn quickly.

Am I correct in thinking that the Suzuki method concentrates almost exclusively on Baroque repertoire?

Yes the core of the repertoire is baroque, but ..... most teachers would provide a lot of supplementary material outside the method books. Certainly my child's teacher gives them a lot of other material to work on for concerts, group work or to practice sight reading.

There's a list of the fabulous Suzuki repertoire here:

http://www.sagwa.org/SAGWASuzukiRprtoire.html

Not all baroque by a long way.........

Wow, this is interesting. It's almost exactly like my previously Suzuki-trained student of yesterday - good posture, desperate to take Grade 5 as soon as possible yet most definitely not at that level. Sightreading very poor - ditto.

Perhaps my new pupil has another teacher in between? I didn't think Suzuki teachers normally put their students through grades in the first couple of years? I need to talk to the parents before the boy's next lesson and find exactly what has gone on with him.

You're lucky with your new student in that she hears when she's out of tune - my new student doesn't hear it at all, and played horrendously out of tune most of the time. I hardly know where to begin with him and am feeling a bit bothered about it. It'll be a challenge but the boy will have to be prepared to slow down and take it at the pace I feel is right for him, not the pace at which he was evidently primed before. He may not be prepared to do this, in which case I may have to help him find a teacher more in tune with the way he wants to operate.

Let us know how your new student gets on!

Violinia

Perhaps my new pupil has another teacher in between? I didn't think Suzuki teachers normally put their students through grades in the first couple of years? I need to talk to the parents before the boy's next lesson and find exactly what has gone on with him.

I wondered the same thing on your behalf when I read that !

She could hear when she played out of tune and could correct it.

This rang very clear bells with me. My daughter had a couple of years of Suzuki violin when she was little. She played in front of her class in school assembly in year 2, and her form teacher said to me afterwards "my chin dropped - she actually played in tune!"