At Manhattan Violin School we specialize in teaching violin, so we aim to be the very best at what we do!  This is the first of several information sessions intended to give students, parents, guardians, and family members an overview (or preview) of what studying violin brings to you and your family.  I hope it also gives a comprehensive perspective of the approach we take, and a composite for successful and happy violinists.  Ok, let’s get started!

The more we study early childhood education, the more compelling the information is about children’s early involvement with music.  I don’t believe this can be overstated, so it’s good to review some of these findings even if you’ve already heard them before.  There is vast evidence that engaging in music results in superior cognitive skills, memory, visuospatial processing (the ability to understand and analyze space, in other words to virtually move through a mental image, such as giving someone directions), verbal skills, literacy, mathematical aptitude, deeper neural pathways, and much more.

You may already have heard about the so-called Mozart Effect in which a French researcher, Dr. Alfred Tomatis, maintained that listening to Mozart at certain frequencies helps develop (or heal) the brain.  Further popularization of his research morphed into the supposition that listening to Mozart made one “smarter”.  It was also, for some time, widely held that listening to specific Mozart piano pieces could raise one’s IQ.  In truth, the broader concept that listening to/playing classical music heightens spatial reasoning may be more accurate.  Spatial reasoning has to do with the ability to problem solve and find solutions in multi-step processes.  Interesting item:  There’s a German sewage treatment plant that plays Mozart’s music to break down its waste faster.  “We think the secret is in the vibrations of the music, which penetrate everything—including the water, the sewage and the cells,” states chief operator Anton Stucki.  Weird factoid!  Changing subjects…

The Suzuki Method

Children absorb all information.  Truth, right?  Dr. Shin’ichi Suzuki observed that through language.  He noticed that very young children instinctively learned a difficult language (Japanese), in a specific dialect, by imitation and repetition.  Sometimes called the Mother Tongue Approach, Suzuki founded his educational philosophy on nurturing the heart of each child.

“I want to make good citizens. If a child hears fine music from the day of his birth and learns to play it himself, he develops sensitivity, discipline and endurance. He gets a beautiful heart.”

—Shin'ichi Suzuki

This is key…there’s such a rich, vibrant learning window from ages 3 through 7 and we sometimes miss taking full advantage of that most fertile ground.  I say prime the pump with your children! 

They are going to soak up any environment, so why not give them a nutrient-dense foundation on which to grow great learning tools?  Exercise the development of those tools such as body awareness, the cerebral cortex (the outer layer of the brain that’s responsible for thought, communication, memory, attention, etc.), coordination, fine motor skills, and concentration, to name a few.  The point is not to make concert violinists but, rather, to empower children’s natural aptitudes to be the very best they can be.

Thanks for tuning in!  The next session will include info about the Suzuki method…what is it exactly, how does it work?  We’ll also explore Suzuki’s pro’s and con’s, how we address a full and rounded violin experience, how to prepare the environment for family based learning, and how to get the greatest benefit from these early learning years.

PS- If you’re ready to start, please sign up now.  Lesson times go fast (honest!), so reserve yours today.

Cheers,

Jill

Mom-inar #2

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