"There's music in every child. The teacher's job is to find it and nurture it."
- Frances Clark
Lessons
Traditional vs. Suzuki
Daniel recognizes that students bring with them a variety of different learning styles and music interests. He works to tailor lessons to students' music interests and learning needs to instill a lifelong passion and appreciation for music.
Students have a choice between traditional and Suzuki style piano lessons. Both methods have benefits, but differ in teaching approaches and the styles of music studied. For more information on the differences between these two, please see below.
If you are unsure as to which is a better fit, please don't hesitate to contact Daniel and he will work with you to find the best fit.
Traditional Lessons
Ages: Kindergarten through Adult
Traditional lessons emphasize functional music skills (reading and interpreting music, playing by ear, etc.) and are best suited for students who are in kindergarten and older. There is a greater flexibility in the choice of assigned repertoire and the teacher always takes students’ personal music interests into play when assigning repertoire.
Students study the following items in traditional style lessons: technique, theory, music history, functional skills, sight-reading, music expression, and both classical and contemporary piano literature (pop, musical theatre, jazz, video game, soundtrack, etc.).
Suzuki Appraoch
Ages: 4 and Older
"Teaching music is not my main purpose. I want to make good citizens. If children hear fine music from the day of their birth and learn to play it, they develop sensitivity, discipline and endurance. They get a beautiful heart."
- Shinichi Suzuki
The Japanese violinist, Shinichi Suzuki, founded the Suzuki Method in the mid-20th century.
Mr. Suzuki believed that every child can be educated if provided the correct learning environment and if they are exposed to high quality examples of music. This style is derived from the “mother-tongue approach”, which is based upon the idea that children learn to speak their native language by hearing and imitating others.
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How do Suzuki Lessons differ from Traditional?
In Suzuki lessons, parents are highly involved in the learning process and thus, are required to attend all lessons and serve as “home teachers.” Parents are required to take half hour piano lessons outside of their child’s private lesson time through Suzuki book one so that they understand what the student is expected to do. Furthermore, listening and repetition is a cornerstone of the Suzuki approach. Students and parents are encouraged to listen to the accompanying soundtrack to every book weekly to encourage absorption of the music. Contrary to most traditional teaching, there is a greater emphasis on learning music “by-ear” during the beginning stages of lessons.
What are some requirements of the Suzuki Approach?
1.) Parents must read “Nurtured by Love” by Shin’ichi Suzuki
2.) Students and parents are encouraged to listen to the accompanying soundtrack at least weekly if not daily
3.) The minimum Suzuki lesson time block is 45 minutes. 30 Minutes are dedicated to the student and 15 for the parent/guardian. Parents/guardians will learn the Suzuki piano repertoire along with students to better serve as "home teachers."
4.) Parents are required to attend all weekly lessons
Do students only learn Suzuki piano repertoire?
In addition to the teaching of the Suzuki piano repertoire, students are also provided additional instruction in technique, theory, music history, and functional music skills (see Traditional Lessons for more details on what these entail). Provided that students are well prepared in the preparation of Suzuki’s selected piano repertoire, students may also be given additional repertoire outside of the traditional Suzuki piano repertoire tailored to students’ music interests (pop, classical, jazz, musical theatre, video game soundtrack, etc.).