New student trained by Suzuki

[ltw5150]

I teach piano to a few students in my neighborhood as a side-job and I love it very much.  The parents I have simply want their kids to have some piano lessons and to enjoy learning music.  I'm not a professional by any means but I can introduce new students to the piano and make it fun.
Another neighbor asked me to teach her seven year old daughter.  She had been going to another teacher who was Chinese like her family is, but my neighbor was getting tired of the drive (45 minutes one way).  Today, this little girl came in and played some songs for me and I was amazed!  She was playing at middle-school level!  As the lesson went on, I discovered that she did not know her notes on the staff at all and was basically playing these songs based on hand position alone.  I had never seen this before and since discovered that she had been trained in the Suzuki method and I have now done the research to get a basic understanding of it.
My question is this - I have no idea what to do.  I feel I need to teach her how to properly read music but (a) have no idea how to go back and re-train someone, (b) am afraid she will hate coming to piano lessons!  Has anyone ever dealt with this situation before?  And how did you handle it?
I would be really grateful for any help on this - I'm desperate!
Thank you!
Laura

[mcdiddy1]

The Suzuki Method inspired by a Violin maker who felt students could learn to play very well at an early age. Like a mother teaching the child how to speak through imitations, students of the Suzuki Method learn by imitaing the teacher, like a mother, and imitating. Suzuki Method focuses on rote teaching, aural learning, and teaching basic teachniques by watching a teacher. The draw back with Suzuki is the literature is very limited in repetorire , most are Bach pieces, and like you see lack of emphasis in note reading. It is not a bad method, it is just incomplete by itself so when I teach it( i teach violin also) i start teaching by rote basic notes and gradually add notation and then we go to Suzuki book 2 because the techniques are what they need for everything they play afterwards.

The best way you can teach her is to teach her probably the way she is used too... aurally...a simple that is easy to understand. Then introduce what the notes look like on the page, preferably phrase by phrase. Even show her the same notes in different music that she will be playing in the near future so when she plays it, it will not be so foreign to her. Teach her aural first, then verbally , then show her what she has learned in differnt contexts.

 You do not have to retrain her, incorporate what she does well and add on to it. She won't hate coming to lessons when she is being successful with the pieces she knows and learns something new along the way. She will hate coming if you say " forget everything you have learned, now we are going to learn to read notes" and then having her play a piece she has never heard before and constantly correcting her. That would frustating for her.

[fleetfingers]

I started with Suzuki lessons at the age of 6, then switched to a "regular" teacher when I was 9.

I had the same problem. I could play some pretty impressive pieces, but was terrible at sightreading. My Suzuki  teacher taught me notes, scales, and key signatures. I could read a little, but nowhere near the level of my playing. Therein lies the problem with the method. Violinists may be able to catch up in sightreading skills more quickly than us pianists can. It took me a LONG time.

When choosing new songs for her to learn, pick ones that are at (or near) the level she is on. It is good that she can play so well - keep her going. I'm curious - What book is she in? What pieces can she play? If she can't read at all, you may have to show her how to play new songs. You play a phrase; she watches and listens, then imitates. Lots of repeating. Play along with her in another octave, so she can hear how it should sound. Then, she plays right hand, you play left hand (at the same time) and vice versa. Go line by line (RH, LH, HT), and teach her as much in each lessson as you think she can remember. That is probably what she is used to, but you can also ask her specifics about what her other teacher did.

As she learns to read, transition her into the process of reading new pieces on her own.

To teach her to read music, do what you normally do.

An important thing to realize about Suzuki students is that they memorize things very quickly. They cannot rely on the written score, after all, so they become very good memorizers. After spending some time on a sightreading piece, pay attention to whether or not she's even reading the music anymore. Frequently expose her to new, unfamiliar things to sightread.

[ltw5150]

Thank you both very much for your excellent advice!

To answer your question as to what she was playing - she played all of her songs out of Faber's Piano Adventures, Level 2B.  They were played accurately except for one song where she had her hands in the wrong position.  She is almost finished with that level and expects to move on.

Again, thank you!  I thought I stepped into the Twilight Zone that day.  I'm going to take your advice and give it a try!

[lessonsthatrock]

I personally have never used the Suzuki method, however I do find a lot of students have a hard time sight reading, no matter their experience level or ability. I think that's always more difficult than just using your ears, but equally important.

[lostinidlewonder]

Personally I was trained to play the piano by ear the begin with. I couldn't read notes very effectively. When playing the piano my eyes where at my hands to begin with. I think this is the best way to learn the piano to begin with as it will allow you to improve your technique much faster as you are watching your hands and can observe with sight what they look like and what things look uncomfortable. You also gain a visual pattern understanding of what you play if you are constantly watching your hands which is very good to set you up for good sight reading.

As you notice pattern in your hands you then approach observing the pattern in sheet music. The problem with sheet music is that it does not reveal clearly where to move your hands or when your hands move or what fingers to use, although to the advanced reader it does all this, to someone who is developing it is just a riddle that needs slow consideration. You need to alter the sheet music (color pattern, draw shapes, logical statements to help memorize the notes, highlight trouble fingerings etc) so that the student can absorb chunks at a time and does not fall into the trap of reading one or two notes at a time. You then ween them off massive sheet music markings and get them to see things more immediately without having to highlight the hell out of it

When I approached sight reading I kept it separate from my normal practice pieces. Since my reading skills where much lower than my playing skill I had to separate reading skills from my playing because of the large difference. So teach sight reading as a separate lesson and still play the pieces that represent your playing level keeps things flowing. I had teachers who did not separate it and they where terrible lessons for me (for sight reading only), as soon as I separated it for myself I saw great progress I see the same progress from students who are in the same boat I was in.

With all students we cannot totally change how they play, we have to work with what they have. This is the best way to encourage change in your student. Some teachers try to wipe clean a student and replace with what they consider is right, this is not good enough in my opinion and reveals that the teacher does not understand their students individual hands. That you study up on the Suzuki is wonderful but at the same time why not get to know more about how this student thinks and how they learn the music. What they say will reveal a lot more to you than learning about their method in general.

[keyofc]

ltw,
how are things going now?  I think this is a pretty challenging situation.

One thing you might do in teaching her is teach her how to write a song she already knows.
This way she will start learning how to read music by writing what she hears.

I think with Suzuki kids  - this is a good way to help them.
You can't go back to book 1 and keep their attention.
But you could go to the next piece in the book - and have them write a measure or two down as you play it.