laundrycrisis Posted February 20, 2010 Share Posted February 20, 2010 I started Suzuki violin lessons with our almost 7-yo son a little over a month ago. He's just warming up to it - this is his first instrument - but I'm obsessed ! I dream about playing. It's the first thing I want to do when I wake up. Any free time I get in the day, I want to practice. I bought a music stand so I can have the music up higher and now that I can park my music anywhere in the house, I want to play even more ! I'm not sure this is a bad thing - I'm not neglecting school work, housework, etc. I might be driving our neighbors crazy - not sure how much they can hear. Our 4 yo is now making requests..."Mommy, now play Twinkle like Mississippi River." And I'm not pushing this on our 6 yo student - in fact I'm only asking him to practice with me a minimum of 5 good minutes a day - beyond that is voluntary (for now he is actually making great progress with five good minutes a day and I know the time will need to increase but I don't want to push and have him shut down - five minutes keeps it fun for him.) I guess I haven't spent a lot of time on anything fun for myself for so many years, I sort of automatically feel guilty about it. It seems like a hobby that is very easy to squeeze into the "cracks" in my time though ! Is it a problem for the parent part of a Suzuki pair to get so enthralled with the instrument ? I'm kind of a fan of TJEd and I know one of the principals is "you, not them" so this fits right in with that....but am I having too much fun ? LOL ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JennW in SoCal Posted February 20, 2010 Share Posted February 20, 2010 It can't possibly be a bad thing! I'm new to Suzuki but not new to the violin, having played on and off most my life. I now teach and the one student who practices the most is my adult student. I think it is great you are playing, and I can't imagine it being "bad" for one pair of Suzuki students to advance. If anything you will be in a better position to help your ds. The only thing I do wonder is if you are getting bored with just the Suzuki book and if you want other music to work on -- I know I crave variety when I practice. Do you read music? Are you learning to read music? Or is this "pure" Suzuki where you learn by ear? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laundrycrisis Posted February 20, 2010 Author Share Posted February 20, 2010 I'm just about halfway into the first Suzuki book. It's challenging me to learn technique enough that I'm not bored yet. I'm just now getting to where I can sight read on the violin. I can read music for piano and flute, but learning to sight read for the violin is totally different, KWIM ? The only downside has been that I have heard all the music on the CD, so I know what it is supposed to sound like, so it's not much of a challenge to sight read. Our teacher is going to give me some music next week that she thinks I may not have heard, so that I can work on more challenging sight reading. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mergath Posted February 20, 2010 Share Posted February 20, 2010 I think it's great that you're so excited about it! I began violin lessons a couple years ago, and I was extremely excited about it too. Sadly, I had to stop because I have epilepsy, and it turns out that holding a vibrating instrument against part of my head was a seizure trigger. :( Up until that point, however, I was practicing every spare minute. It was wonderful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laundrycrisis Posted February 21, 2010 Author Share Posted February 21, 2010 Sadly, I had to stop because I have epilepsy, and it turns out that holding a vibrating instrument against part of my head was a seizure trigger. That is a shame. I wonder if you could play the cello without risk, since it's away from your head ? I originally wanted to play the cello and only got involved with violin to do Suzuki with our son. I like the violin very much now but still hope to learn cello as well at some point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Lilac Studio Posted February 24, 2010 Share Posted February 24, 2010 Wonderful! I think it's always positive when our kids see us nurturing our passions and the rewards of hard work. (And being able to make musical requests, too!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
violinmom Posted March 4, 2010 Share Posted March 4, 2010 I know this is an old post, but I couldn't help but post! How fun for you to get really excited about playing. It's great for you! You could both play duets. There is a great duet book that has some beautiful obligato duets for many of the early pieces that you could learn. Publisher is Sumy Birchard, same as the Suzuki books. Even just learn the Twinkle one. :) It makes review time more fun to play duets. LeAnn dd 14, dd 11, dd 8, ds 2, dd 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laundrycrisis Posted March 8, 2010 Author Share Posted March 8, 2010 Thank you !!! He is just now mastering Twinkle with the different rhythms. I am looking forward to being able to play harmonies for him. Our teacher plays harmonies for me at our lessons, and it's so much fun ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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