Anyone start Suzuki violin with really young kiddos?

[snickelfritz]

Our teacher says that she has started with 3-4 year olds, although usually for 5-10 minute lessons at the beginning and then working up. She also likes to start an older sibling, first, to give them a chance to get ahead.

 

We went to look at violins and get sized for older dd. We have a couple of different options in terms of size, price, renting, buying, buying a cheaper one, buying a more expensive one that can be put towards a buy-up in size, etc...

 

We're trying to figure out how starting the younger dd on violin in 6 months or so (she'd be a few months past 4 years old) would figure into our decision. The other option is saying that it's a 6 year old thing and she can start when she turns 6.

[Guest Rosalind]

My son began Suzuki lessons at 4 1/2 years old. His lessons were 30 minutes long. He did fine attention-wise most of the time. He progressed very slowly the first year- the teacher spent a lot of time teaching and reiterating the proper playing posture and finger placement on the bow. He only learned how to play the first two songs out of Suzuki book 1 the first year. I'm glad he started violin lessons early though. The second year of lessons were more "fun"- he progressed more quickly, since he spent so much time with technique instruction the first year, and learned to play twice as many songs.

Most of the parents in our teacher's studio had the same experience- very slow progress with the young ones during the first year of instruction.

[Bonnie in VA]

We all (me, ds11, dd8, dd5) started about a year ago. It was NOT too early to start the youngest. Our teacher adapts her teaching to each child, and if my dd5 is feeling frustrated by bowing, the teacher smoothly switches the lesson to one on plucking, fingering, wrist exercises, or clapping rhythms.

 

I plan to start dd2 when he turns 4.

 

Bonnie

[Lostinabook]

My dd started at not quite 5 & ds started at about 5 1/2. For my kids, that was early enough &, really, each of them probably could have waited another year. However, there are a couple of kids who started at 3 1/2 & made it nearly all the way through Book 2 by the end of their second year, so it totally depends on the child.

[Sarah CB]

My first son started at 4 1/2, the second started at 3 1/2 and the third started the same week he turned 3. One advantage to starting very early is that none of the boys remember a time when they didn't practice every day. It's just a natural part of their lives. Also, all of those tricky posture things come much more naturally. I kind of (badly) play as well and I have a really hard time making my hands and fingers do what they're supposed to do. It's not normal for me to hold something out to the side (I want to stick it in front of me so I can SEE it!), it's not normal to have my left hand the way they want it positioned (I want to use it to hold up the violin), and the bowing grip is not normal either. I've had years and years to teach my hands and fingers what are normal for me, so starting violin at this stage has been a major retraining of everything I thought was "normal".

 

The kids don't have those things as firmly ingrained. It's easier for me to get them to do weird things with their hands. Plus, all of those repetitions that are necessary to develop good posture and perfect intonation are *much* easier to do with silly games and a preschool child than they are with an older child who isn't as easily amused.

 

Suzuki violin is a ton of fun and absolutely age appropriate for the younger set. I definitely wouldn't recommend waiting until 6 - not that it's too late to start at that point, just that there are some advantages that you'll get out of starting young.

[Kim in Appalachia]

My 2nd son was closer to 6, which worked out well for him. He has poor fine motor skills, and would have been easily frustrated. (This was the teacher's opinion.) My dd was 6.

 

The advantage of starting a child young (3 or 4) is so that everything becomes natural. I am referring to the way the child holds the violin, the bow, and the fingering. Young children are more "moldable" in that department. The children will progress slowly, but they be getting all of the mechanics down.

 

It is ok to wait if your child doesn't seem ready or willing. It should be fun. But if your child is wanting to play it can be beneficial to start.

[zaichiki]

Ds started cello and 5.5 and dd started viola at 3.5. Some say that the earlier you start them, the slower they progress at the beginning, but this is not universally true. Dd completed book 1 before she was 5. (As I say this, I must admit that dd has a friend who started violin at 4.5 and has only now, 3 years later, gotten to the midway point in book 1. All kids are different.)

 

The two kids have been progressing at a fairly equal rate until recently, when now 7 y.o. dd outpaced her older brother. (Thank goodness they now play different songs or we'd see huge competition issues.) The kids have played for 4.5 and 3.5 years and are both in book 4 of their Suzuki repertoire.

 

Depending on the child's interest level, beginning at 3 or 4 can be completely worthwhile. If I had a child who was progressing so slowly that (s)he couldn't complete the first book after 3 years, though, I don't think I'd continue spending the money. I don't know. It's really a stretch for us, economically, but it's been worth it so far. The kids have learned so much that I couldn't have taught them (and I don't just mean musically).

 

Have fun!

[....]

We started when our daughter just turned 5 (about 1 1/2 yr ago). She still takes violin lessons and has written a couple of songs :tongue_smilie:. She's playing in a recital next weekend.

 

It depends on the child...we had to take our son out of it because he would rather figure out how to use the violin to battle aliens crossing over into our dimension than to pay attention to his teacher.

[samba]

My dd9 started suzuki violin at 3 (just before she turned 4). It was good for her. She had an excellent attention span, was mature for her age and she progressed very quickly. She really enjoyed it. The downside is that now, at 9, she feels like she's been playing violin forever and would like to switch solely to piano (I'm teaching her that). She does not always have the best attitude about practicing. I see pros and cons to both sides. If you think your child has the emotional maturity I would say go ahead and start early, otherwise wait a little longer.

 

Carolyn

[Sarah CB]

Also, it's important to understand that in the Suzuki philosophy the measure of "progress" isn't what book you're on or what song you can play. Instead, it's the love of music, sensitivity to beauty, posture, tonalization and perfect intonation.

 

My first ds took two full years to get through the first four songs in book one. He was still learning and progressing and enjoying music throughout that whole time. If I had been worried about how fast he was progressing through the books I probably would have dropped violin. But, he was moving at his own pace, he was continually developing his posture, tonalization, and intonation, he was developing his love of music, and he was enjoying his lessons and practice times. There are more important things than how fast one picks up a song. And now I can look back and see how very important it was to ensure that the early foundational stuff was developed solidly.

 

ETA: It's kind of like how SWB describes the process of learning how to write. We don't try to rush our grade 2 students past dictation and copywork so that they can write three page reports or short stories after only a year or two of writing lessons. Instead, we build up that foundation slowly and surely and by the time high school hits our WTM-kids will have surpassed the kids who rushed through the foundation stages.

Edited May 30, 2009 by Sarah CB

[zaichiki]

Sarah,

 

I agree with you: it's not about how fast the progress comes. But, not all of us can afford to spend so much time and $$ (for us it is nearly $3K per year per child) unless more is gained. Of course love of music and some sort of progress is important, but it's possible for those things to be taught using MUCH cheaper and MUCH less intensive methods.

 

The only reason we started Suzuki lessons in the first place is because our children were constantly asking to learn to play the instruments. It was not our idea. In fact, our third has not started yet because I'm not truly convinced it's HIS idea. Also, three kids in Suzuki lessons might just break our bank right now. He can wait another year or until he's "dying to play" like his siblings.

 

Sorry. I didn't mean to imply that Suzuki lessons are only worth it if a certain speed of progress is being made. I know we're happy with the Suzuki lessons, even if signing the check does start dh spinning.

 

ETA: My kids still don't have PERFECT intonation. That one is a lifetime work in progress, I think. Dd can play anything she hears once or twice, but still works on keeping those third and fourth fingers at just the right distance for half-steps in the upper registers. :)

Edited June 2, 2009 by zaichiki

[snickelfritz]

I think we've decided to go with the smaller size violin for older dd. The violin guy (recommended by our teacher) thought she could go down or up a size, although the smaller one was an EXACT fit.

 

The younger one is ALMOST big enough for that same smaller size. When she is big enough, we'll let her use that one and buy a bigger size for older dd.

 

That spreads out the cost a bit, since I'm also going to need to get a violin. Younger dd will be sitting in on the lessons with me, so I'm sure she'll absorb some of it. And the teacher is willing to let her start out with 5-10 minutes out of older dd's lesson, when she's ready. She won't be able to do group lessons until she's got her own lesson, but we'll see how it all goes.