Anyone's DC done Suzuki Piano Book Recital?

[Tranquility7]

DS is preparing for his Suzuki Piano Book 2 recital. It will be at our house, with about 10-12 people there, and he will play the entire book straight through from memory.

 

His book 1 recital went fine when we had that, but it was so much simpler.

 

He is doing well prepping for this one, but honestly, it seems like SO MUCH to memorize!  He has been memorizing as we go along, but I find that as he learns new pieces, he starts to make new mistakes on some of the earlier ones (which were solid and which we continue to review). I think some of it is simply memory confusion since there are so many similar pieces (same forms, same keys, same styles). How does he combat this?

 

Tell me how your Suzuki book recitals have gone. Do your kids really memorize EVERYTHING? What if they have a memory block during the recital?

[rainbird2]

Have you talked with his teacher about this?  There are techniques for memorizing music.  He needs to do an analysis of each of his pieces, meaning he needs to know what key the piece is in, if there is a change of key in a section (and why that change in key), what the common themes are, how the piece is organized (rondo form, sonata form), dynamic,etc.  There's also muscle memory that needs to become second nature.  And as a Suzuki student, he should be listening to his pieces everyday.  Does the teacher require listening?  Did he learn Book 1 by ear or by reading?  It sounds like Book 2 was learned by reading.

 

If he were my child (or student), I would not let him perform a Book 2 recital until he has played those pieces for a very, very, very long time.  Really, there is no rush to get the recital done...when he can play any piece, and not in order, and in sections, and can play the pieces with absolute ease and confidence, then he will have a successful recital.  You really want that to be the end goal, a successful recital, and not just getting done with Book 2.  There is a lot to learn from preparing for a recital, and your son will benefit so much from the experience.  Just make sure it is a positive experience and not a nerve wracking one. 

 

I hope this helped you...let him take some time to have the pieces become second nature and he won't forget them.

 

Good luck!!

[Tranquility7]

Have you talked with his teacher about this?  There are techniques for memorizing music.  He needs to do an analysis of each of his pieces, meaning he needs to know what key the piece is in, if there is a change of key in a section (and why that change in key), what the common themes are, how the piece is organized (rondo form, sonata form), dynamic,etc.  There's also muscle memory that needs to become second nature.  And as a Suzuki student, he should be listening to his pieces everyday.  Does the teacher require listening?  Did he learn Book 1 by ear or by reading?  It sounds like Book 2 was learned by reading.

 

If he were my child (or student), I would not let him perform a Book 2 recital until he has played those pieces for a very, very, very long time.  Really, there is no rush to get the recital done...when he can play any piece, and not in order, and in sections, and can play the pieces with absolute ease and confidence, then he will have a successful recital.  You really want that to be the end goal, a successful recital, and not just getting done with Book 2.  There is a lot to learn from preparing for a recital, and your son will benefit so much from the experience.  Just make sure it is a positive experience and not a nerve wracking one. 

 

I hope this helped you...let him take some time to have the pieces become second nature and he won't forget them.

 

Good luck!!

 

Thank you so much, this is helpful.

 

Our teacher emphasizes listening a lot - which we do, but not enough! - and if he struggles with memorization she simply says he has not listened enough. She has not taught any other techniques for memorizing a piece. DS does know the keys and some basic forms (he may not know the names, but he generally figures out if it is ABAB or AABB or whatever). He doesn't have key changes in any pieces yet, but he does learn the dynamics (and figures out their patterns) while he is learning the piece. She has never talked about any of this as it relates to memorization though.

 

Book 2 was learned by listening and reading (mainly listening at the beginning, but he is now at the point where he can completely read the music also).  Book 1 was learned by listening, but the pieces were more distinct from one another. Book 2 has several baroque minuets, three (maybe four) of which are in the same key, and it is just gets confusing. There are some parts of different minuets where his hands are in similar positions, and so if his "muscle memory" gets confused he will start playing wrong notes all of a sudden and not be able to get back to the right notes without having to restart the section. But his teacher does not want him to restart the section, she wants him to restart right where he messed up. But how can he do that when he has lost his finger positions? His muscle memory can't "kick in" again unless he can get his fingers back in place to before the mistake, but he usually can't unless he starts the section again. My observation is that this happens in the pieces that are similar in form and key and therefore have a lot of similar hand positions.

 

I'm not in a hurry to get him through Book 2, per se - the problem is that he is wrapping up learning all his new pieces from it now, and I know that in December his teacher will require him to study Christmas music. That is a huge distraction in my opinion, but whatever. She has her ways, and this is one of them, so we just go with it. But as he is ramping up for his Book 2 recital, the Christmas music (and the busy holiday season in general) will be a big distraction. For that reason I would SO prefer that his recital be before Thanksgiving, so I don't have to think about it while I have 1000 other things going on for the holidays.

 

I know you don't know how he plays, but for an average faithful Suzuki student, is it unreasonable to think that if he finishes the book in August, that his recital could be in November? When you say a "very, very, very long time" - how long do you mean? We do practice his other Book 2 pieces regularly (and not in order), to try to keep them in good shape. We practice them hands separately and hands together. But now mistakes are creeping in with memorization that used to not be there. That is what is bothering me and making me wonder how he can ever get ALL of these pieces in perfect shape all at the same time.

 

Also, when you say there is a lot to learn from preparing for a recital, what do you mean by that? What do they learn during the recital prep phase that is different from what they learned when they originally learned the piece?

 

Fortunately it is only nerve-wracking for me, and I don't talk to DS about it... ;-) DS has good ol' Suzuki nerves of steel!!

[Catherine]

Ds did this only for book 1. His teacher gives the option of doing it for an audience, or just for her and another teacher (and me!) so that's what he's done for books 2-3, and will do for 4, which is going to be very soon. So he does play the entire book from memory, even though in books 3 and 4 his teacher has said it's fine if he uses the book.

 

I think different people have different capacities for memorization of the music, but I notice that none of my three kids, suzuki students all, have had any trouble with it, and it may be because of our style of practicing. We learned several years ago about "listening on steroids" and try to listen to 10 reps per day of his current piece and the next 2, once per day of all the others in that book. That alone made a huge difference in the quality of his practicing and speed of learning. He does all review pieces daily, in the order he learned them, which we find helps to keep them current. But in fact my kids don't always listen to me and one has played recitals with a bunch of mistakes...from simply not preparing well. he was older and didn't want my guidance any more and I thought it made sense to let him figure it out for himself.

[musicianmom]

I have had one student so far do a book 2 recital (on violin, not piano), and he was over halfway through book 3 by the time the recital took place. So he had several months of book 2 review before recital.

 

Is the teacher rushing to get this done?

[Sara in AZ]

My older two have done book recitals up to book 3 so far (on violin and cello) and have done it all from memory. But my DD, especially, has an amazing capacity for memory, and it comes very naturally to her. Your teacher should be able to help with specific problems in a piece. On a more general level, maybe you can work on finding some way of connecting each piece to something visual to help tell them apart better. For example, for one of my daughter's recitals she made a poster of a snowman (it was Dec) and cut out accessories to represent each song (hat, carrot, scarf, etc.) Members of the audience got to choose an accessory and tack it onto the poster to dictate the order. Connecting the piece to a specific image or picture might help him tell the pieces apart better.

 

Another option..don't play all the pieces. I accompanied for a violin book 2 recital this afternoon. The student had chosen 6 pieces to perform and written up a little bio to share about each of the composers. It was very nice. She performed from memory, but had a few memory slips here and there. It wasn't a big deal, though. It was in her living room with relatives that love her no matter what. 😊

 

I hope everything comes together for your son!

[rainbird2]

I apologize for taking forever to respond to your questions!  (Major construction going on at the house and very little time for the computer)  I hope that the advice that others gave has helped ease your mind a bit...lots of great advice.  I know how difficult recitals can be on the parents. :)

 

Also, I can totally relate to getting the recital done before Christmas music is introduced.  Here's a thought...how about asking the teacher if he can skip playing Christmas music this year so he can prepare for the recital?  It's really hard to gauge if a child can be ready for a recital in a matter of a few months or not.  It really depends on the child, their practice habits, their listening habits, and their understanding of how their pieces are organized.  Your teacher will know best.

 

Think of the actual recital as a learning opportunity for future recitals.  If your son plays well, have him list the things that went well, and why they went well.  If things don't go as smoothly as expected, how can he prepare better for next time?  

 

This recital sounds like a great opportunity for him to do an analysis of his pieces.  He can copy a page, cut out the sections, highlight themes or motifs in different colors, throw the sections in a bag, pull them out and play them separately.  He could research the composers and try to find out when and why pieces were written.  He could learn about breathing techniques that could help him during a performance.  He could watch videos of performers and comment on stage performance - what did he like, dislike?  Some performers interact with their audience, some are quiet.  There's a lot to learn.

 

Does he still play his Book 1 pieces?  If so, how easily do they come to him?  The Book 2 pieces should come as easily as the Book 1 pieces.   If you are nervous about the performance, it's for a reason.  :)  I would wait for recital until he is pretty far into Book 3.

 

Suzuki is hard...boy, it is tough!  But those Suzuki kids know their stuff and understand what it takes to actually play a piece.  You're doing a great job, Mom, by supporting him through this!

 

My 1 year old won't stop biting my behind...I think it's time to give him some attention.  :)

 

Oh, have you added up how many minutes it takes to perform all of Book 2?  (I can't remember...I did Book 2 training over a decade ago and I don't really have a studio anymore.)

 

Let us know how it goes!!

 

 

 

 

 

[rainbird2]

 

 

 

Also, when you say there is a lot to learn from preparing for a recital, what do you mean by that? What do they learn during the recital prep phase that is different from what they learned when they originally learned the piece?

 

Fortunately it is only nerve-wracking for me, and I don't talk to DS about it... ;-) DS has good ol' Suzuki nerves of steel!!

 

 

So, before he plays a piece, he should say the name of the piece, the composer, the key, the basic chords of the piece (usually I, IV, V), and his starting notes.  This is before he plays the pieces.  He should be able to do this for all of his pieces.  He also should be able to start at the beginning of different sections of the piece, so in case he stumbles, he has a starting point that isn't the very beginning. 

 

He should practice playing the last two measures of the piece, the the last section, then the second to last section, all the way to the beginning. 

 

The pieces should be like a book and each "chapter" is a section.  Once that chapter is done, move on to the next. 

 

Recitals teach you how to organize the music.  It is a conscious act when performing, and the mind must be actively engaged in how everything is organized. 

 

HTH