The Suzuki Method and beyond for the Advancing Violin Student

What is your personal background with the Suzuki Method for violin?

I began Suzuki violin studies just before turning two and completed Book 10 around age 13.1 was fortunate to have wonderful teachers who were strict with good setup and technique, yet were always very kind and encouraging. I attended weekly group classes and enjoyed playing in frequent recitals. Every performance was done by memory, and the consistency of doing this gave me a great foundation of confidence for later on, when I would be performing bigger repertoire. I performed a Suzuki Graduation recital upon completing Book 10 with my favorite pieces from each book and Twinkle as my encore! I spent each summer attending Suzuki institutes with my father, Benjamin Gish, who is a wonderful cellist and Suzuki cello teacher. My father's colleagues became like an extended family to me, and now I enjoy teaching alongside some of them during the summers! Although my full-time job is teaching at Eastern Washington University, I continue to maintain a large Suzuki studio and am passionate about continuing this tradition that meant so much to me as a student. My father and I also co-direct the Walla Walla Suzuki Institute.

How did your teachers/mentors transition you from the Suzuki Method to more advanced repertoire (including scales, etudes, and solo pieces)?

Right around Suzuki Book 7 we moved to Walla Walla. My new teacher immediately introduced me to Barbara Barbers Scales for Advanced Violinists and I began to methodically learn all of my three octave scales, arpeggios, double stops, etc. I also worked on Wohlfahrt and Mazas etudes, and learned select movements of the Bach sonatas and partitas, Spring from Vivaldi's Four Seasons, and various “show” pieces such as Monti's Czardas and Kreisler's Praeludium and Allegro. After completing Suzuki Book 10, I moved right into the Bruch concerto.

I would describe this “transition” more as an introduction to this other world of repertoire when the timing was appropriate as far as my technical development was concerned. There was never any stipulation that I had to “finish” Suzuki before I could move on to anything else.

Do you use a similar approach as your own teachers? If not, what is different?

I believe so. I always use the Suzuki Books as the core curriculum, as I really appreciate the technical progression through the repertoire. We discuss how the pieces are building on one another and also use review pieces as great opportunities to continue building on a new technique in the context of a piece they already know well. This also works really well for musical development because students can always go back and add more nuance to their vibrato, dynamics, bow usage, etc.

Reading is one of the well-known criticisms of the Suzuki Method. How do you solve this problem for your students?

The only students I have who do not read are the very young beginners. They may be doing flashcards and isolated reading exercises, but not reading their pieces from the books yet. I want them focused on developing their ears and watching what they are doing with their technique before they distract themselves with reading from the page. However, where I live there are many strong orchestra programs and students can join the earliest youth orchestra from around age seven. I think it is wonderful for them to have this opportunity to collaborate in a social setting and learn to listen immediately to more parts than just their own. Because of this, we will work on note reading through various supplemental method books quite early for students who choose to pursue this path. This was the same experience I had growing up, and I loved playing with groups and never had an issue reading music or sight reading. I also work hard on developing a very strong sense of rhythm and pulse, as well as encourage duet and chamber playing so students learn to listen to one another while playing their own part. This helps them to become so much more sensitive to music, being spontaneous and an amazing living, always-changing entity.

Suzuki teaching normally features group lessons as a regular part of their curriculum. Do you agree with this concept? As students progress and start to move outside of the Suzuki repertoire, when do you start to expose them to master classes? This is accepted as an important part of the growth of a young violinist. How do you assist your students in this sometimes frightening experience?

I love group class as it is a great time for students to reinforce repertoire and technique in a fun group experience, as individual practice can be so isolating at times. This was something I looked forward to each week as a student – it was always so exciting to move up to the next level of class even when it meant sitting out frequently and having to listen to the more advanced kids, because it would motivate me to practice hard and get to those pieces as soon as possible. Unfortunately, with my full-time university position and also my private students being spread out over a three-hour radius geographically, it has been impossible to have my own group classes for both scheduling and distance reasons. I really enjoy teaching at the summer institutes because I get to finally participate in these group class settings and come up with fun and creative ideas and goals for our group to accomplish over the week. It is a great setting to talk as a group about practicing ideas, hear many differing opinions about the phrasing and musicality issues in a particular piece, learn convincing ways to portray an idea with group feedback, practice scales in a group setting with all sorts of bowing and interval patterns, play memory and focus games, and even have students take turns performing a solo for the whole class.

For Suzuki students who have grown up going to summer institutes, master classes are not a new thing because that is how daily lessons are done during those weeks: two to four students per class (depending on level) taught by a master teacher with parents/observers sitting in each day. Another great opportunity in Spokane each May is a weeklong festival where students from all over Eastern Washington gather to play for either adjudication or competition in front of a room full of peers, teachers, and parents and receive public feedback from the master teacher/judge. This experience is wonderful because there are classes available for students of all ages and levels, and they have to really go outside of the comfort zone of their own studio to play where everything is unfamiliar. The Spokane Symphony also presents master class opportunities with their soloists often agreeing to give a master class when they come to perform, and area student's can audition to participate. When a master class is approaching, I also feel it is very important to talk with students about appropriate demeanor towards the teacher and audience, and how to always act and dress in a professional manner – this is just as critical as how they play, in my opinion. So, yes, I completely agree that this is a very important part of growth, and encourage my students of all levels to take any opportunity to play for new teachers, whether in public or private settings, to add as many wonderful perspectives to their playing as possible, in addition to learning how to handle themselves well under pressure.

What challenges do you face when transitioning a student to more advanced repertoire? How do you know when it's time for a student to transition from the method to a more traditional approach?

With the Suzuki books, I tend to go in order through the repertoire and having that progression of pieces already organized is wonderful! Once we move into advanced repertoire the biggest challenge is planning an organized approach to individually suit each student and their technical and musical strengths and weaknesses. There is just so much wonderful and important repertoire out there to play! Each student will continue with Suzuki repertoire until they have learned at least one Mozart concerto, but I would say it varies from student to student when and how many supplemental pieces we begin to add. If I see that they need extra refinement on a particular technique or just love a certain genre of music, I will definitely find pieces to complement those things.

Do you combine the Suzuki Method with any other teaching materials? Or, do you wait until a student has finished the series to introduce outside material? What brought you to this decision?

I use Hrimaly and Barbara Barber scale systems with my students quite early on, as I want to develop a clear understanding of finger patterns and train the ear to really listen to the interval patterns instead of solely relying on fingerboard tapes. We use all sorts of rhythms and bow strokes to develop the right arm through this process as well.

I also introduce exercises such as Wohlfahrt, Mazas, Schradieck, and Sevcik fairly early on, but this depends more on age rather than being in a specific book. These exercises reinforce technique, and strengthen consistency of intonation and rhythm. With the Suzuki repertoire, students are so well trained in the listening tradition that they can easily fake being able to read music! But these studies help strengthen both note reading and sight-reading, and are especially critical for older beginners who are wanting to join school orchestra programs after a short time of study. I also will use the most basic studies to help introduce shifting or playing an exercise all in a new position and understanding from a note reading perspective without fingerings written in.

The Barbara Barber series is my initial go-to for supplemental pieces because they are nicely organized by level yet include diversity of style. However, I have collected so many different volumes of pieces over the years, the sky is really the limit and I just need to make sure it is the appropriate level for where the student is at. The Suzuki repertoire is wonderful, but pretty limited in the scope of style – mainly Baroque and Classical. Many students are just antsy for something completely different in character whether something in the Romantic style or a “fun” show piece. I also have students who love fiddling or jazz, so I always strive to find special pieces that they will love and help motivate them.

The choice of violin repertoire can be overwhelming when a student is ready to leave the Suzuki Method for more advanced repertoire. Do you follow the same succession with each student or does is differ from student to student? Can you provide some examples?

As I mentioned before, this is one of the big challenges that I face. Making sure we proceed in an organized way is very important, as it can be easy to pick random pieces where the students end up stalling in their development. I also need to be very aware of not overreaching their technical abilities and choosing repertoire that will only prove to be frustrating. I strive to help my students become well-rounded by learning a broad variety of repertoire from Baroque to Contemporary, and solo to chamber. This definitely made for some trial and error on my part in the first few years of teaching. But I have now compiled lists of pieces divided into categories (studies, show pieces, concertos, sonatas, etc.) that are appropriate for various levels of development. I definitely consulted many online resources at first and have built a large sheet music collection over the past decade, so I have lots of choices available for my students to peruse. I love listening to new pieces together and having a collaborative approach when choosing repertoire. When the students are involved with the decision-making process, I find they are much more excited to practice their new repertoire. In an effort to have a clear trajectory, each school year we will make long-range, mid-range, and short-range plans with the repertoire so the students feel they are reaching specific goals with each piece and understand the new techniques they will be accomplishing as they move along from piece to piece. Having a clear plan is important so that I can help students prepare new techniques that may arise in a concerto well in advance through shorter etudes or pieces. This way they don't get stuck in one spot or have a few sloppy passages in a piece just because they don't want to spend the time to figure it out.

I love the Kreisler and Heifetz albums for the variety of pieces within and find that lots of technical and musical development can be accomplished in these short and charming pieces. They provide a wonderful break or supplement to the often daunting concerto repertoire.

You have mentioned the advancing etudes and scale studies that you have found useful both during and after a child has studied the Suzuki Method. Do you have a typical succession of solo repertoire (i.e. concertos) that you follow after the required Mozart concerto is learned? Can you give some examples of pieces you often use?

It really varies from student to student, but a Viotti or DeBeriot concerto, Bach E Major, Vivaldi Four Seasons, Barber, Bruch, Lalo, Kabalevsky, or Saint-Saens are several that often appear soon after the first Mozart concerto is learned. The choice often depends on if there is a certain competition, audition, or adjudication that the students are ready to enter and what repertoire will be most suitable for the occasion, in addition to being a good next-step for where that particular student is at in their development and interests. Students will have done quite a few Kreutzer etudes and years of scales and arpeggios at varying tempi by this point, so I feel confident in their abilities to tackle the technical hurdles in these works. We admittedly don't always polish all three movements, but we will spend time working on the subsequent movements even if the first is the only one to get polished on the first time through the concerto.

A difficulty in every violin method is the motivation of the young student. What is your advice for other teachers on this subject?

This is so difficult, especially in the environment we live in today where students are pulled in so many directions with academics, sports, and music, and, of course, so easily distracted by social media. I really need to maintain the parent-student-teacher triangle to make sure clear goals and expectations are established – this way it helps the students feel their progress if they are diligently working towards specific goals. They know they will have set dates for performances throughout the years, and they have been involved in helping to choose their repertoire goals and that helps them stay motivated to accomplish those goals. It also has really helped to talk about HOW to practice, so the students aren't merely watching the clock during their practice time but actually getting things done efficiently when they understand good strategies and tricks of how this works.

We also have a dialogue about what each student enjoys about their instrument and music in general – for some it is certain genres of repertoire or progressing to a certain favorite piece, for others it is the goal of successfully auditioning for the next orchestra level and having that fun social atmosphere, and for others it is being accepted into an exciting summer program or entering competitions. One thing I continually encourage all of my students to seek out is the opportunity to see amazing musicians perform LIVE. There are many wonderful concerts in Spokane, but I also encourage them to take fun weekend trips with their family or friends to Seattle and Portland to hear the great artists who consistently visit year after year. Students are very excited to hear groups like Time for Three and Sybarite5 because not only are these musicians obviously very accomplished but also everything they play is fun, catchy, contemporary, and inspiring for students of all ages.

As you add material to supplement the Suzuki Method and as the repertoire becomes increasingly difficult, how do you encourage students to practice as much as needed?

As students progress, we continue to re-evaluate their practice plan and how much time is realistically necessary to accomplish the goals and repertoire at hand. At times, no matter how many times I tell them to increase their practice time it takes a period of self realization and frustration on their end to accept that there is just no way to feel progress without consistently adding more time rather than attempting to cram. We talk a lot about practicing efficiency and creative strategies to avoid having them mindlessly watch the clock and inevitably repeat the same mistakes over and over. The majority of my students are very strong academically and are also involved with sports, so it is always a challenge to find time for everything!

How do you handle students and/or parents who are disappointed with the rate of learning? Similarly, what if a student or parent requests a certain piece that is clearly outside of the player's technical abilities?

I've been so lucky to have very supportive families over the years – when a student seems to be stalling, we will immediately have an open dialogue about what is going on. Often it has to do with outside pressures and practice ends up on the back burner, so we need to strategize how to get through that season. Occasionally I'll need to remind a parent that we clearly outline weekly practice expectations, and if a student is not meeting those then we will need to try again and not just move on to something else. It is very important to me for my students to realize the importance of accountability, just like they need to have with their school assignments. At times, I need to put my foot down a little more firmly with students about those expectations for consistent practicing so they realize we aren't meeting just to practice together each week.

When students or parents get excited about a piece that is still out of reach, I like to put a positive spin on the request and tell them it is a great goal for down the road and suggest we make a list of techniques and other repertoire we need to learn first in order to get there as soon as possible. This often is a good time to bring up the issue of increasing the practice time!