Hickory Guitar Studio
The Suzuki method is a wonderful approach for helping children learn music, and is similar to how language skills are
learned and developed. Learning to speak a language from a grammar book without ever hearing the language is nearly impossible.
Children face similar struggles and frustrations when they try to read music notation without hearing a good performance
or recording of the music they're trying to create. Children learn to speak words before they learn to read.
The Suzuki approach delays reading music until the student is comfortable with the instrument and can play several pieces by
ear. Then students begin learning how to become good readers of music. All Suzuki guitar music is available
on CD, and frequent listening to the recordings of the music helps guide the learning process.
After learning
new words we continue to use them while adding additional words to our vocabulary. As students learn new pieces of music, they
are encouraged to review and continue to improve their previously learned pieces. Participation in group or ensemble
classes (in addition to the weekly individual lessons) provides opportunities for students to share what they are learning and to
be motivated by each other's progress.
Parents play an important role in the lesson and practice at home. In lessons
the parent is asked to take notes about what is being learned and the goals to work on at home during the week. The parent
can then help guide the practice sessions at home as needed.
In summary, complex tasks are broken into manageable
steps, and many of the same principles used by accomplished professional musicians are incorporated into the learning.