The Recorder Column v11 n2
MUSIKIT RECORDER – A SUZUKI PERSPECTIVE
Seven years ago when we were asked by the Music Adviser to consider a classroom method for recorder as a satellite to the general classroom MUSIKIT, it was natural for us to think about the Suzuki approach and to consider its application to the recorder. Indeed, it had always been something of a puzzle to think that considering the recorder has enjoyed widespread use as the beginning instrument, why was it that the Suzuki “method” had not been extensively adapted for the instrument?
To answer this question, it was necessary to consider some of the underlying aspects of the Suzuki approach and their application to another instrument such as the recorder. Writing in the University of Canterbury Series “Studies in Music Education” (1987), Buckton and Manns note the following about the Suzuki method:
- The experience of music begins at birth. By the time the child comes to play, the style and actual pieces have been assimilated. Children take greater interest in playing pieces they know rather than those that are unfamiliar so the Suzuki introduces repertoire of selected styles to the prospective pupils’ experiences, years before they learn to play them.
- At a time when parental influence is still strong, that in about 3 – 4 years of age, parents become key participants in the learning process.
When violin training is commenced, the Suzuki programme takes into account the need for large muscle movement control. Training in this aspect of perception is based on a great deal of repetition and regularity, an essential pre-requisite for a young child engaged in this type of activity. This training from a very early stage appears to form the child’s enduring patterns of movement for this type of activity, but also introduces a critical period for the formation of certain skills such as hand-eye co-ordination and accurate finger placement, which may be necessary for the successful introduction of music reading at a later age.
If we look at each of these points in relation to the recorder, it becomes clear that unfortunately, there is little similarity between the conditions which Suzuki advocates and those which teachers find in the classroom. Firstly, teachers have little influence on the choice of music assimilated in the home (perhaps just as well!). Secondly, class teachers have missed those critical pre-school years so ideal for introducing the type of repetitive activity which is so successful with Suzuki youngsters and perhaps most important of all, they cannot rely on the support of all parents in the learning process.
This latter point brings us to the question of children’s right to music. We believe that every child should have the right to learn a musical instrument and in the best possible conditions. It should be taught in such a way that children do not feel they are failures if, another way – at music. We acknowledge that all children are different; have perceptual differences influenced by parental, peer, and cultural teaching, thus not all are capable of mastering music; but we also insist that more children would be successful at music, just as Suzuki claims, if teachers were able to take into account early movement training in the home, ensuring failure is reduced, making failure as insufficient as possible with adequate preparation and with the type of supervision which all Suzuki teachers apply daily – making “one step at a time”, “always right and no haste” for certain days when they appear apt.
While some children may be capable of taking good progress on the recorder at the age of five or six, most benefit from five good years of music activities such as singing, listening moving, creating and playing a range of percussion instruments. Singing is especially important because this is a critical key based in rhythm, thus increasing natural ability through co-ordination activities necessary for finger and tongue placement, and general breath control – from a musical and instrumental point of view, a good range of preparatory activity is thus the usual preparation of an instrument such as the recorder.
Having made the decision to delay the introduction of the recorder until at least the age of seven, it then becomes necessary to consider the developmental characteristics of seven and eight year olds in the classroom. Frankly, teachers need to concentrate on only one aspect of an activity at a time; thus reading is much more easily introduced after a period of “preparatory method”, or “operational” methods and ample concentration on more than one aspect of an activity at a time is demanding thus quite possible and indeed appropriate. This is of course not to depreciate the value of learning by ear for beginners instead of reading at any age.
Whatever the method, the teacher is critical and from the beginning we decided that comprehensive Teachers Manuals were essential and the availability of cassettes provide that aural input necessary for the classroom and the home. Indeed the cassettes are an opportunity for children and their parents to assimilate the style of music and the sound of the recorder so that expectations are raised and readiness is optimum.
MUSIKIT Recorder is now in its fifth year of use in this country. Overseas it is now enjoying quite wide use in Australia, U.S.A., Canada and the U.K. We mention this because we were pleased to be able to see extent and reverse the trend of solely “adapting and adding overseas methods to the N.Z. scene. However, in saying this we gratefully acknowledge the stimulation and enrichment of the Suzuki experiment.
Roger and Carol Buckton.
ROGER BUCKTON is a Senior Lecturer in Music at the Auckland College of Education.
CAROL BUCKTON is a former Lecturer at the College of Education and is at present manager of the Recorder Centre and teaches recorder privately.
REFERENCES:
(1) Roger Buckton and Stuart Manns.
1987 Original Ideas and Issues in Developmental Music Education in the Classroom. “Studies in Music” University of Canterbury.
The complete MUSIKIT Recorder Series of books and four cassettes is available from the Recorder Centre, 44 Firshade, Auckland. Tel. 450-8435.