Where we are now

I realised recently that a lot of my time posting on this blog has been spent relating many of the things that have helped me support my son with his learning, and trying to explain the rationale behind much of what we do. Yet when I started writing another of my main intentions was also to record and share the process with others.

So where are we now? We are busy, as always, polishing and honing the songs my son already knows, which is all of Suzuki Piano Book 1, and the first two songs of Book 2. The links are to later versions of the books we actually use. In our, older, versions, Mrs Kataoka plays the pieces. My teacher prefers her playing to later versions because Mrs. Kataoka was taught by Suzuki himself.

The piece my son is currently learning is The Happy Farmer by Schumann. Here is a youtube video of a little girl playing it:

This is a standard piece for students of musical instruments and I particularly like it. For my son, it marks his movement into more complex pieces than the simpler, nursery rhyme-style songs.

This piece has a particular significance for him though. It's also one of the tunes to the film Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea. As soon as he heard it on the CD he recognised it immediately. "It's Ponyo on the Cliff!" he shouted. A lot of his motivation to learn the other songs has been driven by his desire to learn to play this one, and his first rendition of the melody (he has still to play both hands together for this song) was great. It demonstrated to me how much of an effect the student's feelings have on performance.

I think it also shows how positive the effect is of a child having a reason to play, a reason supplied by themselves, rather than dictated to them by an adult. After all, very few children would choose to put in lots of hours learning to play an instrument if they had no reason to do so.

So for now we're going well, buoyed up by his pleasure in finally getting to a song he really wants to learn. My next task is to think of a good reason for him to learn the next song!