兒子的小提琴演奏會! Violin Recital!

Every year in mid-June, my son's violin teacher always gets her students together and do a violin recital at the local music store where we go for violin and piano lessons. Last year, my son was in the pre-Twinkle group and this year, he will graduate from the Twinkle group and go on to Book 1 of the Suzuki Method. For those of you not familiar with violin's Suzuki method, Wikipedia has a good write up on the subject (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suzuki_method). My own uncle is a Suzuki violin teacher in Taipei and I was one of his earliest students 40 years ago. My understanding of the Suzuki method was that kids have amazing auditory ability. If a young child hears a song many times, the child will remember the music. And once techniques are taught to the kids, they will be able to play the instrument and that piece of repetitive music. So with that in mind, the first piece of music that all Suzuki violin student will learn is Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star. Most 4 or 5 year old kids know this song very well, so it was a matter of time that they will learn to play the song on a violin, if taught systematically.

After almost 2 1/2 years of violin lessons, my son has mastered the Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star song and will move on to learn other songs soon. Both my husband and I play the violin. I was a terrible music student and hated to practice, so it's unfathomable that I am forcing my children to take on a musical instrument. My son will practice, reluctantly, if I cajole him nicely. He has a love-hate relationship with his violin. I think at this point, he is only doing violin to please me. Because I want him to continue with violin, I enroll him in a semi-private lesson with another boy his age. Not only is it much cheaper than a private lesson, it's more like a playdate for my son. At least, he has incentive to want to go to his violin lessons--so he can play with his violin buddy after their lessons. This is the reason why his progress is so slow. Normally, violin students will graduate from the Twinkle song within 2 years of starting violin and my son took 2 1/2 years.

My husband kept telling me to put my son in a private lesson because he thinks our son has the ability to progress faster. I don't think private lessons would be as fun for him. Although playing and practicing violin is hard work, I want my son to have fun in the process. In hindsight, I wished I could have continued with my violin playing. I quit violin because we had immigrated to Canada, so naturally, I didn't have the good fortune to find another violin teacher as good as my uncle. My violin career ended at age 11. I did pick up piano at age 13, but I was not motivated and I did not like practicing. Eventually in Grade 11, my mother gave up on me and said I could quit. I was liberated!!! I vowed I would not make my kids go through what I went through!

Nowadays, I not only make my son do violin (in my daughter's case, piano), I have the good "fortune" of sitting with them during their practices. It's like re-living the practice nightmares I had when I was a teenager. Now, I have to sit through 2 practice sessions, instead of the one I used to endure when I had to practice! Funny how life goes around in circles!

學校放暑假後的第一個星期天, 兒子的小提琴老師在她教琴的音樂店 (http://www.amusemusic.com/) 舉行了一場音樂會。她邀請了她所有的學生上台表演。當然也少不了家長在台下加油。表演結束後,大家一起享受家長帶來的飲料及食物。兒子的小提琴老師是用鈴木音樂教學法 (http://www.suzukimethod.org.tw/) 教小朋友小提琴。兒子的進度很慢,最主要的原因是他跟另一位同年紀的小男孩一起學琴,而不是個別指導。二人同時分一個教學時段本來就比個別教學來得便宜。但是兩人在一起的進度相對之下就比個別指導的小朋友慢很多。不過因為兒子學琴有伴,他去學琴時也很樂意去,因為上完課後,還能跟另一位小朋友玩。我覺得學琴本來就得花錢、花時間。重點是要讓小朋友學得開心、沒有壓力。

話又說回今年的小提琴演奏會。 我們去年就曾經參加過一次,所以今年兒子就比較有經驗。我覺得在美國長大的小孩都比較不會怯場, 因為他們在學校常常有演出的機會。兒子說他會緊張, 不過他還是很樂意上台表演。問題是雖然兒子喜歡上台表演, 他不喜歡練琴。可是要上台表演, 不練琴也不行, 所以我這個做媽的就想盡辦法逼兒子多練琴。雖然兒子不願意練琴, 他到最後為了要讓我高興, 他還是會免為其難的加緊練琴。我從小也非常討厭我媽叫我練琴。當時就立志決對不逼我的小孩練琴。沒想到三十年後的今天我還是忍不住的逼兒子練琴。真的是風水輪流轉。 現在終於瞭解學琴這種東西真的是勉強不得。我相信不久的將來, 我也需要面對現實。如果小孩子對音樂沒興趣或者是也沒有玩樂器的天份,強迫小孩子繼續學琴只會破壞親子關係。我想現階段我只想要讓小孩有點音樂基礎和瞭解習琴的辛苦。這樣子,他們以後才會對音樂藝術和音樂家有相當程度的尊重。