Suzuki Summer Music Camp
My kids are learning piano using the Suzuki method and I had heard and read about these Summer Institutes before. I was not really sure what they were, though, but everything I heard and read thus far seemed to say that it was a great experience for the families.
We were planning on visiting Pittsburgh, PA this summer for 2-3 days anyways so when I found out the city had a summer institute, it was almost natural to consider attending. BUT one full week? That seemed a long time, and very expensive!
I discussed it with my husband and with the kids' piano teacher and in the end we decided it would be worth to try it together.
I admit I was quite nervous going into the experience not knowing much about it. I had to learn the insider's lingo quite fast: Master Classes are basically 1 hour classes divided between 4 students and 1 teacher. Group Classes are classes where the kids learn to further their skills in a group setting. And there was an array of Electives to choose from. Because we preferred to have the kids in the same class we ended up in the Music Games Class.
Aside from that, almost every night there was something optional for families to join in. Sunday there was a Play-in, which basically meant students who wanted to, played for each other in a small setting. Monday and Tuesday there were concerts given by the teachers, Wednesday there was a concert by students (voluntary sign up), Thursday they went to a mall and did a flash mob, and Friday was the grand finale concert.
During the day there was a scavenger hunt the families could participate in - finding out information about musicians from the Romantic, Baroque and other eras. Our kids played for two days and loved looking around for clues!
The High School where the camp was held was amazing. My husband first thought it was a college. It was well equipped with everything imaginable, music rooms, tons of pianos, cellos, etc., a huge concert hall, etc. Aside from their classes each day the students are given pointers to work on during practice time. We were able to sign up for piano practice time in the morning so our schedules ended up filling up all morning - from 9:00PM-1:00 PM
That allowed us to go back to our hotels for rest before evening concerts and/or shopping and/or sightseeing. Since my kids are still young (4 and 6 years old) this was enough. Even though at first I felt having 3 classes a day was not 'intense', once we got into the rhythm of the days I realized it was just enough - add to the 3 hours, 1 hour for practice and 1 hour of concert participation and you have kids doing music in different ways for 5+hours a day for 6 straight days!
As a mother, I appreciated meeting other parents and other teachers who are going through the same journey. This particular camp had Parent Workshops at noon too and between my husband and I (someone had to be with the kids who had class at the time) we were able to attend 3 of the 5 workshops.
Technically, yes, I noticed the kids have improved faster. It was not only technical skills, but also learning to sit in a class for 45 minutes listening and observing their peers (the master class allows them to have 15 minutes each with the teacher), realizing there are a lot of other kids learning music like them, experiencing music in different ways, many of which were fun, being encouraged to achieve things they did not think they could do, and much much more.
Even this week, as we headed back to the routine 'practices' I have been shocked at how the kids have improved in their view of practice time.
As for us, the parents, my husband came back feeling much more confident in what the Suzuki method is and is not, and I just simply felt more reassured that what we are going through is 'normal' and that the teacher we have selected here at home is indeed the right person for our kids.
Will we do it again? I think so. Yes, it is expensive but I like the fact that we spent an entire week together, as a family, experiencing music. Now that we have a better idea of what the camps are about we are more likely going to make some minor adjustments to our plans but they are all minor. The overall experience was both positive and character building.
We don't desire our kids to be super musicians...but that they learn to appreciate music as another venue of expression. And after this week's experience we just simply felt much more confident to press on.
As one of the workshop speakers put it - it is like the chicken and pig in eggs and bacon....The chicken only had to contribute to give the egg....while the pig was fully committed to it! Funny but made me think about whether we were committed or simply a participant. The week also made me think about what it is exactly we want our child to be and why we get them to try all these new classes. At which point do you stop doing 'survey' courses and encourage them to focus on one or two? Based on what? And what do you do when the kid wants to quit because it is no longer 'fun' or 'easy'? What is that answer based on?
Comments