April 2020 - The Importance of Music Listening
I grew up in a family where music was woven into the fabric of our daily lives. My dad played the classical music station in the car and sang folk songs on his guitar in the living room. Our entire family sang in the church choir when my sister and I were teenagers. I started piano lessons when I was four years old after the nursery school teacher told my parents she couldn’t keep me off the piano bench at school. My mom played Neil Diamond, Barbara Streisand, and Kenny Rogers records on our stereo, and there are pictures of me as a tot with headphones on, studying the record jackets intently while Neil crooned “We’re Coming to America...TODAY!” My sister played the clarinet as smoothly as Benny Goodman, I played cello in school orchestra, and we listened to our cassette tapes on the boom boxes in our bedrooms, blasting out New Kids on the Block or Paula Abdul (no shame), Milli Vanilli (okay, a little shame), and all of the mix tapes we made from live radio.
It’s no surprise, really, that both my sister and I ended up as music educators in one fashion or another. But the highlight of this historical flashback is that we were surrounded by music - and it wasn’t just passive listening, but active music-making. We made music together, as a family. During the times that we weren’t practicing, or avoiding practicing, we were usually listening to or experiencing music in some fashion.
Dr. Shinichi Suzuki, founder of the Suzuki method and philosophy for music study, believed that children learn music as a language. An infant learns their native tongue by hearing the adults around them speaking. They begin to imitate sounds and start formulating words, ideally bolstered with praise and encouragement. A child becomes fluent in speaking and understanding their language through imitation. Dr. Suzuki believed that all children had the ability to become beautiful musical artists by following this same model.
Critics of the the Suzuki method argue that not enough emphasis is placed on students learning how to read music fluently; that children rely too heavily on playing by ear. I think these weaknesses have largely been corrected in recent years. As I am not a certified Suzuki teacher, I don’t use the Suzuki method to teach my students. I am influenced and inspired by Dr. Suzuki and his philosophies, and am always looking for ways to merge his methods with the Faber Piano Adventures method, which is the series of books I use with my students.
I encourage you to make listening an integral part of your child’s daily piano practice. I understand the need to make it as simple and streamlined as possible so that your kids can listen independently, without needing a lot of assistance from you.
The Piano Adventures app for iPad and iPhone is one way for your child to hear their songs that they’re studying on the piano. It’s a free download, and each song level library is $4.99.
If your child is using My First Piano Adventures Books A, B, or C - there’s a CD attached to the back cover of the book, OR the pieces are all available on the Faber website here.
I can always find the time to quickly record a video or audio file if your child is struggling to learn a piece. Just reach out.
As a last resort, you can search YouTube for performances or recordings that other teachers or students have made, but I don’t recommend this - student recordings may contain inaccurate rhythms or notes and I don’t want your child to learn the piece wrong. Please pass the link to me so I can check it out first.
Lastly, how can you find ways to bring piano music into your home? There are tons of piano music playlists on Apple Music and Spotify to suit all musical tastes.
Music brings joy and togetherness in a way that few other human experiences can. Learning to play the piano without listening is equivalent to learning a language without ever hearing it spoken. Hard to imagine, isn’t it?