The Suzuki Piano Academy present the Winter Recital series on February 3, 2024 inside the Church of Jesus Christ chapel at the following times: 11:00 a.m., 12:30 p.m., 2:00 p.m., and 3:30 p.m.  All are welcome.  Please feel free to walk around the temple grounds before or after your attendance to the recital.  Parking is to the left of the temple.  The recital is  inside the chapel adjacent to the temple.

Join us on March 4th at 2110 California Circle, Rancho Cordova in the gymnasium next of the chapel on Temple Hill for a fun-filled music class that explores concepts of dynamics, tempo, articulation within the Suzuki piano repetoire.  We will be using instruments, small and large body games, and other props to help us learn.  There is no fee to attend.  It is a free class to members and their friends.

Our Suzuki Piano Academy will be holding its Winter Recital on January 16th of 2021 from 2:00-5:00 p.m. on a Zoom link.  Friends and family are invited to attend.  We ask that students dress in formal attire and to prepare one or two pieces.  Your teacher will discuss your recital time and assignments with you.  We look forward to hearing you play piano season!

Neuroscience shows that children benefit from positive reinforcement while learning and practicing their skills, whether its in school, sports, or music! (Judy Willis, MD, MED) By knowing this, you can change the way your child views practicing their skills. Keeping track of their improvement, and rewarding their work, will train them to set personal goals and motivate them to practice more often. You can do this through games and activities for durable memorization; not only is it more fun to learn this way, but your child will develop a positive association with learning, and therefore, improve steadily!

     What can be done to make sure your child is on the right pathway to play their instrument correctly? The simple answer would be to practice it correctly more than the amount of times they mess up. Repetition, after all, is a key factor in learning anything. However, if they are misguided and unfocused, they will repeat their mistakes if they are not concentrated on fixing them. So, give them something to focus on-playing their instrument correctly more times than they aren't, while minimizing the chances that they fumble with their performance. For example, while learning a piece, you might tell them to practice a measure five times, but instead of only using this repetition, give them the consequence of starting over if they mess up. Using this pattern of correct sequential repetition will not only enforce concentration, but allow them to think more about the way they are playing. 

Why is there a picture of Candyland on this Suzuki piano blog?  Well, if I told you that for $20-30, this little game has joyfully produced thousands of repetitions with as much precision and detail I have requested, would you go out and try it?  These are a little pricier than the standard versions, but you need one that opens up vertically in the middle.  I always keep a roll of clear contact paper in my studio for parents that are taking the challenge and buying a Chutes n' Ladders or Candyland game.  Using a piece of doubled sticky tape and a colorful piece of paper, I move the game pieces around the board every when we complete four repetitions.   Do I have more musically relevant games as well?  Yes, I do, but this is a favorite and I ask for lots of thinking and perfection during repetitions, so why make the game anything but mindless fun?  Suzuki piano focuses on the nurturing of the whole child including his sense of fun!

My four children and I all attended Music Together classes when they were first born before I found out more about the Suzuki Early Childhood Education program this year.  It is a wonderful music experience for ages zero to five.   Even though my cute guys were probably the "busiest bees" in the class, they all now sing with wonderful rhythm and pitch and are picking up Suzuki piano easily.  Starting them as babies got music into their ears and bodies and now they both gravitate to music and dancing as well as assimilate Suzuki piano pieces with ease.  Basic rhythmic and melodic compentency are the joyful goals of Music Together classes.  The forward step to private Suzuki piano lessons is much the same in a structured environment for ages three and up and is a perfect complement to any Music Together experience.