| Both of our children learned piano by the Suzuki method. My daughter did it
for about four + years, and eventually gave it up. My son's been doing it
for about three years, and still is at it.
We like the method. It gets the child playing "real" music very, very,
quickly, and for that reason seems to grab their interest better than
traditional instruction, which I think is good both for the parents and for
the student. It is not a panacea. Both of my children struggled somewhat
when they got to more difficult pieces and had to read music. But all things
considered, we are very satisfied.
Many Suzuki teachers also teach using traditional methods, at least our son's
teacher does. Sorry, can't give you recommendations for teachers; we don't
live in your area.
Clay
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| re: .2
The base note author has been to a formal presentation, so perhaps she can do
a better job explaining than I.
The Suzuki method is somewhat backwards from the traditional method of
teaching piano. In the Suzuki method, the emphasis in on teaching the hand
and finger movement that produce the desired sound, rather than on reading
music and "translating" the notes to hand and finger movements to produce the
desired sound. There is a "Suzuki book", but it is used in a manner kind of
like "here's what it should sound like, here's how to make that sound, and
here's what it looks like on paper." It is roughly analogous to learning to
speak before you've learned to read (which is, after all, what most of us
do).
Clay
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