Suzuki Piano Archives - Henry Flurry

I am in the middle of my Master’s in Composition through the University of Birmingham, UK. During this final semester, I need to finish a piano concerto, clean up several shorter works, and write a 5000 word commentary on my portfolio of 45 minutes of new music. To help make time for this, I have shortened my semester of private teaching, scheduled no fall nor winter recitals, and challenged all of my older students to learn three new works largely independently from me.

The idea of independent learning with my older students originates in the concept of the Accomplished Learner – the graduating high school student who is both an accomplished pianist and a capable self-learner. This concept, first introduced to me at a Suzuki Principles in Action course, has proved a useful metric for my teaching.

My need to lighten my teaching load became an opportunity to push my students closer to becoming an Accomplished Learner. Using the guidelines offered in the Gerald Klickstein’s fabulous book The Musician’s Way: A Guide to Practice, Performance, and Wellness, I created a packet intended to lead my students through the steps of learning a piece independently.

Today was the Suzuki Book 1 recital of a student of mine. She had been taking piano for a year and half, starting last year with my daughter, and moving to my studio this past fall after my daughter left for college.

Two of my Suzuki teacher trainer mentors from Ann Arbor, MI (Armena Marderosian and Renee Robbins) introduced me to the concept of Suzuki Book recitals. When a child has finished learning all of the songs in a Suzuki Book, they throw their own solo recital. In my studio, the recital is held in the home of the student, on their own piano. I encourage the family to invite friends, family, and fellow studio students. Usually, the parents treat it like a birthday party, complete with cake, snacks and beverages, and some small gifts. I typically bring a CD of piano music that I think will interest the child as a graduation gift, but I have been known to give other items, like the Harvard Dictionary of Music, or even a metronome to replace a less than adequate one.

I encourage families to take ownership of the Book recital and find a twist that makes it unique to them. Many students will keep the recital to the basics — a set of order of pieces with a program handed out to the audience members, but many other students rise to the challenge of making the recital even more fun.

Suzuki Piano

Independent Learning

Game and Activity Based Suzuki Book Recitals