“I am mentally preparing myself for the five-year-old mind. I want to come down to their physical limitations and up to their sense of wonder and awe.” ~Shinichi Suzuki

He's right. Either everything is a miracle or it's not. It just depends on how you look at it. 

This past Saturday I took a violin teacher training class at my music school in Dallas; teacher training for the Suzuki Method specifically. 

Shinichi Suzuki is one of the most incredible people I have ever learned about. For those of you who do not know this name, this passionate man started a method for violin (and many other instruments) that changed the world. No, not every child who learns the violin becomes a professional or even continues it, but it teaches them a wild amount of life skills. Discipline, focus, a good ear, problem solving, respect, posture, memorization, speed reading, coordination, passion, and many other things that I may not be thinking of. Another amazing thing is that ANYONE can learn the violin. Suzuki proved this. Everyone is different in the way they learn.

My own violin teacher, Nicolette Solomon, took from Suzuki as a child, and now I think I understand where she gets her enthusiasm and ENERGY. Suzuki was hopping around on stage with a thousand children at the age of 76 or 77, as if he could never age. My own teacher teaches probably around thirteen hours a day and gives each student 110%, with or without lunch. People like this blow my mind so much, they inspire me to want to blow other people's minds. 

Age is ONLY a number!

I'm a new violin teacher myself, and still learning on how to teach well. I have lots of work to do. I did learn, though, that children are amazingly brilliant in their own unique ways. Each individual child is a miracle to the world. Since they are still developing as human beings, they use what they know in everything they say or do, and entertain and teach us all. I was explaining something about bowing to one of my students, Peter, and apparently something I said clicked (since he had been having a problem with this bowing for a few weeks) when he started going on some tangent about Star Wars and got all excited about it, and then did the bowing correctly (and quite dramatically, so to speak). I definitely started using more Star Wars references with him after that. 

You can make anything fun, even the boring stuff. You just have to think of something you love and connect it to that boring thing somehow. I think this also helps find your passion. What is that one thing you keep constantly referring to? Be silly with it! Physics was my worst subject in school and I found it painfully difficult to find the "fun" in it, but it did make more sense when I found music connections to it, and any other random, witty connection. 

Still not finding any fun in it? If it's reading, read it in Morgan Freeman's voice, or Ellen DeGeneres' (Dory). Works every time for me.

Like a boss.

So yeah, approach boring THINGS with something interesting or fun. As for boring of difficult PEOPLE, approach with love. Accept their flaws, look around them, and think of something that brings out their strong traits, and then focus on strengthening the weakness. 

This takes practice. Repetition is another important thing Suzuki taught. "Knowledge is not skill. Knowledge 10,000 times is skill." When a baby says its first word, they say it ALL THE TIME. Whether that's "mama" or "no", they'll respond to everything with it until they learn more words, and they'll use the new words, but still use the first one they ever said. "Twinkle twinkle little star" was the first song I ever learned on violin, as it is for many other violinists. I learned that song sixteen years ago and I still remember it. In fact, I've played it so much that's it's impossible for me to forget it!

Repetition doesn't just apply to music or studying. Repetition is consistency. I know someone who had a bad habit of cussing. They repeated "replacement words" in their head all the time, and got rid of the bad habit. They did not completely forget about the words, but they did put a stop to saying them. In fact, it made them think more positively. When they'd stub their toe, they'd be grateful that they didn't break it instead. 

If you want to lose weight and you know running will help, you don't run a whole marathon in one day and suddenly lose the twenty pounds you wanted to rid of. (If that happens then you must have a freakishly fast metabolism) You run a little bit every day, and you eat healthy. Step by step. 

I couldn't really figure out the one point I was getting at in this blog, but these are some things I have learned this past week. Hopefully it doesn't sound like babble..

In other news, I'M GOING TO COLLEGE THIS WEEK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I AM SO EXCITED IF YOU COULDN'T TELL. The only thing I'm nervous about is balancing everything. . . I guess I'll just take it day by day! Step by step.

Farewell, lovely Texas. 

The Journey

Today I taught the young women in my church and I was telling them how it's the "journey" that is most important. The final destination is your goal, yes, but how are you getting there?

One of my best friends, Danielle Fox, is serving a mission in Las Vegas right now. For those of you who don't know me, I go to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Young men and women can serve a mission starting in their late teens and twenties. Men serve for two years and women serve for eighteen months, and they are called to any place in the world, spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ and serving the world. 

Danielle was saying in an email about two weeks ago how it's all about the journey in this life. Yes, we would all like to go to heaven in the end, but going through the steps in a robotic manner won't get you there. 

My church encourages everyone to pray to God every day and study the scriptures every day, and to attend church every Sunday. It seems so simple, but sometimes our lives get so busy that we forget the purpose of these things. 

If you are doing this already, awesome. Don't stop. I do my best to read my scriptures every night, but I don't always succeed, especially when I'm absolutely exhausted. However, I think the least anyone can do is pray. Pray when you're in need, yes, but don't forget to be grateful. Communication is one of the most important things in a relationship, and it's important to communicate with our God, too! I mean He kind of created you, so take some time out of your day to thank Him for existing in the first place and ask him to help you know your purpose. 

For those of you who are not religious or believe in God for that matter, I invite you to pray anyway, and "pretend" there's a God, and see if you receive a response. No, you probably won't receive some amazing vision or voice, but if you are patient and faithful, He will let you know somehow that he IS there. I KNOW this more than anything else in the world I know. 

If you're really starting from scratch, start with a prayer. Find a quiet place and get on your knees and close your eyes. 

It's simpler than you think. 

I teach violin to young children, and they have to start from scratch too (especially if they're toddlers). Before they learn how to play and read music, they need to know the basics of holding the instrument and having good posture. 

Look at these nuggets. It doesn't get much cuter than this! 

These little girls aren't even holding bows yet, but they will, and they will create beautiful music and someday receive an applause. 

That applause is truly one of the thrills of being a musician. 

God wants us to return to Him someday, and he put us on this earth for a reason, so go find out that reason and get to work on that journey!

This is Danielle Fox, looking beautiful as usual as she's having the time of her life teaching others about Jesus Christ in Las Vegas! 

~Happy Sunday~