12:56 AM
I am a trained Waldorf early childhood teacher and have also
completed training as a "Music Together" teacher (a music and movement
program for preschoolers and their parents) through the Center for Music
and Young Children in Princeton, NJ. In addition, I am a Suzuki parent
and a strong supporter of Suzuki music education. I have been interested
in comparing the similarities and differences between Suzuki and
Waldorf pedagogy ever since discovering how much they share in common.
In
spite of the number of similarities in approach, one fundamental
difference between the two approaches is regarding the age at which a
child should begin formal music instruction. Suzuki students are
encouraged to begin instrumental lessons as early as age two or three.
On the other hand, students in a Waldorf school do not begin lessons
with string instruments until third or fourth grade. My personal opinion
is that Suzuki, for many children, starts too early, and that Waldorf
schools may start too late. Based on my research and observation, I
believe that age seven is a more appropriate age for most children to
begin private music lessons -- for many of the same reasons that make
seven the ideal age for a child to begin formal, academic learning at
school, according to Waldorf philosophy.
In Waldorf pedagogy,
formal academic learning does not begin until, ideally the age of seven.
This comes after a period of intense growth during the first seven
years of life, after which, according to Rudolf Steiner, the founder of
Waldorf education, the child's "etheric" or life forces are freed up for
more cognitive pursuits. As a child of seven is better able to sit and
focus on formal "lessons" than a younger child, so a child of this age
would be better able to focus on formal music instruction, and to be
capable of practicing. I have questioned many different music teachers -
Suzuki teachers, traditional music teachers and Waldorf music teachers
-- on whether there is a great advantage to starting children on an
instrument as early as three- to five-years old and, by and large, most
teachers I've talked to seem to agree that children who start when they
are older (say, seven or eight) are not at a disadvantage; they are
usually able to catch up quickly with the children who have been taking
lessons since they were much younger.
Within a few months of
starting cello, I observed that my seven-year-old caught up to the same
place as another seven-year-old boy in his class who'd been playing for a
full two years. My child, I would say, has fairly average musical
ability. He is musical, but not precocious.
I think it is
unnatural for a child under seven to be asked to sit down and practice
an instrument daily, no matter how short or playful the practice
session. I feel strongly that children under seven should be moving,
playing and engaged in their imagination without the pressure or stress
of practicing, or worse, performing. They are learning an enormous
amount -- taking in the world through their senses, developing their
imaginations through play and the experience of life. This short and
precious period of childhood should be free from the pressures of
performing and feeling the need to please others.
On the other
hand, most Waldorf schools don't start teaching strings until third or
fourth grade. I worry that this is too late. Recent brain research
indicates that there is a musical learning "window" of opportunity that
closes around the age of nine (similar to the "window" for language
acquisition). Based upon my research and observation, I believe that it
is more difficult, though certainly not impossible, for children to
become proficient at an instrument if they start after the age of nine.
Waldorf students are, of course, learning to play the pentatonic flute,
and often the soprano recorder, before the age of nine, which is
absolutely beneficial and helps to develop the student's musical ear.
There are many Waldorf teachers who would argue that learning to play a
stringed instrument or the piano would be inappropriate for a child
under nine. I do not agree with them. My own experience with my children
has been entirely rewarding and positive, having started them with
music lessons at ages seven and eight.
I also recommend waiting
until a child begins to show an interest in learning to play an
instrument before offering private music instruction. Children are much
more likely to be self-motivated when there is a genuine and personal
interest in learning to play an instrument. I have observed very few
children who have expressed an interest in learning to play an
instrument before the age of 5-7. Of course, there are some children who
really are musically precocious and may, in fact, prove to be
prodigious musical students. If your child is relentless in demanding to
learn a particular instrument, I would advise listening to them and
taking advantage of his interest.
If you decide to pursue music
education for your child under seven I would highly recommend - no, I
would BEG you - to find a Suzuki teacher. A good Suzuki teacher, like a
good Waldorf, teacher, teaches out of imitation and in a playful,
imaginative way. The emphasis should be on the process, not on the
product.
Another similarity between Suzuki method and Waldorf
education is that children are taught to play beautiful music by memory
and ear before they are able to read music -- just the way Waldorf
students are able to recite beautiful poetry by heart before they are
able to read or write. Learning to play music precedes learning to read
music, just as in human development learning to speak always precedes
learning to read and write. Learning to read music should not be
attempted before the child is able to read language.
Readers of Dr. Suzuki's book Nurtured by Love,
will come across much philosophy that is similar to Rudolf Steiner's.
(It is interesting to note that both lived in Germany during the same
period of time.) Dr. Suzuki emphasizes that it is far more important for
a child to strive to become a beautiful person on the inside, than the
most technically proficient musician. By nurturing beautiful feelings in
the child, beautiful music will be produced.
The most important
thing one can do musically for a child under seven is to expose them to
lots and lots music, especially the human voice. Sing to them and with
them all the time! Sing even if you think you can't -- your child will
not be critical, and will appreciate your effort more than you can
imagine. I think it's also of great benefit to let children hear live
music being played so that they learn that music is something that human
beings make, and are not just mechanical sounds that come out of an
electronic box. Research indicates that that listening to music (and
lots of different kinds and tonalities) early in life is what develops a
child's musical ear. So that even if a child doesn't begin formal music
instruction until age nine or later, by having been exposed to many
types of music and different qualities of tone, that child will still
have developed musically during her early childhood.
Sera Jane
Smolen, Ph.D., a cellist who has also taught music in a Waldorf school
and wrote her thesis on a comparison of Waldorf and Suzuki methods, once
told me that no world-class musician (that is to say, the Yo Yo Ma's
and the Emanuel Ax's of the world) ever started music instruction later
than the age of five. This statement is likely to give many parents
pause. But then she asked me, "Is our goal to raise world-class
musicians, or Martin Luther Kings?" Do we offer our children music
lessons because we want to produce a prodigy, or do we do it to nurture a
love of music in child who may fulfill Dr. Suzuki's vision of bringing
about world peace through music?