First-year Seminar members explore the concepts and the educational philosophy as developed by Dr. Shinichi Suzuki and make an intensive investigation of teaching techniques applicable to young, beginning violinists; discuss the techniques of working with parent and child at beginning and intermediate levels; explore the adjustments and adaptations necessary when starting an older child in the Suzuki approach; and make a thorough study of Books I-IV in the Suzuki Violin School. Students learn the pieces by ear from the recording, as the children do, and perform them in class from memory as they are being discussed.
In the second year, the study of the Suzuki materials beyond Book IV is continued, and the investigation of teaching procedures is expanded to include more advanced violin techniques: sophisticated bow and left-hand controls, development of vibrato, and the teaching and solidifying of reading skills. Ideas are drawn not only from Suzuki's approach, but also from the approaches of such great violin teachers of the past and present as, for instance, Carl Flesch, Louis Persinger, and Ivan Galamian. The Second-Year Seminar also investigates materials other than the Suzuki Violin School, comparing approaches and searching out technical materials and repertoire that can be combined successfully with the Suzuki materials. In the second-year Seminar, as the materials become more advanced and incorporate more of the standard traditional repertoire, class performances and discussion are more likely to be on an individual, master-class basis. Again, members of the Seminar come to each meeting prepared to perform the evening's repertoire from memory.
Paralleling the discussions of more advanced techniques and materials, the Seminar also investigates the changing role of the parent as the child becomes more advanced and more mature, including discussion of how to train the child ultimately to study and practice independently.
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