Benefits of Attending Suzuki Group Class

Group classes provide the ideal environment for review.

• Reviewing songs that have already been learned becomes more fun when playing them with other children.
• Children may feel less fearful of making a mistake, so they can gain confidence in their playing as they review with their peers.
• Students work together to recall all the skills they learned in a review piece, and keep those skills fresh, so we have a solid foundation to build on.
• We can implement skills and techniques learned in more recent skills to review songs, which helps students to have a more complete grasp of these newer techniques, and it makes the review songs feel more exciting.

Group class builds ensemble skills.

• Students must watch and listen to the teacher, and each other, to stay together. 
• They learn to play without pausing.  I tell my students that the beats are constantly flowing, so to make a piece sound smooth and exciting, we need to come to a point where we can play without pausing to think about what comes next. 
• Students take on a different role as an ensemble member vs. playing as a soloist.  They’re now a member of team working together to create one single beautiful musical expression.
• As a member of a team, students learn to respect and collaborate with one another.  These are important life skills for life in general, not just for musicians.

Group class is a great place for refining musical skills, and exploring new styles of music.

• Playing in a group can really help a student refine their rhythm and intonation as they work to play as one.
•  It’s a great place to talk about the history of the pieces we work on in group class, including learning more about musical time periods and composers.
•  I like to teach my advanced students music theory and aural skills as a group.  These skills are very helpful with sight reading and improvisation.
• Together, we can play different styles of music, such as jazz or fiddle. These skills expand a student’s repertoire, understanding of music, and helps them to explore new performance possibilities.

Group classes are fun and motivating

• We use fun, interactive activities to build all the skills that we’ve talked about.
•  All musicians will end up playing in an ensemble in their musical career, and many find it to be more satisfying than playing as a soloist.
• Sometimes practice can feel a little mundane, and we need a little spark to help us remember why we’re learning music.  Group class can provide that spark.