Landing Airplanes and Shooting Arrows | One Thing at a Time, Please

Song of The Wind & Arrows: Here’s The Set Up

• “Song of The Wind.”
• LOOP
• ITEM 1: “Okay, find the fuzzy spot with your ring finger.” (bow hand).
• “Keep you thumb bent.” (bow hand).
• “Keep your eyes on the finger board, focus on your tapes.” (finger board).
• “Rocket wrist… keep your violin hand nice and long. It looks like you’re trying to deliver a pizza.”
• “Honey, we need to pick a tempo and stay with it.”
• GO TO ITEM 1
• END LOOP

That’s an abbreviated version of my monologue during yesterday’s practice. For crying out loud, you’d think I was trying to land an airplane. The look in wee-man’s eye said he was ready to throw me into the nearest lion’s den. It’s no wonder so many of us “type A” parents want to start popping valium when we help our kids practice.

I take copious notes at my son’s lessons, which is a blessing and a curse. It’s important because I would otherwise forget important points. (Are we supposed to be playing fast-fast-slow or slow-slow-fast? Was the thumb supposed to be pointing toward the first finger or the pinkie?) But it’s disastrous when I try to accomplish every point on my list simultaneously.

“Choose one arrow at a time, and make sure the target’s fairly close.” – Edmund Sprunger

In his book, Helping Parents Practice: Ideas for Making It Easier, Suzuki teacher trainer Ed Sprunger explains that children can really only work on thing at a time.  He advises parents to stop and re-prioritize when they find themselves giving their child more than one thing to pay attention to. Sprunger points out that trying to “shoot more than one arrow at a time” will overwhelm the child and make the parent feel incompetent. (Or desperate for valium.)

Ed’s book is brilliant, and I would recommend it to any Suzuki parent feeling a little lost, frustrated or overwhelmed with practice.