Bjork, T Rex and the Violin

Mole and Hedgehog are especially musical of late.

They sing the lyrics from “Frozen” in the car, Mole doing the lead role and Hedgehog providing the backing vocals in a sort of echo.

Mole: “I DON’T CARE, WHAT THEY’RE GOING TO SAY… the cold doesn’t bother me anyway”

Hedgehog: “Beeda baddaby ANYWAYYYYY”.

At home they’ve been doing dance routines to T Rex, Beyonce and The Bangles, much to my pride. This is generally mixed up with Yoga moves from watching me on my mat, or ballet moves from Mole’s Saturday class. They know a good tune when they hear it. Mole declares that Rock and Roll is her favourite. Given that Mr M&H is a Music Therapist, plus we’ve got three guitars, a ukulele, clarinet and piano in the house, Mole and Hedgehog were never really going to escape the musical gene.

The piano is the easiest instrument for them to play right now, so they’ll have a ‘plinky plonky’ session on most days, just having fun with it. But now that Mole is four, Mr M&H has decided that the time has come to choose her instrument. So Mole has chosen, drum roll….. the violin. I somehow did not expect the violin, but I did learn it for a time at school, so it’s not totally foreign to me. I don’t think I got much past the squeaky stage.

Mr M&H has been reading about the Suzuki method, which was a way of teaching music to children, invented by the Japanese violinist and teacher Dr Shinichi Suzuki. The main idea is to approach music in the same way that we approach language in the early years. The child learns to listen to other musicians and to get an ear for the notes first, before they begin to practice playing, and finally learning to read sheet music only once they are “verbal” with the music.

Researching Suzuki online, I discover that that one of the main elements of the method is Love: “Love - because Suzuki music teaching is not about breeding musicians or inculcating skills in children. It is about the amazing results that can be achieved when understanding, sensitivity and discipline are brought together in a single field of study. The glue that binds these various elements together is, Suzuki believed, love”. I’m already impressed with this man! and the philosophy behind his work. Suzuki says that age five is the ideal time to start, so a violin may just be winging its way from the North Pole this Christmas.

Starting with the listening stage then, Mr M&H is keen to introduce popular culture to Mole and Hedgehog, via music videos. I don’t mind and it makes a change from Peppa Pig or Mr Tumble. Tellingly, it took him a long time to find any music videos that were not overtly sexual or objectified women. But eventually we found a handful that were suitable, and they’ve been a hit.

There is Runnin’ by Naughty Boy, Chandelier by Sia, 1234 by Feist, Because I’m happy by Pharrell Williams and It’s oh so quiet by Bjork. Runnin’ and Chandelier are the favourites, or ‘runnin runnin’ and ‘the ballet one’ as Mole and Hedgehog call them. They seem to like the solo dance routines the best. These are all little gems of current music that we hope will open up a wider world to Mole and Hedgehog.

We even tried to show them Thriller by Michael Jackson, but the zombies didn’t go down too well with them, they hid behind the sofa. The fact that Mole cried when we introduced them to E.T. last night (she didn’t like it when E.T. died), I think shows that they are not ready for scary things yet. We underestimate their sensitivity to things sometimes. Hedgehog didn’t seem fussed about E.T., she just fell asleep.

I’m excited about the violin development though. Far from trying to raise a future Hilary Hahn, we hope it will be something that enriches Mole’s life. Suzuki believed that “given proper training and the right learning environment, ALL children can acquire what most people call 'talent' but Suzuki preferred to call 'ability'”. The benefit of studying music, to Suzuki, was “an increase in sensitivity and understanding that would lead to a better, more enriched life”.

It all sounds more intuitive and less forced as an approach to learning anything, for that matter.

I admit it’s inspiring me to take up a new instrument too. I can’t decide between the flute or the saxophone. Mind you, it may be worth mastering the ones I play already first, like the piano and the clarinet. The clarinet is kept out of the way of Mole and Hedgehog for now, since last time I got it out for them they managed to destroy four reeds when my back was turned.