Customer Reviews

How Muscles Learn: Teaching Violin With The Body In Mind

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The author approaches the subject with unique knowledge of how muscles learn. She applies this to the WHY and HOW of playing a violin in ways that make great sense. I've read the book twice and heard her speak twice. I'd like to know more! It is a great resource to me in teaching beginning string players in public school.

First off, a typo in the description. The book is actually 97 pages rather than 48.

Although written primarily for teachers of children, I found `How Muscles Learn' very helpful for my self-study. The explanations and photos of posture and playing position are clear and easy to translate into adult terms. As the author says, it's as much about teaching the body as it is about teaching the music.
Susan Kempter's premise is that physiology and kinesiology have much to offer violin players and teachers. Violin pedagogy, along with that of the piano, has a lengthy history with different schools of technique dominating during various eras. Certain ideas, such as the alignment of the elbow beneath the instrument and the position of the bowing arm to the body, continue to be handed down too often without the benefit of recent advances in body science.

That said, the book is very hands-on and jargon-free. Children are very physical learners and the emphasis here is on practical doing rather than scientific explanation.

There are a number of excerpts of pieces from the Suzuki books. I happened to have them but, if you don't, it's not difficult to find or arrange similar pieces that illustrate the same technical problems.

I happen to enjoy working out the playing mechanics of different instruments at my own pace, making my way (however labyrinth-like) towards some basic technique. I'm neither a teacher nor a professional; I play with friends for my own enjoyment. I'd recommend the book to other self-learners with a similar exploratory bent who enjoy working things out for themselves.

Teh book is a little lightweight. I finished it in less than 2 hrs. Basically, it is scientifiaclly explained, all the stuff your child's violin teacher told you about. Now that you know the reasons, you would probably be a little more vigilent when guiding your child. I recommend this book to all parents of young children learning the violin.

First of all, this book has a distinct self-published taste to it. It apparently wasn't edited or proofread (e.g., on page 6, "... the note is perceived [...] to be "in tune" or "out of tune" individually ...". Or, on the same page, "...intonation is "stable". It either "is" ir it "is not.". What's the deal with all the quotes there? So, these pages never went before a competent proofreader's eyes, right?

Second, there are some rather far-out ideas proposed here: for example, it is sugggested that one must spend four to seven years in pure muscle training. Imagine you want to play football but must spend four to seven years in full-time weight lifting before you ever see a ball. How is this supported? Well, the author quotes a couple of surveys where a bunch of accomplished musicians reported how long their training took; it is between 17 and 25 years (note that these people did NOT spend four to seven years initially in pure muscle training). Then the author picks the number 17 and calculates that her four to seven years of muscle building are 23% to 42% or the invested time. And then, a conclusion (if we may call it so), I quote: "These percentages certainly seem reasonable [...]". OK, I'm convinced! Imagine a ten-year-old starting with her and coming out of the first phase at the age of seventeen, well, Johnny, can you play us twinkle-twinkle-little-star? No? But you can wiggle your fingers real fast, eh? Well, that's great. OK with this gedankenexperiment, but we know Johnny would not even be there: he'd quit the program much earlier.

Third, the author quotes from books without bibiographical references. For example, on page 78 a quote from "[Norman. 1987, pp 88-86]" is given. This book is not in the bibliography; I've not clue what it is. Next page quotes mysterious Anderson and Fitt, who're nowhere to be found as well.

Fourth, there's a lot of weasel language of the following kind: p.80 "Researchers who study movement agree". Excuse me, ma'am, who are the "researchers" you are referring to, specifically? Page 82, "Every researcher I have read agrees...". Same page, below, "There is not one experienced teacher who has not been [...]".

Fifth, the author uses some sort of musical argot without explaining it first (unless it's more errors). For example, on page 83 we can read that: "...giving the student a visual as to its exact placement." As far as I know, "visial" is an adjective. If so, there's a missing noun somewhere here. Perhaps it's not an adjective, but then I don't know what it means. "Visual" _what_?

Then, there are muddled explanations of the following kind: page 84, "When fingers barely touch the string, but do not move it or depress it, I call it "touching" the string". Well, we all do! Whenever something is touching something else we call it touching it. And of course, why the quotes again?

OK, enough detail. Bottom line: I don't know whether what this book proposes is correct or not, meaning I don't insist that it's not. But I'm not convinced about anything, and the whole affair has an amateurish, unserious, and sometimes absurd taste to it.

Dear Seller,

Wonderful teaching material! Fast delivery!

Gang Jiang
17 December 2008