Why do we review old pieces? Didn't we learn them already?!

"Build ability with a piece you can play."
Dr. Suzuki

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Dr. Suzuki was known for stating the above quote often because we don't develop knowledge and skills simply through learning new pieces. Yes, it is true we do learn new things in the new pieces but it is through playing the old pieces that we refine, deeply learn and build ability. The parallels to language learning are very evident - only through constant repetition of language do you become fluent. Music is no different. 

Many students (and parents and myself) are excited to learn the next piece in the Suzuki repertoire, especially once the current piece is 'learned'. But, the goal of practice isn't to improve or learn new things. Instead, the goal of practice and, more specifically, the aspect of practice we call review, is to make things easier. In fact, most of our time should be spent on review rather than the current piece. Here's why. 

To make it easy. Playing the correct notes and rhythms isn't enough. The goal of review - and learning any piece for that matter - is to achieve ease of playing. Ease of playing translates to skills that are easily executed and performed automatically. Ease of playing only comes from doing things over and over and over again. Riding a bicycle doesn't become easy after one or two rides. Only after riding a lot does it get easier. New skills are effortful and we want them to be effortless. Improvement is then a side effect of this ease which is only achieved through many repetitions.  

To keep it easy. Practicing an instrument is similar to running or any type of workout. You can't expect to be able to run a marathon if you haven't been running regularly, even if you completed one in the past. Running doesn't come easily unless you do it regularly. Same with playing a musical instrument. Perpetual Motion won't be easy and remain easy unless it is played often and regularly.

Ease promotes flexibility. When you know something very well, your flexibility with that skill increases. When flexibility increases, you can transfer that skill to new domains without struggle. You can also further refine that skill because the basic components of that skill are no longer challenging. 

Comfort. Comfort is important because we don't want to push the limit every time we play the instrument. Otherwise, all we do is reinforce the limit instead of reinforcing ease. Cello playing is supposed to be comfortable and easy. The goal isn't to be overwhelmed with difficult skills but to be comfortable with those skills. 

Previews. Very often, I use review pieces to work on a specific technique, especially if it's a new technique or skill. It's often too challenging to introduce a new technique in it's exact context so I often preview that technique with a review piece to make it easier. For example, when I teach extensions, which students first encounter in Book 2 in Minuet No. 3, I teach students how to play Aunt Rhody Goes to Arabia. The skill in Minuet No. 3 is just too difficult and students get bogged down with too many things. Go Tell Aunt Rhody is super easy by Book 2. In reality, it's super easy by the middle of Book 1. Adding an extension, while a challenge, isn't as difficult as the real deal in Minuet No. 3. To make extensions even easier, I teach Aunt Rhody Goes to Arabia in Book 1. Why not? Then when students encounter extensions in Minuet No. 3, it's not a big deal.

Upgrade! Review pieces are also great to upgrading a skill, particularly sound and tone. Trying to improve tone in a new piece likely isn't going to happen. Again, there's just too much going on and students cannot attend to their sound when they are occupied with a number of other skills. However, if you take French Folk Song with the intent to improve tone quality and depth, no problem. Students can play French Folk Song with relative ease and quite effortlessly. Students can attend to their sound quality because they are no longer intensely attending to challenging skills. Their focus and attention can be place almost entirely on the sound they are producing. Only then can we truly make lasting changes in the tone quality, or whatever skill is being addressed. 

Deep learning. When a skill is deeply learned, it is more easily transferred to other similar situations. For example, we spend a lot of time on the staccato bow stroke in Song of the Wind. That skill has been introduced earlier, in fact, in Twinkle but Song of the Wind presents a further refinement of that skill. However, Song of the Wind is certainly not the last time we will use a staccato bow stroke. It comes back in every single Suzuki book and is present in so much of the music out there, whether it be orchestra music, chamber music or solo literature. We review the old pieces to continue to review and refine the skills learned. Those skills then transfer to other domains on the instrument therefore making new skills easier to learn. When a student sees a staccato mark on the page, they can immediately produce the staccato bow stroke with little to no effort because it has been ingrained into their skill repertoire. 

Making Music. All of these things facilitate making music. Every child, every person has something to express musically. But musically expressive playing is achieved by ease of playing which comes from consistent review. Music isn't just playing the notes on the page. Music is so much more - dynamics, inflection, musicality, interpretation. These things can't be achieved when the notes or skills are a struggle. Only after everything is easy can we add the nuances that make music truly beautiful to listen to and enjoyable to play. 

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You are never done with Twinkle. I am not done with Twinkle even though I've played and performed it thousands of times. Many of my students have heard this story: in 2012, I went to Chicago to take the Suzuki Cello Book 1 training course for the second time with Dr. Tanya Carey. First, I already have my Book 1 training - I completed it in 2006. But I thought I could use a refresher and review my Book 1 teaching. Even I am reviewing by re-taking the Suzuki courses. Part of every Suzuki course is demonstrating the ability to play through the entire book from memory. We had a separate Twinkle test in which everyone in the class had to perform Twinkle and all the variations in front of the class. In addition to playing through all the Twinkles, we each had a short lesson on Twinkle and things to improve on. Now think about this, here is a class of professional cellists, all of whom have degrees and years and years of experience playing, performing and teaching the cello. These are fantastic, accomplished musicians some of whom were Suzuki kids themselves. Yet Dr. Carey found things in all of our Twinkles that needed improvement. Things like posture, position, tone, bow hold, etc. Things we discuss often in the lessons with students. Even this group of professional cellists wasn't 'done' with Twinkle because there were aspects of our playing that needed improvement and refinement! 

Every great performing musician is playing a review piece. Sure, they add a new piece or a few new pieces every concert season but the bulk of their repertoire are pieces they've been playing and performing for years. Yo-Yo Ma has been performing some pieces for over 40 years. 

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As you go forward with your review routine, keep one important thing in mind. Review with a purpose. Review without focus or a goal in mind often results in sloppy playing. Consistently sloppy playing reinforces sloppy playing. And no one wants to listen to sloppy playing. Practice with a goal in mind. If you don't have a specific goal, simply make it "play French Folk Song beautifully" or play Chorus from Judas Maccabaeus with a beautiful, sustained sound. Adding focus to review pieces gives them a purpose and reinforces all the skills we are trying to make easy, effortless and automatic. 

Happy reviewing!