“Beautiful tone, beautiful heart” is a phrase that Dr. Suzuki wrote in calligraphy on certificates given to teachers who studied at his school in Matsumoto, Japan. In just four words, it expressed his belief about what is revealed in a musician’s tone - someone who invested the effort in developing a lovely sound was also, in Dr. Suzuki’s view, demonstrating a commitment to becoming a finer person.

Given the many years it takes to have a truly gorgeous sound, it’s not a stretch to consider the many other qualities a person could develop through the practice of music-making. Qualities such as patience, self-awareness, commitment and determination would become part of the musician’s beautiful heart. Lovely tone became a sonic metaphor for the musician’s personal qualities. These qualities formed an important segment of the requirements for making it through the Suzuki teacher training program in Matsumoto. No teacher could graduate until these desirable qualities were in evidence, to a level of quality set by Dr. Suzuki himself. He saw every teacher as a role model, not only for excellence in playing an instrument, but also for every other action and element that would be seen by students and their families. Let’s look at some of these elements and what it is that we are modeling for our students.

Tone

Recordings can be great inspiration for tone development, and yet the impact of hearing a live musician is much greater. It’s more real when you are in the room, hearing a fabulous tone up close. When you model great tone in your teaching, students get to see, hear and feel the vibrations of the sound in the room and compare it to their own. It is much more real than a recording, which is not only captured electronically, but may also be enhanced in ways that we don’t know about and can’t reproduce.

Expressiveness

When first introduced to music, young performers may be unable to hear the differences between expressive playing and mundane playing; over time they can be helped to notice the subtleties that show up in musical interpretation. When the teacher can model various levels of musicianship, it can help the student understand what expression sounds like and how to produce it.

Language about music In the Suzuki world, a parent attends every lesson, and so it is not only the student who is learning how to talk to him or herself about music. As teachers, we are also providing the parents with a vocabulary and a way of verbalizing about music in order to make it understood clearly. We are also demonstrating a role model for self-awareness, kindness and positive practice techniques.

Thought processes

There are many approaches to learning about music, and many ways to think about how to learn. It’s a useful practice to reveal how you are thinking about musicianship, so that if your students are stuck in an approach that is less than resourceful, they can take on the thought processes you demonstrate.

For example, when mistakes are showing up in technical passages, a wise teacher might choose to use language that is objective and that comes from an observer’s point of view, such as “The ring finger seems to be slower than the other fingers. How can we help it speed up?” This is a thought process that is much more productive than making judgments such as “My technique is bad in this passage” or “ I can’t play this.”

Every time you judge rather than describe, you are revealing an unproductive thought process. Every time you describe the issue and define the gaps or needs, you are using language that leads to learning now and for future challenges.

How to think about music This is a bit like the thinking process above, but takes into account your knowledge of music history, music theory, and the specific techniques required to play the instrument. As you develop an understanding of the rules and structure of music, it’s easier to ‘think like a musician’. This will lead to more productive practicing.

How to practise

I once had a teacher who would make me pretend to practise during lessons. He would say “OK, warm up exactly how you do it at home. Show me what exercises you use and how you do them.” This was rather difficult for me at the time, especially since I was just ‘winging it’ and not really very disciplined yet, but it was definitely helpful when he then demonstrated his methods and reinforced the best ways to practise so I would really improve.

Posture

If you stand in a bizarre posture and expect your students to stand up straight and tall with a perfect hand position, think again! You are the model they will learn from most closely. Some years ago, I noticed that my students were all inserting their headjoints by holding the flute vertical very close to their faces and twisting the tenons vigorously. I thought it looked rather odd. Then, one day I noticed myself doing exactly the same thing. They had learned this from me! Students will absorb your posture and playing position by osmosis so be careful to demonstrate something healthy and functional.

Embouchure

This follows the posture point above. Many times, when adjudicating, I have found whole groups of students displaying the same embouchure problems, and have then seen their teachers perform. It’s no surprise that the students were emulating the bad habits as well as the good. You are the living model for the embouchure, no matter what words come out of your mouth.

Tone colours

When demonstrating a variety of tone colours, it’s important to include verbal imagery or descriptions. It makes more sense to students to understand that pianissimo tone, for example, is by design a lighter colour and less brilliant than forte tone. Otherwise, your students might think of a lighter tone as ‘bad tone’, a concept that isn’t particularly useful.

Musical styles

This may seem obvious, but especially with younger students, the more clearly you distinguish one style from another, the more competently the students will play. If they’re too young for subtle nuances, use broad demonstrations and get them to pick the one they like the best. If you are able, you can also help them learn about styles by demonstrating the accompaniment parts.

Intonation

Tuning does not take place in a vacuum, so if you can include a tuner or another instrument in the flute lesson, that’s a better choice for developing the ear for in-tune playing. This needs to be addressed constantly or weird tone and technique problems may show up at any time. Remember that you are the model for what they hear live, so play in tune as much as possible! On a positive note, a portable tuner is now an inexpensive item, although it only trains the student to move pitch around. It does not train the student to hear where to place the pitch in a chord. Still, there are some great little tuners on the market today.

Love of repertoire

Whether you love or hate a composer will show through in your teaching, so you may need to learn to be a bit of an actor when teaching pieces you don’t like very much. I recall a famous teacher working with me on a contemporary piece, and although he loved most of the suite, he explained to me that at one point the music “gets a bit boring” so I should move around more on stage and look extra engaged in the work! This was, for the teacher, a way of honouring the composer and the audience. And I learned something about how to ‘sell’ a performance, too.

This list contains only a few of the many elements of music-making that you are modeling in every lesson. I hope it underlines all of the ways you communicate, whether you know it or not. As Dr. Suzuki envisioned, keep up your effort to be a good model for every facet of flute playing. It will show everyone your “beautiful heart.”

Pandora Bryce teaches flute methods at the University of Toronto and is a researcher in the fields of music education and adult education. She has taught Suzuki flute for over 25 years, and is a Registered Teacher Trainer with the Suzuki Association of the Americas and the European Suzuki Association.