Strumenti editoriali per musicisti

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(Harp Seasons, autunno 2007. Quaterly Newsletter from Harpes Camac)

Meeting with Gabriella Bosio
The Suzuki Method School

Gabriella Bosio has been teaching the harp in Turin, Italy, for the last thirty-two years, twenty of which using the Suzuki method for very young students.
Building on this long pedagogical experience, she is going to publish in French and with Musica Practica her method, which has been out for four years in Italy: “I play the harp: Practical Method for Children from the Age of Four”. I
took advantage of her presence at the 7th European Harp Symposium in Cardiff to meet her, and satisfy my curiosity about the famous Suzuki method, the teaching of it, its results and of course the nature of the harp method.

The Suzuki method consists of the 'mother tongue' principle, and the theory that music can be learnt very young, following the example of the mother tongue through imitation and repetition - provided that the child is submersed in a musical world and that he works every day. Music is a language like any other. If a child is capable of assimilating entirely naturally a language that is difficult for an adult, like Hungarian or Japanese, why shouldn't he earn music with equal ease? Clearly it is necessary to adapt teaching and listening to the vocabulary of a young child, rendering it playful and easy to understand. At this age, even the most difficult things are learnt easily, and even the most arduous technique like that of the harp may be acquired: we have only to dissect the process as much as possible, to picture and direct it in a way that suits the child.

In this way the thumb bending becomes the neck of a friendly giraffe who bows in greeting! It is also necessary that the parentsand those around the child implicate the discipline of daily study: every day you must eat, get dressed, learn new words and practise your instrument...This method is the fruit of 15 years of experience and personal study by Gabriella Bosio in contact with very young pupils. Her goal is to enable the earliest harp learning, no matter who the child, and that when the child is older he be able to integrate it with the more 'classical' teaching method at the heart of conservatoires, in order to combine its advantages with technique and repertoire. The Suzuki method does not try to form little geniuses before time (even if some, such as Letizia Belmondo – one of the very young students of Gabriella Bosio – are hailed for their developed talent), but first and foremost to integrate music into the education and general development of the child. This method of harp learning is addressed to teachers (experienced or not), who teach very young children or adult amateurs and who, in not putting a traditional method of working forward, need to forge a new teaching strategy. Many harpists who have learned how to play everything, but not how to put it across: having a technique doesn't mean one can teach it. How to explain the gestures you yourself have accomplished automatically, day after day, for years? This is the challenge that Gabriella has been endeavouring to pin down for the last 15 years, since she took on the task of adapting the Suzuki method to harp teaching. By what pictures, which stories, can we teach a child of four how to position the thumb; a thumb that must be straight, high, free and articulated? The Method devised by Gabriella consists of two volumes: one for the pupil (yellow), and one for the teacher (blue). The pace is deliberately slow. Each piece employs one entirely new technique, and revises those previously acquired: staccato, legato, co-ordination, with one finger, then two, then three. It is fundamental to work in a comfortable way, to cement each foundation very firmly before moving on to acquire another, so as to offer each pupil the possibility of proceeding at his own pace and as far as he wants to go. It is beyond doubt that Gabriella has blossomed in this teaching method, off the beaten track from her own traditional training! Her generosity and commitment sparkle: she invests in her pupils without ever counting the cost, and they repay her well. On the stage, they are concentrated, united, happy to play the harp and make music, real music. An unquestionable success! Grounds to incline towards this “Practical Method for Young Children”, to address another way of teaching and to acquire new tools of communication? The choice is yours...

Florence Lédi-Marque

(Giornale della Musica, no. 188, December 2002)

A METHOD BY GABRIELLA BOSIO FOR CHILDREN AND PARENTS

THE MAGIC HARP OF THE YOUNG
One can already begin at four years of age. Lesson by lesson, nothing is left to chance: method and teaching choices are explained in an in-depth way. Illustrations accompany the child's study.

During the second half of the eighteen hundreds, the great music of Europe (before exploding in the rest of the world) had relegated certain instruments to a precise and defined role: the brass section transcendent in the horns of Brahms and tremendous in Wagner's tubas; the princely piano, caressed and hammered, ever-present companion for any approach to the study of music; and the magic, rarified, impalpable harp. A feminine instrument by tradition, with a sound too often lost in the large late-romantic orchestras, abused for easy new-age effects by the poetic impressionist, for many years the harp has been an almost forgotten, minor instrument reserved for the sidelines. But the time has come for the awaited liberation. Alfredo Casella, in his great work on contemporary orchestration, already predicted that the harp could, in the near future, "find the lost favor", that the instrument still possessed numerous "virgin" resources, and "no one today can imagine the future, which reserves many other surprises for us". And today, finally, with wide-spread diffusion of the harp in contemporary ensembles, celtic, folk and popular music, that future seems to be here among us.

The rebirth of an instrument, however, is not only dependent on fashion: it also requires the confident and professionally correct work of teachers who know how to imagine valid and credible paths for their own students. Confirming this is Gabriella Bosio who, on the heels of her lengthy and kaleidoscopic experience and with the aid of the enthusiasm which continues to characterize her way of working, offers "I Play the Harp" (an Illustrated Intuitive Method for Young Harpists Beginning from 4 Years of Age) both to males and females in an original and convinced "pact of equal opportunity" to "contrast the popular opinion which considers the harp a predominantly feminine instrument" and to overturn the easy idea of illustrations "which for centuries have always only shown feminine, angelic figurines playing the harp". The method is comprised of two volumes: the Student's Book and the Guide for Teachers and Parents. From solid and convinced Suzuki school, the author immediately involves mothers and fathers in the educative dialogue so that they can become precious collaborators with the teacher, but immediately adds "Remember that the lesson is primarily for the children and secondarily for the parents". The volume for adults begins with a useful and motivated introduction in which the characteristics of the method are defined and precise information is furnished regarding the concrete organization of the lessons: "It is one thing to know how to play and yet another to know how to teach someone else to play". The speech is plain and careful; Gabriella Bosio directs attention to the child's process of memorization, to planned use of time, to the duration of the various parts of the lesson, to a detailed analysis of posture, position and articulation of the hands and fingers, even entering into the particulars regarding height and position of the stool, correct size of the instrument and how to tune it: "Children have a very sensitive ear and are irritated by the sounds that an out-of-tune harp produces".

In the second volume, the teacher (and parents) are literally taken by the hand. Lesson by lesson nothing is left to chance: the method and teaching choices are explained in an in-depth way. Posture, tricks, and suggestions adorn the music. Photographs and detailed illustrations show the position of shoulders, arms, hands and fingers. Study progression is developed with care, constantly accompanied by the notes of Twinkle Twinkle, the base of the Suzuki method and which is presented as a base for specific texts "compiled as a way to show where one's attention should be concentrated". The student's volume uses, for illustration, a delightful boy (drawn by Giorgio Delmastro) who accompanies the child in his fun but serious game. Displayed by means of a rigorous teaching progression, the lessons are richly presented with colorful cartoons. In addition, the author has had the brilliant idea of garnishing the pentagram with lively icons which are easily and immediately read, as a reminder to the child of tricks, posture, technique and specific articulation. On the last page there is "my first Harpist Diploma", if it has been earned, a final document complete with date and signature. One last, but not neglected resource: the method is available in English, "I Play the Harp" and in French, "Je Joue de la Harp", an ideal stimulus to reinforce the way to an exchange of teaching methods, ever more important in the future of an expanding Europe.
Paolo Salomone

(Musica, no. 142, December 2002/January 2003)

Gabriella Bosio publishes, for the editor Musica Practica, a method for studying the harp designed for «...young harpists beginning from 4 years of age». The age of the book's audience amazes one, and it is amazing that a child of 4 years can begin the study of an instrument as complex as the harp, but one must remember that the book comes from the author's lengthy experience gathered through teaching music with the Suzuki method, which was designed for very small children. The definition of «method» is, however, doubly improper. In the first place, because there are two volumes: one for the young students and the other for the parents whose job it is to guide the young harpists in the initial phase of the program. In the second place, because the word "method" brings to mind something boring, dry, repetitive. None of this is the case in the Bosio volumes. Many drawings and the use of simple, fun language aim to strike the children's imagination through the filter of a game. Also, the volume's short musical pieces are novel as their scope is that of impressing (through rhymed texts and rich symbolism) correct arm, wrist and finger movements on the harp strings. The primary positive aspect of this book is its directness, as seen beginning with the first page: what do you need in order to play the harp? Answer: «a boy or a girl; a pair of active, clean ears; a harp; a stool; a footstool; a music stand; a good teacher…».

(Suonare News, November 2002)

(La Stampa, 20/8/2002)