Why Choose the Suzuki Method?
Our Movement and Our Hope: In His Own Words
By Shinichi Suzuki (1958)
"All human beings are born with great potentialities, and each individual has within himself the capacity for developing to a very high level.
Although some individuals display a remarkable ability during their life-time, we are not primarily concerned here with these extraordinary cases. However, there are many others, born with a high potential, who fail in some way, through unfavorable conditions, to develop their original power, so their lives end at a comparatively low level.
Education begins from the day of birth. We must recognize the amazing power of the infant who absorbs everything in his surroundings and adds to his knowledge. If attention is not given to early infancy, how can the child’s original power be developed? We learn from nature that a plant which is damaged or stunted during the sapling stage does not have a promising future. Yet at present, we know very little about proper training for the early infancy of human beings. Therefore, we must learn more about the conditions in which early human growth takes place.
[The Suzuki Method] has realized that all children in the world show their splendid capacities by speaking and understanding their mother language, thus displaying the original power of the human mind. Is it not probable that this mother language method holds the key to human development?
[I have] applied this method to the teaching of music: children, taken without previous aptitude or intelligence tests of any kind have almost without exception made great progress.
Cultural sensitivity is not inherited, but is developed after birth. The hereditary ability of the mind is measured by the speed with which it adapts to circumstances. It is wrong to assume that special talent for learning music, literature, or any other field, is primarily inherited.
This is not to say that everyone can reach the same level of achievement. However, each individual can certainly achieve the equivalent of his language proficiency in other fields. We must investigate methods through which all children can develop their various talents. We adults should reflect, and consider whether this method is not the best way to develop all human talents."
Key Elements of the Suzuki Method – after Sanford Reuning, Ithaca, NY, 1971
1. Begin early. Suzuki has found that children can learn very well beginning at the age of three, and in some cases even earlier, depending on the family. Notwithstanding, many teachers find 4 to be the perfect age, though older students are also accepted.
2. Learn by memory. This is the so-called “mother tongue” approach. Children learn by small steps, hence memory is developed in a gradual manner until it becomes a high skill. Small children have an almost uncanny ability to work in this manner, the “natural” manner of language learning.
3. Creative repetition. The analogy to language learning is obvious, since the small child is encouraged to say the same simple words over-and-over until they are mastered. Suzuki limits the amount of material on any given level and encourages repetition.
4. Active repertoire of all pieces learned. In one’s native tongue one never learns a word only to forget it. The Suzuki student constantly reviews the repertoire he has learned, and thus effectively reinforces his memory, his technical skill, and his musical expression.
5. Listening to CDs. As the mother speaks often to her child, so the violin student hears recordings of the pieces she is to learn and becomes knowledgeable regarding a fine violin tone. This, the environment at home, determines much of her learning.
6. Involvement of the parent. Mothers and/or fathers attend every lesson with the child, encourage him and help him practice at home each day. The parent becomes the teacher’s assistant, responsible for playing the CDs, encouraging the child, teaching the notes, and practicing with the child.
7. Encouragement. An infant is never scolded for mispronouncing words he is learning, but is encouraged to say them again. Likewise, the Suzuki parent must always encourage the child. The lessons should be a happy experience, as the parent and the teacher become involved in the marvel of the unfolding process of learning.
8. Step-by-step- mastery. Each skill is broken down into small segments easily mastered by the student. It is imperative that these segments (and, later, pieces) be thoroughly mastered before attempting the next step, so as to engineer a “built-in” success for each step in the learning process. This takes skill on the part of the teacher to assess the potential and limitations of learning at any given point.
9. Reading after physical control. Again, if one uses the analogy of native language learning, one speaks before he learns to read. By no means, however, should memory learning (a skill to be cherished) be dropped when one begins to read.
10. Every child can learn. Suzuki is not for every family, but it is for every child. We must believe in every child’s potential to learn to play the violin, or to do anything else in the world.
Eliminate any of these elements, and the results will not be the same.