The Suzuki Method

What is the Suzuki Method?                                                                                  picture courtesy of Suzuki Association

It all began with a man named Shinichi Suzuki who realized that children not only in his home country as well as all over the world were able to speak their native language with ease.  He took these language acquisition principles and applied this to the learning of music. He believed all children can learn well in the right kind of environment.

I’m going to address special topics (courtesy of the Suzuki Association of the Americas website: www.suzukiassociation.org of what makes the Suzuki Method unique and effective than other methods.  I will briefly discuss their significance and how we will apply them in our lessons and home practice.

Encouragement

This is crucial when trying to create a positive learning environment for the child – the environment should promote genuine praise and encouragement. Each child learns at their own rate and its all about learning in small steps so the child has time to master each step. This also goes for the child working with other children – they are to be there to support one another through cooperation and good attitude.

Parent Involvement

It is very important for the parent to be involved and participating in the lessons especially when the child is very young. If they attend the lessons and can actively learn with the child, they can serve as the “home teacher” during home practice times. Simply, he or she will understand what the child needs to practice and can help at home. During the lesson if we are working on bow hold I will also have the parent learn how to hold the bow for themselves so they have the first hand experience. I can also offer good practice tips and fun activities to make the home practicing enjoyable and stimulating.

Early Beginning

The early years are crucial for developing mental processes and muscle coordination. Listening can start at birth and formal violin lessons can begin at 4 years old. However, it is never too late to learn the violin. Suzuki works great for all ages, not only children.

Listening

This I believe is one of the fundamentals of the music learning process and is one of the big areas Suzuki based his philosophy on – this is also how children learn words after hearing them spoken numerous times by others. With my young beginners I highly recommend that they listen to the pieces they are working on at home so the child knows them well. When I am learning a new piece I like to listen to the recording regularly and follow along with the music. It also gives me ideas on how to phrase certain passages. We will talk about phrasing music when we get to middle of Book I.

Graded Repertoire

Pieces in the Suzuki repertoire are designed to present technical problems to be learned in the context of the music rather than through dry technical exercises. For every new piece we learn, I will outline the significance and technique focus for each song.

Delayed Reading

Once the child has developed basic technical competence with the violin (middle of Book I) I will introduce note reading. I highly recommend “I Can Read Music: Vol. I” by Joanne Martin.

With beginner older children and adults, I will introduce note reading right from the beginning if they are not familiarized.

Repetition

This is essential in learning to play an instrument. Just how we learn a word in a foreign language, we add it to our vocabulary and then try to use it in new and more complex ways – the same goes for learning music. The word may not sound exciting, but I can suggest fun ways for practicing using repetition.