Suzuki method


The Suzuki method is a mid-20th-century music curriculum and teaching method created by Japanese violinist and pedagogue Shinichi Suzuki. The method claims to create a reinforcing environment for learning music for young learners.

Background

The Suzuki Method was conceived in the mid-20th century by Shinichi Suzuki, a Japanese violin salesman. Suzuki noticed that children pick up their native language quickly, whereas adults consider even dialects of their own language difficult to learn. He reasoned that if children have the skill to acquire their native language, they might have the ability to become proficient on a musical instrument. Suzuki decided to develop a teaching method after a conversation with Leonor Michaelis, who was Professor of Biochemistry at the University of Nagoya.
Suzuki pioneered the idea that a preschool age child could learn to play the violin if the learning steps were small enough and the instrument was scaled down to fit their body. He modeled his method, which he called "Talent Education", after his theories of natural language acquisition. Suzuki believed that every child, if properly taught, was capable of a high level of musical achievement. He also made it clear that the goal of such musical education was to raise generations of children with "noble hearts" as opposed to creating famous musical prodigies.

Philosophy

The central belief of Suzuki, based on his language acquisition theories, is that all people can learn from their environment. The essential components of his method spring from the desire to create the "right environment" for learning music, which he also believed would foster excellent character in every student.
The method parallels the linguistic environment of acquiring a native language from the young age, which is usually referred to "mother-tongue" method. Suzuki believed that this environment would also help to foster good moral character. These components include:
  • Saturation in the musical community
  • : This includes attending local classical music concerts, developing friendships with other music students, and listening to recordings of professional musicians in the home every day, starting before birth if possible.
  • Deliberate avoidance of musical aptitude tests or auditions to begin music study.
  • : Suzuki believed that teachers who test for musical aptitude before taking students, or who look only for "talented" students, are limiting themselves to people who have already started their music education. Just as every child is expected to learn their native language, Suzuki expected every child to be able to learn to play music.
  • Emphasis on playing from a very young age.
  • : Suzuki believed that children should typically start formal instruction between the ages of three and five years old..
  • Using well-trained teachers.
  • : Suzuki believed in training musicians not only to be better musicians, but also to be better teachers. Suzuki Associations worldwide offer ongoing teacher-training programs to prospective and continuing Suzuki teachers.
  • The beginning of teaching is emphasized by learning music by ear over reading written musical notation.
  • : Suzuki observed that children speak before learning to read, and thought that children should also be able to play music before learning to read. To support learning by ear, students are expected to listen to recordings of the music they are learning daily.
  • Memorization of all solo repertoire is expected.
  • : The focus on memorization continues even after a student begins to use sheet music to learn new pieces.
  • Music theory and note reading are left to the teacher.
  • : The Suzuki method does not include a formal plan or prescribe specific materials for introducing music theory and reading, in part because Suzuki created the method in a culture where music literacy was routinely taught in schools.
  • Regular playing in groups is strongly encouraged.
  • : Retaining and reviewing every piece of music ever learned is also strongly encouraged. This is intended to raise technical and musical ability. Review pieces, along with "preview" parts of music a student is yet to learn, are often used in place of the more traditional etude books. Traditional etudes and technical studies are not used in the beginning stages, which focus almost exclusively on a set of performance pieces.
  • Frequent public performance makes performing feel like a natural and enjoyable part of being a musician.
  • : The method is meant to discourage competition between players and advocate collaboration and mutual encouragement for those of every ability and level. However, this does not mean the complete elimination of auditions or evaluations of student performances.
  • : The parent of the young student is expected to supervise instrument practice every day to attend and take notes at every lesson so they can coach the student effectively, an element of the method once dubbed "The Mom-Centric Method."

    Technique

Although Suzuki was a violinist, the method he founded is not a "school of violin playing" whose students can be identified by the set of techniques they use to play the violin. However, some of the technical concepts Suzuki taught his own students, such as the development of "tonalization," were so essential to his way of teaching that they have been carried over into the entire method. Other non-instrument specific techniques are used to implement the basic elements of the philosophy in each discipline.
  • Tonalization is defined as the student's ability to produce and recognize a beautiful, ringing tone quality on their instrument. This term was coined by Suzuki and is based on the word "vocalization." While initially developed for violin education, the tonalization technique has been applied to other instruments, including the piano. Suzuki believed that a student must learn tonalization in order to properly reproduce and perform music. Outside the Suzuki method, the term used is "tone production," and is part of Western music education stretching back to its beginning.
  • The use of sound recordings is another technique common to all the musical instruments taught in the Suzuki method. Pre-recorded music is used to help students learn notes, phrasing, dynamics, rhythm, and tone quality by ear. Suzuki believed that the advent of recording technology made it possible for large numbers of "ordinary" people whose parents were not themselves great musicians and music teachers to be surrounded with excellent performances from birth. The Suzuki method requires daily listening in the home from before birth if possible and the implementation of a beginner's repertoire alongside recordings of advanced repertoire.
  • Instruments are adapted to meet the demands of a small child's body in various ways. This lowers the age at which people are anatomically ready to begin studying an instrument. Scaled-down instrument sizes are used for children studying stringed instruments. Curved-headjoint flutes with displaced keys and holes are also available, making it possible for children as young as three to study the flute. Height-adjustable chairs, benches, and footrests are used for piano, guitar, cello, and double bass. Fractional-sized student violins were already available when Suzuki began to teach, but the popularity of the method prompted violinmakers to scale violins down to even smaller sizes than before.
  • Suzuki Institutes were established to encourage a musical community, train teachers, and provide a place where master teachers' ideas can be spread to the whole community of Suzuki students, teachers and parents. These short term music festivals began in Matsumoto, Japan, where teachers & students came to learn from Suzuki. In the US, they often last for a week or two and include daily masterclasses; repertoire classes; teacher training courses; concerts; discussion sessions; seminars; and various 'enrichment' classes in different musical styles, instruments, or non-musical activities. As at any music festival, participants must pay registration and tuition fees to the institute they are attending. Each national Suzuki association handles registration for teacher training, and policies differ from country to country.
  • A common repertoire for all students of an instrument was established. This body of music is designed to allow each student to participate in group classes, help foster local and international musical community and camaraderie, and provide motivation for students to learn new music while keeping the 'old' pieces they have learned in top form.

    Repertoire

The core Suzuki literature is published on audio recordings and in sheet music books for each instrument, and Suzuki teachers supplement the repertoire common to each instrument as needed, particularly in the area of teaching reading. One of the innovations of the Suzuki method was to make professional recordings of beginner level pieces widely available. Many non-Suzuki trained music teachers also use the Suzuki repertoire to supplement their curriculum.
Suzuki literature also deliberately leaves out many technical instructions and exercises found in the beginners' music books of his day. He favored a focus on melodic song-playing over technical exercises and asked teachers to allow students to make music from the beginning, helping to motivate young children with short, attractive songs which can themselves be used as technique building exercises. Each song in the common repertoire is meant to introduce some new or higher level of technique than the previous selection.
Suzuki teaching uses a common core repertoire for students of the same instrument worldwide. Although it focuses on Western European "classical" music, it emphasizes that this music can be a bridge across cultural and language barriers.

Violin

The violin method was compiled and edited by Suzuki in ten volumes, beginning with Suzuki's Variations on "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" and ending with two Mozart concertos.
The first three volumes are mostly graded arrangements of music not originally written for violin, although the first volume contains several original compositions by Suzuki for violin and piano. These arrangements are drawn from folk tunes and from composers such as Bach, Dvořák, Beethoven, Handel, Paganini, Boccherini and Brahms. Volumes 4 to 10 continue the graded selection by incorporating 'standard' or 'traditional' student violin solos by composers such as Seitz, Vivaldi, Bach, Veracini, Corelli, Dittersdorf, Rameau, Handel, Mozart and Fiocco.
The Suzuki violin repertoire is currently in the process of being revised by the International Suzuki Association, and as part of the revision process, each regional Suzuki Association provides a recommended list of supplemental repertoire appropriate for students in volumes 6 to 8. The Suzuki Association of the Americas' supplemental repertoire list includes pieces by composers such as Bach, Kreisler, Elgar, Bartok, Shostakovich and Copland.
The first three volumes were recorded by Hilary Hahn and released in 2020. Audio recordings for the first four volumes are also available in separate albums by artists such as David Nadien, David Cerone, Yukari Tate and Suzuki himself. Revised editions and recordings of the first four volumes were released in 2007 and recorded by William Preucil, Jr. Recordings for volumes 5 to 8 have been made by Koji Toyoda, although many of the pieces can be found separately on other artists' albums. In 2008, Takako Nishizaki made a complete set of recordings of volumes 1 to 8 for Naxos Records.
There are no official recordings of volumes 9 and 10. However, since these volumes contain Mozart's A major and D major violin concertos respectively, they have readily-available recordings by various violinists. Completing the 10 volumes is not the end of the Suzuki journey, as many Suzuki violin teachers traditionally continue with the Bruch and Mendelssohn concertos, along with pieces from other composers such as Paradis, Mozart, and Kreisler.