Suzuki Approach in a Nutshell

Dr. Shinichi Suzuki developed his method with the premise that talent is not inherited and that every child has an unlimited learning potential. All children are respected as individuals just as capable of developing musical ability as they are linguistic ability in their own mother tongue.

Ability develops early, and therefore, Suzuki encouraged parents to create a pleasant musical environment to nurture this from the earliest possible age, even prenatally.  We see in the Baby and Toddler class (0-3 years) that children watch and observe others and that parental involvement is very important in the lives of our young.  As each little one achieves a new skill or goal they are spurred in their delight and the pleasant reaction of the parents and others motivating them to continue on.  This soon leads to skills and focus that enable a child to learn to play an instrument.

Parents are expected to attend lessons with their children and act as home teachers, providing their children with a nurturing environment where they can learn naturally. Parents do this by regularly playing a recording of the repertoire that their child is working on, sharing their enthusiasm for music, patiently and respectfully helping their children to develop, modeling behavior that they want their children to exhibit, and much more.

Lessons are given to children individually in the studio, but preferably in a master class setting where others can watch them and they can watch others. Students (and parents) grouped together share in each other's successes and can help to encourage each other during slumps. In observing other students during their lesson times, learning is multiplied.

Group lessons are another important facet of the Suzuki method. This provides a pleasant way of reviewing technique and repertoire, a chance for the child to play with a group and follow a leader, a place to prepare in front of peers for solo recitals, stimulation through watching and listening to others with more advanced repertoire, opportunities to enrich music theory and ear training skills and of course, it gives the children a chance to interact with other young musicians who share some of their interests, creating a friendly musical community.

The Suzuki approach is similar to that with learning the mother tongue. A person is at their most malleable when they are young, therefore teaching music should begin as early as possible. A child of 3 may not progress as quickly as a child who begins at 13 years old, but will be more natural as they progress, just as a child will be better able to master a second language while they are younger. That being said, while 3 is better than 13, 103 is still better than 113! Tomorrow is too late, today is just right.