ABOUT THE SUZUKI METHOD OF TEACHING
The Suzuki Method™
The Suzuki Method is based on the principle that all children possess ability and that this ability can be developed and enhanced through a nurturing environment. All children learn to speak their own language with relative ease and if the same natural learning process is applied in teaching other skills, these can be acquired as successfully. Suzuki referred to the process as the Mother Tongue Method and to the whole system of pedagogy as Talent Education.
Shinichi Suzuki (1898-1998) was born in Japan and studied western music in Germany in the 1920s. He first began teaching young children in Japan in the 1930s and further developed his ideas and philosophy of teaching during the post-war period. His approach to teaching has now spread to many parts of the world and is proving increasingly successful everywhere. Because he was a violinist, he first applied his ideas to the teaching of violin, but it has since been used with many other instruments, in nursery school teaching and other more general areas.
The important elements of the Suzuki approach to instrumental teaching include the following:
· an
early start (aged 3-4 is normal in most countries)
· the importance of listening to music
· learning to play before learning to read
· the involvement of the parent
· a nurturing and positive learning environment
· a high standard of teaching by trained teachers
· the importance of producing a good sound in a
balanced and natural way
· core repertoire, used by Suzuki students across
the world
· social interaction with other children: Suzuki
students from all over the world can communicate
through the language of music
Aims of the Suzuki Method
The Suzuki method has enabled many children
to play music to a high standard. Substantial
numbers of Suzuki trained students have indeed
become highly acclaimed professional musicians.
However, the training of professionals is not the
main aim: the emphasis throughout is on the
development of the whole child, on education through
music. Dr Suzuki himself always said that his wish
was to foster the human qualities in the child.
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