Suzuki Method

Dr Shinichi Suzuki - Founder of the music education movement known as the Suzuki Method.
Suzuki, one of the music education approach but not the Suzuki Motor Corporation we usually hear of.

 Dr. Shinichi Suzuki - the violinist

Dr. Suzuki used the concept 'character first, ability second'. He encouraged to produce a whole child, who truly loves music and with a good personality development rather than just knows how to master the musical instrument. Suzuki called his idea 'Talent Education'.

                                           
                                             "Character first, ability second"-- Dr. Suzuki

Suzuki Method

Dr Suzuki called his teaching method the Mother-Tongue Approach. This was because he was inspired by the fact which was children learn to speak their native tongue effortlessly. He believed that children can respond and develop the most difficult of skills, that of intelligible speech if they are prompted and encouraged by the parents' love and the family environment. 

When a child learns to speak, the following factors are at work:

~Listening                                      ~Memory
~Motivation                                    ~Vocabulary
~Repetition                                    ~Parental Involvement
~Step-by-step mastery                 ~Love

In the Suzuki approach each of these principles is used in the learning of an instrument (piano, violin, viola, cello, double bass, flute, guitar, voice, harp and recorder). The mother-tongue approach has successfully been applied to other fields such as art, poetry and mathematics.

Dr. Suzuki strongly agreed that music plays part of the important role in the children development.

                                         

                                                "...all children can be well educated..." 

                                                                                           -- Shin'ichi Suzuki

More information: Suzuki Method