The Suzuki method has become one of the most influential violin pedagogies across the world in the 20th century. It has become an unstoppable international movement that has gathered thousands of people around the world, all of them teaching under its philosophy and principles.
Anyone with a close relationship to the violin has seen videos and photos of a large number of children playing together something impressive on their violins. In the case you missed them here you can watch one of Suzuki´s performances in which he is conducting his students while they play a Bach concerto. Suzuki applauds as a signal to start playing and claps again to show them when to stop, this gesture continues repeatedly during the entire performance (If anyone knows Japanese please help me translate what he says at the beginning and end of the video).
let me introduce you to the controversial suzuki method…
the children start to play at 0:37
Videos like these reached the United States and awakened the curiosity of the Western pedagogues who wanted to learn this incredible way of teaching children, therefore, they decided to travel to Japan, home of the Matsumoto music school, founded by Suzuki in 1946.
This institution would later become the “Talent education research institute”.(http://www.suzukimethod.or.jp/e/about/)
The relationship between Suzuki and the U.S teachers lead in 1964 to a tour of concerts in North America known as the “ten children”. Suzuki´s best Japanese students performed very successfully around the country. Later, the tour expanded to other locations and with it the whole Suzuki philosophy spread throughout the planet.
Nonetheless, Suzuki´s teaching method is not far from controversy and there are divided opinions about its effectiveness and relevance, in our days, especially when applied in a different setting from the one where it was conceived originally: the Japanese culture. Being a method that is based particularly on the student’s relationship with their environment, some of the criticisms expressed by its detractors are related to the deep involvement of parents in the teaching process.
Placed in the current context of a society in which parents dedication and compromise to the child education is variable, Suzuki´s proposal is almost impossible to achieve and without the presence of the close relationship that is one of the pillars of the philosophy, the method resembles more to a traditional and standardized training that focuses exclusively on the repertoire.
I will present a brief description of Suzuki and his method so you can create your own criteria and opinion.
¿WHO WAS SHINICHI SUZUKI?
Japanese Violinist, philosopher and humanist pedagogue. Suzuki grew up inside a family with a tradition related to the art of making violins, however, he did not start studying violin until he was about 17 years old. He graduated from Nagoya Commercial School after studying with Ko Ando and later moved to Europe, more precisely, to Berlin at a splendorous cultural moment in the European history. Suzuki had the opportunity to hear the performance of great soloists of the moment playing alongside the berlin philharmonic.
Piaget, Dalcroze and Montessori were among some of the most renowned thinkers and educators than influenced Suzuki. People even say that he also met Albert Einstein, it could just be witty historical gossiping, however, if true, Suzuki was related to one of the most brilliant minds in the history of humanity, quite impressive!
Being a prominent violinist was not the feature that gave him widespread recognition (which is another criticism of the opponents of the method) but, we are here to judge his methodology not his direct triumphs as a performer; he was a man who dedicated his life to the understanding of learning development in early childhood and its great influence on human character.
Once back in Japan, he began a long-term research process. A series of 10 repertoire books came out of his commitment; the books containe musical pieces carefully chosen and ordered in a way that the technical and musical aspects of the violin could be introduced to a new student in a clear and structured sequence.
HIS TEACHING PHILOSOPHY
A strong philosophical background is the main underlying aspect of Suzuki´s methodology, in fact, he never referred to his method as a series of musical pieces but as to an education philosophy: A study of the processes that govern thought and behavior.
No particular difference in the violin technique by itself is identified, like a specific way to hold the bow or positioning the fingers, even though some pictures suggesting the posture are included in the books, they always refer to this aspect as “development of a balanced posture”, leading to think that there is flexibility regarding this component of learning and its incorporation to the educational process can be adapted to the teacher preferences.
The underlying thought that music can be learned in the same way as the mother tongue was the basis of Suzuki´s method; he insisted assiduously on cultivating the strength of human life in children.
If a child is capable of becoming a wonderful musician and artist, he would be the kind of person worth to inhabit the world, he thought. A human being susceptible to beauty, full of an artistic feeling that will allow him to contribute significantly to the construction of a society.
From his book “nurtured by love”:
"It is in our power to educate all the children of the world to become a little better, a little happier." Suzuki
The conception that the Suzuki method seeks to educate children as robots has raised concerns. Impressive violin performances without a real awareness and feeling of the instrument and its beauty, with the sole purpose of entertainment prevents some people of adopting the methodology.
There may be teachers out there using the repertoire for this purpose, since the books of the method do not give any indication about the way to teach.
A specific teacher training is essential to apply the methodology correctly and to give a relevant judgment; in other words; not everyone with the methodology books can assume that they are studying with the Suzuki method or that they are teaching with this methodology.
In my opinion the reason of the misinformation around the Suzuki method comes from this kind of assumptions.
A set of essential conditions for the development of the skill are part of the mother tongue method:
- An early start: the earlier, the better. Younger children are more receptive to auditory learning, they are also in a life stage where they learn from everything and imitation of their parents represents the greatest source of knowledge.
- An adequate environment: according to Suzuki, the human being is a product of the environment. He refers specifically to parents who are responsible for generating an environment of growth and motivation in a child daily basis. Both parents or at least one of them must attend all classes in order to help and guide the child in the daily practice at home. The same enthusiasm and love that parents use to teach his child how to say their first words should accompany the violin learning process.
In the education of talent, the parents, the student and the teacher form a cooperative relationship based on communication, which is called the Suzuki triangle.
- Commitment to practice. Daily, constant and guided by parents, the skill is developed at home through repetition. Listening to the repertoire is also important in order to improve the hearing abilities.
- A careful educational method, the teacher must guide his students to play with naturalness and good sound; there is no specific technique but the one that helps the student to achieve these characteristics. Group classes are as important as individual ones to reinforce the student’s musical development.
THE DEBATE
Some of the points that generate disagreement with the way to proceed in the Suzuki method are the following:
- The method reflects the specific culture of Japan. In the land of the rising sun, children grow up surrounded by a highly traditional culture. Values such as honor, education, hard work and discipline stand out. Being the Suzuki method largely based on the child’s relationship with its environment, we must keep in mind that the culture and social conditions surrounding a nation greatly influence the behavior and development of a child’s abilities. Then: to what extent could the method be applied in a distant reality such as the Latin American, North American or European culture, each one with its particular characteristics? The criticism relies on the fact that teaching must be adapted to each specific environment.
- This model of education was conceived based on the way we learn our mother tongue, in which we first learn to speak and then to read. Similarly, Suzuki suggested that musical reading and writing should wait, causing a major controversy among violin pedagogues. Some of them ague that waiting too long can bring up later difficulties for the incorporation of this skill, undoubtedly necessary for a musician.
3. When we learn to speak our mother tongue, we do it by imitation. However, during the whole process the children have the opportunity to create their own phrases and to express themselves freely. Parents guide the way on how to express ourselves correctly, but nobody tells us what to say, much less they make us recite poems or books by heart. Creativity is encouraged along the way to learn our mother tongue.
In the Suzuki method the children learning to speak the musical language, do not have much space for creativity. Musical pieces are pre-established and must be interpreted by memory; the absence of a generating level is then present, and there is no place to explore spontaneity.
4. The fact that parents are highly involved in the process can have two results: either the child finds it very motivating or he/she could feel deeply stressed and eventually frustrated by the constant pressure. Clearly everything depends on the approach that is given to the process and the characteristics of the actors participating.
MY EXPERIENCE AND OPINION
In my beginnings with the violin I learned the pieces of the Suzuki books, nevertheless, I was not educated under his philosophy, and I could not say that I was the result of this methodology.
However, playing these pieces in the order established by the method helped me to cultivate and develop the technique I was learning from my teacher, after all, the books keep a very coherent and sequential order designed precisely for students to move forward without noticing it.
At the same time, my teacher introduced me an infinite number of methods of scales and studies that along sider his wisdom gave rise to a route through which I continue walking today.
It was not until I faced teaching that I analyzed deeply Suzuki´s methodology. Until then it was no more than a series of books for me.
I came across with this whole universe of ideas that I just presented in the shortest way I could, since it is an impossible task to summarize a lifetime work in a 2000-word article.
Throughout my life as a violin teacher, I have come across a large number of students and based on thar experience I agree with the observation that currently it is almost impossible to find the space and conditions to explicitly fulfill all the aspects for the development of the violin skill suggested by the Suzuki method; I speak from the setting I am, that is Latin America and specifically Colombia.
I have never had the opportunity to prove whether this method, as Suzuki suggested, is appropriate or not for teaching violin in my reality, as I have not tested it fully. However, I take what works for me and I adapt it to my world and to what my students need here and now. I try to involve parents as much as possible and overall, I highly motivate my students, so they want to practice daily and love the violin as much as I do.
The most beautiful thing I found while doing this research was the importance of cultivating the strength of human life in children; the so called inner fire, as it makes their soul live, how wouldn’t wish to transmit to the little violinists something as beautiful to their lives?
I think that in learning and in life, the learning method is not as important as the attitude itself; also, it is not so much about WHAT but rather HOW what really matters.
All people are different, and it is impossible to mold them equally as if they were made of clay. It is precisely the fact that we are unique and unrepeatable what makes precious our existence in the universe.
I have had many teachers throughout my life as a violinist, and in all this time I have been taking a bit of each one of them to build myself; what I liked the most, what was best suited to my world or to my physical conditions, what made me happy about their lessons or what I most admired about them.
Both, in music and in life I am a collection of experiences accumulated over the years.
The debate constructive and respectful is open.
What has been your experience with the suzuki method?
