Every Child Can Learn

Over the last half century the Suzuki Method has become the preeminent means for teaching children music in America and across much of the globe. Japanese violinist Dr. Shinichi Suzuki discovered that children could learn to play music to a high level of fluency via the same pathways they use to learn to speak their native tongue. He began to apply principles of language acquisition to the study of music, and called his method the mother-tongue approach.

The ideas of parental responsibility and involvement, loving and positive encouragement, repetition of desired execution, playfulness, and daily listening to excellent recordings of the child’s music are some of the unique features of this approach to Suzuki lessons. The KSA is devoted to embracing these tenents in our teaching.

Parent Involvement

Children learn to speak not only through listening and being surrounded by a language, but also by gentle, low-key coaching and encouragement from their parents. Similar to the language acquisition process, parents are centrally involved in the musical development of their child in the Suzuki approach. They themselves need to learn the fundamentals of the instrument so that they are able to effectively coach and teach the child at home, as well as showing their child the importance they place on the study of music.

Parents of KSA students must regularly attend lessons and take careful notes of each lesson so that they can practice effectively with their child each day at home between lessons. Parents work with their KSA teacher to create an enjoyable and powerful learning environment for the child. Thus, the parents, along with the child and the teacher, form a powerful and positive triangle in the Suzuki approach.

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Early Beginning

The early years are crucial for developing mental processes and muscle coordination. Listening to music should begin at birth; formal training may begin at age three or four, but it is never too late to begin.

Listening

Children learn words after hearing them spoken hundreds or thousands of times by others. Listening to music every day is important so that your child becomes fluent in the language of music. It is particularly important to listen to the pieces in the Suzuki repertoire so the child has great familiarity with them before trying to learn the pieces themselves. Especially for young children, plan on having recordings of the Suzuki literature for their instrument playing as much as possible throughout the day. If those recordings are regularly “background music” as a child plays or is engaged in other activities, they will be absorbing that music. This increases the speed of learning on the instrument, as well as the student’s desire to play a song they know by ear already.

Repetition

Constant repetition and review is essential in learning to play an instrument. Children do not learn a word or piece of music and then discard it. They add it to their vocabulary while continuing to use words that they learned earlier. Students will go through this same process as they work their way through the Suzuki repertoire at the KSA. Even as students progress they continue to review and rework the material they learned previously, allowing them to add greater and greater fluency to their technique as well as develop new technical abilities.

Learning With Others

In addition to private lessons, students participate in group lessons and performances. These group activities help forge bonds with other Suzuki students, instill a sense of pride in their accomplishments, and also provide inspiration and delight to young students.

Graded Repertoire

Children do not practice exercises to learn to talk, but use language for its natural purpose of communication and self-expression. Pieces in the Suzuki repertoire are designed to present technical problems to be learned in the context of the music rather than through dry technical exercises.

One of the genius elements of the Suzuki method is the very carefully presented literature, that advances the child through small, incremental steps towards greater instrumental mastery.

Encouragement

As with language, the child’s effort to learn an instrument should be met with sincere praise and encouragement. Each child learns at his/her own rate, building on small steps so that each one can be mastered. Not only will the teacher and parent gently encourage the child to achieve their best, children will also learn to support each other’s efforts, fostering an attitude of generosity and cooperation. A positive learning environment is of the utmost importance for the children’s long-term musical and emotional development. It is illuminating to remember that Dr. Suzuki’s ultimate goal was not the training of young virtuoso musicians through his instruction method, but the nourishing of moral people and fine citizens through the medium of studying musical instruments.

The fact that many students become outstanding musicians and instrumentalists is a lovely byproduct of Suzuki lessons, but learning how to solve complex challenges, learning the emotional and mental discipline that come with studying an instrument in this method, growing in the appreciation of and desire to create beauty, and feeling the support and richness of a musical community of peers are all routes towards educating and nourishing the whole individual. These aims are fostered from the positive encouragement of the child’s efforts by their parents, teacher, and peers in lessons at the KSA.