Suzuki and the Talent Education Method

Shinichi Suzuki (1898-1998) was arguably the most influential string pedagogue of the twentieth century. Suzuki developed his "Talent Education" method in Japan in the years following WW II. Suzuki's philosophy is that musical "talent" is not innate but is developed in the individual. Suzuki observed that all Japanese children learn to speak Japanese, but that is not considered a talent. In the same way, all Japanese students can learn to play a musical instrument, if their talent is developed in the same way their talent for language is developed. For this reason Suzuki's approach is sometimes referred to as the "mother tongue method." Suzuki's pedagogy is based on the following principles: 1) The mother learns the instrument before the child, to develop the child's interest and motivation, and attends all lessons, once the child begins learning the instrument 2) Early beginning, 3 to 5 years old 3) A sequence of repertoire (real music), not etudes or exercises, is used, 4) Frequent listening 5) Individual, as well as group instruction 6) Delaying of reading until the child is older. The tremendous success of Suzuki's approach both in Japan, the United States and many other countries is a testament to the sound pedagogical principles on which he based his approach. Interest in the Suzuki method began to grow when Suzuki first toured the US in 1964. Materials describing the Suzuki approach were written by American string teachers John Kendall and Elizabeth Mills. Suzuki's pedagogy was originally only for violin, but his methods have been adapted for use by all the orchestral strings, piano, guitar, flute, and harp. Today, Suzuki schools can be found throughout the country, and many of the top string players in our universities and professional orchestras were started using the Suzuki approach.

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