Educational philosophy which strives to create “high ability” and beautiful character in its students. Through a nurturing environment.
The nurture involved in the Suzuki approach is modeled on a concept of early childhood education that focuses on factors that are present in native language acquisition. Such us immersion, encouragement, small steps and an unforced timetable for learning material based on each person’s developmental readiness to imitate examples internalize principles and contribute novel ideas.
read more about Dr Suzuki...
Written by Lisa Miles, September 3rd, 2002
Dr. Shinichi Suzuki was raised in a traditional Japanese home where great emphasis was placed upon honor which led him to become a man of very deep character.
As a teenager he discovered Tolstoy’s Diary and this was a seminal point in his life, for this began a lifelong search for inner truth and a fascination with philosophy.
While studying violin in Germany, he met and befriended Albert Einstein as well as other intellectuals. He also became greatly moved by the music of Mozart.
After returning to Japan, where he was teaching and performing, Suzuki was suddenly struck by the concept that all children speak their native tongue. This fact and finding the solution to it became the basic purpose of his life.
Soon after this discovery, he was asked to teach a four year old how to play the violin. After much contemplation, he realised his discovery could apply to the teaching of music.
Dr. Suzuki insists that the environment is everything, that what does not exist in the environment will not exist in the child. After studying the environment of a child learning to speak, he concluded that it contains six fundamental elements: love, listening, motivation, vocabulary, repetition and parent involvement.
The parallel between music and sound or speech is as one for a young child. While an adult finds speech immediate and music complex, a child, who has yet to decipher speech finds both complex and yet obviously enjoyable and within reach.
Dr. Suzuki’s philosophy is based on the theory:
“Talent is no accident of birth and the potential of every child is unlimited.”
For more information on this subject from the Suzuki Association of the Americas, visit the SAA website
