Suzuki method

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Group of Suzuki students in concert
Various violins from a "Suzuki family"

The Suzuki method is a music education concept that enables children from a very young age from around three years of age to begin instrumental lessons directly. It is named after its founder, the violin teacher Shinichi Suzuki . The most striking differences between the method and other teaching methods are in what Suzuki himself called the "mother tongue method", which, like language education, is based on memorization with the help of listening, observing and imitating and initially dispensing with reading notes, in the intensive involvement of a parent who Practicing the child at home guides the child in the systematic development of a fixed musical repertoire developed by Suzuki and in the form of teaching in which weekly individual lessons and supplementary group play are equally weighted.

background

Emergence

The Suzuki method goes back to the Japanese violinist and teacher Suzuki Shinichi (1898–1998). Suzuki, who at the age of 17 taught himself to play the violin with the help of vinyl recordings, grew up as the son of the largest violin maker at the time in Nagoya . In his childhood, the violin was primarily a toy and not a musical instrument.

These two biographical factors influenced both Suzuki's later use of the instrument and the Suzuki method. Because in the Suzuki method the playful element as well as the principle of imitation can be found as an essential aspect.

Suzuki's interest in studying the violin was not driven by the motivation to become a perfect virtuoso, but rather by the need to learn to understand the art. In order to achieve this, after Suzuki was rejected from the Ueno Academy ( Tokyo ), personal contacts led him to Germany in 1919, where he began his studies with Karl Klingler in Berlin as the only private student . At the end of the twenties he returned from Germany to Japan with experiences and suggestions for teaching, where he initially taught violin playing to young people at the Imperial Conservatory in Tokyo. Teaching children in the early preschool age was considered impossible at the time and there were almost no experienced teachers. Suzuki only got an opportunity to teach preschoolers when a father asked Suzuki to teach his then four-year-old son - the now famous violinist Toshiya Eto - to play the violin, and so Suzuki was encouraged to think about ways and means of early instrumental education. Suzuki realized that all children of Japan have one thing in common, namely that they can effortlessly learn a language as complex as Japanese by imitation, while naturally speaking every difficult dialect in their region of life. By the age of five, Japanese children can reproduce around 4000 words because they speak their mother tongue from an early age. Suzuki transferred this principle of learning through imitation and play to the violin and popularized it under the term mother tongue method. That Suzuki chose the violin as a teaching tool was more or less accidental. This instrument was chosen because he could play the violin best. Suzuki's life's work makes him a pioneer in early instrumental lessons.

First attempts at teaching

With the saying “Talent is not born by chance”, Suzuki gave pioneering approaches to the talent education movement in 1945 by founding the music school in Matsumoto , today's “Talent Education School”. The teaching attempts, which were decisive for the development of the Suzuki method, were started by Suzuki in 1948 at the Hongo Primary School in Matsumoto. Suzuki taught an experimental class of 40 students there. The lesson consisted of giving each student an exercise in any subject so easy that the whole class could answer at the same time. Before moving on to any other exercise, the same task was repeated the following day. Thanks to the high level of motivation to learn, each student achieved a high level of skills. The now well-known institute for talent education, the Sainô Kyôiku Yôji Gakuen (才能 教育 幼 児 学園), was founded a little later by Suzuki. Again, Suzuki taught general subjects such as Japanese pronunciation, Chinese characters, expression, calligraphy, drawing, English conversation, and gymnastics to a class of 60 students, ages three to five. Only later, in 1950, was the Sainô Kyôiku Kenkyû-kai (才能 教育 研究 会) founded in Matsumoto, where Suzuki taught violin playing according to his method.

Although the instrumental training of the Suzuki method is not intended to educate child prodigies, many well-known violinists have emerged from the school. The graduates of the Sainô Kyôiku Kenkyû-kai rose rapidly. Thanks to Suzuki's active teaching activity into old age, his method has spread worldwide.

Suzuki's philosophy of life

Suzuki's main work "Education is Love" is primarily about how human disposition can be developed. The starting point of his upbringing, similar to postulates in reform pedagogy, is “upbringing from the child”. With his method, Suzuki primarily pursues general educational ideals. They are related to his biography, Japanese culture and experience with European culture. The attitude towards life and its pedagogy are shaped by the desire to raise all children to be good and capable people through playing the violin, people who grow up as active members of society. His philosophy of life is based entirely on Zen Buddhism, and so Suzuki wants to develop character and virtues through music in the sense of life training and in this way "form good citizens". At Suzuki, the meaning of human life is the search for love, truth, virtue and beauty, with playing the violin being the means and not the end to the realization of the meaning of life and the training of concert instrumentalists being just a side effect.

Talent education

Suzuki was a radical opponent of the belief that the level of musicality a person has is a question of innate talent. In this context he has repeatedly pointed out that talent research is not carried out on newborns, but on children who have received or have not received musical stimulation and support for years. It was Suzuki's basic conviction that any musical talent (up to and including “top talent”) was based solely on ear training and continuous good practice.

The talent education according to Suzuki follows this view to this day. Consequently, at Suzuki schools z. B. also no entrance exams carried out.

Suzuki's view of talent and abilities is here again shaped by Zen Buddhism. Because Zen Buddhism relies entirely on repetition ; This alone is considered to be the right and true effort through which a further development of the talent is made possible. In Zen Buddhism, the goal of life is seen in becoming a perfect and balanced person; However, it is not this goal that is in the foreground, but the way to get there: the constant effort, the tireless perseverance with which one works on self-improvement. Persistent practicing on the violin should also be understood as a path to self-improvement. The Suzuki student should cultivate the practice like a Zen student and attain higher knowledge through his efforts.

The Suzuki method

Basic principles

Suzuki developed the method based on the elementary principles of Zen Buddhism and the principle on which children learn their mother tongue. While conventional instrumental lessons are based on reading notes, Suzuki lessons do not initially use notes. Since children do not acquire their mother tongue through written language, but rather through hearing and repeating the spoken language, Suzuki concluded that children should also learn to play an instrument through listening and acting out. On the basis of this “mother tongue method”, children can start teaching at the age of three or four.

The focus of the lesson is the step-by-step development of the individual pieces of the Suzuki musical repertoire, which Suzuki has selected and arranged in such a way that the child develops a very extensive repertoire of technical skills at the same time as the pieces. A special feature of Suzuki lessons is the daily listening to a sound carrier on which that part of the Suzuki repertoire that the child is working on has been recorded by a professional musician. In contrast to adults who would find listening to a music CD over and over again as tiring, younger children in particular often enjoy this routine very much. Listening to the CD serves not only to get to know the pieces that the child will soon be able to work on, but also, in particular, for ear training. The child should learn to differentiate between good and bad play. Another feature of Suzuki lessons is the systematic repetition of the pieces already learned.

Classes consist of weekly one-to-one classes (teacher, child, parent), weekly group classes and daily home practice led by a parent. Suzuki recommended that the mother learn to play the instrument before the child, if possible, in order to be able to provide efficient home tuition. “Suzuki families”, in which one parent also studies the instrument, are now more the exception than the rule in Western countries. Suzuki also recommended bringing younger siblings to the classroom as listeners so that they can develop their hearing, get to know the Suzuki repertoire and casually “pick up” a lot of knowledge that the older siblings may have had to laboriously acquire before they begin their actual lessons .

Fundamental prerequisites for talent education according to Suzuki are a musical environment that enables ear training, the support and cooperation of parents and the commitment of the teacher. Ideally, the actual lessons are flanked by numerous and early audition opportunities, events such as the “Concert of the Thousand”, master classes and experiences of making music together. In the USA e.g. For example, “Suzuki workshops” are common, where Suzuki students play and learn together on several consecutive days. Many Suzuki teachers try to develop the contacts between “their” families into a network. In order to promote the social climate within the Suzuki community, Suzuki itself also attached particular importance to maintaining long-term contact with students and their parents.

The ten volume violin school

The Suzuki Violin School comprises ten volumes and is composed of well-known catchy violin literature and folk songs from the Baroque to the Romantic era. Pieces from the repertoire of classical modernism or traditional Japanese music are not represented at all. Technically and musically demanding pieces are already contained in the first volume. The final stage of Suzuki training is a Mozart concert.

Amazingly, there are hardly any technical exercises within the volumes, so that the teacher can make his own additions such as B. scales, finger exercises or bow studies need to be added. Since knowledge of sheet music is not required when learning to play the violin using the Suzuki method, the pieces can only be played without knowledge of the sheet music if the pieces have already been internalized - as required by Suzuki - by listening to the sound carrier over and over again.

Using the method with other instruments

The Suzuki method has been developed for a few other instruments and even for dance since the 1950s. The pianist Haruko Kataoka (* 1927), who first came into contact with the method in 1955 and studied with Shinichi Suzuki in Matsumoto in 1956, is considered to be the founder of the Suzuki method for the piano . Today the concept exists for violin, viola, violoncello, double bass, piano, organ, flute, recorder, trumpet, harp, guitar, mandolin as well as for singing and early musical education (parent-child group).

The special Suzuki teacher training

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The Suzuki method is so special that only trained teaching staff, i.e. H. Instrumental educators who have completed one of the advanced training courses at the worldwide institutes for Suzuki pedagogy can also ensure that the concept of the Suzuki method is correctly conveyed. Often, even teachers untrained in the Suzuki method use the principles of the Suzuki method, but without knowing the intended music-didactic background.

Suzuki's music education concept, which not only conveys instrumental, musical and music-related teaching content, but also seeks to support the students holistically in their personal development and develop an understanding of learning as a lifelong task, is spread and taught in the individual countries according to the guidelines of the continental Suzuki associations. After completing their studies, instrumental teachers can complete additional training as Suzuki teachers, which extends over several levels over several years. Each stage is concluded separately with an examination before an international commission. Qualified Suzuki teachers are mentioned on the website of the European Suzuki Association www.europeansuzuki.org or at the German Suzuki Society www.germansuzuki.de.

criticism

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Critics of the Suzuki method et al. a. accused of the following problems:

  • Lack of training in the ability to read notes.
  • A tendency to give more space to memorization and “mechanical” playing in a group than to individual musicianship (although the method develops high technical skills early on).
  • Too fast progress in the repertoire, with the pupils already studying "adult" pieces in childhood for which they are not yet emotionally prepared
  • Strong accentuation of baroque music at the expense of other musical styles.
  • To encourage even very young students to practice extensive daily. In families with a strong musical background, where not only z. If, for example, an older sibling, but also the parents regularly play an instrument, the conditions are fundamentally much easier than for a child who is practically a pioneer with his instrumental lessons in the family. While children who grow up in a musical environment are often very fond of practicing, some Suzuki critics complain that less privileged children, on the contrary, are spoiled for music.
  • Since all Suzuki students work with the same repertoire, differences in performance between individual children become very evident. Younger children who practice a lot often progress faster in the repertoire than older children who practice less. Although Suzuki teachers try very hard to avoid having their students compete against each other, sensitive, performance-oriented children who are “overtaken” by younger classmates can find group lessons particularly stressful.

In western countries, e.g. For example, in the United States, many teachers who teach the Suzuki method do not address the philosophical foundations of this method. In general, the Suzuki method - according to the criticism of many proponents of the method - is often adopted without reflection, whereby fundamental differences between the Western and Eastern way of thinking are overlooked. While the philosophy of life of Zen Buddhism is firmly anchored in everyday life in Japan, this philosophy - especially the Zen Buddhist concept of "practicing" which is so fundamental to Suzuki lessons - requires explanation for Europeans and North Americans.

Distribution and locations

German language area

St. Augustin is the location of the Deutsche Suzuki Gesellschaft e. V. (DSG). This umbrella organization of German Suzuki institutions was founded in 1983 as Deutsches Suzuki-Institut eV and took its current name in 1988. SuzukiMusik Germany 2011 eV (SMD) is based in Hof / Saale . The Austrian Suzuki Institute for Music (ASIoM) has existed in Austria since March 2013 . The Suzuki Institute of Switzerland was founded in 1989.

America

The method came to the United States when the American String Teacher's Association (ASTA) invited Shinichi Suzuki to its annual conference in 1964. In 1967 a group of American violin teachers traveled to Suzuki in Japan to study the method there. Among them was Margery Aber, who founded the American Suzuki Institute on her return to the University of Wisconsin at Stevens Point , where she was a professor . This violin workshop today attracts more than 1200 participants every year. He soon found numerous imitators; Nationwide in the USA today about 50 Suzuki violin workshops (“Suzuki Institutes”) are held every summer, at which Suzuki students and teachers can take advantage of master classes and other forms of instruction for a week . After Suzuki organizations were also founded in Canada and Latin America, the Suzuki Association of the Americas (SAA), based in Boulder , Colorado , was established as the Pan-American umbrella organization in 1972 . In the USA the SAA supports 427 regional Suzuki organizations, in Canada 63, in Mexico and Colombia 9 each, two in Argentina and one in Brazil .

Eminent Suzuki students and teachers

Julia Fischer, violinist trained in Germany using the Suzuki method

Many well-known instrumentalists of the 20th and 21st centuries have been trained according to the Suzuki method. Here is a selection (musicians who have studied personally with Shinichi Suzuki are marked with an S ):

See also

literature

Suzuki publications

  • Suzuki Shinchi Zen-shû. [Suzuki's complete works], Tokyo 1985
  • Sainô kaihatsu no jissai. [The Talent Education], Tokyo 1971
  • Education is love, Hallnaar 1975.
  • The law of abilities and the mother tongue method of education. Lecture in Japan 1973
  • Violin School, Vol. 1-8. Summy-Birchard Co., Evanston Illinois 1955, 1970, 1971, 1974. Vol. 9. Zen-On, Tokyo 1955, 1975
  • Violin School, Zen-On Music Publisher Co. Ltd., Tokyo 1955

Literature by other authors

  • Eugen Herrigel: Zen in the art of archery. 26th edition. Vienna 1986, p. 7.
  • Clifford A. Cook: Suzuki Education in Action. New York 1970.
  • Carole L. Bigler, Valéry Lloyd Watts: The Suzuki Piano Method. A guide for teachers, parents and students. Regensburg 1984.
  • Joyce Churchill: Suzuki violin: teaching handbook on the Suzuki Violin Repertoire: a guide or teachers and parents. Roseville 1987.
  • David Denton: Reflections of a Suzuki guinea pig. Maybe Nishisaki. In: The Strad. 104, 1993, H. 1241, pp. 804-805.
  • Kuzushi Ishida: The Stuff of Legends. Japan's string tradition. In: The Strad. 108, 1997, H. 1288, pp. 850-853.
  • Lutz Leslie: There is no method for indifference. How the Suzuki instrumental training in Germany worked. In: NMZ. 40, 1991, H. 6, p. 20.
  • Eric Madsen: The genesis of Suzuki. An Investigation of the Roots of Talent education. McGill Univ. Montréal, 1990.
  • Ulrich Mahlert: The Suzuki method in comparison with other music and general educational concepts. In: practicing & making music . 1/1988, pp. 14-19.
  • N. Nomura, Y. Nakayama (Ed.): Bibliography Ongaku kyoiku wo yomu: gakusei, Kyôishi, Kenkyûsha no tameno ongaku Kyoiku shiryôshû. [Reading music education: materials of music education for students, teachers and researchers] Tokyo 1995.
  • William Starr: The Suzuki Violin Method. A guide for teachers, parents and students. Regensburg 1984.
  • Kerstin Wartberg: The Suzuki method. More than an instrumental lesson. An introduction to the basics. In: practicing & making music. 4/1987, pp. 294-297.
  • Kerstin Wartberg: Every method is as good as its teacher! The Suzuki teacher training. A practice-oriented additional training for instrumental teachers. In: practicing & making music. 1/1997, pp. 8-15.

Sound carrier

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Haruko Kataoka: My Thoughts on Piano , Miami: Summy-Birchard, 1988, ISBN 0-87487-284-7 , p. 6 ( limited online version in Google Book Search - USA )
  2. ^ German Suzuki Society official website
  3. ^ The American Suzuki Institute at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point: The Suzuki Method in Action
  4. ^ American Suzuki Institute
  5. ↑ Summer Institutes 2012
  6. ↑ suzukiassociation.org
  7. ↑ Locations
  8. ↑ Julia Fischer: Germany's youngest professor FAZ, August 4, 2006