Dr. Suzuki's Philosophy, by a former Suzuki student

Dr. Suzuki’s Philosophy

Written by a Suzuki student

June 11, 2012

"Man is born with natural ability"—Shinichi Suzuki, Nurtured by Love (7).

Dr. Suzuki’s philosophy revolves around the beliefs that ability is developed and environment affects who a person becomes. Therefore, instead of living in an environment that could stunt and damage a child’s potential ability, Dr. Suzuki wanted give all children the opportunity to develop their own aptitude. He desired to change a person lacking ability into a talented one, a mediocre person into an exceptional one (8).

The foundational thought is that all Japanese children speak Japanese. They all speak it with fluency and without difficulty. A child is immersed in his mother tongue since birth, whereas most other education is taught years later and with much different techniques. Dr. Suzuki began applying principles of mother tongue teaching to violin by creating an environment immersed with music.

I am a product of Dr. Suzuki’s teaching methods. My mother enrolled me in a Suzuki music school when I was three years old. She was dedicated to helping me learn to play because she saw the value it would have on my overall development. She attended all my weekly private and group lessons, practiced with me around five days a week, and made sure I was listening to the song I was working on at least five times per day.

From the book Strengths Finder 2.0  by Tom Rath, I consider my biggest strengths to be a drive for achievement, the need to act when a decision is made, adaptability to respond to demands of the moment, analytical thought that seeks truth, and discipline to create order, plans, and structure to my life.  I believe many of these attributes of myself surfaced because of my training at the Suzuki school. There were constant goals I was trying to accomplish, which drove me to work harder. I had to learn how to respond quickly to changes in music and musicians I was playing with. I achieved things I never thought I would have been able to. In my training in violin, I was taught to tackle obstacles and not avoid them. In middle school, I questioned how things worked on the violin and analyzed how to make it work better. My practice was disciplined and structured beginning with my mother’s oversight.

Throughout my life, I became identified as the girl that played violin. I was the primary violinist in my private school, my family, and my church. I could not remember what life had been like before I played, and I could not imagine what my life would be like without it. It seemed like from an early age, people just expected me to become a professional violinist. I became frustrated, because I felt like someone else had chosen who I would become. Although I had chosen to play the violin, I did not create my musically manipulated environment. I felt like if I didn’t keep pursuing the violin, my life would be a waste because of all the excellent training I had acquired.

At a young age, I had found my worth in being a violinist. Other people admired and praised me because I played the violin well. It seemed like my parents praised me most when I did something well musically. I became popular at school after I won a city symphonic competition. I thought God saw my value in my ability to play the violin too, because people at church told me how great it was I was using my talent for Him in the church. But there is more to me than just my ability to play violin, and my strengths existed before my studies of violin cultivated them.

Dr. Suzuki’s methods of teaching produce fantastic results. The idea of teaching at an early age by immersion in the home is brilliant. I am very grateful for all my training and am thankful to my mother, Dr. Suzuki, and my teachers for their dedication to help me learn how to play the violin well. I love playing the violin and want to continue my training at a university level music school.

The intention of Dr. Suzuki was not to produce professional musicians, but to develop good people. However, his methods seem to tie the student’s value to the instrument he is studying, because the instrument is credited for cultivating the good things in the child. If the student is finding his worth in the instrument, he will either begin to worship it or feel enslaved to it. Dr. Suzuki’s teaching methods themselves produce fantastic results musically, but I believe some of his base reasoning behind the music to be flawed.

Dr. Suzuki’s philosophy was to create an environment that maximizes a child’s ability and developed his strengths to make him into an overall better person. He succeeded in his pursuit. However, music alone will not create a mediocre person into an exceptional one.