Shinichi Suzuki

Japanese music educator

• Born: October 17, 1898
• Birthplace: Nagoya, Japan
• Died: January 26, 1998
• Place of death: Matsumoto, Japan

Suzuki developed the internationally known Suzuki method of music instruction, which encouraged the teaching of children as young as age three to begin music appreciation and to begin mastering musical instruments in much the same way they acquire language skills. Hundreds of thousands of children, including famous performers, have been trained using Suzuki’s method.

Early Life

Shinichi Suzuki (shin-ee-chee sew-zew-kee) was one of twelve children born to the founder of Japan’s first violin factory. Suzuki’s father had originally manufactured traditional Japanese musical instruments, including the three-stringed shamisen, but in 1888, the family began to produce violins because of the wave of Western influence sweeping Japan at the time.

Suzuki, while working at his father’s factory as a child, had little interest in the violin as an instrument until, at age seventeen, he was inspired by recordings of several famous European violinists, including the Ukrainian Mischa Elman. Suzuki taught himself to play the violin by ear and attracted attention as a performer at musical gatherings in Tokyo. He won the patronage of the wealthy aristocrat Tokugawa Yoshichika, whose support allowed him to study the violin in Germany beginning in 1921. While in Germany, Suzuki’s performance skills improved further, and he won the support of notables such as physicistAlbert Einstein.

Also in Germany, Suzuki began a relationship with a young woman named Waltraud Prange, and the pair were married in 1928. Members of Prange’s family opposed the marriage, but the two were inseparable. Prange went on to have a significant impact on Suzuki’s career and his subsequent intellectual development. After returning to Japan, Suzuki took up a post as an instructor at the Imperial School of Music. He survived World War II air raids, but his family was thrown into poverty. He was forced to take up factory work to support them. After the end of the war Suzuki settled in the small central Japanese city of Matsumoto, where he began providing violin lessons to war orphans.

Life’s Work

In 1946, Suzuki established a small conservatory in Matsumoto. He began training pupils and experimenting with new methods of music education for children. Suzuki, whose educational philosophy became known as saino-kyoiku, or “talent education,” believed that the ability of children to quickly learn their native language was representative of a virtually unlimited and untapped potential for children to excel in other areas as well. Suzuki believed that children as young as three years of age, if immersed in a musical environment, could master difficult instruments such as the violin.

In Japan in the immediate postwar period, it was assumed that children could begin to master instruments from around the age of twelve. Suzuki’s method of instruction challenged this assumption, and he set out to prove two things: one, young children could achieve proficiency, and two, regardless of individual differences and talent, all children had the potential for achievement. Suzuki even developed smaller versions of instruments such as the violin to make practice easier for child learners, and he wrote versions of songs such as “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” to introduce children to performance.

Suzuki discouraged children from learning to read music at the beginning of their practice; rather, he believed they should learn to play by ear. He also believed that it was more important for the parents of young students to learn to read music so that they could supervise their children as they learned and could help them with more difficult pieces. Indeed, he believed that before a child begins to actually handle an instrument, he or she should be immersed in a musically rich environment to nurture a love for music. The repetition eventually would entice the child into playing the instrument. Children should learn music reading only after reaching a suitable age, which would be determined through consultation with instructors and which varied from child to child.

Suzuki also believed there were important moral and social components to music education. He encouraged students to play together in unison and parents to listen to their children’s practice so that it would become something social rather than isolating. Suzuki’s personal lessons were not only about music. He also encouraged children to respect their parents and to be kind to siblings and friends. His advice to students would often be more about personal conduct than musical performance.

The Suzuki method of instruction proved to be very effective. Among his first pupils were Toshiya Eto and Koji Toyoda, who would become internationally renowned performance violinists. Suzuki, seeking to spread awareness of the techniques he developed, formed an organization called the Talent Education Research Institute, which won official recognition from Japan’s ministry of education in 1950. Widespread attention came in Japan in 1955 after Suzuki held a concert in Tokyo that was attended by members of the imperial family. Following this success, Suzuki continued to train students, to write, and to refine his methods.

In 1964, Suzuki toured the United States with ten of his top pupils, leading to more recognition for the Suzuki method. With his students he toured the United States more than thirty times in the next three decades, wowing audiences and spreading awareness of his educational methods.

Although Suzuki was active as an educator and was busy developing his philosophy, his wife, Waltraud, oversaw many aspects of the development of the method into an international movement. She also managed the schools and ensured their accreditation. She also was responsible for the translation of some of Suzuki’s early writings into English, which raised his international profile significantly. Suzuki’s philosophy continued to increase in popularity, leading to the formation of the International Suzuki Association (ISA) in 1983, an organization designed to facilitate teacher training and the distribution of Suzuki’s writings and recordings.

In his later years, Suzuki continued to write prolifically and to refine his method of music education. He also continued to train students, taking holidays only infrequently. Once known for his boundless energy, his health began to fail in the late 1990’s. He died in Matsumoto on January 26, 1998.

Significance

Suzuki’s prominence and significance transcend the field of music education. In his later life, he became a famous figure in Japan and was named a living national treasure. His organization, the ISA, expanded around the globe, and proponents have encouraged his method for training children on the African continent as well.

The Suzuki method has its detractors, however, who consider it to be nothing more than simple imitation. Another frequent criticism is that the Suzuki method puts undue pressure on children to perform. The method’s many supporters, however, consider it to be a philosophical system that creates a nurturing environment for children. The beauty of music is a frequent theme in Suzuki’s writings, and he believed passionately that children should be exposed to this beauty from an early age. His method also has inspired widespread consideration of the role of environment one’s general surroundings in education.

Suzuki’s lessons, with pace and content tailored for individual students and an emphasis on cooperation with other students, have also won admirers outside the narrow sphere of music education and have inspired other forms of instruction for young students. Suzuki’s educational philosophy has become so influential that many teachers have borrowed from his ideas. Hundreds of thousands of children have been trained according to the Suzuki method, which remained a popular form of education into the twenty-first century.

Bibliography

Fink, Robert. Repeating Ourselves: American Minimal Music as Cultural Practice. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2005. An examination of the minimalist focus of much American music, in which “repetition” is a major part of minimalist philosophy in music. Includes a chapter on Suzuki’s method in the context of minimal music.

Hermann, Evelyn. Suzuki Shinichi: The Man and His Philosophy. Van Nuys, Calif.: Alfred, 1981. The most detailed biography of Suzuki in English. The work traces Suzuki’s life and also the spread of his method of music education internationally.

Starr, William, and Constance Starr. To Learn with Love: A Companion for Suzuki Parents. Van Nuys, Calif.: Alfred, 1999. This work contains a detailed account of the history of the Suzuki method as well as practical advice for introducing children to music at an early age.

Suzuki, Shinichi. Ability Development from Age Zero. Translated by Mary Louise Nagata. Van Nuys, Calif.: Alfred, 1999. A collection of some of Suzuki’s most important statements on early childhood education. The work includes a summary of his ideas of music education and on personal cultivation and moral education.