Keman Okulu

The talent education is a music education method developed by the Japanese violinist and educator Shinichi Suzuki (1898-1998) in Japan. The method received high respect by music education authorities in various parts of the world and spread rapidly to various pacific countries such as United States, Australia, and Canada and then to Europe and a number of countries in Africa. Although it originally developed for the study of the violin it has been applied other instruments such as flute, recorder, piano, guitar, cello, viola, bass, organ, harp and voice. The method has also been adapted for other fields such as art, poetry and mathematics.

In Japanese language, the word “saino” means both ability and talent. “Saino” can also be used to mean the development of ability and talent in a skills area such as music and in a personal development area such as one’s character.[1] Before I go into details about the philosophy of the talent education, I would like to make clear that Dr. Suzuki himself did not like the term “Suzuki Method”. Because it is not only a method but also a distinguished educational philosophy, he preferred to call it the “Mother Tongue” method. Therefore, his philosophy of talent education is referred as the “Mother Tongue Method” throughout the study.

Every Child Can

Dr. Suzuki believed that musical talent is not hereditary or inborn. Every child is talented and every child can be educated. His philosophy is based on the inspiration he named the ‘Mother Tongue’ theory. Dr. Suzuki grounded this philosophy in the process of learning to speak one’s native language. Every healthy child can speak his/her mother language perfectly at an early age because he/she has the essential environment to acquire this ability. Since every child tries to imitate what he/she sees or hears in his/her environment, if musical stimulus is everywhere around children, they will be able to develop musical ability as they develop linguistic ability. The Mother Tongue concept stresses the idea that every child is educated by his or her environment.

By daily training the knowledge was implanted, then the ability had to be developed until the time was ripe. Preparation, time, and environment came together as stimulants. We don’t see the seed that is planted in the ground, but water, temperature, light and shade act daily as stimuli; little by little there is an unseen change, up to a certain day when the sprout appears. Aren’t the situations comparable?[2]

According to Dr. Suzuki’s hypothesis, ability breeds more ability and as children grow up, their collected skills turn into ability. “In Suzuki teaching, the child starts with simple skills and from there develops, accumulates, and perfects them.”[3] The way a child is raised becomes the most important matter in these circumstances. Even though the starting point of the Mother Tongue method is music, it is a well-grounded method that can be applied to many areas in education. Dr. Suzuki asserts, “If the mother-tongue method of education were used in schools today, the results would far surpass those obtained by present methods.”[4]

Suzuki Triangle

Since environment is the primary factor in the Mother Tongue Method, the basic environment is clearly defined by Dr. Suzuki. The three pillars supporting this environment are called the Suzuki Triangle, and they consist of teacher, parent and student. The teacher is responsible for determining the learning process, the items that need to be worked on and teaching how to play the instrument to both student and parents. The teacher also needs to have a professional approach to the student and his/her learning process. This professional approach mainly includes encouragement, psychological support, and praise. Suzuki teachers have to have special training for teaching the Mother Tongue Method. Dr. Suzuki also states that the Mother Tongue Method is not a fixed method but it is continuously progressing day by day.[5] Teachers need to search out new ideas to enrich their teaching skills.

Parents are a vital component of Suzuki Talent Education. They are not only learners, but also home teachers. They learn from the teacher how to teach music to the child. Parents are responsible for taking notes in each lesson, having students listen to the recordings of the music books, and attending other activities such as classical music concerts, workshops and master classes with the child. In addition, since parents exert the biggest influence on their children, they should never forget that they are the most important model for children and that children will have a tendency to imitate them. Parents should not give up encouraging repetition and praising children’s effort. Both parents and teachers are very important figures in creating the essential environment for children. There must be a strong coordination and mutual assistance between them. Suzuki students will benefit from having two teachers, one of whom is a home teacher, so that they can be under constant guidance. Since listening to music and playing an instrument become a daily routine, music would not be just something that has to be practiced every day, but a part of their lives. They do not lose their concentration and motivation if music can really be established as an essential part of the environment.

Early Beginning

Another important factor in developing ability is an early beginning. In Suzuki Talent Education, it is very important to provide the right environment for children as soon as possible. Thus, Suzuki parents are encouraged to begin a child’s education at an early age. In addition, even though a large majority of the Suzuki students begin learning to play their instruments when they are at the age of three or four, the early beginning idea emphasizes the value of the previous period as well. As is the case with language learning, Suzuki Talent Education begins from the day of birth. Suzuki believed that listening to music must even begin in the womb. Children’s aural capacities are very high between ages 0-5. If an analogy is drawn between the native language learning process and musical ability, many similar points arise. Even though children rarely seem to be listening to their environment at early ages, their passive listening is quite powerful and it enables them to imitate the sounds they have heard. William Starr touches this subject by giving an example from one of his observations:

I observed a four-year-old who did not glance at the teacher or the student who was playing for at least ten minutes, and yet when the performing student played a passage staccato instead of legato, the four-year-old suddenly burst into song, singing the piece with the correct articulation, and still not looking at the performer.[6]

Furthermore, as children get used to using their muscles and they become familiar with the coordination between their muscles and brain, learning to play an instrument at such an early age becomes second nature to them. Dr. Suzuki stresses, “What is not trained while we are growing, brings pain and aches later.”[7] Robin Bogner also touches on a remarkable point concerning the relationship between early beginning and dropouts. “Because of their success at such an early age, they do not want to give up their music for other activities at an older age.”[8]

Listening

Daily listening is one of the most fundamental components of Suzuki Talent Education. This approach mirrors the way children learn to speak their native language. Students must begin to listen to music from the day of birth, and it is important that they listen to certain pieces repeatedly. The importance of passive listening over the children’s life must never be underestimated. “If a baby is brought up listening to a recording of a song out of tune, his ears will become accustomed to it, and it will be very hard for him to change later on,”[9] says Suzuki.

As soon as Suzuki students begin learning to play their instruments, they have to listen to the recordings not only of the pieces that they work on, but also the pieces that they are going to study in the future. It is much easier to learn the piece that is already in the head. Other than its unique and substantial contribution to the ability of memorization, listening helps children to develop their other aural skills. The student who listens to music as a routine part of his/her life is likely to reach a high level of aural and musical sensitivity such as beautiful tone, pitch separation, dynamics separation, and phrasing. Suzuki violin and viola teacher Carolyn Meyer gives the best example. Even though she remembers learning the pieces quickly, she seldom remembers listening to the recordings. She concludes from the two possibilities that listening was such a routine part of her life that she no longer remembers whether she listened to the recordings or not.[10]

Nobody considers how to pronounce a word or which syllable needs to be accented and how to form the phrase when speaking his or her native language. Because he/she is surrounded by other people who speak the same language, he/she is not familiar with another way of sounding. For this reason, listening to a live performance or being able to imitate the teacher is very important for the child in developing natural musical skills.

Repetition

Similar to language learning, the review of previously learned pieces on a daily basis is essential in Suzuki Talent Education. Children do not stop using a word that they have learned as they learn new words; in just the same way a Suzuki student learns a new piece while keeping the old ones in his or her fingers. Dr. Suzuki stresses the importance of repetition and review for improving ability. “The process of raising ability to play well starts at the time when the student has learned to play the assigned piece without mistake, not before.”[11]

Dr. Suzuki gives a brilliant example from life to emphasize the role of repetition in life:

Your right hand excels over your left hand because you yourself brought this about. At birth your left hand was not inferior; the hands were evenly matched – and see how they have changed! Similarly, whatever ability we have we were not born with but have developed ourselves through training. Ability is something we produce ourselves.

Your right hand knows this. Why has your right hand its extraordinary ability? Repetition. People too can develop superior talent through the same method – repetition…One must continue to practice until it is natural and easy.[12]

Consequently, the more he/she reviews, the higher his/her ability becomes. New skills are supposed to be repeated until they become natural, and unconscious. Every student needs a different amount of repetition. It is important to observe whether the student has absorbed the material or not. Besides, it is always easier to learn and refine a new technique on the piece that is already known well. Learning occurs not only when students practice new and more advanced pieces, but also when they apply new musical ideas and techniques to old pieces. Suzuki students are strongly encouraged to play old pieces using new techniques. Since the musical content would not create a distraction when practicing a familiar piece, it is easier to keep the proper posture and basic techniques while working on new technique. The student can review the pieces by listening, participating in group classes, by playing for their parents and so on. Constant review maintains repertoire that can be performed anytime the student wants. Children enjoy playing and they are always highly motivated since they have many pieces to play in addition to the one they are currently learning.

Delayed Reading

Delayed reading is also very important part of the Mother Tongue theory. Since children learn to speak before they learn to read, Suzuki students learn to play before they learn to read. Constance Starr clarifies the basis of this idea succinctly:

(The Suzuki pupil) has not been hampered by learning to read first. He has learned to use the language of music before he learns to read it. He has heard and been made aware of good tone quality, sensitive musical phrasing, and fine rhythmic execution…musically.[13]

Dr. Suzuki expressly states his objection against starting music reading at an early age:

Now, one of the worst enemies of musical education which creates this monotony, I think, is written music. Musical notation was a wonderful, really convenient and praiseworthy invention; but, if ill-used, therein is a pitfall generating monotony. Hearing the performances of students who grew up reading the music, I comment: “A skilled typist was nurtured.” Among them, there are some who have indeed developed the ability to sight-read fluently. However, they have no musical sense, no musical expression.[14]

Music reading should not be introduced to Suzuki students before they reach a certain point in their basic skills. Aural and musical sensitivity are the two main priorities in Suzuki Talent Education and reading is likely to hinder children in developing these skills. It also distracts the student from maintaining a proper posture and must be delayed until their basic set-up is well established. Children can focus on tone quality, memory and musical structure if they are not distracted by musical notation. On the other hand, reading music should be introduced as soon as the student is physically, psychologically and mentally ready.

As long as children are capable of speaking their native language without learning how to read, they are capable of making music without learning how to read music. Moreover, in Suzuki Talent Education, there is a strong belief that children can speak their native language because they are not forced to read and speak simultaneously and they learn to read when they are ready to define words that they already have in their vocabulary. According to the analogy of native language learning, children can make beautiful music as long as they are not forced to read music at the same time. Besides, since students are surrounded by people who read, they have a strong desire to be able to read by themselves. Suzuki students, who have enough technique for playing the music that they hear, should be surrounded by the same environment to encourage them to read music.

Group Lessons

Along with the individual lessons, group lessons are the other important part of Suzuki Talent Education. Group classes not only reinforce what is being learned in individual lessons, but also provide opportunities for children to observe their peers at different levels. Participating in group lessons helps to keep children motivated. They also learn many beneficial activities such as cooperation and following a leader which are very important elements for playing in an orchestra or in chamber music ensembles in the future. Besides, group lessons are significantly effective in training children to listen to others playing.

The presence of the group lesson concept and many group activities in Suzuki Talent Education has caused some misconceptions and prejudices in some societies. Many people listening to a Suzuki group concert might think that Suzuki’s Mother Tongue Method is based on group training. Despite the fact that group lessons and activities are a vital part of it, Suzuki Talent Education is an educational philosophy in which private lessons constitute the major component.

Conclusion

The Mother Tongue Method is a fastidiously prepared and developed method for teaching music to children. It is based on the principle that ability is not inborn and can be acquired by every child if a suitable environment is provided. The assumption stems from the fact that every healthy individual can speak his/her mother tongue if suitable conditions, principally parents, exist for help him/her to develop this ability.

In the Mother Tongue Method, the musical environment consists of the parent and teacher. Before the child becomes a Suzuki pupil, teachers and parents should have no hesitation in taking the power of environment and the great capacity that all children are born with on trust. Parents and teachers need to believe that every child can learn.