Shinichi Suzuki was born in Nagoya, Japan in 1898. He was the son of the founder of the largest violin factory in the world. At the age of seventeen he began to play the violin, and later studied in Tokyo. In 1920 he went to Berlin, Germany, to study violin with Karl Klingler for eight years. While in Berlin he married a German girl, and in 1928 returned to Japan to concertize. Later he taught violin at the Imperial Music School and the Kunitachi Music School. With three of his brothers he founded the Suzuki String Quartet.
Some years later, Suzuki established the Talent Education Research Institute. There are now branches of Talent Education all over Japan, America, Canada, and many other foreign countries. Twenty years ago, Shinichi Suzuki founded a kindergarten where students learn calligraphy, mathematics, reading, English conversation, and more. He firmly believes that his method can enable students to graduate from university by the age of seventeen. Consequently, Suzuki’s approach emphasizes early and comprehensive education to accelerate academic achievements. Thus, his innovative teaching method aims to significantly advance students’ educational progress and success.
While Suzuki was studying violin under Professor Klingler in Germany, he was surprised to notice that all German children at the age of three spoke fluent German. This observation suddenly amazed him, revealing that children around the world speak their native languages with remarkable fluency.
People generally believe that the ability children display is natural. However, Suzuki concluded that any child could demonstrate exceptional skills if given the right training methods. Indeed, all children worldwide are raised using an ideal educational method: their mother tongue. This approach marked the true beginning of what Suzuki later called Talent Education.
The essence of Suzuki’s approach to learning a musical instrument is the mother-tongue Doctor Suzuki approach, derived from the way a child learns language. From recordings the child becomes familiar with the Suzuki and other repertoire so that when lessons begin about age three his mind already knows the musical language he will slowly begin to play on an instrument and even later learn to read.
Just as mothers play a crucial role in teaching spoken language, they also play an important role in the teaching process for instruments. They receive instruction on the instrument and learn how to be patient and encouraging. Additionally, teachers introduce new skills and concepts in small, manageable steps that a child can master consciously, and they ensure that lessons last only as long as the child’s attention span allows.
A key learning technique taken over from spoken language is repetition. With frequent repetition of everything from small skills to large pieces a child builds competence and confidence.