The Suzuki method of learning music was pioneered by Dr. Shinichi Suzuki before the Second World War when a colleague asked him to teach his child to play the violin. Suzuki became intrigued by the way in which very young children learn and wondered if the same stimulus by which children learned to speak could be adapted to help them learn music. Today, children as young as age 3 begin formal lessons to learn to play by ear.
The Mother Tongue Approach
Suzuki noticed that children seemed to learn even highly complex languages through listening, repetition and imitation. He realized that they learned to speak "by ear" before they learned to read. Suzuki thought the same process could hold true for music -- that a child could learn to play by ear long before they were taught to read music. The key was to make it fun, adapt the teaching methods to the ways young children learn, and focus on building the character of the child as the primary goal of the teaching.
Starting Early
Suzuki believed that children could be influenced before birth by the mother's voice and willingness to communicate with her child and that this was important throughout the language-building phase of the toddler. Accordingly, his method of teaching music includes early childhood education, or ECE, to prepare children from birth to 3 years for the formal Suzuki training, which begins at age 3. ECE includes activities for skill-building such as nursery rhymes, finger play, rhythm, listening and sequencing, vocabulary, memory and pre-literacy skills. When formal lessons begin at age 3, parents participate and supervise daily home practice, providing a wonderful opportunity for further bonding and interacting with their child.
Learning to Read Music
Suzuki students do learn to read music, but only after they have developed some basic skills playing their instrument and have good tone and good physical posture while playing. Their ability to read music will come later just as reading comes after a child learns to speak.
Other Applications of the Suzuki Method
Suzuki originally developed his method for violin. Now it is used to teach any number of musical instruments as well as voice. Interestingly, Suzuki methods are now being explored as ways of teaching mathematics, art, and poetry as well.
