What is the Suzuki Method?

The Suzuki method of music instruction was developed over 50 years ago by Dr. Shinichi Suzuki of Matsumoto, Japan.

The method is based on the concept that every child has musical talent that can be brought out. A child can be taught music at a very early age much the same way that he or she learns to speak.

Children learn language through encouragement, exposure, and repetition. Together, parents and Suzuki teachers use these principles to provide an ideal environment at the lesson site as well as at home.

One aim of the Suzuki method is to develop each child's character to its fullest potential. The skills which are developed while learning an instrument—concentration, coordination, memory, long attention span, respect for other people, taking turns, working together in a group—are all skills that are valuable for any person.

Dr. Suzuki did not develop his method in order to create professional musicians, but to help children become fine people. He explained, "I just want to make good citizens. If a child hears good music from the day of his birth, and learns to play it himself, he develops sensitivity, discipline and endurance. He gets a beautiful heart."

Parent Participation
Active parent participation is central to the Suzuki learning process. Your role as a parent involves observing at lessons, playing instrument recordings, and practicing daily with your child. Even if you feel you know little about music, you are your child's best teacher.

Through your affection, support, encouragement, praise, and understanding, you can create a happy "musical environment."

Music helps develop the WHOLE child

Each of us wants our children — and the children of all those around us — to achieve success in school, success in employment, and success in the social structures through which we move. But we also want our children to experience “success” on a broader scale. Participation in music education during the formative school years brings countless benefits to each individual throughout life.

Music programs help our kids and communities in real and substantial ways. The benefits conveyed by music education can be grouped in four categories:
* Success in society
* Success in school
* Success in developing intelligence
* Success in life

Success in Society

• Middle and high school students who participated in band or orchestra reported the lowest lifetime and current use of all substances (alcohol, tobacco, illicit drugs). — Texas Commission on Drug and Alcohol Abuse Report. Reported in Houston Chronicle, January 1998

• “Scientific evidence proves that an education in the arts makes better math and science students and enhances spatial intelligence in newborns. And let's not forget that the arts are a compelling solution to teen violence, certainly not the cause of it!”— Michael Greene, Recording Academy President and CEO at the 42nd Annual Grammy Awards, February 2000.

• The U.S. Department of Education lists the arts as subjects that college-bound middle and junior high school students should take, stating "Many colleges view participation in the arts and music as a valuable experience that broadens students’ understanding and appreciation of the world around them.—Getting Ready for College Early: A Handbook for Parents of Students in the Middle and Junior High School Years, U.S. Department of Education, 1997

Success in School

Skills learned through the discipline of music transfer to study skills, communication skills, and cognitive skills useful in every part of the curriculum. The discipline of music study—particularly through participation in ensembles—helps students learn to work effectively in the school environment without resorting to violent or inappropriate behavior.

• A study of 237 second-grade children used piano keyboard training and newly designed math software to demonstrate improvement in math skills. The group scored 27% higher on proportional math and fractions tests than children that used only the math software. —"Enhanced learning of proportional math through music training and spatial-temporal training." Neurological Research, March 21, 1999.

• According to statistics compiled by the National Data Resource Center, students who can be classified as “disruptive” (based on factors such as frequent skipping of classes, times in trouble, in-school suspensions, disciplinary reasons given, arrests, and drop-outs) total 12.14 percent of the total school population. In contrast, only 8.08 percent of students involved in music classes meet the same criteria as “disruptive.” —National Education Longitudinal Study), second follow-up, 1992.

• A study of 811 high school students indicated that the proportion of minority students with a music teacher role-model was significantly larger than for any other discipline.—"Music teachers as role models for African-American students," Journal of Research in Music Education, 1993

• Students who participated in arts programs in selected elementary and middle schools in New York City showed significant increases in self-esteem and thinking skills. — National Arts Education Research Center, New York University, 1990.

Success in Developing Intelligence

• An Auburn University study found significant increases in overall self-concept of at-risk children participating in an arts program that included music, movement, dramatics and art, as measured by the Piers-Harris Children’s Self-Concept Scale. — N.H. Barry, Project ARISE: Meeting the needs of disadvantaged students through the arts, Auburn University, 1992

• “The musician is constantly adjusting decisions on tempo, tone, style, rhythm, phrasing, and feeling--training the brain to become incredibly good at organizing and conducting numerous activities at once. Dedicated practice of this orchestration can have a great payoff for lifelong attentional skills, intelligence, and an ability for self-knowledge and expression.” —John J.Ratey MD. A User’s Guide to the Brain. New York: Pantheon Books, 2001.

• Students in two Rhode Island elementary schools who were given an enriched, sequential, skill-building music program showed marked improvement in reading and math skills. Students in the enriched program who had started out behind the control group caught up to statistical equality in reading, and pulled ahead in math. — Gardiner, Fox, Jeffrey and Knowles, as reported in Nature, May 23, 1996

Success in Life

“Studying music encourages self-discipline and diligence, traits that carry over into intellectual pursuits and that lead to effective study and work habits. Creating and performing music promotes self-expression and provides self-gratification while giving pleasure to others. In medicine, increasing published reports demonstrate that music has a healing effect on patients.— Michael E. DeBakey, M.D., Leading Heart Surgeon, Baylor College of Music.

* “Music has a great power for bringing people together. With so many forces in this world acting to drive wedges between people, it’s important to preserve those things that help us experience our common humanity.” — Ted Turner, Turner Broadcasting System.

* “Music is about communication, creativity, and cooperation, and, by studying music in school, students have the opportunity to build on these skills, enrich their lives, and experience the world from a new perspective.” — Bill Clinton, former President, United States of America

Compiled from the Web site of the National Association for Music Education, www.menc.org

A Dozen Benefits of Music Education

1. Early musical training helps develop brain areas involved in language and reasoning. Recent studies have clearly indicated that musical training physically develops the part of the left side of the brain known to be involved with processing language, and can actually wire the brain's circuits in specific ways. Linking familiar songs to new information can help imprint information on young minds.
2. There is also a causal link between music and spatial intelligence (the ability to perceive the world accurately and to form mental pictures of things). This kind of intelligence is critical to the sort of thinking necessary for everything from solving advanced mathematics problems to being able to pack a book-bag with everything that will be needed for the day.
3. Students of the arts learn to think creatively and to solve problems by imagining various solutions, rejecting outdated rules and assumptions. Questions about the arts do not have only one right answer.
4. Recent studies show that students who study the arts are more successful on standardized tests such as the SAT. They also achieve higher grades in high school.
5. A study of the arts provides children with an internal glimpse of other cultures and teaches them to be empathetic towards the people of these cultures. This development of compassion and empathy, as opposed to development of greed and a "me first" attitude, provides a bridge across cultural chasms that leads to respect of other races at an early age.
6. Students of music learn craftsmanship as they study how details are put together painstakingly and what constitutes good, as opposed to mediocre, work. These standards, when applied to a student's own work, demand a new level of excellence and require students to stretch their inner resources.
7. In music, a mistake is a mistake; the instrument is in tune or not, the notes are well played or not, the entrance is made or not. It is only by much hard work that a successful performance is possible. Through music study, students learn the value of sustained effort to achieve excellence and the concrete rewards of hard work.
8. Music study enhances teamwork skills and discipline. In order for an orchestra to sound good, all players must work together harmoniously towards a single goal, the performance, and must commit to learning music, attending rehearsals, and practicing.
9. Music provides children with a means of self-expression. Everyone needs to be in touch at some time in his life with what he is and what he feels. Self-esteem is a by-product of this self-expression.
10. Music study develops skills that are necessary in the workplace. It focuses on "doing," as opposed to observing, and teaches students how to perform, literally, anywhere in the world. Employers are looking for multi-dimensional workers with the sort of flexible and supple intellects that music education helps to create.
11. Music performance teaches young people to conquer fear and to take risks. A little anxiety is a good thing, and something that will occur often in life. Dealing with it early and often makes it less of a problem later. Risk-taking is essential if a child is to fully develop his or her potential.
12. An arts education exposes children to the most beautiful works man has created.

Adapted from the Web site of Children’s Musical Workshop, www.childrensmusicalworkshop.com