Suzuki Philosophy

November 9, 2017 by Merlin Thompson

Editor’s Note This article first appeared in the American Suzuki Journal volume 46, no. 1, Fall 2017, but a section of more than 600 words was omitted during the publishing process. It is reproduced here in a printable format. We… Read more ▶

August 1, 2017 by Leslie Mizrahi

The “Introduction to the Filosofía Suzuki” course is usually a four-day course, which has been successfully offered all over Latin America for more than 30 years now. In March 2017, this course made history, for it was offered, for the first time in America, as part of the obligatory curriculum of a university career. Read more ▶

May 1, 2017 by Karen Kubin

The only guarantee we have as parents is that our children’s stories are usually far more complicated than the straight-arrow plots we come up with in our heads. Read more ▶

May 1, 2017 by David Strom

It has been an honor to serve as your SAA Board Chair these past two years. In preparing this, my final Chair’s Column message, I turned to our colleague, David Strom. David’s insight and unique ability to speak to the… Read more ▶

June 17, 2015 by Mark George

Do musicians have a special responsibility to serve their community? This is a question I have asked myself throughout my more than thirty year career as a musician, music teacher and arts administrator. Music is a language that is at once… Read more ▶

November 21, 2014 by Libby Felts

By now, you may be familiar with We Are Suzuki. Our aim with this campaign is to show the many faces of Suzuki education in the Americas. We often pay a lot of attention to current Suzuki students who play… Read more ▶

September 23, 2014 by Libby Felts, Jennifer Moberg Pforte, Ahmad Sarmast

The Afghan National Institute of Music is the country’s only music school. Until just over ten years ago, learning, teaching, and making music was illegal. After the fall of the Taliban, it was imperative that the country revive its cultural… Read more ▶

September 18, 2013 by Libby Felts, Whitney Reagan Kelley

Flutist Whitney Kelley has worked for the Suzuki Association of the Americas for four years as administrator for chapters and institutes. In spring 2013, she graduated from the University of Colorado with her DMA in flute performance and pedagogy. We… Read more ▶

December 14, 2012 by Jennifer Mullen Shendock

We are all familiar with the many quotes from Dr. Suzuki teaching students to be thoughtful to others. The ideas of learning through listening, imitation, repetition, etc., associated with Dr. Suzuki’s mother tongue approach are really only half of his method. He gave a great deal of time and effort in his lessons working on students character development. Read more ▶

September 1, 2012

This year’s conference offered a veritable feast of information and inspiration, not only in rich instrument area presentations, but also in the General Sessions category. Each session was a gift from the presenter to all present. Read more ▶

June 20, 2012 by Kathleen Schoen, Thomas Wm Schoen, Heidi Schuller, Joanna Smulakowski

These short videos presented at the conference provide a wonderful introduction to the Suzuki Method, and how it can benefit the larger community as well as individual students. The Expanded Suzuki Triangle: Nurturing the Student within the Community by Kathleen & Thomas… Read more ▶

December 1, 2011 by Victoria Vorreiter

The genius of Shinichi Suzuki was not in creating a new way of learning and teaching music, but rather in listening and remembering. Read more ▶

March 25, 2011 by Leslie Mizrahi

It has become the custom in Mexico that wherever a Suzuki philosophy course is taught, piano students travel to participate in demonstration lessons, sometimes within the same city and at other times to a different state. Etna Diemecke has brought… Read more ▶

November 30, 2009 by Ellen Berry

Last summer, focus groups at summer Institutes were asked to submit questions for a panel of “Suzuki Experts” to answer. This is the 9th installment. What is the long-term teaching goal for all students? In Nurtured by Love, Dr. Suzuki says: “I… Read more ▶

August 1, 2006 by Caroline Fraser

“I can state without being afraid of being wrong that instead of understanding the Mother Tongue Approach, we have to feel it, talk about it and live it, until it becomes part of our very being.” —Marcos Santiago, philosophy class participant I… Read more ▶

June 20, 2005 by Shinichi Suzuki

Excerpted from Nurtured by Love, pp 95-96. We encourage them to think of violin training as fun We begin by training the parent rather than the child. Although we accept infants, at first we do not have them play the violin. First… Read more ▶

June 1, 2005 by Michele Higa George

As I reflect upon the continued influence of Suzuki-sensei (honored teacher) in my life, there are moments when I am keenly aware that seven long years have passed since he last walked among us. At other times it seems only… Read more ▶