What is the Suzuki Method?

Founded by Japanese violinist Dr. Shinichi Suzuki, the Suzuki method is a philosophy and a common repertoire used to teach young musicians the world over. It is built on the principles outlined below. For more information visit the Suzuki Association’s website or check out the additional resources listed at the bottom of this page.

Dr. Suzuki believed that every child can learn and that our goal is to “teach the child, not the instrument.” Through the practice of music we cultivate the whole child, encouraging empathy, perseverance, focus, and perhaps most importantly, deep listening. 

Just as children learn to speak their native languages by hearing them spoken all around them from the time they are born (and even before!), children learn music by hearing it. Think of familiar tunes from your childhood—you know them deeply and can call them up from your memory even decades after you first learned them. When children listen to recordings of pieces they are learning they are able to internalize the music to an extent that makes playing the notes on the instrument feel like one step in the learning process, not a huge initial hurdle. There are no “hacks” or shortcuts to learning to play an instrument, but listening is as close to a shortcut as we come!

Each piece of music in the Suzuki repertoire is carefully placed in order to build the student’s technical skills progressively. This is why all students play the same pieces in the same order, and having a common repertoire among all students helps build a shared musical language that unites our community. 

We know that repetition is critical to learning any new skill, and music is no exception. We build muscle memory by repeating the same motions over and over—this is crucial to taking a piece of music from difficult to effortless. For this reason, we also continuously review pieces we have already learned. Dr. Suzuki famously said “raise your level with a piece you can play.” Learning new techniques is much easier when those techniques are applied to music have already internalized, so you will find Suzuki students learning advanced technique on the notes of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, among other familiar tunes. 

Imagine learning to read your native language before you could speak it—sounds stressful! Just as we learn to speak first, we teach children to play proficiently on their instrument before we introduce the separate skill of reading notes. This practice allows us to establish a strong technical foundation that can stand up to the challenge of decoding musical notation when the mind is ready for that step.

Nurtured By Love by Shinichi Suzuki

Ability Development From Age Zero by Shinichi Suzuki

Suzuki Association of the Americas