North Atlanta Talent Education

Suzuki method or talent education is a method of teaching an instrument to young children created by Shinichi Suzuki using these ten main points:

Age – A student 3-5 years old is at the prime age to start an instrument because the Suzuki method is taught in the same way that the child learns to talk. Exposure to music should start at birth.

Environment – Suzuki method encourages a loving, supportive and positive environment created by the teacher and especially the parent(s). Given the right environment, every child can develop talent.

Parental Involvement – The parent(s) must be involved in the student’s development in the Suzuki method. The parent is taught to be the “home” teacher during the time between lessons.

Sequential Learning – The method is broken into small steps so the student is not overwhelmed and can master each step to playing an instrument. Each step builds upon the last step and each child moves at his or her own pace.

Repertoire – The literature studied is graded and each new piece builds upon the techniques learned in the last piece.

Repetition, Repetition, Repetition – The repertoire and skills are constantly reviewed and repeated just as you would re-use words in your vocabulary to create sentences. The idea behind this is for the student to always be performance ready and reach greater potentials in tone and musicianship.

Group Lessons – Along with an individual lesson, the students need to be social with their music by sharing and playing together. The group class environment creates the opportunity to play in front of peers and therefore encourage and support one another. Competition is not encouraged. Group lessons occur on alternating Thursdays for string players. Piano group lessons are on Monday afternoon once per month.

Listening – Constantly listening to the way the instrument is supposed to sound develops the students’ critical ears. It helps them to know when they play something incorrectly. It also gives them the opportunity to learn music just as we learn new words, through listening to people speaking.

Delayed Reading – Just as we learn to speak before we learn to read, the Suzuki student learns to play many pieces by modeling and echoing first and learning to read later.

The “Whole Child” Approach – Teaching the child to be well rounded is most important. Music will influence all aspects of the child’s life.