The Well-Tempered Ear

Classical music education: Was the man who invented The Suzuki Method for learning strings and the musical instruments a fraud? Violinist Mark O’Connor thinks so. What do you think?

By Jacob Stockinger

Was Shinichi Suzuki (seen below teaching British students in 1980) a fraud?

You might recall that he is the man who invented the famous Suzuki Method for learning strings and other kinds of musical instruments, including the piano. Entire schools are based on his method.

BUT: American violinist Mark O’Connor thinks he was a fraud.

O’Connor (below) is the same musician who teaches at the prestigious Berklee School of Music in Boston and who plays and records best-selling CDs like “Appalachian Journey” with bassist Edgar Meyer and superstar cellist Yo-Yo Ma.

Now The Ear suspects there will be millions, probably tens or hundreds of millions, of parents and young people – all Suzuki students at one time – who might wish to disagree with O’Connor.

And it sure seems like the Suzuki has led to a lot of Asian students and others who learned through Suzuki playing in major orchestras and attending major conservatories.

At the bottom is YouTube method by a Dallas-based Suzuki teacher who tries to explain and defend the Suzuki Method as a “natural” method that is based on the idea of a “mother tongue.”

But you should make up you own mind about such matters, which are as ethical as they are pedagogical or musical and which force us to confront the practicality and efficacy of competing teaching methods.

So here is a link to a story on NPR (National Public Radio) about the controversy.

Be sure to read the more than 100 comments from readers.

See what you think and then let us know.

http://www.npr.org/2014/11/16/364140413/twinkle-sparks-fireworks-as-fiddler-guts-violin-method

The Ear wants to hear.