Key Features of the Suzuki Approach

Parental involvement

The success of the Suzuki approach relies heavily on parental involvement, and is only effective when teacher, parent and child all work together. Parents attend all of their child’s lessons, taking notes of key practice points, in order to be  equipped to lead daily practice sessions at home.

Daily Listening

Listening daily to the recordings of the Suzuki repertoire is essential to ensure that children internalise the pieces they will be playing. It not only helps them to learn the pieces, but also enables them to hear and appreciate good quality music that they can aspire to.

Common repertoire

The Suzuki approach comprises 10 books of progressive repertoire, starting with Twinkle and ending with two Mozart Concertos. The repertoire has been carefully chosen to ensure that each piece introduces a new technique in a controlled and measured way to ensure that the child will succeed. The music is interesting, varied and appeals to children.

Playing by ear

Playing by ear, without reading music, is one of the most well known features of the Suzuki approach. The premise is simple and natural; children learn to play a musical instrument in the same way they learn to master their complex native language. In the Suzuki approach, this simply means listening to recordings of the Suzuki repertoire, learning pieces by ear and building skill through repetition and review, only adding note reading once technical skill is secure.