Mother-tongue Method
| HOW WE LEARN LANGUAGE |
HOW STUDENTS STUDY MUSIC BY THE SUZUKI METHOD |
| 1. Expectation of Success All children can learn to speak their mother tongue. |
1. Expectation of Success All children can learn to play music. |
| 2. Early Beginning Parents encourage children to learn to use language from a very young age. |
2. Early Beginning Suzuki children usually begin to play music when they are between 3-5 years old. |
| 3. Listening Surrounded by speech from the day of birth, children listen for about two years before starting to speak in sentences. |
3. Listening Suzuki students listen every day to recordings of the repertoire they are going to study many months before they begin study. |
| 4. Nurturing Parents always greet gurgling, babbling and first words with enthusiasm and joy. |
4. Nurturing Suzuki parents always encourage their children musical effort. |
| 5. Social Environment Children learn language within their family and with friends outside the home. |
5. Social Environment Suzuki students learn to play music in weekly private lessons and regular group classes. |
| 6. Parent Teacher Parents involve themselves deeply in teaching language skills to their young children. |
6. Parent Teacher Suzuki parents are ‘home teachers.’ They help the child during their daily practice. |
| 7. Repetition Children repeat new words that they are learning many, many times. |
7. Repetition Suzuki students repeat new skills many times until they master them. |
| 8. Performance Parents proudly display their child’s linguistic achievements from the very beginning – even a goo-goo is good. |
8. Performance Suzuki students perform a lot in group lessons and recitals. Their first performance may be a simple bow or song. |
| 9. Review Children continue to use the same words that they acquired as an infant – words remain in their vocabulary. |
9. Review Suzuki students continue to play their early pieces, using them as the foundation for technical studies and to advance through the repertoire. |
| 10. Natural Reading Children only learn to read several years after learning to speak – until this stage, they “learn by ear” all new vocabulary and grammar. |
10. Natural Reading Suzuki students learn to read music around 6 years old when they have learned to “play by ear”. |