To register for Suzuki Lessons, parents must:
- Attend 4 hours of parent training. Fee: $50. Dates: June 9 (4 hours), August 15 (4 hours), November 3 (4 hours) and March 1 (4 hours). Optional: parents may set up private parent training on additional dates for $75.
- Observe 3 private lessons and 1 group lesson (this can be done before or after the parent training. Fee: $0
- Attend and observe all lessons and group classes (for younger children) and monitor practice at home.
- Suzuki monthly fees: $140 per month for our Fall and Spring Semesters (includes $120 private lesson fee and $20 group class fee)
Dr. Shinichi Suzuki was a Japanese music educator and violinist who in the 1930’s realized that children all over the world learn with ease to speak their native language. He concluded that all children can learn to play a musical instrument (and anything else) if the conditions at the time of learning that instrument are the same as the conditions present at the time of language acquisition. Those conditions are an early start, the constant listening of the repertoire the student is learning, a nurturing environment created by loving parents, the constant repetition of the “musical vocabulary” the child learns, and the delay of music reading until the student achieves physical proficiency in “playing”, just as we speak before we write or read language.
He called his approach to music education the “mother tongue method” and founded in Matsumoto, Japan the “Talent Education Research Institute” which attracted music teachers from all over the world, and from where the Suzuki method has spread worldwide. “All children can learn” is a simple but profound statement. It is the child’s environment which will nurture that ability and make it blossom!
