The Suzuki Method Approach to Learning Violin

An accomplished Japanese violinist studying in Germany was frustrated that children could learn the language faster than adults. But it birthed an idea.

Children learn to speak before they are able to read. So should beginner violinists learn how to create music before they are able to read music?

That is the premise of the Suzuki Method. Its creator, violinist Shinichi Suzuki, was an accomplished violin player who left his native Japan to study in Germany, where he noticed children easily pick up new languages while adults like him struggled.

This led to the development of his method, which promotes a very early introduction to music in children, who study how the instrument works, what good music sounds like, and how they can create the notes, tonality and articulation of what they hear on their own (very small) instruments. Only after several years of study “by ear” do students get introduced to reading written music.

The Suzuki Method is not just for violinists. One can learn to play by way of these learning principles on the cello, viola, bass, flute, guitar, harp, piano, organ, recorder, mandolin, guitar, trumpet and even voice.

And does it work? The Suzuki Association of America (SAA) promotes the teaching method, and also emphasizes the somewhat democratized nature of it. By this we mean how it eschews competition even while celebrating accomplishment. It also doesn’t reserve itself for “musical prodigies,” perhaps those from a family of accomplished musicians. Rather, the SAA says, “Suzuki students are normal children whose parents may have little or no musical experience. Their parents have simply chosen to introduce them to music through the Suzuki approach, a unique philosophy of music education.”

Former students of the Suzuki Method, now accomplished musicians, include Hilary Hahn, Leila Josefewicz, William Preucil, Jr., Rachel Barton, Jennifer Koh, Nickolas Kendall, James Stern, Frank Almond, Brian Lewis, David Perry, Rebecca McFaul, and Russell Falstad. Note that some begin with Suzuki but may continue their education by other methodologies before completing the Suzuki repertoire.

The local violin shop would likely be a good resource for locating a reputable Suzuki teacher. Odds are, a violin dealer already provides Suzuki-sized instruments for other students learning the Method.

The principles of Suzuki can begin even before the musician is born. An expectant mother can listen to classical music from stringed instruments, which perhaps the developing fetus can hear as well. Other fundamentals include:

• Exposure: Daily exposure to music, specifically from the Suzuki repertoire as well as other music.

• Begin early: Suzuki is the reason the modern violin maker builds the tiniest fractionalized instruments (as small as 1/32), as students begin as young as age 3.

• Parents as co-instructors: Mothers and fathers are expected to attend each lesson, and to provide a positive, nurturing environment for the young student.

• Non-competitive: The Method is one that encourages auditioning for groups and performance, but with less emphasis on competition and more on participation.

• Strict repertoire: Suzuki believed that technique, musicianship and style are developed through a series of pieces that build on the piece that came before it.

• Reading music: After basic playing skills are mastered, the student graduates to reading music.

Adherents to the Suzuki Method emphasize it’s not strictly for children on a path to careers in music, although that’s obviously a possibility. But it could be a foundation for artistry in many forms. Actress Sarah Jessica Parker studied by the method as a child, prior to being cast in the star role of “Little Orphan Annie” and later roles as an adult.

The Method may be too taxing for some parents. But for those who might enjoy the journey of learning to create beautiful music with their children, it might be just the right thing.

The Lowdown on the Viola da Gamba

Not one instrument but a family, this cousin of the violin and cello has a rich history in early music - and a future in contemporary music as well.

It isn’t a simple matter to find a viola da gamba for sale or a violin maker who crafts them. They are rare and fascinating. The stringed instrument family is a matter of arms and legs, and horizontal and vertical - all as described by the Italians in mellifluous terms.

The instrument popularly known as the violin is short for “viola da braccio,” which indicates the instrument is played on the arm (“braccio”) in a horizontal position. This is as opposed to the “viola da gamba,” or the instrument played vertically, between the legs (“gamba”). All viola da gamba are bowed with an underhand position and are collectively referred to as “viols”.

Generally larger than those arm-played violins - hence, the floor-rest position - the viola da gamba are actually a range of instruments of seven sizes: the rare predessus de viole, treble, alto, tenor, bass, and two contrabass versions (the great bass and the violone in D, tuned an octave lower than the great bass).

Not included in this list is the cello. This is because the number of strings on viola da gamba has six, sometimes seven, strings where the cello has only four. Tuned in fourths, the members of the viols family can be played with chords. The sound is considered quieter than more modern stringed instruments, and with the exception of the bass, too quiet in large orchestras where fine violins, violas and cellos will simply overpower the gamba. It’s more common to see a viola da gamba played in quartets and quintets – where the timbre of the instrument is prized in Renaissance and Baroque music.

Some of the signature compositions for viola de gamba came from the likes of J.S. Bach, Henry Purcell, William Byrd, Marin Marais and Francois Couperin. But the instrument family was notably part of 16th and 17th century amateur performances in affluent circles. The “mixed and broken consorts” (ensembles) included a bass viol, lute, cittern, treble viol, harpsichord or spinet, and vocals. Dutch paintings (Vermeer, Verkolje, et al.) frequently included a resting or played bass viola da gamba to reflect on domestic life and to convey social status of the subjects.

But contemporary composers haven’t forgotten the viola de gamba. Viola da Gamba societies in Great Britain and America, embraced by enthusiasts for early and contemporary music, encourage study of the family of viols. This is possible because these instruments are both more affordable (some are manufactured with automated techniques, others hand crafted) and accessible to adult students.

The Viola da Gamba Society of America - made up of players, violinmakers, publishers, distributors, restorers and fans - maintains 18 local chapters in far-flung regions, from the Appalachia South to New York City to Southern California. Interestingly, it was incorporated in 1962 by a small group of players in rural Maryland. The VDGSA sponsors an annual conclave around the U.S., but also has a robust website that includes free downloadable sheet music (example: Bach arrangements from the Yukimi Kambe Viol Consort), a microfilm catalog, and a program to stimulate development of new music for the viola de gamba.

Mittenwald, Germany: The Center of German Violinmaking

It’s a tiny town with a big claim in fine stringed instruments. The Klotz family started it a long time ago and today’s luthiers still learn their craft there.

When tourists travel to Germany, must-visit cities are Hamburg, Munich, Berlin and Frankfurt. Unless, that is, the tourists are musicians of the string variety, principally violinists, violists and cellists. If not musicians, then certainly student luthiers - violin makers - who have flocked to the small village of Mittenwald where Klotz-crafted instruments have been made since the mid 17th century.

The Klotz family is historically at the heart of the violinmaking history of Mittenwald municipality in Bavaria (Garmisch-Partenkirchen district). Beginning with Matthias I (1656-1743), and later his sons Sebastian and Georg, the violinmaking craft that ultimately became the principle industry of Mittenwald was born. Matthias himself had studied to be a Geigenmacher (luthier or violin maker) in Padua, Italy in the 1670s as a student of Jacob Stainer, whose reputation at the time was he made fine violins that rivaled the work of Stradivari. By 1856, the Bavarian government established a school of violinmaking in Mittenwald, the rolls of which listed more than 25 artisans with the Klotz surname.

The Klotz family’s rise is due in part to their craftsmanship, but also to where the town is situated. High in the Karwendel mountains, the maple and spruce trees there yielded very good tone wood, the kind suited to violins, cellos, and violas, just as the violins from Stradivari came from the Fiemme Valley in the Italian Alps.

Mittendwald was also on a trade route (stretching from Augsburg to Bolzano and Venice), which enables distribution to other points north and south. The town was the violin shop to the world at that point. But to be clear, Matthias Klotz learned his craft from the northern Italians in Padua.

Today, Mittenwald remains a tiny town (population 7,410) with a big reputation due in no small part to the school established in 1858 and still teaching Geigenmachers today. The Staatliche Berufsfachschule für Musikinstrumentenbau Mittenwald, a fulltime vocational school, offers training in violin, plucked instrument, woodwind instrument, and brass instrument making.

The village also celebrates its heritage, specifically in violins, at the Geigenbaumuseum in Mittendwald. The museum includes exhibits that explain how violin experts, dealers, and auctioneers distinguish the valued Mittenwald violins from cheaper, inferior knockoffs, as there were many even 150 years ago. Those distinctions are found in construction of the instrument, precise sizing, the flare of the scroll, the width of the f-holes, the tightness of the wood grain, and the hue of the varnish.

Labels in Klotz and other Mittenwald violins were uncommon (but not unheard of), so these other details have to be the distinguishing characteristics - as well as the rich tonal quality of that Karwendel mountain wood.

Today, the violin-making school in Mittenwald attracts student luthiers from all over the world. Many well-known modern masters of the craft received their education there including Hans and Nancy Benning, Charles Beare and Hans Weisshaar.