Is Suzuki Method better than traditional method?
I just found out about the Suzuki method from an Alicia Keys interview, which she learned from early age. It emphasizes an immersive environment for learning music and ear training. I'm wondering if any of you have experience with this method. If so, how was it for you? would it be helpful adult as well? Thank you for your feedback!
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It is an incredibly effective way to learn piano, but it is often taught by people who aren鈥檛 trained to do so and it may not work so well because it really isn鈥檛 the Suzuki approach. The emphasis is on fusing the ear, body and heart to create beautiful piano tone. Reading is introduced gradually as the student is able to use the body and hand naturally to create beautiful tone. The concept is the same as a child learning to speak their mother-tongue in which speaking comes first and reading a bit later. I have taught this way for years, having trained in pedagogy by the cofounder of the Suzuki Method, Dr. Haruko Kataoka, and I can say that without a doubt, her students consistently played beautifully. My experience with my own students has been wonderful as well, though these days, a commitment to serious study by parents of young children is mixed. Children are spread very thin and practice time is limited. Still, I find my students can play with a good sound at whatever level they play and I am so grateful to be able to teach them in this manner. I have learned so much about my own playing along the way. A truly wonderful approach!
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Most of Suzuki's thinking and forte is about training children, so I'd recommend reading his book, "Nurtured by Love", and seeing what you think about his thought processes and how they might apply to adults. A good Suzuki teacher may also be an excellent teacher of adults, but there's a lot in the Suzuki method that wouldn't apply, like the parental role in nurturing musical ability. So, the teacher would need to wisely sift through what applies to adults and what doesn't.
You can preview his ideas by reading his articles/excerpts here: https://internationalsuzuki.org/talent-education-journal/Talent-Education-Journal-12-1982.pdf
My son did the Suzuki method for some months when he was...hmm...6 years old? (He's 10 now.) There's a lot of good in the method. The teacher taught solid, natural piano technique, and her best students had solid fundamentals (not much virtuosity, though). For us it was OK, but time-wise, we found that the way the teacher taught wasn't scalable to multiple small children (lessons would tie up one parent and the other child couldn't be present unless absolutely quiet), so we couldn't make the time commitment for lessons work. The parents also ended up with a lot of "homework", which we found would become a non-scalable burden due to the other activities we do with our kids. The teacher also may have had a bit of the mindset of "if you don't have time to do this work with each child every day, shame on you for not living up to your parental vocation" . But these wouldn't be the issues you'd deal with.
In short, I'd say it all depends on the teacher.