The life and times of Dr. Shinichi Suzuki can be best summed up by the article, "Dr. Shinichi Suzuki & his Talent Education", written by Nicolette Solomon of the Suzuki Institute of Dallas..  She writes: 

"The musical and educational world was taken by storm in the 1950's when a young Japanese violinist named Shinichi Suzuki toured Japan and later, America with a group of very small Japanese children, all playing the violin.  Every performance was followed by an impassioned talk, given by this experimental teacher, on the talent in all children.  He spoke on the gift of "life force: that is hidden in each one of us and the vital importance of nurturing, unconditional love and the provision of an environment for all children where their talent and love of life can  thrive."

Quoting Dr. Suzuki, she goes on to write:  "Children all over the world were speaking in their own language; moreover, they were doing it fluently, which requires a very high level of proficiency.  I started to study and observe the practicability of the "Mother-Tongue: method.  I adapted this to music education."

Nicolette Solomon continues:  "The world took notice, albeit skeptically. Who was this Japanese man whose culture had no history of Western music, let alone violin playing?  Every once in a long while, a genius is born and Suzuki was one of a kind, ever-learning individuals.  His friends included people like the great cellist Pablo Casals, the violinist Fritz Kneeler and the scientist Albert Einstein, with whom he philosophized and played music."

Dr. Suzuki felt very strongly that a tiny child should only learn to read music when he was able to read and write in his mother tongue and only after mastering a large number of compositions and techniques by ear.

In the traditional method of teaching violin, there are many myths and misunderstandings regarding the Suzuki Method, one of which is that Suzuki students don't know how to read music!  In the traditional way of teaching violin, students begin note reading immediately and as a consequence, do not actually learn techniques and how to play a large repertoire of compositions until much later!

Tiny kids on the Suzuki Method begin playing compositions on the violin right from the beginning-pieces that they have learned from a good listening program of the Suzuki repertoire-often from birth or from just a few months of age!   Once the "mother-tongue"-a large repertoire of compositions--is learned, then the tiny kids are ready for reading music!

Dr. Suzuki studied violin in Berlin in the 1920's under Professor Karl Klingler.  During this time, he noticed that all German children could
easily speak German, something which he found difficult.  He marveled at the ease with which every child learns to speak their own language.  No child fails unless they have physical problems preventing speech.  This led Dr. Suzuki to the remarkable conclusion that the method parents use to teach children to speak is the perfect way to teach very young children the violin!  With this realization, Dr. Suzuki began placing great emphasis on the environment of the child, rather than the commonly accepted idea that musical talent is something that is inherited!

With these things in mind, Dr. Suzuki returned to Japan and began to develop his ideas, presenting his first students in Tokyo in 1942.  After World War II, Dr. Suzuki began teaching in Matsumoto, Japan and went on to set up the Talent Education Institute there in 1947.    The Talent Education movement grew as other teachers studied with Dr. Suzuki and began to teach across Japan.    Since then his method has spread across the world enabling many thousands of children to learn the viola, cello, flute and piano by this marvelous method!

Dr. Suzuki died in 1998, just nine months before his 100th birthday!  This was to the sorrow of hundreds of thousands of persons affected by his work and wonderful personality!