Well this is one of those rare and surprising surreal moments when the two passions of my life, film music (in particular composer John Williams) and cults, converge.
Violinist Mark O'Connor has been investigating Shinichi Suzuki for quite a few years now, but his research has only this past week (late October, 2014) garnered media attention.
I came across this article on Classic FM last night, which also appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald (http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/music/violin-master-shinichi-suzuki-the-biggest-fraud-in-music-history-20141027-11byzf.html) and several other newspaper sites, and was instantly intrigued:
Suzuki method founder who lied about education: 'biggest fraud in musical history' (http://www.classicfm.com/music-news/latest-news/suzuki-method-fraud/)
QuoteAccording to research by American violin teacher Mark O'Connor, Suzuki, who died in 1998, claimed to have been taught at the prestigious Berlin music conservatory. O'Connor uncovered an official document that stated Suzuki's failure to be accepted into the school from 1923, when he was 24 years old.
As well as his supposed tuition at the conservatory, Suzuki also claimed he had been taught privately by violinist Karl Klingler, but records show that Klingler himself was the one to have turned him down from the conservatory. ...
The surprise came when I learned a couple of hours later that Mark O'Connor performed the violin solos on John Williams' score for the film The Patriot, a score I've admired since the moment it was released 14 years ago. Mark's beautiful performance of one of John Williams' most beautiful Americana melodies can be heard in the first 2 minutes of the score's main theme:
I began initial exploration of Mark's research and the reactions to it from people who had positive experiences with the Suzuki Method. The first thing I noticed was a plethora of "attack the messenger" comments as well as defences of Suzuki that in no way addressed the inconsistencies and lies Mark claims to have discovered.
An earlier (2013) response from an official Suzuki site doesn't sound all that convincing:
https://suzukiassociation.org/discuss/19995/ (https://suzukiassociation.org/discuss/19995/)
Here are a couple of brief quotes I found interesting:
QuoteAt first I, too, made the mistake of thinking Dr Suzuki was all about selling violins.
I didn't know he sold violins.
QuoteAll these awards, medals, certificates, plaques etc. are on display at the Suzuki Museum in Matsumoto, Japan.
A museum named after the founder seems a little cult-of-personalityish to me.
Mark's criticisms of Suzuki go beyond branding his history a lie. Here is a video on Mark's YouTube channel that I think greatly supports his use of the word cult to describe Suzuki's organisation. At the 30-second mark, an American girl said her father sold the family home to move to Japan so the whole family could study with Suzuki. It doesn't get much more cultish-sounding than that:
Here's the video description provided by Mark, and let's not forget, Mark is a professional player. John Williams doesn't hire quacks^
QuoteA Suzuki Method freak show. Watch as brainwashed cultists leave the U.S. for Japan, to study with Shinichi Suzuki, in some cases for years. Even in their 20s and 30s Suzuki students are subjected to playing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and do bow hold exercises and regimens. One of the most upsetting things about this film is that every single one of these adult players has an absurd collapsed bow arm! Some of them, severely exaggerated as if they were deformed. There is an another film of Suzuki who tied string around a small young girl's arm in order to force her to have a collapsed bow arm when she played. (linked just below) There is one word that we can find for this from Shinichi Suzuki - and that is "sick."
Various comments from social media:
"Notice at the end, how the last woman is playing in Suzuki's office, and he lifts her violin scroll sky high, like it is some kind of corrective measure, like this is something that is helpful? You can sort of tell he does not know what to do, so he just makes himself appear useful. Then he takes his own violin, plays looping down strokes on an open E string like an ape. That's it! He.. the whole thing is pathetic. How in the Hell did he ever make it out of Japan, how did people buy this in the U.S.A.?"
"That one American girl talking about how the whole day is all Suzuki Method for her in Japan - it looks like she is ready to break down and cry the poor thing. Her parents give up their jobs in the U.S. for mediocre violin lessons in Japan for their daughter? What? I guess it is a cult thing, some semi-religious cultist movement of Suzuki that people bought into from the U.S. Because as far as violin playing or pedagogy, it looks like a complete ruse for a more sinister thing going on. A facade for something else. Money making...selling violin books to make the money, sure... But to have 25 and 30 year old students sitting in a row playing Twinkle and analyzing their bow grips, only to possess the most God awful playing technique and collapsed arms is simply too much. A Zen Buddha cult or something. It sure is not about violin training."
"A chain-smoking Zen Buddha cult leader who trick people into violin lessons! - When does the full length movie come out?"
"Creepy, CREEPY!"
"so... "Dr. Suzuki" is a cult leader name? Makes sense, exhibits authority. Since he looks like he is not that bright, he convinces unknowing brain-washable types that he is their expert!"
Another video posted by Mark reminds me of several Korean cult leaders and their grandiose lofty plans for world change.
Suzuki's Mediocre Musical Vision (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uV9XXibo3Rc#)
Here are links to Mark's previous blog entries about Suzuki which go into much greater detail. I haven't explored these links fully yet, they're as much for my reference as for yours - assuming anyone reads this, but they at least show that Mark has been doing his homework for quite a while now:
November 1, 2014: O'Connor response to Internationalsuzuki.org (http://markoconnorblog.blogspot.kr/2014/11/oconnor-response-to-internationalsuzuki.html) (includes my Amazon review of "Memories of Suzuki") :)
October 29, 2014: O'CONNOR vs. SUZUKI by Melissa Tatreau (http://markoconnorblog.blogspot.kr/2014/10/oconnor-vs-suzuki-by-melissa-tatreau.html)
October 16, 2014: Suzuki's Biggest lie (http://markoconnorblog.blogspot.kr/2014/10/suzukis-biggest-lie.html)
November 2013: JAPAN WAS THUMBS DOWN on SUZUKI Decades Ago (http://markoconnorblog.blogspot.kr/2013/11/japan-was-thumbs-down-on-suzuki-decades.html)
September 2013: KLINGLER Rejects SUZUKI as his Student in 1923 (http://markoconnorblog.blogspot.kr/2013/09/suzuki-klingler-not-what-you-expected.html)
August 2013: What did Pablo Casals REALLY THINK of Suzuki? (http://markoconnorblog.blogspot.kr/2013/08/what-did-pablo-casals-really-think-of.html)
QuoteWere you one of the millions of "Suzuki parents" who were urged to read Shinichi Suzuki's "Nurtured by Love" autobiography because it was "recommended reading" as a Suzuki parent?
June 2013: WAS the SUZUKI Method Formulated as a CULT? Part 1 (http://markoconnorblog.blogspot.kr/2013/06/was-suzuki-method-formulated-as-cult.html)
June 2013: WAS the SUZUKI Method Formulated as a CULT? Part 2 (http://markoconnorblog.blogspot.kr/2013/06/was-suzuki-method-formulated-as-cult_18.html)
May 2013: Confessions of a Former Suzuki Teacher by Pamela Wiley (http://markoconnorblog.blogspot.kr/2013/05/confessions-of-former-suzuki-teacher-by.html)
April 2013: SUZUKI invented relationship with ALBERT EINSTEIN (http://markoconnorblog.blogspot.kr/2013/04/fiddling-with-albert-einstein.html)
April 2013: Suzuki Biographer Sets Me Straight (http://markoconnorblog.blogspot.kr/2013/04/suzuki-biographer-sets-me-straight.html)
April 2013: SAY IT AIN'T SO, SHIN'ICHI SUZUKI (http://markoconnorblog.blogspot.kr/2013/04/say-it-aint-so-shinichi-suzuki.html)
QuotePreliminary independent analysis regarding the possibility that Suzuki's biography and life story was fabricated in order to sell his violin method to the U.S. in the 1950s, 60s and 70s appears to paint a picture of elaborate deception.
March 2013: How VIOLINISTS became LESS creative (http://markoconnorblog.blogspot.kr/2013/03/violinists-creativity.html)
September 2012: Conversation with Suzuki Instructor and O'Connor (http://markoconnorblog.blogspot.kr/2012/09/conversation-with-suzuki-instructor-and_5.html)
May 2012: SUZUKI HAS GONE FIDDLIN' (http://markoconnorblog.blogspot.kr/2012/05/suzuki-has-gone-fiddlin.html)
While writing the above, I came across this article published by the Sydney Morning Herald Tuesday afternoon (October 28) in response to Mark's allegations:
Dr Shinichi Suzuki fraud claims slammed by music teachers as 'scandalous' (http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/music/dr-shinichi-suzuki-fraud-claims-slammed-by-music-teachers-as-scandalous-20141028-11d2pr.html)
QuoteClaims labeling the man behind the Suzuki music teaching method as 'one of the biggest frauds in music' have been described as ridiculous by music teachers. ...One of the country's most-acclaimed music teachers, Karen Carey, has said the idea that Dr Suzuki is a fraud was "scandalous.""Just look at the impact he has had on music education. I think it's a disgraceful thing to say."
Well Mark is certainly getting reactions^
I posted this reply which I typically didn't proofread. It's currently awaiting moderator approval:
QuoteI only came across Mark's allegations yesterday and I have had no prior experience with the Suzuki Method other than occasionally hearing about it in passing. Having spent the last 11 years gathering information on Korean and other Asian cults and sharing said information on old my site, I have to say that what I've seen so far of Mark's research and Suzuki-related videos posted on his YouTube channel as well as the reactions from Suzuki supporters reminds me of what I have seen take place in other groups widely recognized as cults.
We certainly have a guru-type leader who claims some kind of special knowledge, complete with an apparent falsified and inflated resume. We see in one video that Mark posted on YouTube that one American family sold its house so the family could move to Japan to study with the guru. And we certainly see lots of "attack the messenger" comments directed at Mark.
Having said that, I am only about 24 hours into first hearing about this. I do, however, look forward to reading more about this. I'm an amatuer musician, so this convergance of two of my hobbies is really quite exciting^
Some interesting quotations from this 2010 Telegraph piece by Richard Johnson:
How I became a Suzuki disciple (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/classicalmusic/8146379/How-I-became-a-Suzuki-disciple.html)
QuoteHelen Brunner, a 64-year-old Suzuki grandmaster, knows about making violin practice fun. ...[highlight]She has had judges miss court and surgeons miss surgery. Many Suzuki parents spend small fortunes travelling to Suzuki residential schools all over the world[/highlight], bunking up at Bryanston boarding school in Dorset, or – for the most committed – at the Suzuki Talent Education Research Institute in Matsumoto, Japan. Each has a long waiting list. ...
Born in Nagoya, Japan, in 1898, Shinichi Suzuki taught himself to play the violin by imitating the recordings of Mischa Elman. He showed such flair for the instrument that his father, who owned the first violin factory in Japan, agreed to send him to train in Berlin. There he became friends with Albert Einstein, who was his guardian for the eight years he spent in Germany. ...
However, a lot of classically trained musicians are sniffy about the Suzuki method. They say it is all about rote and repetition, and copying straight onto an instrument. They say that children who learn this way have difficulty reading music later on. They say it's all just too regimented.
Some say the quasi-religious tendencies shown by some Suzuki devotees may not be entirely healthy. Brunner, for example, was summoned to teach Suzuki in a vision. 'I went on an aeroplane and heard voices saying: "You are the one you are looking for." They say that you don't find the guru – the guru finds you. And Suzuki found me.' She has a picture of Suzuki up on the wall in her rehearsal room, in a guru-like pose. It's the idea that he is the leader of some sort of musical cult that makes people feel unhappy. When people think of Suzuki, they still think of the mass formations of three year-olds, lined up in matching outfits, playing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star in unison on the violin (the tune is played by the traffic lights in Matsumoto, in Suzuki's honour). But that's the Japanese way. ...
'The reason people come to my studio is not to have fun,' Brunner says. 'They might actually have fun, but that's not the bottom-line intention. The bottom-line intention is big. To make the world a better place. Call it world peace.
Surgeons missed surgery and judges missed court to attend their children's violin lessons? Nothing strange (or dangerous) about that at all. :o
An interesting look at the Suzuki method again courtesy of Mark via a comment on his Facebook:
http://www.stthomas.edu/rimeonline/vol7/mehl.htm (http://www.stthomas.edu/rimeonline/vol7/mehl.htm)
Quote"Suzuki relates that he was introduced to Einstein by a Professor Michaelis, who had met Shin'ichi's father in Nagoya and asked Einstein to act as his "guardian" when he himself accepted an invitation to teach at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.(12) This account does not square with known facts."
Mark adds:
QuoteSuzuki spent a few hours with the physicist Dr. Albert Einstein to sell him a violin in 1926. Thirty years later when Suzuki had an opportunity to sell his teaching materials to the West, he turned those few hours with Einstein into a full-blown "relationship." He claimed Einstein as his "guardian" and mentor, spending significant amounts of time with him and in the process beefing up his credentials to sell his educational materials to the West. American publishers and marketers included Einstein's name along with Suzuki's in articles and in books beginning in the 1960s with impunity, Einstein having died just a few years earlier.
Interesting ensuing conversation here. (https://www.facebook.com/markoconnorfanpage/posts/10151620085361140)
Just cherry picking some interesting/funny/crazy/common comments from Facebook and comments under various related articles:
QuoteWhat I do NOT like about "certified" Suzuki teachers is the mindset of getting a song absolutely perfect before moving on. I've had students come from other teachers who said they only got to play one song for 10 months. That's crazy! I'm surprised those kids didn't quit. Was so glad to get them and put some fun of the instrument back in their lives.
Quote In Japan, It is said that Suzuki Violins are not Good Instruments, because the way to construct the instruments are not craftsman-ship but machines. So almost every biginner do not buy Suzuki violin except the person who join the Suzuki Violin schools which spread all over the Japanese cities.
QuoteI never met Shinichi...I did meet and attend a most boring "sales-pitch" workshop by his American "sheep herder" John Kendall though. I was in my mid-teens at the time...young, but not swayed by the cult even then...I have met Mark O'Connor. Mark is the REAL DEAL. Yes, a bit of an ego, but "SO WHAT"...his abilities, method, and resume speak volumes.
Quoteteaching them pieces from memory which they play repeatedly" can never be considered to be valid teaching - it is just learning by rote. This method should never have been accepted by the industry. Proper teaching involves teaching understanding and so the ability to adapt and grow. Why was he ever accepted by anyone other than gullible parents?
QuoteEvery comment naming Mark O'Connor here, calls him an unknown nobody etc.!
Folks, off the top of my head, Mark is one of, if not the most established pro violinist on earth today. The best bluegrass, probably the best country and a great jazz, contemporary acoustic and classical performer. I imagine his teaching method is a tiny part of his activities.
I can't evaluate Suzukis' teaching method (not playing violin, though I am a pro musician) but I'd expect Mark O'Connors claims about Suzukis history to be true.
QuoteSuzuki method seems to have attracted more than its fair share of purists, and churned out more than its fair share of robotic, expressionless performers with poor notation literacy and RSI. Suzuki's "fraud" was to pander to the instant gratification mindset, showcasing young students playing complex repertoire shortly after beginning lessons. Impressive to watch, at least to non-musicians, but at what cost? Any method is going to have gaps, as method authors tend to focus on aspects of their own specialisation. The best teachers cherry-pick from multiple methods to match techniques to students' learning styles which leads to better outcomes.
QuoteRe: the effectiveness of Suzuki method, Suzuki's basic premise is to teach music as a toddler learns to speak. So a child begins to play at 3, and begins to read at approximately 6 which mimics language learning. The problem with this approach is that older students are taught this way which has the demonstrated potential to create students who cannot learn repertoire by reading. I meet students at the Con when I was there doing my Masters who had gone through Suzuki method and had considerably difficulty keeping up with the demands of the course because they couldn't learn repertoire quickly. I have also observed lessons conducted by traditional Suzuki teachers (who were trained by Suzuki) and found the students lacked the attention to detail during complex passages that weren't as instantly recognisable by ear. The teacher did not address this issue in the lesson.
QuoteSuzuki method doesn't give a full understanding of the reading of music. This method takes all the harder work out of learning and produces musicians that aren't the best at sight reading and other important skills.
QuoteThis makes me SOOOOO happy. I HATED learning Suzuki at age 3!!!!! Worst experience, it hurt my ears.
QuoteSooo my daughter has been playing the piano like a fraud then?
QuoteOld news, and denigrates the many fine musicians his legacy set on their way. He may not have had the quals/connections claimed, but his methods DID fire up and propel thousands of fine musicians. Bach was largely self taught, wasn't he?
QuoteSo how come I can play the violin, bass and guitar from being taught the susuki method?
QuoteI wonder if this guy who made the claims has received a nomination for a Nobel Peace prize?
QuoteWhat a shame to discredit a person who has opened up the world of music for the young. What he has done is all positive and to our benefit. This is the way to sell newspapers?....shame on you
Quote I think Mr Suzuki has played everyone like a "fiddle" lol
QuoteHe still made great motorbikes
And these are certainly common sentiments:
QuoteWho cares about his background?
Quote It seems Mr O'connor is a little jealous!! Who cares???
QuoteWho cares if he was a fraud he did an amazing job. He was a total success and it shows world wide. Why do you hate so much.
Syzuki's book Nurtured by Love (http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/177508.Nurtured_by_Love) a required purchase?
QuoteI was required to read this and also participate in a parent training class with our piano teacher before beginning Suzuki method lessons.
QuoteThis book was required reading for the Suzuki Violin program that my son is beginning next week. While the book sometimes seems to ramble on, repeating the same ideas over and over, it does do a good job of informing the reader about the theory behind the Talent Education approach, and the events that spurred its development
OK, a teaching course, I can understand:
QuoteThis was required reading for a Suzuki teaching course, but I found it be very enjoyable on a personal level of both performing AND teaching. It doesn't contain a whole lot of practical information on the teaching method itself (though there are a few very specific and interesting examples), but more thoughts and ideas of youth education, self-improvement and how to make the world a better place, all through the medium of teaching violin
QuoteThis was required reading for my daughter's Suzuki violin studies, but I really liked a lot of his philosophies on education of children and life in general. He is a very spiritual, deeply feeling person with a lot of beautiful insights.
Quotethis was a mandatory read for me from Meghan's violin teacher. Book was poorly written--could be problematic in the translation. I didn't learn too much either so i am glad to be finished.
QuoteThe single worst written book I have ever read. If my daughter becomes a world famous musician, I will demand that she pay me for the tortured hours I spent reading this dreadful book.
And from Amazon: (http://www.amazon.com/Nurtured-Love-Classic-Approach-Education/dp/0874875846/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top)
QuoteThis book is required reading for the parents of students enrolled in the Suzuki string program, thank goodness!
Quote... The chapters here (which is essentially the same tome as "Ability from Age 0") are disjointed, and often read like a loose string of Dr. Suzuki's anecdotes as both a student and teacher of violin. Some of this may owe to the translation from Japanese. Much of it is downright naive, very preachy, and self-congratulating. In Suzuki's perfect world, ALL children are special and wonderful, and anger is "unnecessary," war is nonexistent, and love is all you need. Idealistic, if not practical, words for most of we parents who aren't exactly as Christ-like as Suzuki portrays himself to be. What the doctor seems to forget, however, is that were his advice followed to the letter and all children given the opportunity to capitalize on their ability, everyone would excel, everyone would be noble--which would be great--but then no one would be special any longer, because we'd ALL be talented little geniuses in EVERY aspect of our lives. Sadly, ours is not a perfect world. A majority of the world population live in less-than-nurturing circumstances, which ensures that some children will always grow to be miserable, angry, or in perpetual need--which in turn breeds want and war.
In short, a great inspirational book for parents and teachers, in music and in life. But if anyone can really espouse all the virtues Suzuki is selling here, they should change their name to Jesus and ascend into heaven forthwithly.
Oct. 29, 2014: Was Renowned Inventor of Suzuki Violin Method a Fraud? (http://www.wqxr.org/#!/story/was-renowned-violin-teacher-suzuki-fraud/)
QuoteHe developed a teaching method by which hundreds of thousands of children worldwide have learned to play the violin, cello, flute and piano. Alumni of the method include the violinists Hillary Hahn, Sarah Chang, Jennifer Koh and Leila Josefowicz.
But Shinichi Suzuki, the Japanese founder of the Suzuki Method who died in 1998, is now being accused of fabricating components of his personal story in order to help sell his books and courses.
The violinist Mark O'Connor published a blog post last week asserting that Suzuki made up one of the key chapters in his life story: that he spent eight years in the 1920s studying with renowned teacher Karl Klinger at the Berlin Conservatory. During that period, according to Suzuki's biography, he played chamber music with Albert Einstein, who helped inspire his revolutionary teaching methods.
"I don't think it's true," writes O'Connor. ...
A representative at the Suzuki Association of the Americas declined to speak on record, but stated that Suzuki's personal story "really doesn't matter to us because the proof is in the pudding."
Why decline to speak on record? And the response given in no way challenges the allegations. I could list about twenty cults that respond the same way to criticisms.
Interesting timing. This positive piece was published just a few days before Mark's research started making the rounds.
Tokyo's Soft Power Problem
The Suzuki Method: Japan's Best Overlooked Cultural Export (http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/25/opinion/the-suzuki-method-japans-most-successful-cultural-export.html?partner=rss&emc=rss)
More interesting comments here ranging from Mark's crazy, Suzuki defenders are crazy, and who cares?:
http://www.theviolinchannel.com/mark-oconnor-suzuki-method-biggest-fraud-in-music-history/ (http://www.theviolinchannel.com/mark-oconnor-suzuki-method-biggest-fraud-in-music-history/)
The Wikipedia Talk page (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk%3ASuzuki_method#Criticisms:_Pyramid_schemes_and_cults) lists some interesting criticisms if true:
QuoteI removed the following text from the "criticism and response" section because I have never heard or seen this criticism published (If anyone has a reliable source for this criticism, please introduce it. Otherwise, it seems more like a smear than a valid criticism.)
"In addition, there are troubling ways in which the Suzuki organization itself resembles both pyramid-scheme models and cult:
Teachers must pay for each level that they move up within the structure, by becoming "certified" for each book of the method
The only way to become "certified" is to pay for membership and training, which enables one to use the Suzuki image and name for self-promotion
Materials put forth by the organization stress the sharing of methods and knowledge only within the body of members
The members of the organization hold a quasi-religious reverence for the founder
Suzuki materials continually refer to "Dr. Suzuki," who held no formal education beyond the high school level, and only held honorary or ceremonial "doctorates"
The group as a whole sometimes refers to itself as the "Suzuki Movement"; this term has no equivalent in any other form of music education
On his death, Suzuki handed off the organization to his own adopted son
Suzuki often used millennialist-type language, as in videos produced for the organization members: "Everybody awake and walk together!"
Interesting New York Times article from 1984:
CONCERT: VIOLIN STUDENTS OF SUZUKI METHOD (http://www.nytimes.com/1984/05/29/arts/concert-violin-students-of-suzuki-method.html)
QuoteONTO the stage of Carnegie Hall they stepped, 60 young musicians between the ages of 4 and 16, armed with miniature violins. Friday night's concert by the Haag-Leviton Academy of Performing Arts - under the joint direction of Julian Leviton and Betty Haag - and the Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Henry Mazer, was a celebration of Shinichi Suzuki's controversial pedagogical methods.
Briefly, Mr. Suzuki and his disciples believe that any child can develop a considerable level of musical achievement when taught by rote at an early age.
The child does not learn to read music until much later, if at all; the handling of the instrument, playing by ear and unthinking repetition come first.
The students in these orchestras have played throughout Europe, appeared on the television program ''Good Morning America'' and the French television version of ''That's Incredible.'' Some of the children are only 2 or 3 feet tall; all were dressed uniformly, obeyed their conductors, stared straight ahead and bowed with startling precision, offering renditions of everything from Bach and Handel through Bartok and Leroy Anderson. There was something initially arresting about this vision.
However, while nobody expects profundity from pre-schoolers, the collective playing was automatic. More disturbingly, some solo performances by senior members of the ensemble - pianists and violinists old enough to know better - were technically assured but absolutely devoid of germinal musical insight.
All of which makes one suspect that the Suzuki method is to music making as parrot chatter is to oratory. This listener, for one, would rather hear a fumbled, halting rendition of the Brahms lullaby or ''To a Wild Rose'' that a child has cherished, wrestled with and made his own than empty precocity on the stage of Carnegie Hall.
This article from May 2012 has an interesting tidbit which I have highlighted and then commented on in blue:
The Suzuki Method strings together musicianship, character (http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_20690758/suzuki-method-strings-together-musicianship-character)
QuoteIt all started with a quote from Japanese violinist Shin'ichi Suzuki.
"I want to make good citizens. If a child hears fine music from the day of his birth and learns to play it himself, he develops sensitivity, discipline and endurance. He gets a beautiful heart."
In the mid-20th century, Sukuzi developed the Suzuki Method of education that encourages a positive learning environment to develop character in students. This was a method violinist Laurie Carlson embraced early on, and one she's shared with her students for several years.
Now, Carlson will share the benefits of learning music the Suzuki way with the public through Contra Costa Suzuki Strings' "Share the Joy," a concert featuring her young violin students ages 7 to 16.
The concert includes traditional Suzuki repertoire, fiddle music from Greece, Ireland and America, a medley from "The Wizard of Oz" and Beatles favorites.
Carlson, Suzuki Strings' director, said when people go to concerts and learn that a young performer is one of her students, parents ask if she could teach their children.
"Students can start learning violin at a very young age because we have small violins," said Carlson, a longtime Clayton resident. "Parents are very involved."
In fact, parents get to learn how to play the violin alongside their 3-year-old through the parent/teacher/student "Suzuki triangle" approach, at least in the very beginning, said Carlson, who grew up in a musical family.
"As they get into their teens there's a natural 'weaning away,' " said Carlson, who has played violin with the Diablo Symphony for 25 years. "The success of the kids is affected by parent involvement. It's not only our goal to build fine musicians but to build beautiful human beings."
Lynne Takeuchi of Walnut Creek was impressed with the Suzuki method because students get to first learn music by listening to several different types of music. Students focus on musical notes later on, she said.
Takeuchi said she remembers learning to play the violin along with her then 4-year-old daughter Naomi as a way of forming a supportive learning environment.
"A lot of parents either rent or own a violin," Takeuchi said.
Some parents continue playing, while others don't.
"No, I didn't stay with it," said Takeuchi, who said she also plays piano. "There's too much to do."
But the important thing was that Naomi, now 16, has reaped the rewards of continuing to learn violin.
"Playing with the Suzuki Strings group keeps the child interested in the violin," Takeuchi said.
[highlight]As with team sports, practicing violin with a group teaches accountability to young students at an early age, she said.
"If one performer is gone, that's huge. It makes a difference in the way they play together," Takeuchi said. "Playing in a group creates a level of commitment. As they practice more, they encourage each other on. It's productive peer pressure."[/highlight]
Note: And it could also be counter productive as it creates an exit barrier and would make children feel guilty for simply not wanting to continue with lessons. Cults make exiting as hard as possible, and that to me sounds like an example.
Naomi, who attends Las Lomas High School, said playing violin requires use of "all your emotions as you really get into it."
She said Carlson, whom she's taken private lessons with since Naomi was 4, has been a great mentor who's suggested that students revisit musical pieces they learned earlier to see how they may have improved their ability through the years.
"She really pushes you to keep violin at the forefront of your mind and encourages you to make it one of your priorities," Naomi said. "My Mom said I have 'crossed-over' in my violin career. I feel I've come out of my shell a bit. It's really helped me to be more outgoing."
Pleasant Hill resident Lisa Peterson's son Cameron, 16, and daughter, Michaela, 14, have also been longtime students of Carlson's.
"Cameron was 3 years old when he picked up and practiced holding this little bitty violin," Peterson said.
Soon Cameron learned to play by ear with Carlson's guidance, some music books and listening to CDs. Through the years, the Peterson family has seen the benefits of playing music from an early age.
While her daughter has taken up playing the viola, Cameron continues to play for College Park High School's orchestra. One of his greatest achievements--playing with his school orchestra at Carnegie Hall last year.
"It was fun and exciting to be able to play at a place everybody talks about in terms of the musical realm," Cameron said.
Interesting discussion going on here which I can't see how to join for the life of me. I keep getting LinkedIn error massages. Perhaps the page just contains copied posts from a deleted LinkedIn discussion?
http://www.weissconcerto.com/Music_Educators_LinkedIn.shtml (http://www.weissconcerto.com/Music_Educators_LinkedIn.shtml)
Quote... I don't care if the guy thinks Suzuki is a Zen Buddha who is resurrected from the Samurai Warrior of Imperial Japan (which he actually refers to in a few of his biographies as his background).
Now that's interesting.
An interesting discussion here from several years ago, and it's a good sign the discussion was allowed on a Suzuki site which shows the word "cultic" has long been used to describe some aspects of the organisation by people involved. The booklet quoted was published in 1966.
https://suzukiassociation.org/discuss/5344/ (https://suzukiassociation.org/discuss/5344/)
QuoteThe one that arrived recently from Amazon is "The Suzuki Violin Method in American Music Education" by John Kendall, who of course is one of the founders in this movement (he does call it a "movement," by the way, for those who want to lecture me on how it's "not a Method but a philosophy" or how it's "interesting" that I don't know that...sorry, but someone attacked me verbally on a list in this fashion).
Interesting reading, third paragraph of the Preface: QuoteThe dangers of "cultism" and narrow dogmatic interpretations of the pedagogical approach have not disappeared, but the major thrust of the movement, and the constant efforts to improve teaching skills and parent understanding, must inevitably raise the standards and produce positive results.(p. 7)
The booklet is available here (http://books.google.co.kr/books?id=kYvFjAyg9-cC&pg=PP1&lpg=PP1&dq=The+Suzuki+Violin+Method+in+American+Music+Education%E2%80%9D+by+John+Kendall&source=bl&ots=lGh5nlhKiM&sig=vJkW3KSfXSplwmnqS_w7NC2q5sk&hl=en&sa=X&ei=wfdRVI3GBMfz8QXc7QI&ved=0CDkQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=The%20Suzuki%20Violin%20Method%20in%20American%20Music%20Education%E2%80%9D%20by%20John%20Kendall&f=false). I only realized that after I bought the Kindle version from Amazon >:(
Some interesting comments concern the cult vibe experienced by some. I'm cherry-picking again, so check out the rest of the posts in the above link if interested.
QuoteI've been concerned about this issue. I've attended an institute where a teacher treated the Suzuki method as something like a I don't think that music alone can change the world.
QuoteYes, there have been instances and me being in situations (workshops) where the Suzuki Method came across as "cultish." But I did not take it as such, and would not go there. Teachers that are that "hyped" with the method and are so zealous, just as with any belief/religion to me are somewhat "nuts."
QuoteMy one and only complaint now and always in the past has been, that if one questions—even so slightly—some tenant of the Suzuki method, there is a defensive response (in some cases, granted) of resentment and anger. This is what troubles me. What I would like—and granted, "what I would like" is not important to anyone t me, surely—is a free expression of ideas, a dispassionate search for the truth, wherever it may lead—even if, and perhaps especially if—the outcomes contradict our most cherished beliefs.
QuoteZoki, I cried when I read your thoughtful note. I have suffered so much from people just literally ripping me apart in public for even marginally questioning anything about Suzuki. And I was deeply moved when I first encountered Dr. Suzuki's writings, so it's not that I'm anti-Suzuki. Not at all. Anti-dogmatism.
QuoteThis is an old thread, but not a forgotten topic, at least to me. I can share that after being on this board for two years, not one single person has attacked me personally or caused me any pain, or made me feel that my questions or comments were unwanted. I cannot say the same for other Suzuki forums.
I started reading Suzuki's book Nurtured By Love. At the beginning, he uses this thoroughly debunked story to push his ideas of the importance of the environment in the development of children... Certainly not a bad idea in itself, but he goes as far as to say if other girls are raised by wolves, they too would sprout hair on their chests and shoulders. :o
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amala_and_Kamala (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amala_and_Kamala)
There's mention of the above here on the Google Books preview of Shinichi Suzuki: The Man and His Philosophy
By Evelyn Hermann (http://books.google.co.kr/books?id=e8OkE55py04C&pg=PA204&lpg=PA204&dq=suzuki+wolf+girls&source=bl&ots=c6VZbPV4jG&sig=5yWAD8u7t6NZLFZS6IRoKZKWdEk&hl=en&sa=X&ei=V05SVPPFKYHN8gW5_4KIDA&ved=0CEkQ6AEwCQ#v=onepage&q=suzuki%20wolf%20girls&f=false)
Interesting comment under this article from May of this year, but first a little about the "Method"
The Suzuki method didn't make me a great violinist. But it did change my life (http://www.spectator.co.uk/columnists/mary-wakefield/9211651/the-suzuki-method-didnt-make-me-a-great-violinist-but-it-did-change-my-life/)
QuoteI learnt the violin by the Suzuki method from the age of three until about 14. It was a newish fad back then in London, although Shinichi Suzuki, the movement's founder, was in his eighties and had been teaching in Japan since the war. Suzuki's idea was simple and had come to him as he watched toddlers learn to speak: start a child young enough and he will learn music the way he does language — naturally and easily. The 'mother tongue' philosophy, it was called.
[highlight]The ideal Suzuki child is immersed in music. He spends his first year without a bow, simply holding a tiny violin under his chin, listening.[/highlight] When he gets his bow, the ideal Suzuki child is so keen to practise he often chooses to do more than his mandatory hour a day. I was not an ideal Suzuki child. My mother still bears the psychic scars of dragging me to practice. Sometimes even now, she murmurs as if traumatised: 'Open A string, Mary please, open A.' I remember more than once standing, bow dangling from a finger, thinking darkly that I would never, ever speak to her again.
QuoteThe real issue concerns whether you have to force children to do something they aren't interested in, don't enjoy or really aren't that good at.
It's one thing getting children to try things out, asking them to stick with it for 12 months to give it a fair trial. Quite another forcing them to do it for a decade.
I hope things have changed since my day when aural tests determined that you played the violin, rather than saying you had musical potential and which instrument might suit you?
I spent 10 years being ritually humiliated in a variety of ways before having proper teaching, which allowed me to complete a journey and then give up. If I'd had proper teaching, which saw music as an expression of soul, not as a compulsory drudge to expiate adult egos, then maybe I'd have continued all my life.
It's the height of irony that as a society we are now hypersensitive about the slightest slight to women's 'dignity', 'femininity', 'rights' etc etc.
But force a kid to scrape a violin for a decade, enduring taunting at school, humiliation on Saturdays and at residential courses and terror at concerts, and that's just fine and dandy.
It's a marvellous way to instil self-hatred, destruction of self-worth and a belief that your life is not yours to live.
All you need to do is say after six months: 'this isn't working: let's try a different instrument'.....
How hard is that??
Too hard for a long list of luminaries, who I won't dignify to name........
And Suzuki in his youth trained in some mountains to be a healer and could withstand hot and cold so well he could hold white hot metal. (http://books.google.co.kr/books?id=QYljA_t3XH4C&pg=PA43&dq=shinichi+suzuki+christian&hl=en&sa=X&ei=xhlTVOAKw92YBeDzgPgC&ved=0CB0Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=shinichi%20suzuki%20christian&f=false)White hot metal is around 1,200 degree Celsius. I don't know what that is in Fahrenheit, but I'm sure it's a lot ;)
A couple of threads on violinist.com concerning Mark's criticism:
Oct. 2014: http://www.violinist.com/discussion/response.cfm?ID=26216 (http://www.violinist.com/discussion/response.cfm?ID=26216)
April 2013: http://www.violinist.com/discussion/response.cfm?ID=24172 (http://www.violinist.com/discussion/response.cfm?ID=24172)
Violinist Fiona Bryan offers her thoughts on the "Suzuki" scandal. She is more concerned with the future of violin teaching (which is admirable and I agree completely), but as someone interested primarily in the cultish aspects of all things Suzuki, I will quote the paragraphs that speak to that and invite you to explore her full posts via the links provided:
Oct 31, 2014: Suzuki was a fraud & Mark O'Connor wants you to buy his method. (http://banteringblonde.com/2014/10/31/suzuki-fraud-mark-oconnor/)
Quote...The crisis is not whether Mr/Dr Suzuki falsified his resume, whether the method is "cult-like" (it sorta is... [highlight]I was chastised at the Beaver Creek Suzuki Institute during a parent meeting for letting one of my boys take a year off when he was 9 and hated the violin and everything about it and barfed on the teacher's front lawn before every lesson for three weeks straight)[/highlight], or whether you should make sure your teacher is Suzuki certified ...
November 1, 2014: Focusing on Suzuki O'Connor Misses the Point (http://banteringblonde.com/2014/11/01/focusing-on-suzuki-misses-the-point/)
QuoteFor those who grew up learning Suzuki method in the "olden days", as my daughter likes to say, Dr/Mr Suzuki was a more tangible person. Our teachers were going to Japan to "study" with Suzuki and the ones who went made sure we knew all about it and if they brought a student with them you never heard the end of it. If I compare this to some of the method books my boys use for trumpet (brass) and clarinet I can't say that there is as much of a connection or preoccupation with the life of the person who wrote their method books. Perhaps it is because those folks never jumped on a marketing train to wallpaper the world with their book
That's another example of a cultic mindset. The authors of other methods didn't try to establish a cult of personality around themselves complete with false histories because that isn't what mentally healthy ethical people do, whether they want to sell a product or not.
QuoteI admit that in some ways what I'm suggesting is a comparison of apples to oranges because Suzuki's method is more life encompassing than a simple method book but I think it is important to recognize that many of the parents of Suzuki students don't really have the time to care about who Suzuki was.
I think the "life encompassing" aspect of Suzuki's "Method' is indicative of the cultic mindset. He wanted to cast his net wider and talking up his method as a way to become a better person fits in with how most cults appeal to recruits.
Fiona then quotes Mary Beth Woodruff (http://www.santabarbarastrings.org/Santa_Barbara_Strings/Artistic_Director.html), artistic director and conductor of the Santa Barbara Strings:
QuoteMr. O'Connor should note the focus when it comes to the issue of Suzuki's credibilities. To focus on him is to miss the point. Shinichi Suzuki is referred to as 'Dr. Suzuki' yet only honorary doctorates seem to have been issued. This is a bit questionable and feeds into the cult-mentality of which many take issue when it comes to Suzuki. [highlight]If he was largely self-taught, great, but what right does the Suzuki association have to question the rest of us who are self-taught in its closed system of teacher directories and highly expensive teacher certification training programs?[/highlight]
What should be gleaned and learned from this is that no one system of pedagogy should dominate music education. [highlight]Many of us that have chosen to be 'non Suzuki certified' but possess graduate degrees in music education and/or performance consider it an affront that the first page of every Suzuki book delivers an admonition to parents about checking their teacher's Suzuki credibility.[/highlight] This is as transparent as it comes and shows that this system is guilty, as is the case with so many 'systems' of being tainted by monetary gain.
It needs to be clear that the 'Suzuki Industry' is a multi-million dollar one. O'Connor's system is probably just as guilty if not more. There are fantastic pedagogues who are both Suzuki and non-Suzuki certified/accredited and if the Suzuki association is going to ask parents to question their teacher's 'pay in' to the Suzuki system, it shouldn't be out of bounds to actually investigate Mr. Suzuki's credentials themselves. It is only fair play if they are asking parents to do this on the first page of all Suzuki repertoire books. Yet, it doesn't need to be done with malice. It should be done with pure, gentle logic.
I admire so many things about the Suzuki method, yet a monopoly of pedagogy is not a good thing any more than Walmart's taking over all small local businesses is a good thing. I only wish for more respect given from the Suzuki Association to those of us outside of their system who may possess graduate degrees, positions in symphony orchestras or who have trained under some of the best pedagogues in the world. Mine include Julia Bushkova, Andres Cardenes, James Buswell, and Ronald Copes – none of whom are Suzuki trained or certified."
And in this Twitter discussion (https://twitter.com/banteringblonde/status/527841093036310528) (as much as it's possible to have a discussion when limited to 140 characters) between Fiona and Michael, Michael offers this tantalizing hint at things to come:
QuoteSpeaking of those "sins" by Suzuki, I am sorry to say that it gets much worse than what we've disclosed. His personal assistant has been in touch with us. Let's just say, it would be better to tell your folks to cut & run now.
More interesting material, this time of the kind I disagree with ;). I don't think Mark's allegations can be characterised as an attempt to assassinate Suzuki's character. And I think the writer, who works at a Suzuki school, is falling into the common trap of attacking the messenger. Something we see in cults all the time^. I personally view the discussions about Mark's own method as an irrelevant side-show. Certainly many will disagree, but I think such discussions do nothing but change the topic from Suzuki's lies in an attempt, conscious or otherwise, to sidetrack the issue.
From wiki's Character Assassination page: (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Character_assassination)
QuoteCharacter assassination is a deliberate and sustained process that aims to destroy the credibility and reputation of a person, institution, social group, or nation.[1] Agents of character assassinations employ a mix of open and covert methods to achieve their goals, such as raising false accusations, planting and fostering rumours, and manipulating information.
If Mark's allegations are true - and I certainly believe they are - then the above does not in any way shape or form in this universe or any other apply ;). Read the whole entry, I'll just copy a few quotes and send any readers here to the source via the following link:
October 29, 2014: CHARACTER ASSASSINATION DOES NOTHING TO BENEFIT MUSIC: WHY THE SUZUKI METHOD IS WRONGFULLY UNDER FIRE (http://lunalunamag.com/2014/10/29/suzuki-method/)
QuoteA buzz has started its way through the community of music education. Allegations that Shinichi Suzuki, creator of the Suzuki Method, lied about his musical training with Karl Klinger and friendship with Albert Einstein. ...
Let's get two things straight and move on: The worth of someone's creative output is not dependent on the people they know, and ad hominem attacks are the cheapest form of argument.
Again I would disagree that the attacks are ad hominem attacks. We are talking about an alleged (and I think very very probable) falsified reputation which launched a multi-million dollar industry.
QuoteDoes no one perform the Beethoven 9th because its composer had gone deaf?
:o
That may be the stupidest comment I've ever read.
QuoteLois Shepheard is an expert on Suzuki and his method, and responded here two years ago to O'Connor's first blog in which she addresses each allegation. In her book, Memories of Dr. Shinichi Suzuki: Son of His Environment (Glass House Books, 2012), she writes:
"I was aghast when he [Suzuki] said suddenly, 'You don't teach Suzuki Method...You teach Suzuki-Shepheard...No one teaches Suzuki Method but Suzuki.'...It could be a trap for a teacher, anxious to do the right thing by the Suzuki Method if he or she disregards what was studied and known previously or assimilated since. Suzuki never said: 'You must do exactly as I say. I'm right and you're wrong.' Instead his often repeated phrase was: This is what I have learned." (pgs 63-64)
Yes, Lois Shepheard is considered an expert on Suzuki (http://www.violinist.com/directory/bio.cfm?member=27lamlas) - and I'll grant she knew the man and knows the method well, but is she also an indoctrinated member of his personality cult? I believe the following quotes from her book not only show that she is, but also that Suzuki was a complete and utter fraud, a bad teacher (or not a teacher at all) and a musical illiterate. Rather, he was simply another deluded mentally ill leader of a cult living out a fantasy surrounded by indoctrinated followers. Regarding his musical literacy, sure, he liked to talk about music, but in reading Lois's books and other materials, I've yet to come across any teaching advice or any comment that shows even a rudimentary grasp of basic music theory, let alone evidence he took private violin lessons from a master for 8 years. The advice that I've seen so far documented all relates to the right bowing hand. Now, I don't play violin, but I do play guitar. Certainly in guitar playing, a teacher that only focused on the right hand (or strumming/picking) hand would be considered a pretty weird teacher. Sure the right hand is important and there are various skills it has to master, but those pale in comparison to the role of the left hand. And I imagine the right hand of a guitar player has more to do than the right hand of a violinist? Please correct me if I'm wrong.
I have plenty of more quotes to share from Lois's book, which reads like a random sampling of crazy Monty Python sketches, when I have time, but I think these will suffice for now:
Quote[highlight]He told us how, as a young man, he'd gone up into the mountains and learned how to be a healer. I watched him heal people on several occasions.[/highlight] It appeared to sap a lot of his energy. I've seen children who'd fallen and hurt an arm go happily back into a class after a few minutes of his ministrations. 'Now you go play,' he'd say. I saw an American boy with a fairly severe leg injury of several months' duration, limp toward Dr Suzuki and 30 minutes later, walk away easily. Some Zen training is described as channelling the healing vibrations available in nature.
A nun rose and proceeded to explain her difficulties with teaching. 'Professor Suzuki, I have a number of students,' she said. 'They don't have good posture and I just can't get them to hold the bow correctly. They never seem to be able to play a piece from memory; they just don't have the confidence. They don't play well in tune either. What should I do?' Suzuki's answer was immediate. 'Pray to God,' he said (as Alfred Garson reported).
[highlight]Suzuki told us he'd learned to withstand cold and heat and that, as part of his training, he'd grasped white hot metal.[/highlight] He never wore a coat, even in the depths of Matsumoto winter. ... Certainly, those who study Zen can develop, among other attributes, indifference to the discomforts of heat and cold.
As he listened to Monday concert items (or indeed to some performances in his teaching studio), Suzuki often appeared to fall asleep but was immediately alert when the kenkyūsei stopped playing. I asked him once how he kept going through his long hours of teaching. 'Oh,' he said. 'When a student plays, I decide in the first two minutes what I'm going to teach and then I sleep till he finishes.
[highlight]In Matsumoto, in the middle of his teaching, our master would leave his studio and we'd all wait till he returned from watching a sumo contest on TV. He loved watching those huge men wrestling. I was amused at that.[/highlight] They were such a contrast to his small frame.
It was an expensive lesson; one paid for a month's tuition whether there for a month or just a day.
Dr and Mrs Suzuki visited my students at the Royal Victorian Institute for the Blind (RVIB) School. Dr Suzuki happily posed with a nearly blind, partially deaf child with severe learning difficulties but he complained about her bow-hold after she played.
Is it really so hard to believe that a man who claimed to be a healer AND to have held white hot metal lied about his past? Is it really hard to believe that a teacher who sleeps during lessons and while awake goes off mid-lesson to watch TV was not really a teacher at all, or at best a very bad one? And then there's the smoking which killed his wife:
QuoteWaltraud lived all her married life in a cigarette smoke filled home (the 50-60 Camel cigarettes per day). 'Ach, that man,' she said. 'He kills me with his cigarettes.' Mrs Suzuki eventually died of emphysema in 2000. Dr Suzuki told us that when he was young he saw a picture of the world's oldest man. It was a Russian with a cigarette in his hand, so Suzuki determined that to attain a long life he too must smoke. It must have worked; he passed away in his 100th year.
Granted, most of his generation smoked. Still, you've got to admire the justification he gave. I hope he said that before his wife died and not after.
Plenty of interesting, insightful, and ignorant comments under this piece:
http://www.theviolinchannel.com/suzuki-association-statement-mark-oconnor-fraud-claims/ (http://www.theviolinchannel.com/suzuki-association-statement-mark-oconnor-fraud-claims/)
This one caught my eye:
QuoteWell I will say one thing to disparage Suzuki: they seem to have a stranglehold on the education of the young violinist market. Their brand is extremely dominant to the point that if you want a decent teaching job out of music school you'd better be Suzuki certified. That is a bit monopolistic.
November 4, 2014: The Real Truth About the Suzuki Method (http://the%20real%20truth%20about%20the%20suzuki%20method)
QuoteI once attended a short seminar with Suzuki guru Helen Brunner where she made this statement without a hint of irony, "Imagine how wonderful it would be if all the children in the world were playing the same pieces". It sent chills down my spine.
Helen Brunner is the Suzuki teacher who thinks performing surgery on a patient is less important than attending a child's violin lesson, presumably to practice variations on Twinkle Twinkle.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/classicalmusic/8146379/How-I-became-a-Suzuki-disciple.html (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/classicalmusic/8146379/How-I-became-a-Suzuki-disciple.html)
Mark just posted this on Facebook.. I think it's worth sharing:
QuoteThe President of Shar Music has something to say about the issues I have with the Suzuki Method. He wants a truce from me, and I would like to offer that now.
I feel like my effort into researching the existing pedagogy in order to improve upon my own has concluded. I don't need to espouse my opinions on it anymore. I have done a lot to that end, far too much in fact. Although there isn't anything I want to retract from my Parting Shots blog articles at this time due to no new information substantiating other facts or findings than we have presented, I do apologize for how I have caused such an impassioned response and over-heated debate.
It may be worth noting that I did not write the quote that a major newspaper headlined "Biggest Fraud in the History Of Music." However I believe I probably said it off the cuff in a conversation while I was driving in the heavy rain to a gig in the Northeast. It created an internet sensation and here we are. I take responsibility for the comment and wished it was not quoted and used as a headline because it obscured finer points that I wanted to make. I know that we all deserve better than what is happening with friends and colleagues and I fully agree with Charles that there is room for all. Sincerely and with apologies, Mark O'Connor Nov, 5, 2014.
QuoteRoom for All: Shar Weighs In on Mark O'Connor's Anti-Suzuki Statements (http://www.violinist.com/blog/paganini124/201411/16350/)
Written by Charles Avsharian
Published: November 5, 2014 at 8:46 PM [UTC]
Sometimes a conversation goes too far and crosses the line from spirited discussion to something potentially hurtful and damaging. In my role as CEO of SHAR, I take great pains to focus on appropriate customer and business issues and leave such conversations to others. SHAR has always sought to bring useful and innovative products and services to the attention of our customers. [highlight]Censorship plays no part in our operation, since we strongly feel that our own music community ("the market") is best equipped to make its own decisions.
However, the most recent comments in an ongoing online argument, and elsewhere, have made it impossible to avoid.[/highlight] And, as a teacher and violinist, I feel obligated and impassioned to state my opinion, as well as present SHAR's official response. Of course, I am referring to violinist Mark O'Connor's attacks on the Suzuki Method, and, in particular, on the character of Dr. Shinichi Suzuki.
It was in the early 1960's, just after Shar began its own "Early Development" here in Ann Arbor, when America first witnessed the potential and great value in the Suzuki Method. Dr. Suzuki brought a small class of young children to perform here in the states. In just a few short years, Dr. Suzuki's "Talent Education" combined with the unique perspectives of American Teachers, brought the joy of playing the violin to a new, and large, audience. We had never seen anything like it and felt that Suzuki's method had brought much needed new blood into what many felt was a rich person's pursuit.
Indeed, in that time-honored American Way, the "democratization" of teaching the violin opened countless new doors, and Dr. Suzuki's dream of "making good citizens" was firmly established. [highlight]The method had transformed into a movement, a way of living a good life. SHAR has been a strong supporter of Dr. Suzuki's Talent Education from the very beginning, faithfully sponsoring the SAA and related organizations at the highest level. That support does not waver today.[/highlight]
When Mark O'Connor put pen to paper and created his "O'Connor Method", he put his lifetime of experience in learning and teaching the violin into a beautiful, passionate, and effective series of books with a uniquely American approach. Not content with simply accepting old-fashioned pedagogical violin methods rehashed using American tunes, O'Connor took his method much further. With an emphasis on improvisation, playing and listening together, and gaining an understanding of music that was already revered worldwide yet somehow rejected as not being "serious", he created something that could not be ignored. As with Suzuki, it is the uniqueness of O'Connor's method that opens the doors to scores of new players into the mainstream of violin playing, and injecting fresh blood into teaching the violin.
It is the opening of doors that has created opportunities for so many, strengthening violin teaching in the process.
There is no need to restate here what has already been said on the internet and elsewhere. [highlight]Suffice it to say that the conversation is no longer useful. I have in fact made this point directly to Mr. O'Connor several times since he first began posting on this subject more than a year ago. Unfortunately, my hopes for calling an end to the hostilities have failed.[/highlight]
SHAR's position is that our community of players, teachers, students, parents, and composers, benefits greatly when doors are opened. When those doors begin to close, whether through neglect, hurtful comments, or institutional stasis, our community suffers.
[highlight]Freedom of speech is part of our wonderful culture in the free world. However, that does not mean one is protected from how people react to what is said.[/highlight]
Charles Avsharian
CEO Shar Music Company
One interesting comment^
QuoteI wonder if Charles threatened to remove the MOC method from Shar's catalogue if MOC didn't curb his vitriolic assault. Hmmmm...
The word "However" just doesn't belong after a sentence like "Censorship plays no part in our operation."
It should read: Censorship has played no part in our operations until now.
I thought this Facebook post from Suzuki CEO Gilda Barston (https://suzukiassociation.org/news/author/gilda-barston/) worth sharing, especially in light of Charles Avsharian's successful censorship of Mark. I can understand Gilda wanting to present her and Suzuki Method Inc.'s side of the story, but to try to stop the interview from being broadcast borders on the cultish. She should check her email more often^
QuoteDear Friends:
It has come to my attention that NPR has recorded an interview with Mark O'Connor presenting his "facts" about Shinichi Suzuki and the Suzuki Method. The interview is scheduled to air tomorrow (Sunday, November 2, 2014) between 8-10 am on the "Weekend Edition" program.
This interview was recorded WITHOUT any input or rebuttal by the Suzuki Assocations or any member of the Suzuki community. (I spoke with the journalist involved, and was told that she had attempted to reach me and the SAA but was unsuccessful.)
It is outrageous that NPR will air this without checking O'Connor's "facts."
I am asking each of you to write a short email to the journalist, Liz Baker: Ebaker@npr.org and Scott Simon, the host of "Weekend Edition": ssimon@npr.org (I am not completely sure of his email, but I am sure of Liz Baker's email) [highlight]urging them to not broadcast[/highlight], or to delay broadcasting the interview until they can check all of O'Connor's "facts" and give equal time to a spokesperson for the Suzuki Community.
I purposely did not include a generic email that could be sent under your names, as I think it is important to write something that conveys your own concern and care about Shinichi Suzuki and his legacy.
Please also forward this email to any of your friends who can add their voice to this!
The addresses once again are:
ebaker@npr.org
ssimon@npr.org
Thank you for your help.
Gilda Barston
CEO - International Suzuki Association
Browsing Mark O'Connor's page on NPR, I'm not seeing an interview about this: http://www.npr.org/artists/102122971/mark-o-connor (http://www.npr.org/artists/102122971/mark-o-connor)
NPR just released the interview and they've been following this pretty closely^
http://www.npr.org/2014/11/16/364140413/twinkle-sparks-fireworks-as-fiddler-guts-violin-method (http://www.npr.org/2014/11/16/364140413/twinkle-sparks-fireworks-as-fiddler-guts-violin-method)
Mark George, spokesman for the Suzuki Association of the Americas: "Mrs. Suzuki named my daughter," George says. "So you know, when somebody says not so nice things about them, of course I'm going to respond."
That's kind of odd^
Nice New York Times piece^
Violin World Yowls at Challenge to Fabled Teacher (http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/08/arts/mark-oconnor-fans-a-debate-about-the-suzuki-method.html?smid=tw-share&_r=0)
QuoteThe bitterly traded charges of deception and unfair attacks would have been right at home in a rough-and-tumble political campaign. In this case, though, the acrimony erupted in an area that is usually much more placid: the market for children's violin lessons.
It all began when the American violin virtuoso and composer Mark O'Connor, who started publishing his own instruction books several years ago, took aim at the giant of the field: the Suzuki method, known for teaching legions of children around the world to saw away at variations of "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star." Mr. O'Connor not only criticized the method but also accused its creator, Shinichi Suzuki, of fabricating parts of his biography to promote it. ...
http://www.bbc.com/news/av/magazine-39934736/the-musician-who-taught-three-year-olds-to-master-the-violin