Understandably nervous for his senior recital on string bass at the Peabody Institute, Ben Kramer began to bow the opening bars of Hoagy Carmichael’s 1927 classic “Stardust.” His fears dissolved when he heard his father’s piano accompaniment.

For 22-year-old Kramer of Longwood, Florida, the key to his success as a young professional bass player—despite learning from world-renowned professors—has been the lifelong involvement of his father, Michael, in his musical education.

Patience & Praise

“Together, we came full circle, from my college audition with my dad on the piano to my senior recital,” Ben explains. “I wanted him to play at my senior recital. I sound my best when I play with him.”

“It’s a thrill for me to be a part of his musical life,” says Michael, a jazz pianist. “I was probably more of a Suzuki dad than I know.”

Michael is referring to the Suzuki Method. While he didn’t formally enroll his son in a Suzuki program, Michael says he now understands that his involvement in his son’s musical upbringing is a keystone of this style of teaching. Like Suzuki students, Ben learned to play music by first listening to it, and he constantly had music playing around the house while he was growing up.

Millions of musicians, both professional and amateur, credit a parental figure for their musical accomplishments. After all, it’s a parent’s or grandparent’s love, patience, respect, and praise that often motivates a musician. That’s why the world-famous Suzuki method is admired by students, parents, and music teachers—it embodies the concept of “learning with love.”

Native Ability

The Suzuki Method was developed more than 60 years ago in Japan by Dr. Shinichi Suzuki. It was originally created to teach violin, but it has been adapted to other instruments, including viola, piano, bass, cello, flute, harp, and guitar.
Suzuki, who learned to play violin by ear, studied in Germany under Karl Klinger. He did not have trouble with the violin, but rather with the language barrier. Like many adults, Suzuki found learning other languages tricky.

But young children don’t have the same difficulties with language. Suzuki was fascinated that toddlers, for instance, easily learn to speak their native language, however difficult this language might seem to adults. Suzuki reasoned that a child could just as easily pick up the language of music.

Suzuki’s ideas eventually led to the concept of Talent Education. He thought that every child is born with natural musical ability, and that they can play an instrument when taught with the right method.
 
Extrinsic Value

What separates the Suzuki Method from other methods is that it puts a great deal of emphasis on the role of the parent. Suzuki teachers talk of the “Suzuki triangle”—the idea that the teacher, parent, and child should experience the learning process together.

Extending a parent’s involvement beyond simply dropping off a child at music class may seem like a lot to ask in these days of over-filled schedules, but the rewards, both for child and parent, are great.

Betty Whalig, a board member for the Suzuki Association of the Americas from Corning, New York, has spent 21 years using the Suzuki violin method with her six children. And of her 15 grandchildren, nine are participating in Suzuki.

She says that in her role as a “Suzuki mom” her mission was to practice with her children, take them to all their lessons, be their support, and communicate openly with their teacher. “In hindsight, there was a lot of extrinsic value,” she adds. “There were academic benefits from using the method, such as memory training, discipline, and the recognition of improvement.”

“Being a part of the Suzuki Method was the best thing we ever did for our children,” concludes Whalig, whose children are all Yale graduates. “I’m a believer to the bone.”
 
Strong Foundation

Suzuki training often starts for children as young as two. Even at that age, they are asked to practice their instrument dutifully, listen to music at home, attend performances, and practice and perform in groups.

Suzuki students first learn to play by listening to music. Learning to read music comes later, after progress has been made making sounds and playing simple songs. This is similar to the way we approach language, where listening and speech come before reading and writing.

As Dr. Suzuki asserted, music is for the ear, not the eye. By knowing proper instrument technique and having a trained ear first, so the thinking goes, a student builds a stronger musical foundation.

The foundation of Ariana Warren’s musical education was laid when she was four years old. Her mother, Marie, remembers taking her to a town concert. The young Ariana was so moved by two Suzuki violin players from China that she hounded her parents for nearly a year to learn the instrument.

Marie and her husband, Dana, were nervous that Ariana was too young to start playing, but they found a certified Suzuki teacher nearby, and started going to lessons with her each week.

The lessons paid off—Ariana played at Carnegie Hall with a group of other Suzuki children when she was just six. She also started to read music at the time she started to read words. “Music was her first language,” says Marie, who lives on Long Island, New York. “My husband and I definitely appreciate the method. We still practice with her.”
 
Building Character

Some parents have even changed their professions because of what they learned with their children in the Suzuki method. Peggy Swingle of Bainbridge Island, Washington, was in training to be a Montessori teacher in the ’70s when she found out about the Suzuki method.

“I met Haruko Kataoka, who worked with Dr. Suzuki on the piano method,” she said. “I did everything, even sold my car, to watch her teach.”

Swingle began learning about the method, and became a Suzuki teacher. She has trained Suzuki teachers since 1984, and has been running a Suzuki studio for 10 years. She has taught all over the world, from Australia to Peru to Finland.
Back when Swingle started, there was little training for parents to give them guidance about how they should help their children or what their responsibilities were.

“It’s all about the parents,” Swingle says, adding that she now dedicates herself to helping Suzuki moms, dads, and grandparents. “If they are willing to put in time and energy, the child can have a successful experience.”

Swingle’s three children studied the method. Currently, her eldest sets up housing for the homeless, her middle child is a cardiologist, and her youngest is a lawyer. “The method is character building,” she observes “My children’s career successes are down to Suzuki. Suzuki kids are taught to concentrate, focus, have high self-esteem, and good coordination. What can’t they do?”
 
Positive Reinforcement

“When you and your child learn together,” says Suzuki mom and teacher Marilyn Montzka, of Sycamore, Illinois, “you should enjoy your child first, and then the learning process. It may be the most rewarding thing you do.”

Montzka has been a piano teacher for 47 years. Initially, she taught conventional methods, but it was learning with her children that piqued her interest in Suzuki. “As I observed, I got more interested,” she explains.

Having experienced two sides of the Suzuki triangle, Montzka is in an excellent position to explain the parent’s or grandparent’s role at Suzuki classes and beyond.
“The parent’s role is to observe, to listen to the teacher, take notes if necessary, and leave the lesson with a firm understanding of what was learned and what needs to be practiced, praised, and reinforced at home,” says Montzka.

Perhaps the most important parental job is to continue the teacher’s work of praising and reinforcing success and good habits. “Praising and repeating is key,” adds Montzka. “After all, it’s through positive reinforcement that a child learns his or her mother tongue.”
 
Everything Musical

A child will learn from your enthusiasm,” Montzka continues. At home, she says, enjoyment of music can be broadened by playing all kinds of music—classical, country, blues, jazz, folk, rock—whatever is available. “And take yourself and your children to live performances in all the arts,” she concludes.

Reflecting on his musical success, young bass player Ben Kramer notes that his father’s active involvement throughout his childhood gave him the sort of musical foundation that would have made Dr. Shinichi Suzuki smile and nod his head in approval.

“I got everything musical from my dad,” observes Kramer. “His support—from always playing jazz around the house to taking me to gigs—gave me confidence. Listening to music and seeing it played are very important, and that was ingrained in me by Dad.”

As seen in Making Music magazine (see link below:)
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