Learning by Listening
Young musicians learn best when they hear a piece of music and play it back, similarly to learning a language. Dr. Suzuki realized this idea and called his method the "mother-tongue approach.'' Listening is a critical part of the Suzuki method, and continuous listening to recordings has many positive effects on students.
Dedicated listening to recordings:
o Promotes an increase in memory, not only in music, but in all aspects of students' lives.
o Enables students to have improved pitch, tone, and confidence in their playing.
o Solidifies the concept of accurate intonation.
o Provides great examples of tone, vibrato, and musical phrasing.
o Allows students to get creative and begin developing their own solos, later resulting in
improvisation and composition!
o Greatly shortens the time necessary for learning a new piece.
o Provides a road map when learning repertoire.
o Promotes quick memorizing.
o Enables easy internalization of the music.
o Provides lessons with the artists.
o Surrounds the student with music.
o Lessens the chance of developing performance nerves.
o Promotes constant repetition. Repetition is essential in learning to play an instrument.
Similarly to language learning, children learn a new musical concept and add it to their
vocabulary, gradually using it in new and more sophisticated ways.
Source: Adapted from "The Suzuki Twinkler" (SAA) _______________________________________________________________
