Suzuki: The Man and His Dream to Teach the Children of the World

by Eri Hotta

A New Yorker Best Book of the Year

The remarkable life of violinist and teacher Shinichi Suzuki, who pioneered an innovative but often-misunderstood philosophy of early childhood education―now known the world over as the Suzuki Method.

The name Shinichi Suzuki is synonymous with early childhood musical education. By the time of his death in 1998, countless children around the world had been taught using his methods, with many more to follow. Yet Suzuki’s life and the evolution of his educational vision remain largely unexplored. A committed humanist, he was less interested in musical genius than in imparting to young people the skills and confidence to learn.

Eri Hotta details Suzuki’s unconventional musical development and the emergence of his philosophy. She follows Suzuki from his youth working in his father’s Nagoya violin factory to his studies in interwar Berlin, the beginnings of his teaching career in 1930s Tokyo, and the steady flourishing of his practice at home and abroad after the Second World War. As Hotta shows, Suzuki’s aim was never to turn out disciplined prodigies but rather to create a world where all children have the chance to develop, musically and otherwise. Undergirding his pedagogy was an unflagging belief that talent, far from being an inborn quality, is cultivated through education. Moreover, Suzuki’s approach debunked myths of musical nationalism in the West, where many doubted that Asian performers could communicate the spirit of classical music rooted in Europe.

Suzuki touched the world through a pedagogy founded on the conviction that all children possess tremendous capacity to learn. His story offers not only a fresh perspective on early childhood education but also a gateway to the fraught history of musical border-drawing and to the makings of a globally influential life in Japan’s tumultuous twentieth century.

Genres: Music, Biography, Nonfiction, History, Education

272 pages, Hardcover

Published November 15, 2022

About the author

Eri Hotta, born in Tokyo and educated in Japan, the United States, and the United Kingdom, has taught at Oxford and at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, specializing in international relations. She was also a research fellow at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies in Tokyo.

Reviews

[Elisabeth Ensor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic book about the Suzuki violin method and its creator! I recently started violin lessons again—33 years later—and I am in awe of Suzuki and his heart for children. His philosophy that all children are capable of greatness, regardless of the life they were born into, is deeply inspiring. He believed families can nurture excellence and that success isn’t limited to those born with “genius.” Living to 99, Suzuki made an extraordinary impact on generations of violinists. His legacy has inspired me to make music a daily part of my life again and to keep striving to improve, even if I never reach a professional level.

[Shira Sanghvi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing biography of an amazing man - despite having learned violin w the Suzuki books, hadn’t realized what a far cry my education, musical & otherwise, is from Suzukis pedagogy. also learned a lot about 20th century japan

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an *outstanding* biography. Absolutely loved it. This is for anyone interested in Japanese history, classical music, music education, the violin specifically, education reform, Shinichi Suzuki and his educational philosophy and the Suzuki Method.

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating first half of the book spent learning about Suzuki's journey to becoming a person who began a whole new way of teaching Japanese to play and appreciate western-style Classical music. It began with his grandfather who had never seen a violin but was entranced when asked to repair one so measured every part of that violin and then taught himself how to sculpt one. From this effort began a group of people handmaking violins, to an early somewhat automated factory of violins. Suzuki helped in the factory but did not learn violin until he was much older.

Susuki believed that children as young as 3 or 4 should listen to music then try to play it, and finally, learn to read music after they had become somewhat proficient. He had noticed that this was how children learned to talk. Into his 90's he taught, play all over the globe, and took his pupils with him. Mostly, he wanted to reform school systems based on his belief that fun, repeating and hearing would make a better way of having children learn more naturally than the way education theorists were running the system in his time.

2nd book half went slower with a lot of who, what, when of various Suzuki schools, and worldwide violin concerts and gatherings. Names of some I had heard of but not most.

[Jacob MacDonald · Rating 3 out of 5]

The introduction does a great job of selling the mission of expanding Suzuki's ideas to their original extent. Coupled with any kind of positive Suzuki Method experience, it's enough to be emotionally affecting. Most of the rest of the book is information, all of which was new to me, presented as part of a broad history of 20th-century Japan. The assessment of revolutionarity is given rather than proved, however.

[Bri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Picked this up from the new books rack at the library on a lark because my daughter has spent the last two years learning violin with a teacher who uses a modified Suzuki technique (and said teacher was herself trained as a Suzuki student). Very interesting and academic treatment of Suzuki's life and legacy. Hotta uses Suzuki's life as a window into the complexity of Japanese history in the 20th century, which is also very interesting.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not at all what I was expecting, but a very fascinating insight into a great humanitarian and teacher

[Luz · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is both informative and entertaining. The Suzuki Method was developed and enabled hundreds of thousands children worldwide to learn to play musical instruments, especially the violin

[Rachel Allburn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Twelve years of Suzuki violin lessons here! I loved learning more of the history of Dr. Suzuki and the historical context. So many times I said, “Oh my gosh, THAT’S why my teacher did that!”

[Breana Bauman · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderfully written and researched book that puts Shinichi Suzuki In historical context, while also speculating on the origins of his many ideas.