Hito wa Kankyou no ko Nari…. People are the Children of their environments…

…..
This Painting from Suzuki Sensei means (in my translation) “People become the child of their environments” or as it is more often translated, “Man is the son of his environment”
This has been my shikishi forever. Every time I received a painting from Dr. Suzuki, it said that phrase out of the hundreds of quotes [...]

New Idea~!

Sit calmly in a comfortable chair….
Along with your students and parents ….
Be very still and quiet  and together gently listen to the wonderful tone of Fritz Kreisler on a DVD.   VERY good speakers are preferable (although whatever kinds of speakers are available will work- iPods won’t work for this unless they have speakers or [...]

Dr. Suzuki’s Message to Graduates

A Message to Graduates from Dr. Suzuki
Congratulations on your achievement. Please remember as you are advancing with your music, the study of tone becomes foremost. There are many kinds of sound. Please work with your teacher to study tonalization…

beautiful sound
ringing tone
clear. clean smal tone

When listening to the performing artist on the CD, you can hear [...]

Elbow First

Elbow First

Please look over these points about violin playing by Dr. Suzuki:

Important Points on Violin Playing ~

(1) Practice the correct half-circle motion with the right elbow (upper arm).

(2) In order to make nice tone while playing down-bow, you must use the elbow.

(3) To make a ringing sound, use the [...]

where love is deep?

My little student has just made it to the tennis semifinals in our city. The bad news is that he has to miss group class. His mom was really worried, but honestly I just think it's mervelous.
I remember Dr. Suzuki showing us a photo of a student who had sent in her application [...]

Holding the Horsehair for Beautiful Tone

Notes from my studies with Dr. Shinichi Suzuki
In a desperate attempt to get us to understand tone, Suzuki Sensei would say, “Only horsehair play you!� This means we should make sound using only the horsehair of the bow.
One day in group lesson, he handed out tissue paper– one piece for everyone. I [...]

Upside Down Bow – Balanced Bow

 
Notes from my studies with Dr. Shinichi Suzuki
 

Every Monday afternoon each week there was a concert for Suzuki Sensei in the Concert Hall. It was called Getsu Con or Monday Concert and it was several hours long. This was such a great way to begin a week of tone study! Suzuki [...]

Cookie Time

Notes from my studies with Dr. Shinichi Suzuki

Every day after group class and before our individual lessons, Suzuki Sensei gave us Cookie Time. Suzuki Sensei once said that he would like to change the name of his school from the “ Talent Education Research Institute� to “The Cookie and Music [...]

Notes from my studies with Dr. Shinichi Suzuki

Suzuki Sensei: Panda and How to Produce Beautiful Tone on the Violin.

In the late 1970’and early 1980’s, Suzuki Sensei’s idea of “Panda� was sweeping across the nation. From Matsumoto, Japan to San Francisco California, this new idea zoomed around like crazy. People were tilting their bows [...]

Notes from my studies with Dr. Suzuki

Art Montzka
Suzuki Sensei and “One Finger” Playing for Better Tone Quality.

Often when Suzuki Sensei demonstrated his clear, bright and big tone, we would lift each finger off of the bow leaving only his index finger and thumb. He would call this “One Finger” playing. Amazingly, there was never a change in the richness of [...]