Suzuki String Program at Amarillo College

Mother Tongue Approach

How we learn language	How students study music by the Suzuki Method
1. Expectation of Success All children can learn to speak their mother tongue.	1. Expectation of Success All children can learn to play music
2. Early Beginning Parents encourage children to learn to use language from a very young age.	2. Early Beginning Suzuki children usually begin to play music when they are between 3-5 years old.
3. Listening Surrounded by speech from the day of birth, children listen for about two years before starting to speak in sentences.	3. Listening Suzuki students listen every day to recordings of the repertoire they are going to study many months before they begin study.
4. Nurturing Parents always greet gurgling, babbling and first words with enthusiasm and joy.	4. Nurturing Suzuki parents always encourage their children’s musical efforts
5. Social Environment Children learn language within their family and with friends outside the home.	5. Social Environment Suzuki students learn to play music in weekly private lessons and regular group classes.
6. Parent Teacher Parents involve themselves deeply in teaching language skills to their young children.	6. Parent Teacher Suzuki parents are ‘home teachers.’ They help the child during daily their practice.
7. Repetition Children repeat new words that they are learning many, many times.	7. Repetition Suzuki students repeat new skills many times until they master them.
8. Performance Parents proudly display their child's linguistic achievements from the very beginning - even a goo-goo is good.	8. Performance Suzuki students perform a lot in group lessons and recitals. Their first performance may be a simple bow or song.
9. Review Children continue to use the same words that they acquired as an infant – words remain in their vocabulary.	9. Review Suzuki students continue to play their early pieces, using them as the foundation for technical studies and to advance through the repertoire.
10. Natural Reading Children only learn to read several years after learning to speak – until this stage, they "learn by ear" all new vocabulary and grammar.	10. Natural Reading Suzuki students learn to read music around 6years old when they have learned to play by ear.