Why learn Suzuki method?

There are so many different teaching methods out there, so how do you choose one and why go for Suzuki Method? I was not taught Suzuki method but since being trained, researching it further and seeing the result it has had on my pupils I have full confidence in it. For me the main reason to learn Suzuki method is because it was designed by a man who loved children, believed in everyone and wanted learning an instrument to be as simple as learning to speak.

The Suzuki method was designed by Dr.Shinichi Suzuki when he realised the reason children could learn even the most complex of dialects was not because of good genes or schooling but because of their environment. Suzuki believed that one should learn everything the way you learn to talk: creating an environment which surrounds you in what you are trying to develop, building on words you know and to never stopping using them.

So how does this relate to cello lessons? Every child has a CD that it listens to at home of the pieces it will learn and the sound of the instrument, creating an environment where the child hears what it will learn before it attempts to play it. Parents are encouraged to attend lessons so that they too understand how to play the instrument and can support the child's learning at home. The lessons are then mainly aural based removing the use of notation and leaving it until the child is completely comfortable with basic technique- why would you read a book before you have learnt to speak!

The repertoire includes a range of pieces including those from standard repertoire and those composed specially for technical and musical development that develop skills gradually never making leaps that are unmanageable. This way the child is continually motivated and builds confidence in their ability in turn creating a happy individual with a love of music.

The Suzuki method is sometimes given a reputation for creating robotic, prodigies; however this assumption can only have been made by someone who does not understand the true meaning of the method when carried out correctly. The Suzuki Method was not designed to create young professional musicians but to nurture the talent that all children are born with to create happy, sensitive young people with a skill they are proud of and that has given them the self belief and inspiration to carry on even when things get difficult.