The student’s ears perk up as his teacher asks him about his A major scale. He plays it from memory, eyes intensely concentrated on his finger placement as he adjusts his intonation. There is no need for sheet music in the Suzuki method — the music lives within the children.
The University of New Mexico is home to the only undergraduate string pedagogy program in the nation, said Crystal Hardman, a student in the program. She said it is primarily hands-on — students teach lessons to pupils ranging from 5-year-olds through high-schoolers throughout the week, and have one lecture a week for more formal instruction.
“It is the most relevant degree that I think exists,” Hardman said. “I don’t know any other degree where you go to class and then immediately apply what you’re learning.”
Hardman said the program is unique in that it teaches children using alternative methods based on of the philosophies musician Shinichi Suzuki, who was more concerned with the child’s personal growth than on technical mastery.
“That’s the whole Suzuki philosophy, that you love them and you teach them good work values, you teach them how to be a citizen, you teach them honor and virtue through music,” she said. “We always start our lessons with a bow meaning ‘you’re teaching me and I’m teaching you.’ We are equals. I never look at myself as above my students.”
Hardman said there are often misconceptions about the Suzuki method within the music world because students first learn by ear and learn to read music later, so they are sometimes behind in regards to the written component of music.
“(Suzuki) teaches kids to learn their instrument like their mother tongue, through complete immersion,” she said. “Kids don’t learn to read until they can speak proficiently; likewise we delay reading (music) until they have established where their violin goes and they have intonation skills. They get a very well-rounded education.”
Halima Salazar, parent of a Suzuki student, said she thinks it is important for her son to learn through intuition as opposed to the more technical aspects of reading sheet music.
“I like the fact that they first try to train their ears to listen to the music instead of going straight to teaching them, so it’s almost like they become the music,” she said.
Every week the Suzuki students have an individual lesson and a group lesson where kids of all musical levels can interact. Once they are grounded in ear training basics, they take on a music literacy lesson as well. Salazar said the variety of having three different lessons was important because it provided her son with extra motivation.
“The great thing with the group class is he gets competitive, because they’re all at different levels, so he’s like, ‘man this kid played this song so I’m going to go get it together,’ so that pushes him,” she said. “That’s a difference I’ve seen with just having a private tutor versus group classes.”
Hardman said the Suzuki method includes a series of books that are specifically designed for improving a student’s musicianship through various musical pieces that slowly increase in difficulty.
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“You start at ‘Twinkle, Twinkle …’ and you go all the way to the Mozart concerti, and you learn all the technique that ever needs to be learned well,” Hardman said. “We don’t teach repertoire, we teach technique through the music.”
She said she builds meaningful friendships through her work with the program and has become a part of her students’ families by attending Sunday dinners and soccer games. Although she has a loving relationship with her students, she said she never forgets that hard work is intrinsic to enjoyment and satisfaction.
“If I can tell they’re not prepared, I just tell them to go home because that’s a skill they need to learn,” she said. “They can’t show up to work ten minutes late and they can’t show up without their projects done. In our society, we separate work and play; they’re never the same. But in Suzuki, you can learn while playing, and your work is through play.”
