ZIMSA | Zimbabwe Suzuki Association

Dr. Shinichi Suzuki (1898-1998) was the visionary founder of the Suzuki Teaching Method. Established in Japan it has become one of the leading teaching methodologies, first established to teach violin, and now used to teach many other different instruments such as the Viola, Cello, Recorder, Piano, Organ, Harp and Trumpet.

Hallmarks of the Suzuki Method are Listening, Parental Involvement and starting from a very young age.  When he went to live in Germany as a young man, he noticed how easily little children spoke German while he himself struggled to learn the language.  He realised that children grow up surrounded by people speaking their mother tongue and by listening and constant ‘practice’, they inevitably learn to speak themselves. 

He decided to apply this principle to learning the violin and devised his teaching method accordingly.  He noted that a child’s brain up to the age of 5 is like a sponge, soaking up whatever it is surrounded by, so what better than to surround it with music and love.  His desire was to develop children, not so much into virtuosic violinists, but into loving, civilised human beings.