Book reviews: Suzuki – The Man & His Dream

Shinichi Suzuki (1898–1998) and the approach that came to be branded as the 'Suzuki Method' achieved phenomenal results in playing terms – of that there is no doubt. His first child pupils from the 1930s developed prodigiously, performing concertos at five or six years old and garnering nationwide praise and accolades. After realising his calling in the 1930s and developing his approach through times of great change, by the 1950s Suzuki’s belief that any child could play was being borne out in skilled, joyful performances by massed ranks of children. David Oistrakh, Leonid Kogan and Pablo Casals were among the European luminaries touring Japan who were amazed and delighted by these performances. Footage from the 1955 First National Convention of Suzuki’s Talent Education Research Institute reveals 1200 children taught by him or his trainees, performing with ease in front of an audience of 20,000. Thanks to the violinist John Kendall, that footage eventually made its way to music educators in the US where the approach took on a life of its own and was reverse-introduced to Japan in the early 1980s as the Suzuki Method.