Shinichi Suzuki

SHINICHI SUZUKI

Maybe you never heard about my hero.. Maybe you are not a person who likes violin. But, please let me introduce him to all of you. Maybe my English is not enough good, so, if you all have problem when you read this, apologies to you all..

His name is Shinichi Suzuki. He is a violinist. He was born in Nagoya, Japan, 17 October 1898. He was born in a large family, one of seven children. When he was child, he didn't learn how to play violin, how to read music, or learn how to hold the violin and the bow. He was working at a factory, putting up violin soundposts. That makes a little surprise, because now he is a famous person in violinist.

When he was seventeen, he heard a recording of Schubert's Ave Maria which was played by a famous violinist Mischa Elman. He was inspired to begin learning how to play a violin and learn how to make such a beautiful tone from violin. A few years later,when he was 22 years old, he took a violin lesson in Germany with Karl Klingler. And he married with his wife Waltraud. Then they moved back to Japan after married. In Japan, he began to teach violin.

Shinichi believed that all children have the talent to learn if they are taught well by loving parents and teachers. It was not an unusual idea at that time. But the idea is good. Because Shinichi Suzuki's young students play very well when they performed.

He even said to one child: "You are going to play the music of great composers, and you must try to catch their hearts in music. You must practice every day to catch the feelings of others without words. Look at your mother and your father. Can you see how they feel? Try to see when your mother needs your help before she asks. Then it is too late. If you practice every day, watching not to harm anyone by what you say, and also trying to catch how they feel, then you will develop sensitivity toward the feelings of others. Perhaps later you will also catch the hearts of Bach and Mozart in their music."

Then when January 26,1998, Shinichi Suzuki died at his home in Matsumoto, Japan. He died when he was 99 years old. I think that's all I can tell you all about my hero, Shinichi Suzuki.