Fiddling with the truth

[Russell]

Violin teacher Suzuki biggest fraud in music history

Over the past five decades, millions of children – starting as young as three – have learnt to play the violin all using the same system.

But now the Japanese music teacher behind the Suzuki method has been unmasked as a liar and a fraud.

According to his critics, Dr Shinichi Suzuki invented his early life story and used false claims – such as being a friend of Albert Einstein and learning to play with one of Berlin’s greatest teachers – to peddle a method of teaching the violin and other musical instruments that netted him a fortune.

The system has become the pre-eminent method for teaching children to play music in many countries around the world.

Dr Suzuki’s philosophy of teaching involves getting children to begin as young as possible – ideally before they are five years old – and teaching them pieces from memory which they play repeatedly. Dr Suzuki travelled to Germany in the 1920s where he claims he came under the guardianship of Einstein, who was a keen amateur violinist. It is claimed Dr Suzuki, who died at the age of 99 in 1998, studied with Karl Klingler, one of the leading violinists and teachers of the era. From those heady origins, Dr Suzuki went on to formulate his own teaching method that has been followed by children everywhere. Now his critics are claiming that he made up his back story.

“I think it is one of the biggest frauds in music history,” said Mark O’Connor, a violin teacher and professional fiddler who has spent years delving into Dr Suzuki’s past. “I don’t believe anybody has properly checked his past.”

Mr O’Connor has detailed his allegations in a series of posts on his internet blog site. Under his latest posting, last week, entitled “Suzuki’s biggest lie”, Mr O’Connor has posted a page from the Berlin music conservatory where Dr Suzuki claimed to have studied. Mr O’Connor says the page shows that Dr Suzuki, aged 24 in 1923, was rejected after failing his audition.

Mr O’Connor writes “Shinichi Suzuki had no violin training from any serious violin teacher that we can find. He was basically self-taught, beginning the violin at the age of 18, and it showed. He was never allowed a position in any orchestra.”

According to the British Suzuki Institute, there are currently more than a quarter of a million Suzuki students being taught by 8,000 teachers worldwide.

Minette Joyce, the institute’s administrator, said: “The idea behind the Suzuki method is people can be taught to play an instrument to the best of their ability. It isn’t designed to turn out professional musicians but to enable children to play regardless of their ability and to increase their enjoyment of the music.”

Link

[Yokohammer]

Very sad, but not particularly surprising.

There's a sucker born every minute.

And no, P. T. Barnum did not say that, it was his rival, David Hannum.

See? Bullshit and charlatans everywhere.

[matsuki]

Biggest fan...

[wagyl]

They say a picture paints a thousand words. I'm not always so sure. Choko, your picture means nothing to me, not even if I view image info. Sometimes plain text gets the message across much better.

[Yokohammer]

They say a picture paints a thousand words. I'm not always so sure. Choko, your picture means nothing to me, not even if I view image info. Sometimes plain text gets the message across much better.

Really?
That's the other recent musical fraud: Samuragochi.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[wagyl]

OK, thanks Yoko. I had never seen a photo of him. I suppose the date data in the url of the photo should have given me a clue, but I am not sure that I should be expected to go to that effort.

[matsuki]

LOL, Wags,were you out of town when that went down? His face was everywhere. How about this one?



'Japanese Beethoven'

[wagyl]

I was around, I just don't have a TV. I know the name, but have no idea what he looks like.

Also, the news didn't impact on me, and wasn't in any way a lesson anyone could learn to prevent future occurrences, so it didn't get space in my memory banks. Yeah, it's an excuse, an oyaji style one at that, but I need to be realistic about the situation.

My memory banks seem to put a higher priority on remembering what model car Russell conceives his children in

[matsuki]

[Samurai_Jerk]

I was around, I just don't have a TV. I know the name, but have no idea what he looks like.

Also, the news didn't impact on me, and wasn't in any way a lesson anyone could learn to prevent future occurrences, so it didn't get space in my memory banks. Yeah, it's an excuse, an oyaji style one at that, but I need to be realistic about the situation.

My memory banks seem to put a higher priority on remembering what model car Russell conceives his children in

I had no clue either and even the name didn't ring a bell till I Googled him and my memory was jogged. Like you, it's something I had little interest in so I completely forget.

[Russell]

LOL, Wags,were you out of town when that went down? His face was everywhere. How about this one?



'Japanese Beethoven'

At least he didn't kill his ghost writer...

[Grumpy Gramps]

Suzuki might have lied about his biography, but his method still seems to be his method, which enabled gazillions of children to learn a musical instrument, which is not a bad thing by my book. Don't think, this is exactly fraud, no-one got hurt.

OTOH, now that the facts bite him in the ass, I don't feel sorry, either

[Russell]

Suzuki might have lied about his biography, but his method still seems to be his method, which enabled gazillions of children to learn a musical instrument, which is not a bad thing by my book. Don't think, this is exactly fraud, no-one got hurt.

Basically a good point.

I have been wondering whether his teaching method would have become so famous without his lies.

On the other hand, his lies are morally corrupt, so some mixed feelings here.

Anyway, the man is dead already, so he won't notice all the dust swept up.

[matsuki]

Suzuki might have lied about his biography, but his method still seems to be his method, which enabled gazillions of children to learn a musical instrument, which is not a bad thing by my book. Don't think, this is exactly fraud, no-one got hurt.

Basically a good point.

I have been wondering whether his teaching method would have become so famous without his lies.

Not just famous, seems like he was made filthy rich by it all....but seems like he did quite a bit of good with his money/influence though so hard to totally hate on him. But yeah, hard to imagine him reaching where he did without the huge lies he propped himself up with.

[wagyl]

I have to say that I have heard of the Suzuki method many times (and heard the screech of horsehair over steel strings from those four year olds, a sound that only their mothers paying the lesson fees could love) but this is the very first time I have ever heard the Einstein or Berlin stories. My vote goes for the back story having very little influence in his success at the end of the day. Sure, it might have got him started as an unknown, but he was only able to continue on the merits (questionable though they may be) of his method.

[Mike Oxlong]

I have to say that I have heard of the Suzuki method many times (and heard the screech of horsehair over steel strings from those four year olds, a sound that only their mothers paying the lesson fees could love) but this is the very first time I have ever heard the Einstein or Berlin stories. My vote goes for the back story having very little influence in his success at the end of the day. Sure, it might have got him started as an unknown, but he was only able to continue on the merits (questionable though they may be) of his method.

In the same way that AEON, ECC, Berlitz and their ilk thrive on their results?

[wagyl]

In the same way that AEON, ECC, Berlitz and their ilk thrive on their results?

I may have failed to understand your point -- are you meaning to say that the lies in Suzuki's back story tainted him in a way that those language schools are not, and as such any success he had is not as deserving as the success of those schools? -- but in a way, all these schools are similar: they create people for whom learning, be it learning to play the violin or learning a language, is a hobby. Anything they create beyond that is an unexpected result.

[Yokohammer]

... they create people for whom learning, be it learning to play the violin or learning a language, is a hobby. Anything they create beyond that is an unexpected result.

Couldn't resist posting this quote, with which I am utterly smitten at the moment:

“The best thing for being sad," replied Merlin, beginning to puff and blow, "is to learn something. That's the only thing that never fails. You may grow old and trembling in your anatomies, you may lie awake at night listening to the disorder of your veins, you may miss your only love, you may see the world about you devastated by evil lunatics, or know your honour trampled in the sewers of baser minds. There is only one thing for it then — to learn. Learn why the world wags and what wags it. That is the only thing which the mind can never exhaust, never alienate, never be tortured by, never fear or distrust, and never dream of regretting. Learning is the only thing for you. Look what a lot of things there are to learn.”

From “The Once and Future King” by T. H. White.

[Mike Oxlong]

In the same way that AEON, ECC, Berlitz and their ilk thrive on their results?

I may have failed to understand your point -- are you meaning to say that the lies in Suzuki's back story tainted him in a way that those language schools are not, and as such any success he had is not as deserving as the success of those schools? -- but in a way, all these schools are similar: they create people for whom learning, be it learning to play the violin or learning a language, is a hobby. Anything they create beyond that is an unexpected result.

No, not at all. Just that results don't seem to be necessary for a successful business model. And yeah Hammer, that is a fantastic quote.

[wagyl]

No, not at all. Just that results don't seem to be necessary for a successful business model.

OK, it sounds like we are on the same page. I think the results which all of these businesses look at is maintaining repeat customers who pay regularly. Customers gaining too much prowess may be antithetical to those aims.

[Samurai_Jerk]

When Japanese friends ask we whether or not they should pay for eikaiwa I've always told them that if you just want to do it for fun, maybe pick up basic phrases for travel, and don't expect much more than that then go ahead if you can afford it. If you expect to become highly functional in English, don't waste your money. I think it can also worthwhile for people who have decent English but don't get to use it much and want to maintain their ability or people who use English a lot at work and are using it to supplement that.