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“Nurtured by Love.”
-Shinichi Suzuki
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Biography
Born in Nagoya, Japan in 1898, Shinichi Suzuki was surrounded by the sound of violins at his father’s violin making factory. Born into a large family, one of seven children, Shinichi spent his childhood not learning how to play the violin, but working at the factory putting up violin soundposts. A family friend encouraged Shinichi to study Western culture but it wasn’t until the age of 17 that he finally taught himself how to play the violin after becoming inspired by a recording of Mischa Elman. He would listen to recordings and try to imitate what he heard. A couple of years later he took his violin to a teacher in Tokyo. At the age of 22, Shinichi persuaded his father to allow him to study in Germany, where Karl Klingler eventually became his violin teacher. While there, he spent several years under the guardianship of Albert Einstein. He also met, courted, and married his wife, Waltraud. Upon his return to Japan, he formed a string quartet with his brothers and began teaching at the Imperial School of Music and at the Kunitachi Music School in Tokyo. During World War II, his father’s violin factory was bombed by American war planes and Shinichi lost one of his brothers. The family was also left penniless and Shinichi decided to leave his teaching positions and move to a nearby city where he constructed parts for wooden airplanes to raise some money. Poor and hungry, at one point almost dying, he began to teach violin lessons to the orphan children in the outer cities where he lived. He adopted an orphan boy, Matsui, and started to develop his teaching strategies and philosophies. Shinichi combined his new practical teaching applications with traditional Asian philosophy. Learn More...
SAK Philosophy
About our Programs
Born in Nagoya, Japan in 1898, Shinichi Suzuki was surrounded by the sound of violins at his father’s violin making factory. Born into a large family, one of seven children, Shinichi spent his childhood not learning how to play the violin, but working at the factory putting up violin soundposts. A family friend encouraged Shinichi to study Western culture but it wasn’t until the age of 17 that he finally taught himself how to play the violin after becoming inspired by a recording of Mischa Elman. He would listen to recordings and try to imitate what he heard. A couple of years later he took his violin to a teacher in Tokyo. At the age of 22, Shinichi persuaded his father to allow him to study in Germany, where Karl Klingler eventually became his violin teacher. While there, he spent several years under the guardianship of Albert Einstein. He also met, courted, and married his wife, Waltraud. Upon his return to Japan, he formed a string quartet with his brothers and began teaching at the Imperial School of Music and at the Kunitachi Music School in Tokyo. During World War II, his father’s violin factory was bombed by American war planes and Shinichi lost one of his brothers. The family was also left penniless and Shinichi decided to leave his teaching positions and move to a nearby city where he constructed parts for wooden airplanes to raise some money. Poor and hungry, at one point almost dying, he began to teach violin lessons to the orphan children in the outer cities where he lived. He adopted an orphan boy, Matsui, and started to develop his teaching strategies and philosophies. Shinichi combined his new practical teaching applications with traditional Asian philosophy. Learn More...
SAK Philosophy
About our Programs
