15 50 years of Teaching Music Peter Rüttimann During the hot summer of 1968, I visited the USA through the ‘Experiment in InternaƟonal Living’ programme and through this organisaƟon I was made aware of the same programme in Japan, where I then spent the summer of 1972. In Switzerland, during my pedagogy lessons at the Lucerne Conservatory, I had heard about a ‘Suzuki School’ but I was told that this just consisted of a ‘nice collecƟon of pieces’. However, my experiences in Japan showed me that teaching at a Japanese school could not only just consist of a collecƟon of beauƟful pieces. I also noƟced that my students preferred to play these pieces much more than the pieces from other tradiƟonal violin schools. Having looked at Walter Kolneder's book ‘Das Buch der Violine’ (under Suzuki), I found an address in the city of Katsumoto. I wrote a leƩer to that address and aŌer three months when I hadn’t received an answer, I wrote to the Japanese Embassy who informed me that there was no ‘Katsumoto’ but there was a ‘Matsumoto’. I immediately wrote the same leƩer again to the correct address and received a reply within a few days with an invitaƟon from the Talent EducaƟon InsƟtute (now TERI). I looked for the cheapest flight to Japan and aŌer two stopovers, arrived three days later in July 1977. I was picked up at the staƟon in Matsumoto and taken to meet Dr. Suzuki. I ended up staying there for the whole of the summer, during which Ɵme my teaching changed radically. Moreover, the friendships that I made then have lasted unƟl the present day. From that Ɵme on, accompanied by my ever-growing family, I aƩended pracƟcally all of the European Suzuki conferences. At that Ɵme, Dr. Suzuki came to Europe every year and the conferences were held in different countries. I soon started to bring my own students to accompany me and they sƟll talk about the experience. These courses also made a lasƟng impression on my own children and I suspect that this is the main reason why all three of them are also Suzuki teachers today. The atmosphere where several hundred children from all over the world come together and play is unique. However, the training to become a Suzuki teacher was quite different back then as we mainly spent the Ɵme with Dr. Suzuki and I remember watching videos together with my wife for nights on end in order to learn more. This enabled us to beƩer understand what Suzuki actually wanted. As we became more courageous in teaching our students in this way, we began to receive many phone calls from new students. Together with parents who knew the Suzuki method from America, we organised our first small ‘workshop’ in Davos in 1986. We quickly realised how popular this was among our students and what advantages were brought by everyone having lessons with different teachers - the progress achieved in a few days surprised us all! Some thirty years later, my three children organised the 10th European Suzuki Conference in Davos in 2015 with over 800 children from all over the world aƩending. Looking back now on almost 50 years of music teaching, I can't quite hide my disappointment with the convenƟonal ‘public music school’ system. Originally, I was an ardent supporter of this idea and was convinced that this was the way to reach all pupils. Today however, unfortunately I have to admit that a lot of the things that were originally wellintenƟoned have not always developed in the way that many of the first teachers in Swiss music schools probably hoped for. Even well-intenƟoned bureaucracy ulƟmately brings nothing to either the students or the teachers and money is too oŌen handed out too liberally. For some teachers it seems that the most important thing appears to be to have a ‘just full enough’ workload. Alongside that, if some parents see the music school as an inexpensive childcare opƟon, a child can hardly be expected to develop in such an environment. Or to use Pestalozzi's words – ‘head, heart and hand’. Only when these elements are in balance can one educate children through music and teach them discipline, sensiƟvity and perseverance. These were always the fundamental values for Suzuki. The regular group lessons are very important so that the children can not only consolidate the repertoire but also can learn to be part of the whole from the very beginning. This is more important today than ever before, when parents oŌen forget that a child’s development is a long-term maƩer and that many things will ulƟmately seƩle down naturally over Ɵme. It takes a lot of experience to really be able to respond to each student’s needs. This is learned through pracƟce and not in university lecture halls. The relaƟonship between parents, students and teachers is the key to successful teaching. It makes me very happy when I see how many young teachers are now doing the Suzuki training. But I also see that quite oŌen the courage to implement the Suzuki principles consistently is missing, parƟcularly in public music schools. It is not always easy because either the music school management support is missing or envy can arise among colleagues. This is a great pity. The Suzuki method only works when a teacher is really present for the students and can respond with understanding to the parents' concerns. If the Suzuki method is misused to polish ego and is only about the teacher's own success, then this is counterproducƟve in the long run. The best adverƟsement is always one's own students and their parents but it oŌen takes many years of hard work and dedicaƟon before a Suzuki group works well. The light at the end of the tunnel may not be apparent for a long Ɵme. However, I can only encourage all colleagues to follow this path consistently. The feedback from my former students confirms to me that the effort was worth it. Peter Rüƫmann, Dr Suzuki, Marianna Rüƫmann-Zihler and MarƟn Rüƫmann
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