23 The Road I Walked Alone Dr Shinichi Suzuki thousands of leaves each minute, the great force that brought blossoms to grass and trees, the minute-byminute growth of newborns and their acquisition of abilities in correspondence with their environment, are all derived from the vital power and workings of life. From a study of the causes of growth, I discovered that ability was something that was acquired by the workings of life, not something hereditary. Even things like musical turn or literary penchant, the heart on sensibility, were not hereditary, but a question of physiology: ability grew by the workings of life as one imbibed all the environmental stimuli. Therefore, where there is no stimulus from the environment, ability does not grow. Upon this knowledge I have appealed to society: "Every child grows. Ability is not inborn. It is a physiological condition, a matter of the big brain, under which the power of life grows in response to the environment since birth." In other words, in my own way I discovered a "law of ability” and claimed it as the Suzuki theory. Ability is not inherited. Various physiological conditions of the body are certainly inherited according to the law of heredity. However, ability is fostered and acquired after birth. In brief, two laws are illuminated here: the "law of heredity" and the "law of ability." Since only the former was clarified in the past, the consequence of growth was regarded as due to birth or to inborn propensity. For this great error we were all responsible in the past. As to ability, should we not consider it with a baby born today before us? Should we not consider what creates ability, how ability germinates, how it is acquired? I believe that we should approach it from the side of the causes. Wherever there is a consequence, there is always a cause. Familiar with this Buddhist teaching since my youth, I was able to reach the clear recognition that ability is not inborn but grows according to the law of ability. It seems possible that even an amateur can discover the law of ability if he digs and pursues the problem. Buddha probably wasn't a psychologist, but he knew the logic of the heavens and preached the truth. He said, "Man has a true nature." I interpret these words as "Man has life, and has a true nature by which life functions." I have acquired the habit of seeking a cause in everything in my own way. This is also the case in violin playing. For over forty years, without a teacher, I have sought to play the violin through imbibing the wonderful music and tone of such great maestros of the recorded world as Kreisler, Thibaut, and Casals. Even that wonderful tone is a result, I thought, of a relationship between the strings and the horsehair. Under what condition can one ring out the strings like that, I questioned myself. For there must be a cause wherever there is a consequence. I studied this seriously every day. I listened to the record, taped the beautiful tone in my tape recorder, tried many different ways of playing, taped myself, compared my sound with the sound taped from the record. Every day I practiced questioning myself: "it's wrong this way, then how about that way?" The days of self-correction and search lasted five, ten, and twenty years. And the same training has continued till today, the training in the problem of the correct posture for playing the violin, the bow hold, manoeuvring of the fingers, the relationship between the horse hair and the strings, the balance of the bow, action of the bow arm, the flexibility of the hand, and the power in the arm. I have at last come as far as forty years. I have walked alone, with the great maestros of the world as my teachers. Thanks to this, I can diagnose just from the sound of the violin, even if I don't see the player, his posture, bow hold and finger grip; I can tell which of the fingers holding the bow is wrong. Therefore, when listening to Graduation tapes, I can see the student's posture, action, and bow hold. This is due to forty years of selfcorrection. By the sound, I can see everything. At workshops in American colleges, I had occasions, before audiences of several hundred teachers, to be asked to sit at centre stage with a big wooden screen behind me. A teacher comes on stage and plays the violin. I can hear the sound but cannot see him. When I say, “Your violin is low, please raise it," the tone improves. Please relax your little finger on the bow," I say, and the sound becomes bigger and more beautiful. Teachers in the hall laugh, as though my lesson just by the sound were a rarity. I can see everything from the sound. Wherever there is a consequence, there is a cause. If I listen to the sound, isn't it natural that I understand the cause of the sound? When a parent thinks, "my child is a problem," he should reflect on why he became such a child, who brought him up that way. However, for many who don't seek the cause, it has been commonsense to simply give up: "my child is a problem, but it can't be helped because he was born that way." How unfortunate children have been. In any case, by delving into the cause of everything, I have pleasantly passed my life walking alone. Taken from Talent Education, no. 50
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