Book: Ability Development from Age Zero

Author: Shinichi Suzuki
Translation: Mary Louise Ngata
Shufunotomo Co Ltd, 1969
ISBN: 0918194121

Pg vii

Clarification

The words talent and ability are used in a broad sense and refer to one’s capacity to think, act, or feel in any given situation. Their use is not restricted to the artistic field, but is also applied to personality traits. Thus Suzuki, and this book, will refer to the fact that one has developed the ability to be argumentative, the ability to be personable, the talent for being considerate, or the talent for being happy.

Pg 2

Chapter 1: Talent is Not Inborn

Everyone Has a Sprout of Talent

When we say children have inborn ability, often those children already have been nurtured to the age of five or size. When looking at a newborn baby, absolutely nobody can say, “This child will be a talented musicians,” or, “This child will be a talented literary person.”

Pg 7

Even Tone Deaf Children Can be Developed

I also taught a six-year-old tone deaf child who was not born that way. When he was a baby, his mother or grandmother sang out-of-tune lullabies to him, and as he heard them he became one deaf. To cure the child’s tone deafness, I used the following method:

…instead of correcting the old tone deaf gamut (a series of recognized musical notes), I made a new gamut for which I repeated the training over and over again. When the new gamut had been experienced more times than the old gamut, the old gamut gradually wore thin and was erased.

Pg 8

If I may say so, parents who say, “My child has no musical talent,” or “My child is so weak in literature,” are ignorant. If it is know that talent is not inborn but nurtured, then such things cannot be said. The parent who complains about his child is actually announcing to society that he has bad methods for nurturing.

Saying “My child has no talent” is actually the same as saying “I did not educate my child to develop the sprout of his talent”.

The Life Force for environmental Adaptation

…Suppose Mozart had been given to me to care for son after his birth. And further suppose that instead of having the influence of his wonderful musician father, Mozart heard me plan an old, bent, out-of-tune record for his lullaby when he cried. Then, if Mozart listed to an out-of-tune record every day and was raised in this environment, Mozart would have internalized the out-of-tuneness and become a tone deaf person.

Pg 13

It all depends on how children are raised.

“Practice!”mother says enthusiastically every day. Regardless of how much interest mother has, nothing will happen if the child does not want to practice. “Practice”even if repeated, is only an everyday unpleasant experience to the child. The more, “It’s practice time,” is said, the more the child wants to run away and play.

ABILITY DEVELOPMENT FROM AGE ZERO

Pg 15

Practice that Creates Dislike

In many cases I wonder if this poor kind of practice is going on. “Do your practicing.” There are those who think that this constant nagging is education. This method can be called the “How Not to Develop Ability” method.

Children will do what they dislike if they are scolded.

However, if they do not have the desire to do it, it will not develop into an ability. When a child has the desire, the ability will become internalized. His life force will reach out and the ability becomes internalized.

The same can be said about plant cultivation. True cultivators know that a seed needs plenty of fertilizer, water, and sunshine. If you hold a seed in your hand and yell, “Sprout! Sprout! Sprout!” you are being merciless to the seed. The seed will not sprout unless the conditions are right.

The Saturday night concert begins. The child bows and plays a piece. “Very good! Well done!” Father praises the child even if the performance was poor. Then he says, “Would you play for me again next week?” The child will then happily practice hard for another week.

This is one way to put incentive and joy into practice. In this way the household also becomes joyful. Only three minutes are necessary. So much was accomplished.

It is not difficult. Beforehand, Mother says to Father, “Please say that you wish to hear him again next week and please applaud.” In this way, even a small performance will allow the child to enjoy his practice.

The following week, the piece is more polished when the child opens his concert. In this way, as the weeks go by, and if other pieces the child has played are added, he will become able to play all of his pieces well.

Pg 21

Develop Talent Carefully

In many cases, parents and teachers present a child with tasks which the child both dislikes and cannot do.

It would be better if the child was presented fun tasks which he can do and developed his ability that way.

Tasks which are done happily are internalized and in this manner talent is grown carefully. This is the secret for parents and teachers regarding education.

The educational objective changes with the abilities of each child. 

Pg 26

A Child of Any Race Can Develop Ability can be developed in children of any race.

In the future there will come a time when man will not ask what race a child is, but will think of humanity as a whole. I believe that the foolish parts of human history were often due to racial prejudice.

The Western world had the preconceived idea that Japanese people did not know Western music and performed it without sensitivity. Yet Japan successfully produced excellent musicians. When I lectured in America, orchestras I asked the audience when I had finished, “Japanese people are known for being unmusical. What do you think?”

“Certainly it was true thirty or forty years ago, but after listening to your lecture we know that saying that is a mistake. Now we cannot say that it is true,” was the answer. This is the result of making Kreisler, Casals, and the greatest musicians in the world the teachers of sensitivity for thirty years. This sensitivity was internalized by small children.

Japanese musicians have appeared all over the world to take these musicians nave to music schools, play in orchestras, and even become concertmasters. The Western music world was surprised that the Japanese people could show such musicality so suddenly.

A child who is raised in the best possible environment from early childhood will internalize a high level of sensitivity, enough to be admired even by Galamian. The child accomplishes this in the same way that a child in Osaka learns the Osaka dialect. Using this method only for music would be regrettable when it can be adapted to any area.

Chapter 4

Parents are haughty 

Pg 36

I often tell parents that they are much too demanding towards their own children. The facial expressions of a mother are greatly different when dealing with someone else’s child. A mother faced with her own child’s disobedience thinks that she will make him obey, and her face becomes stern. Often what would be a simple request is replaced by a command. Yet, if the same mother wants the same action from another’s child, she will ask that child nicely. Of course, the child is happy to comply.

Do Not Cheat Yourself

Education has been given various definitions, but I would define it as knowledge of and respect for the nobleness of human beings. An education which consists primarily of following orders creates bad results.

When I was seventeen I was very impressed with Tolstoy. I was especially impressed by the words, “Do not cheat yourself.” Tolstoy wrote in his diary that it is worse to cheat yourself than to cheat another. 

Pg 41

Speak to Each One

I have been listening to the graduation tapes sent to me. At the end of each tape, I include some comments:

“Your right elbow is just a little too high. Play with it just a little lower.”

“The little finger of your bow hand is straight. Curve it.”

People wonder how I know. If I listen to the tone, I know the posture, the feelings, and the entire child. Sometimes I even understand the home situation.

“You are somewhat disobedient, aren’t you? You have been doing some practicing alone. Today you clearly said ‘I am a disobedient child’ through your music. Now practice being obedient three times a day. Practice saying yes instead of no. Make the next tape say to me, I am an obedient child.’ It is in your hands!”

Pg 42

Practice Understanding Others

On the graduation tapes of children who play quite well, I say, “You can play quite well. Now here is some homework for you to practice every day. Practice understanding others and be sensitive to their feelings.”

There are many insensitive people in the world and many people think nothing of wounding the heart of another person in public. When ugly words are said to someone, he will become angry. If a person could feel the hurt and anger in another, he would not say such ugly words.

Chapter Five: The Making of a Person

The “Not Angry” Game

Make a game of not becoming angry at home. Every nome has a calendar. Put an Anger Graph near it. It is best if the entire family keeps a record. A record is kept of how many times each becomes angry every day, and a total is made for each month. While keeping such records, maybe a time will come in which no one becomes angry at all for the entire month.

As a person learns not to become angry, his heart becomes more amiable and he becomes better at helping others. At the same time, he will become able to live without pestering his companions by polluting the air with his anger. Please play the Not Angry game. Even if it starts as only a game, you will find that injurious anger will naturally become extinguished.

A child who is raised by a short-tempered parent develops a short temper like his parent. He will become enraged at his friends without cause. His ability for anger has been trained every day through the educational method of his parents. Anger is the ability to become angry.

Pg 51

Personality Is a Talent

Developing one’s personality is talked about as if it were an obvious result of education. The problem is that parents and teachers call what is a well-developed ability in a child his personality.
Behind personality development lies hidden the easy way of educating a child. The child is being educated in something he has already been trained to do well. Then people mistakenly call that ability an inborn ability and make another error by assuming this.

Last year, sixty university professors came to the Matsumoto Talent Education Research Center. We had a discussion hour in the auditorium. One teacher began by asking for my thoughts on personality. I answered by asking what was meant by personality. Everyone started laughing because they thought that I did not understand the word. Then I continued:

“I wonder if trained ability is often mistaken for personality. When people talk about personality, it seems that they are talking about the most well-trained ability in the child rather than his personality. Such an ability is not the inborn individuality of the child. If people want to stress having a strong personality, then they should raise children to develop such an admirable personality.

Develop Only Wonderful Characteristics

When people talk about developing personality, regardless of other factors, there are problems. Suppose the child of a pickpocket was good at stealing things. There would be a problem with expanding such a personality under the present definition. It is necessary to raise a child with more desirable characteristics. It is easier to understand if we realize that being an individual constitutes developing an ability. Then we can develop excellent abilities instead of merely expanding an existing personality.

If an ability the child has developed is a good one, then of course it would be good to expand it. However, if an ability the child has developed is not so admirable, like stealing, then it is better not to expand it, but to develop other abilities instead.

British people have their own individual characteristics. That is because they were born and raised in Britain. If a British child were brought to Japan at the time of birth and raised by a Japanese parent, then he would not have British-like characteristics. Individuality is an ability, and that child would have Japanese-like characteristics. His body would be that of a Briton, but his actions would have Japanese characteristics.

The foundation of education is to carefully raise children with the ability to be fine human beings without being hindered by their individual characteristics.

pg 54

Chapter 6: The Fate of a Child Is In the Hands of His Parents

From the Day of Birth

“When is a good time to start the violin?”
“My child is three years old. Is that too early to start the piano?”
I am frequently asked such inappropriate questions.
It has often been said that it is best to start lessons from such-and-such an age, or starting too early is damaging. These opinions are erroneous. They are only theories. Can you conceive of thinking, “It is best to teach my child how to speak when he is five years old. Therefore he should not hear anyone speak until then.” Nonsense! If a person actually did that to a child, it would be far too late for learning the language.

I do not think that anyone will ever find any bad effects from teaching a child his language at such an early age that he speaks fluently by the time he is five. The problem arises when the child is ignored during these important years.

From the day of birth, the body gradually grows, and the child adapts to his environment. When cultivating plants, it is obvious that a seedling will wither if it is assumed that no water, sunshine, or fertilizer should be given to the plant until a specific time, and then it is card with all three.

Pg 55

The Words of Darwin

There was a conversation between Darwin and a mother:
“From what age is it best to educate a child?”
“How old is your child?”
“My child is a year and a half.”
“Then you are a year and a half late.”

He made it clear that birth is the best time to start. For musical ability, play the most beautiful music on records from the day of birth. We develop to different forms dependent upon our environment. A child in an environment full of laughter will be full of charm and bright laughter. A child in an environment where nobody laughs will be unable to laugh and will be cold and sulky.

pg 57

To Succeed or Not Succeed

People often talk about whether a child will become a success or not. Unfortunately, the heart of the question involves ability. Using the ability or inability to earn noney as a measure of whether a child will become great r not is like saying that humans were born with the sole urpose of being able to make a living.

58

One of my students was brought up well. He studied earnestly and he played the violin well. One day his mother asked me, “Will my child become something?”

“No, he will not,” I answered quietly. She was shocked, so I continued, “Are you thinking that you will not allow your child to play the violin if he is not going to become something through it?” Often I am repelled when a parent asks me that question because I feel her calculating whether or not the child can support himself by his musical ability. I said, “Your child is well brought up and he has a fine artistic sense. By never becoming a success, he will become a wonderful person. I did not mean that he has no promise for development. He is being well brought up. It is unfair to him to use words that imply being mercenary.” Now she understood well.

If a parent can raise a child to be a talented, admirable person, that is enough. Later, the child himself will make his own way. If a child is brought up to have a beautiful heart and wonderful abilities, with love for others and the happiness of being loved, then the mission of a parent is ended.

Pg 72

Chapter 8: Develop Life

Use a Friendly Voice

Loving and having friends is what life strives for. Hating people is not what life is looking for. However, if hate is practiced daily, the talent for hating people grows.

If a person follows his own natural life activity, then he should always have a warm heart for people. Then if that is done, he should receive radiations from the warm hearts of others. In other words, the interest on love comes back.

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To be able to express love is, of course, an ability, and to expand this ability it is necessary to practice continuously.

77

The Responsibility for Education Is in the Home

One day I went to an elementary school to observe. Just at that time there was a PTA meeting. The principal of the school greeted the mothers and asked for their continued cooperation in the home education of their children. Then the mothers thanked him and agreed to cooperate.

After listening to the exchange, I began to think that these people were a little crazy. The person who plants a seed in his field and cultivates it is the cultivator.

Parents are cultivators. They are the ones responsible for raising their children with love. When the responsible person is asked to “cooperate” by the other person and agrees, it seems that the main and auxiliary roles are reversed. Something also seems wrong with the school teachers. If the neighbor of a farmer, who was caring for his own field, asked the farmer to “cooperate” in the care of that field, the farmer would become incensed.

Nobody has the responsibility for bringing up a child to be a fine person except the parents of that child. It is the school teacher who should cooperate with the parents in educating the child. It is the parents who should be asking the teacher for cooperation and the school which should agree.

Remember that if a child commits a crime, it is the parents and not the teachers who are held responsible by the law. This one thing shows the responsibility of child education in the home.

Even so, there are parents who forget their duty to their children and indifferently leave the education of their children entirely up to the schools. Having ignored their children, the parents feel their responsibility for the first time when their children run up against the law. This is the retribution of cause and effect.

Chapter 9: Look at the truth

Pg 94

The Seashore Test Is Outdated

There was a famous psychologist named Seashore. Mr. Seashore devised a test of musical aptitude called the Seashore Test. This test can be given to four and five year olds to see if they are musically inclined or not.

A long time ago this test had authority and was accepted as proof that musical talent was inborn.

A few years ago when I went to America, I was asked, “Mr. Suzuki, what do you think of the Seashore Test?” I answered in this way:
“Don’t ask my opinion about that, you should ask Mr. Seashore. How do you test children in America for an inclination to speak English?”
My answer must have sounded sarcastic for everyone laughed very hard. What I wanted to say was the following:
Any child has the possibility to be musically inclined.
Talent will sprout according to how the children are raised. Testing a child for musical inclination is illogical.

It is the same as testing a child born in America for the inclination to speak English. In my opinion, the Seashore Test is the psychology of the last century.

The research of some scholars seems very scientific while having holes in it.

95

For example, scholars often say the following about identical twins:
“What would happen if identical twins were raised in exactly the same environment? This is important research.” However, there is one mistake in those words. A person who has kept my opinions in his heart should know. There is no such thing as two environments exactly the same.

For example, even if identical twins are clothed identically, and given the same meals at the same table every day, there will be something different about them.

If one child drops his bowl and it breaks, his mother will say, “That’s no good. Be more careful.” If she does not then scold the other child, one cannot say that the children are in precisely the same environment.

Even if the other child is scolded, that child had not broken his bowl so his feelings will become mixed when he is scolded. In which case, no matter what one says, they were not raised in exactly the same environment.

One can understand that even the slightest thing will make a psychological difference in their development.

Even if a mother says, “I nurtured them in exactly the same way . . .,” that is not true.

On top of raising children, I would like you to think about how important the key Knowing the truth is from this example.

I have spent many words communicating what I understand from my experience about the talent development of children.

The talent of a child is not inborn. Any child has the sprout of possibility to grow. If a child is left alone, his talent will wither. Please! For noble children, ascertain the truth, nurture that sprout with overflowing love, and make the flower of hope bloom.

Any child, every child will surely grow wonderfully.

It depends upon how they are raised. “The fate of a child is in the hands of his parents.”
Please, prepare the best environment for your child.

Parent and child should grow together looking towards the future. I pray for your happiness.

If this book becomes a light of hope for mothers who love their children and wish for them to grow up wonderfully, I could not be happier.