Danish Suzuki Videos
The ISA thanks Claus Kanneworff for his invaluable assistance in making these videos available for the ISA Online Archive. His father, Per Kanneworff, provides the historical background for these rare live videos of Dr. Suzuki’s early teaching in Europe.
“In Easter 1981, the Danish Suzuki Institute held an international Suzuki workshop in Elsinore, Denmark. In this connection, Dr. Shinichi Suzuki was invited to give lessons.
The Director of the Danish Suzuki Institute, Mrs. Tove Detreköy, thought that we would have an opportunity to document Dr. Suzuki's work with the children. Having followed the system as a “Suzuki dad” through several years, I was asked by Mrs. Detreköy to make a video documentation of the lessons. At that time, I had no prior experience with filming, and later cut-and-paste and video editing. However, I was persuaded to try my best as Dr. Suzuki's visit probably would be the only chance for us.
We rented a VHS-video camera and a VHS-video recorder. During the lessons, we managed to make some twenty hours of camera recordings. Combined with our own VHS-video recorder we - that was Tove Detreköy, Béla Detreköy and I – copied and arranged the recordings into a relatively logical order with this very primitive equipment. Also, we filtered out and collected Dr. Suzuki's teaching points.”
Per Kanneworff
December 2024
Summaries
Video 1 - 2hrs 4min
Dr. Suzuki opens by sharing how his strong desire for all children to be educated and develop good character inspired the creation of the Suzuki Method, rooted in his philosophy of talent (or ability) education. He demonstrates foundational violin techniques, such as a good bow hold and left hand frame, before leading a series of group and individual masterclasses featuring Book 1 repertoire. Throughout, he works closely with students on improving sound production and drawing a fuller tone from their playing.
Video 2 - 2hrs 43min
In these group and individual lessons, Dr. Suzuki works with students on pieces from Suzuki Violin School Volumes 2-5. He emphasizes throughout the importance of a good tone and a strong sound when playing. He breaks down the mechanics of this for each student, helping them especially discover the roles of a fluid, free elbow and controlled bow fingers in tone production.
Video 3 - 1hr
This is a group class of adult teachers. The video begins with Dr. Suzuki talking about and demonstrating a rather detailed description of bow placement and movement for beginners, including exercises for isolated movements and repertoire applications of concepts. The whole group of teachers joins Dr. Suzuki, and try the exercises and repertoire with proper and exaggerated incorrect posture to feel and see differences between the two.
Video 4 - 1hr 4min
This is a continuation of the group class of adult teachers. The video begins with Dr. Suzuki demonstrating a ringing sound with the open string Pizzicato, and achieving the same sound with fingers down on the Violin. The video transitions to a group class of teachers practicing with their own pizzicato, and applying this ringing sound to the bow. Dr. Suzuki also demonstrates helpful practice tips, like taking your hands off the instrument and getting beautiful, in-tune sound three times in a row without failure. A teacher acts as a student to demonstrate the process, and highlight the scrutiny required of the teacher and student to be successful. The rest of the video features Dr. Suzuki demonstrating bow technique and sound production, with and without whole group participation.
Video 5 - 41min
Dr. Suzuki introduces exercises for practicing many staccato and string crossings in one bow. He brings staccato string crossings into tonal exercises, leading into double-stop tonal exercises to practice breaking up chords. At the end of the video, Dr. Suzuki plays a game with the teachers using mixed-up pieces of paper labelled with various songs throughout the books to make sure everyone can play the pieces on command.
Video 6 - 55min
Dr. Suzuki starts the video with the “panda” bow exercises to strengthen the optimal bow hold, first without the violin, then with the bow on the strings, starting from the frog and using the whole bow. He then shows the teachers how to use “Chorus from Judas Maccabaeus” as a tonalization exercise in many different ways. He then moves on to exercises focusing on violin finger and bow dexterity. Towards the end of the video, Dr. Suzuki works on position etudes and trills in the third position. He then has the teachers demonstrate their versions of “Chorus”.
Video 7 - 2hrs 4min
In this video, Dr. Suzuki gives a masterclass to a group of students ranging in age and level. Starting with Vivaldi Concerto in G Minor First Movement, Dr. Suzuki is quick to point out some key points to creating the best tone with good bow arm posture. He demonstrates how rigidity in the right arm, hand, and wrist can cause rigidity in sound production as well. Dr. Suzuki uses tricks such as flipping the bow upside down (frog at the end of the bow and tip by the hand) and having one student play the left hand while another student bows to challenge students to refine their technique. His exaggerated demonstrations allow students to recognize how much their tone is affected by these details. Starting with Chorus from Judas Maccabaeus all the to Bach Concerto for Two Violins in D Minor, students perform various pieces in groups as well as solo, while Dr. Suzuki provides detailed advice that often leads the student to having more power, resonance, and musical interest in their performances. He places great importance on finding a rich tone on fundamentals of the bow, often on open strings, and then applying that to whichever piece a student is working on. His enthusiasm and playful nature encourages students not to be timid when playing and pushes students to always aspire to their most beautiful sound.
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