Suzuki Music Education involves training the student to think in terms of sound instead of notes. Language has the same basis. We learn to speak by hearing the sounds aurally, not visually. Later, we learn to read the sounds already learned as a spoken art and not the other way around. And so it is with music. The student learns to assimilate the sound or 'tone words' into phrases and ideas as we do with sentences and paragraphs in speaking. There lies the danger in traditional training. When we attempt to learn a new language grammatically it is void of expression. Grammar is important only after the language has been mastered. Any child in any culture will speak the language of that culture perfectly. And furthermore, will incorporate the exact dialect of that particular region. We've all heard the expression "Oh you're from Boston" as opposed to California or, "you're from Madrid" as opposed to Mexico City. A language that has been learned grammatically from a textbook remains inept with pronunciation that is stilted and crippled. Expression is the purpose of language and expression is the purpose of music. With expression comes communication. Human beings and animals cannot communicate without expression.

'Alright' you're thinking, 'sounds fair enough'... but ... brace yourself because here comes the hard part. Music is not a talent! Repeat - music is not a talent! Music is an acquired skill! Repeat - music is an acquired skill! No one said it better than Shinichi Suzuki himself -'If Mozart's mother would have sang to him out of tune he would have been tone deaf.' Wow! ... Mozart - 'tone deaf' and believe me he would have been tone deaf! Luckily, he happened to have a father that happened to be the greatest music teacher in Europe (Leopold Mozart), and the rest is history.

Let's continue with the hard part. Playing the piano or keyboard or harpsichord or clavichord or organ is a science that is transformed into art. Learning to play any keyboard instrument requires exactly the same technique. This technique is an exact science that is translated to the student as music. All people are created equal, uh, at least in our physiology, and that physiology must be understood according to the laws of nature.

The human body is made up of a very complex system of musculature that has to be trained with our conscious mind until it becomes automatic and then enters our unconscious mind. The laws of nature are the laws of physiology and the laws of physiology are based on the principles of relaxation. Much easier said than done. Repeat - much easier said than done.

The piano is not played with the fingers alone, the piano is played with the whole body. For every motion with the finger there must be an accompanying motion with the wrist, forearm, arm, and upper body. These motions are often invisible but must be there or we risk the danger of injury to the hand. Our musculature consists of a complex network of muscles in pairs that have to function in perfect symmetry with each other. Extensors and flexors, supinators and pronators, abductors and adductors. The student must learn the 'choreography' of the hands. The gauge is the mind and the secret is to learn to produce a perfect tone. When the tone is internalized perfectly, the necessary positions and movements will follow and the end result will be expression.

I have been fortunate to spend most of my life with the greatest pianists and pedagogues in the world including Arthur Rubinstein and Shinichi Suzuki (a breed now sadly extinct). I wish to share with you the secrets of piano technique at La Jolla Piano Institute. We will stay clear of all simplified or arranged music and work only with original classical or contemporary music of your choice. What is needed is at least 15 minutes of perfect concentration at the piano everyday.

Marden Abadi

Director, La Jolla Piano Institute

Photos:

(left) Shinichi Suzuki and Marden, (right) Arthur Rubinstein and Marden

Suzuki Methodology Curriculum and Repertoire

Suzuki Methodology involves working with music that is not arranged, simplified, or altered in any way so the student is immersed in the musical creation as it was written. This music is carefully taken apart and as the student acquires technical skill, is put back together again little by little like a puzzle. Our curriculum is unique in the world because it consists of both classical and contemporary music in its original form. The key to the student's progress is not the difficulty of the music but the interest of the music. A simplified or arranged composition cannot hold that interest. Though original music is intrinsically more difficult, the perfection of the original music in itself becomes easier for the student.

The contemporary repertoire of The La Jolla Piano Institute is a project I was involved with that took ten years to complete. Copyright permission had to be obtained first in order to create the original transcriptions. The process of obtaining the copyrights was both time consuming and costly. When I obtained the copyrights from approximately forty publishers, I then proceeded to produce the transcripts or transcriptions as we call it. These transcriptions in turn, were published by myself spelled out in the music business as “arranged by Marden Abadi”, of which I hold the copyright.