Beautiful tone, Beautiful heart - En jämförande studie av Suzukipedagogiken i Japan och Sverige

Sammanfattning: This study deals with a subject that is much discussed among music teachers and violinists around the world: The Suzuki method and its cultural connection to the Asian and Japanese philosophies. It is a comparative study between Japan and Sweden and the Suzuki method in each country. Are there any differences in how it is being practiced and taught, and in that case why? This topic is interesting for musicians and Suzuki teachers and students, but also for those who are interested in cultural differences in general – especially between East and West. This study has been performed in both Japan and Sweden. It is based primarily on my observations and interviews in Japan at The Talent Education Research Institute, The Tokyo Suzuki Association and Tachibana School, and in Sweden at Umeå musikskola and Lunds kulturskola. The result section describes the relationship between interviews and observations but also the relationship between the informant’s ways of relating to the subject of Suzuki training in different countries. My final discussion describes my own horizon of understanding as half Japanese and half Swedish. One of my conclusions is that while every country has different opinions about children and their abilities it would be good to integrate the Japanese focus on sound production and the integrative view of the pedagogy as a means to personal development of the individual into Suzuki pedagogy in Sweden.