I’ve heard that Suzuki students don’t read music, is that true?
This is a common misconception. We begin teaching the reading of music when the child is ready to read words on the page. Once a child can interpret letters and begins to read words in a book, we can start to teach the fundamentals of reading music. This can begin around the age of 3, depending on the child. A child of 3, 4 or 5 will begin learning the songs by rote (the teacher will first show how to play the notes on the guitar, and then the student will play the notes). Depending on the student’s development, this may continue through Book 2. At Foothills Guitar Studio I will begin to teach preparatory music reading skills as soon as possible (within the first few lessons). There is some historical background for the confusion on reading music: When Dr. Suzuki began his Talent Education School in Japan, music education was part of the Japanese public school curriculum. He did not have to teach students music theory and terminology because they were already getting it from the school
