i use suzuki... and im close to finishing book 1. i started playing 1 1/2 months ago.

I finished all of them, from 1-10. ^_^ But it took some hard work to finish all of them.

I learned how to play the violin just last June 10, 2005..and my private teacher teaches me the suzuki method...I agree with you guys that it doesn`t help that much in the sight-reading skills...so after a few weeks, I was determined to sight-read all the pieces by scratching out the numbers above the notes (if it makes sense..hehe)..anyways, that`s what I did...I focused more on reading the notes while also making a good sound out of my violin... But I think suzuki method is a good book..we all have different opinions right? So, I respect all of them.. Oh well, whatever music books, or methods we use, we only have one goal: To play good, (if not beautiful and wonderful ) music on the violin and experience the joy of it..right? Well, good luck to everyone, especially the beginners like me! God bless.

I have. Suzuki is good to start out with. The only draw back is, as others stated, it does not teach sight reading music, very important from the start. If you start off on Suzuki do sight reading at the same time. It will be a very hard habit to break later if you do not!

Also, whatever your choice .... have FUN!

my main problem with the suzuki method was that i never learned to play by ear or improvosation. Now that i am in a blugrass band both of those aspects would be useful, but since i dont have them it takes me forever to learn a new song without the music. So i would say that learnig by suzuki alone can get u dependent on sheet music. As for sight reading i never had a problem learning that. Look at the key signature, look at the time sginature, scan the music for any markings, and play. I dont get what is hard about it.

I don`t use the Suzuki Method. I use the book for pieces

I believe Suzuki method was initially introduced to teach very young kids at age of 3 to 4 to play a musical instrument. This is the reason why they focus on listening to the selected pieces of music (or you can say copying) at the early stage. The idea behind is just like when we first learned our language as a toddler, we just listened to our parents` words and copied them.

I think it is not true to say Suzuki method does not teach sight reading or never teach students to read notes.
It depends on the age and the progress of students. It also depends on the teaching pattern of individual teachers.

Suzuki method does have their own books to teach reading music - the `I can read music` series written by Jane Martin. They are popular supplementary materials used by many Suzuki teachers on top of the main stream Suzuki books. I must say a good Suzuki teacher will not neglect the importance to train his / her students on reading music as part of the learning process.

Regardless traditional or Suzuki method, many students do not have particular sight reading training in their normal lessons for several reasons: 1. teachers believe sight reading can be improved by playing different assigned pieces in the lessons, 2. no time left for sight reading training after running through the routine drill, 3. Only allocate time to sight reading training when the grade exam date is near, and 4) some parents / students do not like their teachers spending too much time on sight reading training because they prefer to learn more pieces.

Anyway, I agree that each method has their pros and cons...

I`m on Suzuki, and am finishing book three. I would be further, but money for lessons is an issue! Suzuki is a very good method of learning for the fact that it steadily increases your skills, but at a good speed to really get the gist of the music. It`s a very sucessful method...

I`m mostly suzuki trained. I hate it. I recently auditioned for college to become a double music major. You know how sometimes people can be unaware of what they don`t know? That was me. I got the audition requirements and realized I was screwed. I tried to learn new music and realized (among other things)I couldn`t even read a key signature adequately to play the piece right. (that has been fixed since, btw) I wouldn`t recommend suzuki...it trains your ears well, but leaves you hanging when you get to more advanced theory and musicallity which is REALLY important for good playing.

Read Dr Shinichi Suzuki`s book - Nurtured by Love. The title says it all. That will explain to you people who are confused but the Suzuki method what it`s all about.

I think Suzuki really wants to make the people who do his method cultured human beings - and in that process, musical too!