I’m fascinated by the way our brains choose to summarize a collection of memories, a wide variety of perspectives, or wealth of facts.

What do you think of when you think of your childhood?
What do you think of when you consider the value of algebra?
What does social justice look like to you?

The images we conjure are varied. They are unique and individual to our own narratives.

I remember Carrie Reuning-Hummel asking the graduate students of our Suzuki seminar what image came to mind when we thought of the Suzuki Method.

We went around the table and shared. One person thought of a parent practicing with their child. Another person conjured up the tune of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. Yet another imagined a gymnasium full of Japanese children playing the Bach Double in unison. 

Each of us had differing, yet valid, mental images of what the Suzuki Method is.

Our images must, of course, depend on our memories. Our memory of experiences in the method– or our memory of stories shared with us or training imprinted on our minds.

Each of our collections of images which consolidates into a flashing image which represents our view of the Suzuki Method is undoubtedly narrow.

I want to expand my idea what the Suzuki Method looks like. I want to update my vision from a historic 1960’s version, even an early 2000’s vision (when I was a student of the method) to an understanding rooted in 2019. [Read more…]