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Children playing their violins en masse at a recent convention

Five hundred kids with violins sit on the stage, ears pricked up in attention. The teacher, raised on a pedestal, claps a rhythm. Almost simultaneously, the kids jump up and play the piece from which the rhythm is extracted. The teacher signals for them to sit down again. Silent anticipation. More clapping and another tune in immediate response.

Before the lesson slips into a demonstration of monkey tricks, the children are invited to perform a piece in full. Ranging from ages three to 16, these Suzuki kids from around the world are a motley crowd, but, from the back of the hall, they form a harmonious pattern of synchronised, diagonal bow motion, beautifully-postured bodies, and carefully angled violins. Overweighing scepticism as to whether such mass-playing is musically commendable, is wonder at the rich tone, perfect tuning and feeling of oneness. A second piece is prompted. Those who have not learnt it sit and look up in admiration at their more advanced colleagues. When concentration wanes and the crowd becomes restless, the teacher initiates a game. Who is fastest at raising to their head and then lowering their arm three times? Ready, steady, go. A flutter of arms and a flourish of laughter. Attention has been regained - the lesson can continue.

Start them young, build their intuition through repetition, insist on perfection. This snapshot from a Suzuki Method group lesson at a recent international convention in Matsumoto (Nagano) illustrates some of the key principles of the late Suzuki Shin'ichi's philosophy of Talent Education. Dr. Suzuki's fascination with the learning capacity of infants may have been prompted by the difficulties he himself encountered in starting the violin at the ripe old age of 18. He began teaching in Japan in 1928, after studying in Berlin with Karl Klinger. The success of his lessons with very young children led to the opening, in 1946, of the Matsumoto Music School for children, and, in 1950, of the Talent Education Research Institute and its experimental pre-school. The Talent Education movement grew through demonstrations of its results in concerts featuring hundreds of children performing together. It hit the States in the 60s and is now represented in over 30 countries.