Reflecting their dominance within music education, most musical instruments used in schools are of Western origin. In stark contrast, the adoption of folk instruments for the purposes of facilitating students' music-making and learning in the educational context is rarely encountered. This article reports the empirical data of a study in which a…

This study, followed by an historical review of Shinichi Suzuki's work, investigated the contemporary and critical issues surrounding the Suzuki Method in Japan. First, the author compared textbooks and recordings of the Suzuki Violin School Volume 1, the Japanese version, published in 1970s to the present edition in Japan. In addition, the study…

The purpose of this study was to investigate Japanese secondary physical educators' professional development experiences teaching Japanese traditional dance education at a private secondary school. This study used a descriptive-qualitative research method, using in-depth interviewing within andragogy theory. Four physical education teachers (three…

This study investigated the flow experience of Jiro, a 2-year-old Japanese boy, regarding his violin playing in a social context. In this study, Jiro's violin playing was videotaped at home and during musical sessions for young children and families, guided by the author as a violinist-teacher-researcher. The method adopted a single case study…

This article presents a history of mediated pedagogy in the Suzuki Method, the first widespread approach to learning an instrument in which sound recordings were central. Media are conceptualized as socially constituted: philosophical ideas, pedagogic practices, and cultural values that together form a contingent and changing technological…

The Suzuki Method represents a significant contribution by a Japanese, Suzuki Shin'ichi (1898-1998), to the teaching of musical instruments worldwide. Western observers often represent the method as "Japanese," although it could be called "Western" with equal justification. Suzuki left no detailed description of his method.…