North Shore Suzuki School is dedicated to providing children with the best possible musical instruction. Established in 1974 by Florence and Paul Sulkin, our faculty has extensive training and experience working with the very youngest students, adolescents, and adults in the Suzuki Method.
Owners and directors for over three years now, Alison and David Johnson bring two decades of public, private and Suzuki teaching experience of their own to this program. Alison has taught for the North Shore Suzuki School for over a decade now, and together they are thrilled to be running this school. They thank former and very successful owners Leslie and Steve Fayette for having entrusted them with continuing the long-standing tradition that this school has. Together with a talented teaching staff, all with training and experience in Suzuki pedagogy, they are dedicated to providing the finest instruction based on a deep commitment to Suzuki’s “Mother-Tongue” method. They fully understand the unique opportunity Suzuki parents face—each of their three children started at the school and are still students at the school. They remain committed to providing an amazing family-oriented experience that nothing but a Suzuki School can provide.
We take an active role in bringing every new family into the school. You may download the registration form below and send it to us, or you can simply call us if you have questions. Once registered, we will work to find a time and location that is most convenient for you and your child.
Beginners have a 30-minute private lesson. For up to the first 8 weeks, however, the group class may be given over to parents to provide them with the instruction necessary to succeed as “home teachers.” After 8 weeks, the students are ready to take over the group class time.
Japanese violinist Shinichi Suzuki observed that children everywhere learn to speak their native language with ease. He began to apply the basic principles of language acquisition to the learning of music, and called his method the Mother-Tongue Method.
Just as they guide their children in learning to speak, Suzuki parents attend lessons and act as “home teachers,” helping their children to learn in daily home lessons, which are based on their weekly lesson with a trained Suzuki teacher. Parents of beginners are given instruction in a special parent class, which takes the place of their child’s eventual Group Lessons for the first 8 weeks of instruction. MORE...
The main concern for parents should be to bring up their children as noble human beings. That is sufficient. If this is not their greatest hope, in the end the child may take a road contrary to their expectations. Children can play very well. We must try to make them splendid in mind and heart also.
Suzuki based his approach on the belief that “Musical ability is not an inborn talent but an ability which can be developed. Any child who is properly trained can develop musical ability, just as all children develop the ability to speak their mother tongue. The potential of every child is unlimited.”