Karl Klingler and the Orange Blossom Express

As most of the music world knows by now, Mark O’Connor has in the past year presented information on his BLOG that he says exposes Shin’ichi Suzuki as a fraud. Mr. O’Connor has a deservedly high stature as a performer and composer. Therefore, many media outlets have either taken him at his word or printed his accusations as the quotes of a newsworthy person.

This, of course, has struck a deep nerve for tens of thousands of teachers, students and alumni of Suzuki Education around the world. For those of us who had the experience of knowing and working with Suzuki, the hostile nature of the charges is especially troubling.

Charles Avsharian, CEO of the SHAR Music Company, recently posted a statement on his BLOG that noted that Mr. O’Connor’s attacks, as well as some of the responses, have created a hurtful, damaging, and unproductive atmosphere. In response, Mr. O’Connor offered somewhat of an olive branch, expressing his regret at having caused the firestorm. Still, he could not bring himself to back away from his assertions regarding Shin’ichi Suzuki’s personal story. As a result, I feel compelled to present information that I consider to be definitive, due to the testimony of primary sources as well as my own personal interactions.

Before I describe the basic tenets of Suzuki Education and respond to the attacks on Suzuki the man, I do want to acknowledge the accomplishments of Mr. O’Connor. In his career as a performer and composer he has built bridges among musical genres and diverse cultures. More importantly, he has elevated the status of American roots music and inspired many to play, listen or otherwise engage with the musical art. The concept and literature of the O’Connor method could certainly do similar things for music teaching.

The success of Suzuki Education, especially with violin playing, largely speaks for itself. The most radical difference between Suzuki teaching and most other approaches to teaching the violin is the fact that Suzuki teachers believe that, without exception, every child can learn to play the violin and master the instrument to whatever level they pursue. Excellent musicianship is not reserved for the prodigies or other children who have been identified as possessing big talent.

Many professional violinists have emerged as a result of Suzuki Education, including a number of concertmasters of major orchestras. Though we are proud of these musicians, a career in music is only a happy by-product of Suzuki Education. The Suzuki philosophy is clearly more focused on developing the character of the student, cultivating an appreciation of beauty and prompting students to go forth in the world to live as noble citizens.

Pedagogically, the emphasis with the youngest students is to immerse them in the music they will soon play. The technical challenges of the instrument are broken down into hundreds of small steps which are mastered at varying speeds by each student. Parents or caregivers play a large role in providing support, creating a nurturing home environment and celebrating a student’s every achievement.

While there is no system of certification for American Suzuki teachers, there are many opportunities to learn and master both the pedagogy and the philosophy. Teachers are encouraged to register their training experiences on the website of the Suzuki Association of the Americas, a not-for-profit organization that serves as an information clearinghouse for a large and diverse learning community.

The experience of each student depends on the expertise and dedication of their teacher. This is true for every approach to teaching music. It is a fact that some teachers are better than others. The Suzuki Association of the Americas provides a large number of organized opportunities for Suzuki teachers to hone their skills, share ideas and become the best teachers they can be. Suzuki Education in America is an ever-evolving community that absorbs the best qualities of other styles of teaching and continuously introduces new ideas and supplementary material, including, for the last four decades, American fiddle tunes, to the teaching repertoire.

That said, we can finally explore the facts about Shin’ichi Suzuki’s life story. It is true that Suzuki never attended the Berlin Hochshule. He also never claimed to have been enrolled in the Berlin Hochchule. As Suzuki has written, he was not a very good violinist at this time. Nonetheless, he convinced Klingler to take him on as a student. This fact is confirmed by Alice Schoenfeld, Emeritus Professor of Violin at the University of Southern California, and a student in the Klinger studio in the 1920’s. Ms. Schoenfeld said, “Yes, Suzuki was definitely in Klingler’s studio. He was fascinated with Suzuki’s cultural background and eager to see if he could grasp the language of European music. Mr. Klinger and Mr. Suzuki became great friends. Klinger was a wonderful teacher who taught great people, and great people at heart.”

As for Suzuki’s relationship with Albert Einstein, there is no mystery as to how they connected. When Dr. Leonor Michaelis, a friend of the Suzuki family who had agreed to look after Shin’ichi in a completely unknown cultural environment, accepted a teaching appointment in the United States, Michaelis asked his friend Einstein to continue looking after the young Suzuki. Einstein later presented Suzuki with the gift of a self-portrait with the following inscription: “Herr Shinichi Suzuki in freundlichsten Erinnerung” translated as, “Mr. Shinichi Suzuki in friendliest recollection” – Albert Einstein November 1926.

Regarding Suzuki’s honorary degrees, many teachers and students use the honorific title of Doctor in referring to Suzuki. However, Suzuki never referred to himself as a doctor, though many other noteworthy people with honorary degrees have, including poet Maya Angelou, Bluegrass artist Ralph Stanley and founding father Benjamin Franklin.

Shin’ichi Suzuki was most proud of the many children in his studio who learned to play music and engage the world with beautiful hearts. There were also students who became professional musicians. In fact, Suzuki’s very first students found success as professional violinists, Toshiya Eto, was head of the Toho Gakuen School of Music and Koji Toyoda, served as concertmaster of the Berlin Radio Orchestra. In America, many Suzuki students have ascended to musical prominence, including William Preucil, concertmaster of the Cleveland Orchestra and Erin Keefe, Artist member of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and concertmaster of the Minnesota Orchestra.

While never a virtuoso, Suzuki himself became a respected violinist in Japan. As a soloist he appeared with the New Symphony Orchestra – a precursor of the NHK Symphony and toured extensively with the Suzuki Quartet, all before World War II.

In the end, it was not his violin playing that changed the world of music; it was his pedagogy and his humanity. I hope the music world is ready to move on from the ugly rancor of the past year. The truth is that if there were another million wonderful music teachers, it wouldn’t be enough. We do what we do for the happiness of all children.

The Sound (choice) of Music

In July of 2018, The Washington Post published a story about violinist William Preucil, Jr., alleging multiple instances of sexual misconduct and abuse of power. The Cleveland Orchestra, where, until recently, Mr. Preucil served as concertmaster, quickly suspended him and retained a law firm to do a full investigation. Mr. Preucil also resigned from his teaching position at the Cleveland Institute of Music, where, a decade earlier, there had been allegations of misconduct.

The Cleveland Orchestra announced the findings of its investigation on October 24, 2018. The Washington Post reported that the investigation, conducted by the New York law firm Debevoise and Plimpton, found that 11 women had told credible stories of sexual misconduct by Mr. Preucil. The orchestra fired Mr. Preucil the same day.

Reports about the misconduct were originally reported in 2006 by The Scene Magazine in Cleveland. At the time, Mr. Preucil’s conduct was an “open secret”, about which almost no one was willing to speak on the record.  The Cleveland Institute of Music (CIM) made arrangements, (AKA covered up), with one victim, a student of Mr. Preucil at the school. Mr. Preucil kept his prominent place on the CIM faculty and the student signed a non-disclosure agreement. In recent months, the institution has made strong statements condemning Mr. Preucil’s behavior but so far has not acknowledged the earlier cover-up. CIM needs to fully acknowledge what happened in 2006.

The story is disturbing, even more so, because William Preucil, Jr. also happens to be the violinist on the most widely distributed recording of the repertoire of the Suzuki Violin School.  This is the recording listened to every day by thousands of young violin students. In order to put the issue in context, it is essential to consider the distinct characteristics of Suzuki pedagogy. Dr. Suzuki called on teachers to believe in the unlimited potential of each child, placing the development of strong character on a higher plane than the development of musical skills. With the close cooperation of parents, students learn music the same way they acquire their native language, through listening, repetition, an element of group learning, and positive reinforcement.

Suzuki pedagogy utilizes a highly organized and thoughtful sequence of repertoire. It is critical that students repeatedly listen to accurate renditions of the repertoire, which are completely faithful to the bowing, fingering, phrasing and articulation notated in the books of the Suzuki Violin School. Recordings of these pieces are carefully planned, executed and reviewed by experienced Suzuki teachers. It would be counter-productive for students to listen to other recorded versions of the repertoire.

The International Suzuki Association (ISA), a non-profit entity, has the sole authority to grant rights for the use of the name and the marks “Suzuki” and “Suzuki Method”. It is the ISA that officially reviews all published recordings of the Suzuki repertoire. Alfred Music, a for-profit, multi-national publishing company, holds the exclusive rights to record and distribute the specific repertoire sequence associated with the Suzuki Violin School. It became public on October 30; 2018 that Alfred Music was planning to make a new recording of the repertoire.

To my knowledge, the ISA has not taken a public position on the issue other than a generic statement on its homepage condemning sexual misconduct. The statement is dated October 16, 2018, but was not actually posted until the following week. One would hope that the ISA played a role in convincing Alfred Music to make a new recording, but that is so far unknown. While it is not clear whether the ISA has a specific legal authority regarding Alfred Music’s recording and distribution of the Suzuki repertoire, their website describes the terms of potential business relationships related to trademark and copyrights:

The ISA was designated by Dr. Suzuki as the sole authorised organisation which can grant rights to the use of his name and the marks “Suzuki”, “Suzuki Method”, and other similar terms throughout the world.

Later in the same document:

If the above, criteria are met, permission for the use of the Suzuki name, trademarks and/or use of ISA/Suzuki copyrighted materials may be granted in ISA’s sole discretion for a period of ___ years or ___ number of copies as agreed between the author or ISA by a written license agreement at a royalty rate of 8% of the retail prices of the licensed materials

The Suzuki Association of the Americas (SAA), a non-profit organization which is officially licensed to support, guide, and promote Suzuki education in North, Central, and South America, has not commented in the issue. The SAA Board of Directors released the following statement in August, referring to Mr. Preucil’s service as an honorary board member:

In light of recent allegations of misconduct, the Board of Directors of the Suzuki Association of the Americas has removed William Preucil, Jr. as an honorary board member.

As an association, working together as Dr. Suzuki intended, we will continue to aspire to the highest standards of personal conduct, professional integrity and respect for human dignity.

The SAA website contains no specific reference to Mr. Preucil and his recording of the Suzuki repertoire and has not made any particular comment on the controversy. The SAA does not appear to have a legal role in the matter. It should be noted that Mr. Preucil also appears in video recordings used for teacher training, controlled and distributed by the SAA.

The SAA does offer general statements regarding ethical behavior. Among many statements in the Teacher Trainers Aspirational Code of Ethics are:

As members, we demonstrate responsibility toward the Suzuki philosophy by:

• Recognizing the dignity and the potential of all individuals.

As members of the Suzuki Association of the Americas by:

• Carrying out our responsibilities toward the SAA in a manner that brings credit to the SAA and to Dr. Suzuki’s name.

As members, we demonstrate responsibility toward our students by:

• Setting an excellent personal and musical example for

On September 13, 2018, the SAA Violin Committee, perhaps not coincidentally, suggested other available recordings of the Suzuki Violin School repertoire. That statement is excerpted here.

…the SAA Violin Committee offers the list below of recordings which are either “vintage” recordings of the Suzuki Violin School or suggestions for numerous other recorded versions of the repertoire.

The following recordings of the Suzuki Violin School are available for download on iTunes and Amazon from Alfred Publishing (sic). Alfred Music has created a list of the links to purchase digital downloads of the Suzuki recordings. The links for the string books are active. Links to the recordings of other instruments will follow. The online address to access the list is Alfred.com/Suzuki and the exact URL for the string audio is www.alfred.com/suzukistringaudio.

There are four other recordings.  None of them include the entire Suzuki violin repertoire.  All of them differ from current editions of the Suzuki Violin School, with inconsistencies in musical notes and bowing.  Even the recording of Shin’ichi Suzuki is different from the repertoire, as it is currently evolved.

David Cerone                        Volumes 1-4

David Nadien                        Volumes 1-4

Koji Toyota                            Volumes 5-8

Shin’ichi Suzuki                     Volumes 1-3

Alfred Music profits from the sale of this material. The descendants of Dr. Suzuki also receive a share of the profits, and, as far as I know, they have not taken a formal position.

The issue is complicated. Credible allegations of sexual misconduct have been made against a musician, Mr. Preucil, who years earlier, had recorded the definitive version of the repertoire of the Suzuki Violin School. Questions abound.

• Does it matter who performs the music on Suzuki recordings? Suzuki students are not in direct contact with the recording artist.
• Is it rational, or advisable, to invalidate the musical output of musicians who have committed crimes or behaved unethically?
• Should adherents of the Suzuki Philosophy hold its associated musicians to a higher standard of behavior?
• Does it matter if the performer, the ISA or the Suzuki family is making a profit from the recordings? Are these entities somehow complicit?
• Is it possible to be associated with these recordings, and without hypocrisy, declare that sexual misconduct will not be tolerated under any circumstances in our field?

In my conversations and correspondence with parents, teachers and Suzuki alumni, I have found a large number of people who are not troubled by the recordings. They do not condone Mr. Preucil’s behavior, but see the recordings as a step or two removed from those who listen to them. However, the majority are appalled and angry that the Preucil recordings are still being promoted and sold. Teachers and parents must decide whether or not they can continue to use the Preucil recordings in their daily teaching and learning. The choice is more complicated by the fact that the existing alternative recordings are not wholly adequate.

I call on the ISA and SAA to make, the now long overdue, strong and explicit statements about the issue. Alfred Music made the sound choice in planning to make new recordings. They undoubtedly sensed both a public relations disaster on the horizon, and a fresh opportunity to promote their product.  Wouldn’t it be wonderful if these three organizations embraced the growing diversity of the Suzuki movement in the Americas, and selected a woman and/or person of color to record the new version of the Suzuki Violin School repertoire? We can only hope.

Mark George