2014年10月29日 星期三

鈴木小提琴法Suzuki Violin Method是騙局?


Was Renowned Inventor of Suzuki Violin Method a Fraud?

Tuesday, October 28, 2014 - 02:00 PM

He developed a teaching method by which hundreds of thousands of children worldwide have learned to play the violin, cello, flute and piano. Alumni of the method include the violinists Hillary Hahn, Sarah Chang, Jennifer Koh and Leila Josefowicz.
But Shinichi Suzuki, the Japanese founder of the Suzuki Method who died in 1998, is now being accused of fabricating his personal story in order to help sell his books and courses.
The violinist Mark O'Connor published a blog post last week asserting that Suzuki made up one of the key chapters in his life story, namely, that he spent eight years in the 1920s studying with renowned teacher Karl Klinger at the Berlin Conservatory. During that period, according to Suzuki’s biography, he played chamber music with Albert Einstein, who helped inspire his revolutionary teaching methods.
"I don't think it's true," writes O'Connor in a post titled "Suzuki's Biggest Lie." O'Connor presents an official document which he says shows that Suzuki failed his audition to the conservatory in 1923, at age 24. "Shinichi Suzuki had no violin training from any serious violin teacher that we can find," writes O'Connor. “He was basically self-taught, beginning the violin at the age of 18, and it showed."
O'Connor further alleges that Suzuki met Einstein only once and that a key endorsement from the legendary cellist Pablo Casals never occurred.
The Suzuki Method is based on a notion that by listening and imitation, children can learn to speak any language – and thus play music – by the age of three. While it has been dismissed by some critics as a sophisticated form of rote learning, it won international acceptance in the 1960s. According to the Talent Education Research Institute, an educational organization founded by Suzuki, about 400,000 children in 46 countries are now learning to play musical instruments through the Suzuki Method.

O’Connor’s allegations, which stretch over several previous blog posts, have sparked anger and confusion among Suzuki Method practitioners. Allen Lieb is a violinistwho teaches at the School for Strings in New York and studied with Suzuki during the 1970s. He says that Suzuki never claimed to have attended the Berlin Conservatory. "He studied privately with Klinger for seven years," Lieb says. "He was a personal student of [Klinger's]."
"Whatever is driving this, it's really causing a lot of concern among people," Lieb said of O'Connor's allegations. "They're just claims on his part. He seems to have gone personal in his attacks."
Lieb called O’Connor “a very talented performer" but suggested that “he has a financial stake in this, having just produced his own method."
Biographies of Suzuki – many very admiring in tone – corroborate the pedagogue's personal story, including his ties to Klinger and Einstein. In the 1981 Shinichi Suzuki: The Man and His Philosophy, author Evelyn Hermann describes Suzuki's studies with Klinger, which included not only intensive work on concertos, sonatas and chamber music, but also a personal friendship that included a visit to the teacher's summer home in Altmark, Germany.
O'Connor says that biographers merely repeated "the same concocted story" with "not a single one of them caring to check the facts. None of them picked up the phone to call Karl Klingler in Germany about it."
A representative at the Suzuki Association of the Americas declined to speak on record, but stated that Suzuki's personal story "really doesn't matter to us because the proof is in the pudding."

7個學費全免的國家

WorldViews
7 countries where Americans can study at universities, in English, for free (or almost free)
 October 29 at 5:00 AM  
Since 1985, U.S. college costs have surged by about 500 percent, and tuition fees keep rising. In Germany, they've done the opposite.
The country's universities have been tuition-free since the beginning of October, when Lower Saxony became the last state to scrap the fees. Tuition rates were always low in Germany, but now the German government fully funds the education of its citizens -- and even of foreigners.
Explaining the change, Dorothee Stapelfeldt, a senator in the northern city of Hamburg, said tuition fees "discourage young people who do not have a traditional academic family background from taking up study.  It is a core task of politics to ensure that young women and men can study with a high quality standard free of charge in Germany."
What might interest potential university students in the United States is that Germany offers some programs in English -- and it's not the only country. Let's take a look at the surprising -- and very cheap -- alternatives to pricey American college degrees.
Germany
Germany's higher education landscape primarily consists of internationally well-ranked public universities, some of which receive special funding because the government deems them "excellent institutions." What's more, Americans can earn a German undergraduate or graduate degree without speaking a word of German and without having to pay a single dollar of tuition fees: About 900 undergraduate or graduate degrees are offered exclusively in English, with courses ranging from engineering to social sciences. For some degrees, you don't even have to formally apply.
In fact, the German government would be happy if you decided to make use of its higher education system. The vast degree offerings in English are intended to prepare German students to communicate in a foreign language, but also to attract foreign students, because the country needs more skilled workers.
Finland
This northern European country charges no tuition fees, and it offers a large number of university programs in English. However, the Finnish government amiably reminds interested foreigners that they "are expected to independently cover all everyday living expenses." In other words: Finland will finance your education, but not your afternoon coffee break.
France
There are at least 76 English-language undergraduate programs in France, but many are offered by private universities and are expensive. Many more graduate-level courses, however, are designed for English-speakingstudents, and one out of every three French doctoral degrees is awarded to a foreign student.
"It is no longer needed to be fluent in French to study in France," according to the government agency Campus France.
Public university programs charge only a small tuition fee of about 200 dollars for most programs. Other, more elite institutions have adopted a model that requires students to pay fees that are based on the income of their parents. Children of unemployed parents can study for free, while more privileged families have to pay more. This rule is only valid for citizens of the European Union, but even the maximum fees (about $14,000 per year) are often much lower than U.S. tuition fees. Some universities, such as Sciences Po Paris, offer dual degrees with U.S. colleges.
Sweden
This Scandinavian country is among the world's wealthiest, and its beautiful landscape beckons. It also offers some of the world's most cost-efficient college degrees. More than 300 listed programs in 35 universities are offered in English. However, only Ph.D programs are tuition-free.
Norway
Norwegian universities do not charge tuition fees for international students. The Norwegian higher education system is similar to the one in the United States: Class sizes are small and professors are easily approachable. Many Norwegian universities offer programs taught in English. American students, for example, could choose "Advanced Studies for Solo Instrumentalists or Chamber Music Ensembles" or "Development Geography."
But don't expect to save money in Norway, which has one of the world'shighest costs of living for expats.  And be careful where you decide to study. "Winters in general are quite different in different parts of the country, with the north having hard, arctic winters, and the southwest mostly having mild, wet average European winters," the Norwegian Center for International Cooperation in Education notes.
Slovenia
About 150 English programs are available, and foreign nationals only pay an insignificant registration fee when they enroll. Slovenia borders Italy and Croatia, among Europe's most popular vacation destinations. However, Times Higher Education, a weekly magazine based in London, did not list one Slovenian university in its recent World University Ranking.
Brazil 
Some Brazilian courses are taught in English, and state universities charge only minor registration fees. Times Higher Education ranks two Brazilian universities among the world's top 400: the University of Sao Paulo and the State University of Campinas. But it might be hard to complete a degree without learning some of the local language.
"It is worth remembering that most of USP activities are carried out in Portuguese," the University of Sao Paulo reminds applicants on its website.
Rick Noack writes about foreign affairs. He is an Arthur F. Burns Fellow at The Washington Post.