the outcomes of the suzuki approach for learning  
a musical instrument: a systematic review 
učinki pristopa suzuki pri učenju glasbenega inštrumenta 
– sistematični pregled
maruša laure
Univerza v Mariboru, Pedagoška fakulteta 
marusa.laure@um.si
Abstract: The Suzuki approach is a progressive, child-centred teaching philosophy that 
incorporates many aspects of holistic music education. The present study systematical-
ly analyses peer-reviewed studies, according to PRISMA guidelines, to understand the 
outcomes of the Suzuki approach for learning a musical instrument. For this systemat-
ic review, we searched Web of Science, EBSCOhost Web, ProQuest Dissertations & 
Theses Global, ScienceDirect - SD (Elsevier), Scopus, and SAGE journals from data-
base inception up until May 2022. From 206 records we included 12 peer reviewed stud-
ies that investigated any aspect of outcomes of the Suzuki music education approach re-
lated to learners and included qualitative or quantitative data measured systematically. 
According to the reviewed scientific research, learning music through the Suzuki meth-
od can enhance numerous cognitive, emotional, and social processes, as well as audito-
ry perception.
Keywords: Suzuki approach, music instrument learning, implicit learning, outcomes, 
PRISMA, systematic review
Izvleček: Pristop suzuki je progresivna filozofija poučevanja glasbe, ki je osredotočena 
na otroka in vključuje številne vidike celostnega glasbenega izobraževanja. Ta pregledni 
članek sistematično analizira recenzirane študije v skladu s smernicami PRISMA z na-
menom boljšega razumevanja rezultatov pristopa suzuki za učenje glasbil. V sistematič-
nem pregledu smo iskali v bazah podatkov Web of Science, EBSCOhost Web, ProQu-
est Dissertations & Theses Global, ScienceDirect – SD (Elsevier), Scopus in SAGE, in 
sicer od začetka baze podatkov do maja 2022. Od 206 zadetkov smo vključili 12 recenzi-
ranih člankov, ki preučujejo najrazličnejše vidike rezultatov pristopa suzuki, osredinjen-
ega na učečega se in, vključujejo sistematično merjene kvalitativne ali kvantitativne po-
datke. Izsledki raziskav kažejo, da lahko učenje glasbe po metodi suzuki izboljša številne 
kognitivne, čustvene in socialne procese ter slušno zaznavanje. 
Ključne besede: pristop suzuki, glasbeno izobraževanje, učenje inštrumenta, implicitno 
učenje, učni izidi, PRISMA, sistematični pregled
Pregledni znanstveni članek ◆ Review Article
https://doi.org/10.26493/1318-6876.18(36)61-79
© Author
introduction
The Suzuki method is a music education approach introduced in Japan in the 1940s by Japanese violinist Shinichi Suzuki (1898–1998). The method’s outstanding musical successes with Japanese children quick-
ly drew international notice, leading to its extension and adoption in many 
other nations.
The Suzuki approach, also known as the Mother Tongue Approach, is a 
progressive, child-centred teaching philosophy that incorporates many aspects 
of holistic music education (Henke, 2021). One of the hallmarks of the Suzuki 
approach is an early start to instrumental learning. After observing how quick-
ly infants learn their own language through regular exposure, imitation, rep-
etition, and parental praise, Suzuki (1983) realized that the same technique in 
acquiring a language might be used to acquire music. He believed that young 
children learn music mainly through exposure to music and argued that the 
most effective and appropriate way to develop sensitivity to music in children 
is to listen to recordings of high-quality performances. Perruchet and Pac-
ton (2006) refer to that kind of learning as statistical or implicit learning. The 
acquisition of structure in the environment involves relatively simple Hebb 
learning processes in neural structures and serves as a basis for language de-
velopment and a mechanism for musical development (McMullen & Saffran, 
2004; Romberg & Saffran, 2010). The development of musical and language 
skills depends mainly on the musical aspects and the diversity of the child’s 
environment (Brandt et al., 2012). The Suzuki approach utilizes the power of 
critical periods, periods in children’s development where individual experienc-
es have enhanced, long-lasting effects on behaviour and development and rep-
resent an optimal time for learning (Knudsen, 2004; Penhune, 2011; Werker 
& Tees, 2005).
Suzuki has made a great effort to show that talent is not inborn, and that, 
with the proper training, any child can be educated (Suzuki & Nagata, 2014). 
Without subjecting them to any musical skill tests, he accepted a large num-
ber of children as his own students, educated them, and helped them grow 
into successful musicians. He summarized the law of ability as the following: 
“A living organism acquires talent responding to the environmental stimula-
tion from the outside and adapting itself to all things surrounding it. Talent is 
the production of the life force; therefore, there is no talent without stimula-
tion which comes from the outside” (Suzuki, 1983, p. 2). The Suzuki philoso-
phy specifically forbids the selection of children based on their initial musical 
ability; students involved in Suzuki lessons are not chosen only based on their 
behavioural abilities prior to the training.
In Suzuki musical teaching the repertoire for teaching each instrument 
has been carefully selected and structured in appropriate technical sequences 
to develop fine musical sensitivity and ability to perform.
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Based on acquisition of the mother tongue, where learning to read and 
write comes after the child learns to speak, children first learn how to play the 
instrument by ear. In the first years of learning the instrument, the emphasis 
is on the sound rather than on teaching of symbols, memorization and note 
reading. Children are not taught to read the music before they have established 
good musicianship based on an auditory approach.
In the Suzuki approach, parents are expected to participate in classes and 
practice sessions and actively participate in the learning process. Parents will 
learn to play the beginning repertoire and be responsible for daily listening to 
high-quality musical recordings to mimic mother tongue language immersion 
(Henke, 2021). Compared to other educational approaches, one of the most in-
novative components of the Suzuki philosophy is the combination of sequen-
tial learning and continuous review, which is used in the Suzuki method to 
retain previously acquired abilities at a high level and to apply them in a new 
learning environment – prioritizing what has to be addressed when involved in 
sequencing learning skills (Cox, 1985).
The Suzuki approach is designed to teach children in such a way that they 
will always succeed in comprehending a concept. When a difficult problem is 
broken down by the teacher, pupils may focus on one new concept at a time. 
Suzuki teaching requires the instructor to demonstrate to the pupils on a reg-
ular basis, which requires the teacher to have a particular degree of perform-
ing skill. 
The present review aims at understanding how outcomes of the Suzuki 
music approach have been studied in the previous literature. The following are 
the research questions that guided this review:
RQ 1: What were the most discussed topics in the literature on the outcomes 
of the Suzuki music education approach?
RQ 2: What methodological designs have been used to investigate the out-
comes of the Suzuki music education approach?
methods
Objective and research design
The current systematic review used the PRISMA 2020 statement developed by 
Page et al. (2021) to critically assess and compare peer-reviewed literature ex-
ploring the outcomes of the Suzuki music education approach. The Interna-
tional Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (PROSPERO) database was 
searched to identify similar systematic reviews. There were no studies that dis-
cussed the outcomes of the Suzuki music education approach.
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Eligibility criteria
To document the analysis methodology and inclusion criteria, a protocol was 
created in advance.
To be included, studies had to: 
1. investigate any aspect of outcomes of the Suzuki music education ap-
proach related to the learners, 
2. include qualitative or quantitative data measured systematically.
To acquire high-quality, credible data, only peer-reviewed journal papers 
were chosen for inclusion. Systematic reviews identified by database searches 
were excluded. The selection was not limited only to English-language articles 
and there were no restrictions on publication date or research setting. The age 
range of the participants in the research was not limited and not only typically 
developing participants were included. 
Information sources
We examined for papers that fit the criteria in each of the databases listed: 
Web of Science, EBSCOhost Web, ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global, 
ScienceDirect - SD (Elsevier), Scopus and SAGE journals. This search began in 
April 2022 and was updated in May 2022.
We also undertook a “snowball” search in attempt to find more studies 
by looking through the reference lists of publications that were eligible for 
full-text review and using Google Scholar to find and screen studies that cit-
ed them.
Search Strategy
To determine a minimum collection of publications that might be present-
ed in this systematic review, a systematic search was used to locate relevant pa-
pers. Initially, the most applicable keywords were identified by doing a prelimi-
nary search in the specified electronic databases (Web of Science, EBSCOhost 
Web, ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global, ScienceDirect - SD (Elsevier), 
Scopus, and SAGE journals). Then, using the selected keywords, a search was 
conducted in the same databases. 
We used the following principal search phrases in the title, abstract, or 
keyword fields: (Suzuki* AND music*). The search was limited to peer-re-
viewed papers.
For Web of Science we used the advanced search interface, and used the 
search syntax “TI=((Suzuki* AND music*)) OR AB=((Suzuki* AND mu-
sic*)) OR AK=((Suzuki* AND music*))” to run searches. The search yielded 
46 records, which we collated and de-duplicated in EndNote. After de-dupli-
cation, all 46 records remained. 
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For EBSCOhost Web we used the advanced search interface and used the 
search syntax “TI ((Suzuki* AND music*)) OR AB ((Suzuki* AND music*)) 
OR AK ((Suzuki* AND music*))”. The search resulted in 575 hits. After de-du-
plicating and limiting search results to peer reviewed papers we were left with 
63 records.
For ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global we used the advanced search 
interface and used the search syntax “ab((Suzuki* AND music*)) OR ti((Su-
zuki* AND music*)) OR diskw((Suzuki* AND music*))”. The search yielded 
100 records; after de-duplicating and limiting search results to peer reviewed 
papers we were left with 3 records.
For ScienceDirect - SD (Elsevier) we used the search syntax “Title, ab-
stract, keywords: (Suzuki AND music)”. The search resulted in 1 record.
For Scopus we used the advanced search interface and used the search syn-
tax “TITLE-ABS-KEY((Suzuki AND music))”. The search yielded 45 records, 
which we collected and de-duplicated in EndNote, resulting in 43 records.
For SAGE Journals the advanced search interface was used applying the 
search syntax “[Title suzuki*] AND [Title music*]”, “[Keywords suzuki*] 
AND [Keywords music*]” and “[Keywords suzuki*] AND [Keywords mu-
sic*]”. The search yielded 69 records, which we collected and de-duplicated in 
EndNote, resulting in 46 records.
Selection process
Citations identified from the literature searches and reference list checking 
were imported to EndNote and duplicates were removed. The author and one 
additional researcher independently reviewed the first 50 records’ titles and 
abstracts and addressed discrepancies until they reached a consensus. The ti-
tles and abstracts of all publications retrieved were then evaluated by the au-
thor and one additional researcher. In the event of a dispute, a discussion was 
held to determine which articles should be screened in full text. All possibly 
qualifying studies’ full texts were obtained. The full-text publications were 
then reviewed for inclusion by the author and one additional researcher inde-
pendently. In the event of a dispute, a consensus on inclusion or exclusion was 
established through debate. When we came across non-English language arti-
cles, we initially utilized Google Translate to see if they were eligible.
Data collection process
We developed a standardized data extraction form to extract study charac-
teristics. The standardized form was pilot tested by the author and one addi-
tional researcher using five randomly selected studies. Reviewers worked inde-
pendently to extract study details.
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Figure 1. The PRISMA Flowchart
                 
R
ecords identified from
: 
D
atabases: 
W
eb of Science (n = 46) 
E
B
S
C
O
host W
eb (n = 69) 
P
roQ
uest D
issertations &
 Thesis 
G
lobal (n = 3) 
S
cience D
irect – SD
 (E
lsevier) (n = 1) 
S
copus (n = 43) 
S
A
G
E
 Journals (n = 43) 
R
egisters (n = 0) 
R
ecords rem
oved before 
screening: 
D
uplicate records rem
oved: 
W
eb of Science (n = 0) 
E
B
S
C
O
host W
eb (n = 11) 
P
roQ
uest D
issertations &
 Theses 
G
lobal (n = 0) 
S
cience D
irect – SD
 (E
lsevier) (n = 0) 
S
copus (n = 2) 
R
ecords m
arked as ineligible 
by autom
ation tools (n = 0) 
R
ecords rem
oved for other 
reasons (n = 65) 
R
ecords screened 
(n = 159) 
R
ecords excluded 
(n = 126) 
R
eports sought for retrieval 
(n = 33) 
R
eports not retrieved 
(n = 0) 
R
eports assessed for eligibility 
(n = 33) 
R
eports excluded: 
N
ot exam
ining the outcom
es 
of the S
uzuki m
usic 
education approach (n = 16) 
R
eview
 article (n = 5) 
. 
R
ecords identified from
: 
W
ebsites (n = 0) 
O
rganizations (n = 0) 
C
itation searching  
etc. (n=1) 
R
eports assessed for eligibility 
(n = 1) 
R
eports excluded: 
N
ot peer review
ed (n = 1) 
 
S
tudies included in review
 
(n = 12) 
R
eports of included studies 
(n = 0) 
Identification of studies via databases and registers 
Identification of studies via other m
ethods 
noitacifitnedI  Screening 
 
Included 
R
eports sought for retrieval 
(n = 1) 
R
eports not retrieved 
(n = 0) 
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results
We found 206 records while scanning databases. After removing duplicates, 
we examined 159 records, evaluated 34 full-text publications, and eventually 
included 12 papers in this systematic review (Bugos & Mazuc, 2013; Fujioka et 
al., 2006; Gerry et al., 2012; Hallberg et al., 2017; Hendricks et al., 2021; Kaji-
hara et al., 2013; Meyer et al., 2011; Scott, 1992; Shahin et al., 2004; Shahin et 
al., 2008; Trainor et al., 2012; Trainor et al., 2009). Later, we looked for mate-
rials that mentioned any of the studies that were initially included, as well as 
checking the studies’ references. However, these searches yielded no further 
publications that met the inclusion requirements.
A summary of the main intervention components is described in Table 1. 
Some of the studies examined not only the outcomes of the Suzuki music ap-
proach but also other themes. In this report of study characteristics only the 
outcomes of the Suzuki music approach are presented and discussed. 
What are the most discussed topics in the literature on the outcomes 
of the Suzuki music education approach?
Among the records included in this research, authors covered a diverse range 
of topics discussing the outcomes of the Suzuki music education approach. Be-
havioural neuroscience and auditory development were the most common top-
ic discussing the outcomes of Suzuki music education. Multiple records ex-
amined the outcomes of the Suzuki music education approach related to the 
cognitive, affective, and social processes.
Behavioural neuroscience and auditory development
Neuroscientists examining the auditory development of children deliberately 
chose the Suzuki music education approach because the programme explicit-
ly prohibits choosing children based only on their initial musical talent and it 
does not include absolute pitch training (Fujioka et al., 2006). The Suzuki mu-
sic education approach also ensures that the children are exposed to music on 
a consistent basis. Researchers may assume that children participating in the 
Suzuki programme receive equivalent support from family and peers regard-
less of how well they are doing in the training because of the parental partici-
pation and social philosophy of this approach. All this enables them to explore 
the effects of training in auditory and sensorimotor modalities, offering a clos-
er approximation to training-induced brain plasticity in behavioural neurosci-
ence, because there is no early instruction in reading musical notation in the 
programme.
Shahin et al. (2004) conducted a study to determine whether children 
exposed to music from an early age who were attending the Suzuki lessons 
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show more rapid auditory cortex development. Their findings reveal a general 
process by which an accumulation of specific hearing experiences shapes the 
neocortical synaptic matrix. Authors concluded that while further research 
is needed to fully understand the significance of experience in the amplifica-
tion of the P2 auditory evoked potential, the findings imply that Suzuki early 
musical instruction has a significant impact on auditory cortical representa-
tions.
Fujioka et al. (2006) investigated how auditory responses develop in chil-
dren over the course of a year, what component of brain responses in each hem-
isphere matures differently in response to musical and non-musical sound, and 
how musical instruction affects normal maturation. Using magnetoencepha-
lography (MEG), 4- to 6-year-old children’s auditory evoked responses to a vi-
olin tone and a noise-burst stimulus were recorded in four repeated tests over 
a one-year period (MEG). Half of the subjects had Suzuki musical instruction 
during the year, while the other half did not. The violin was shown to have 
larger amplitudes, as well as a faster shift in amplitude and delay, than noise 
stimuli. Results indicate left-lateralized cortical development in this age group. 
In Suzuki-trained children, a greater and earlier peak in the left hemisphere 
in reaction to the violin sound was seen compared to untrained children. This 
difference was accompanied by a significant morphological shift in a tempo-
ral window, which was exclusively found in musically trained children in re-
sponse to violin stimuli, but it was present in untrained children regardless of 
stimulus type. Authors believe this change might be linked to the formation 
of a brain network linked to sound classification and/or involuntary attention, 
which can be influenced by musical training.
Shahin et al. (2008) designed a study to test a hypothesis that if gamma 
band activity (GBA, 30-100Hz) reflects highly learned perceptual template 
matching, its development in musicians specific to the timbre of their instru-
ment of practice can be observed. The data used for this study were collected by 
Shahin et al. (2004). Permutation tests were used to find locations in the ERSP 
or ITPC spectrograms that indicated significant variations across tone types, 
control and musician groups, and measures (before and after musical training). 
With one year of training, children receiving piano lessons had greater induced 
GBA power for piano tones, but children not receiving instruction showed no 
effect (collapsed over all channels and frequencies, 30–100 Hz, p < 0.05).
According to Trainor et al. (2009), the induced gamma-band response to 
musical sounds occurs in children after 1 year of Suzuki musical instruction 
beginning at age 4 and a half years, but not in children of this age who are not 
taking musical classes. The data used for this study were also collected by Sha-
hin et al. (2004). They tested 12 children twice, first when they were 4 and a 
half years old and again when they were 5 and a half years old. At the time of 
the initial measurement, half of the children were just starting Suzuki piano 
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lessons, the other half did not receive any musical training. They concluded 
that musical training alters executive function-related oscillatory networks in 
the brain, and that greater executive functioning might increase learning and 
performance across a range of cognitive domains.
Meyer et al. (2011) investigated the impact of Suzuki musical instruction 
on the development of the human auditory nerve system. They measured the 
mismatch negativity (MMN) induced by violin and pure sine-wave tones in 
a sample of 7.5- to 12-year-old children who had either attended Suzuki vio-
lin tuition for several years or had no musical training. The Suzuki students’ 
MMN reactions to violin tones clearly outperformed those of the controls; the 
opposite pattern was found for sine-wave tones. Suzuki students had consid-
erably lower MMN latencies for violin tones than for pure tones; in the con-
trol group, there was no significant difference in MMN latency between pure 
tones and violin sounds. Thus, their findings show how and to what extent 
substantial musical experience influences the growth of human auditory func-
tion at several levels, including auditory discrimination processing accuracy 
and speed. Their findings add to our current knowledge of the mammalian 
nervous system’s neuroplastic architecture and function. The duration and in-
tensity of training, as well as the specific sensitivity to instrumental timbre and 
pitch recognition abilities, are all confirmed by behavioural recordings taken 
from the participants.
Kajihara et al. (2013) used a Stroop-type task to study if pedagogical back-
ground had an impact on auditory-motor coupling in young violinists. They 
noted that the type of musical training (traditional vs. Suzuki) had an influ-
ence on the strength of auditory-motor coupling in this group of children, with 
Suzuki-trained musicians having a bigger effect (significant facilitation effect 
of 49ms for the traditionally trained group, t(10) = 2.5; a significant facilitation 
effect of 136 ms for the Suzuki group, t(10) = 2.3; and no facilitation for the 
non-musician group, t(8) = 0.04). Traditionally trained violinists did not vary 
much from individuals with no musical training, although Suzuki-trained vi-
olinists did. The findings build on prior work in this area by indicating that 
mandatory audio-motor connection is linked to a musician’s proficiency with 
their chosen instrument and is modified by instruction.
Cognitive processes
According to the methodological design outlined in the Methods, the earli-
est record to examine the outcomes of the Suzuki music education approach 
was Scott (1992) who investigated the impact of designated activities on pre-
school children’s attention and persevering behaviours. In this quasi-exper-
imental study, the author noted that involvement in Suzuki violin lessons 
might positively affect the development of control of attention and persever-
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ance in preschool children. She points out that the Suzuki students’ high-
er scores on the perseverance task may be largely due to the fact that parents 
had numerous opportunities to praise persistence during daily home prac-
tice sessions, whereas persistence behaviours of students in other preschool 
groups might not have received as much encouragement. However, because 
of the possible bias of the sampling strategy due to under-representation of 
subgroups in the sample in contrast to the population of interest, the results 
of this study cannot be extrapolated to the target population as the sample 
bias cannot be determined. 
Bugos and Mazuc (2013) conducted a study to see how Suzuki violin 
teaching affected verbal memory, memory strategy use, and visual process-
ing speed in children aged 8 to 12. Thirty-five children, 18 Suzuki-trained 
musicians with at least four years of experience and 17 non-musicians took 
tests in music aptitude, motor speed, music reading, intellect, verbal memory, 
and processing speed. The results show that musicians outperform non-mu-
sicians in verbal memory tasks such as distraction list items, short-delay free 
recall trials, semantic clustering scores, and overall processing speed by a sub-
stantial (p > .05) margin. These findings support the theory that Suzuki vi-
olin teaching leads to the development of semantic and syntactical knowl-
edge that aids memory recall by categorizing words. The findings highlight 
the need to give musical training at a young age, the role of auditory skills in 
early music education, and the influence of musical training on cognitive de-
velopment.
Hallberg et al. (2017) studied the impact of instrumental music educa-
tion on kindergarten children’s cognitive processes. They conducted a study 
with 48 students (M = 5.15 years, SD = 0.301) in kindergarten at a local Title I 
public elementary school in Northern Arizona who had never received previ-
ous instrumental music instruction, could play the violin, and had never lived 
in a primary non-English language home environment. The participants were 
randomly assigned to conditions: 26 children in the intervention group (M = 
5.12 years, SD = 0.271) and 22 children in the control group (M = 5.19, SD = 
0.337). Their findings show that instrumental music education, which is an im-
portant psychological component in academic learning, can help children im-
prove their attention control.
Affective and social processes
In comparison to a similar period of passive exposure to music, Gerry et al. 
(2012) discovered that random assignment to 6 months of active participation 
in a Suzuki Early Childhood Education Programme beginning at 6 months of 
age increases the acquisition of culture-specific knowledge of Western tonal-
ity. Findings of this study are also discussed by Trainor et al. (2012). The au-
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thors note that the infants who received an active musical experience devel-
oped more prelinguistic communicating gestures than those who received a 
passive musical experience. Results indicate that infants who received an active 
musical experience developed more social behaviour than those who received a 
passive musical experience. After participation in active music classes, infants 
showed much lower levels of distress than after participation in passive music 
classes. Their findings suggest that infants can engage in meaningful musical 
training when appropriate pedagogical approaches are used, that active musi-
cal participation in infancy improves culture-specific musical acquisition, and 
that active musical participation in infancy has an impact on social and com-
munication development.
Hendricks et al. (2021) examined the relationships between parents’ per-
ceptions of their children’s empathy, parents’ beliefs and values about mu-
sic, and formal Suzuki training to see how shared music learning experiences 
might relate to emotional and musical connections between parents and chil-
dren over the course of six months. Authors note that children’s initial empa-
thy scores were significantly positively correlated with parents’ ratings of the 
importance of music instruction generally, and of Suzuki instruction particu-
larly, to their family. This exploratory study highlights potential relationships 
between family music values, children’s empathy, and participation in group 
music-making. It supports the philosophy of musical meaningfulness, by sug-
gesting ways in which meaningful connections may be forged simultaneously 
between people who care for one another, and between people and the activi-
ties they care about. Results of this study point to the importance of providing 
a variety of music learning activities and structures that reflect the personality, 
needs, and interests of children and parents. 
What methodological designs have been used to investigate the outcomes 
of the Suzuki music education approach?
All of the 12 publications were quantitative. The 12 records were comprised 
of 3 (25%) experimental designs, 8 (66.6%) quasi-experimental designs and 
one (8.3%) exploratory study. Among the reviewed studies, EEG recordings 
were most commonly used (33.3%). In the majority of records (66.6%), au-
thors used different tests, measures or subscales to measure their chosen 
variables. 
Summaries of the studies are presented in Table 1. The investigations are 
listed in the table in chronological order, and details about the participants, ap-
proaches to the subjects, and major conclusions are also given.
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Table 1. Summary of the studies on the outcomes of the Suzuki music education approach
Author
Study 
Design
Measure-
ment time 
point
Intervention (n) Control
Research 
instrument
Research 
findings
Scott (1992)
Quasi-experimen-
tal design
5 months
Group I: 3 to 5-yearold 
children enrolled in 
preschool who atten-
ded 20- to 30-minute 
individual Suzuki violin 
lesson once a week (n 
= 16)
Group II: 3- to 5-year-
-old children enrolled 
in preschool who 
attended one individual 
and one group lesson a 
week (n = 16)
Group III: 3- to 5-year-
-old children enrolled 
in preschool who atten-
ded 45-minute group 
creative movement 
classes (n = 16)
Group IV: 3- to 5-year-
-old children enrolled 
in preschool who did 
not attend any outside 
music or movement 
classes (n = 16)
3- to 5-year-old 
children who 
have never 
been involved 
in any organi-
zed preschool 
activities or 
classes (n 
= 16)
Attention Task 
(Scott, 1992),
Perseverance 
Task (Scott, 
1992),
Measure of 
frequency of 
teacher appro-
val (Scott, 
1992)
Suzuki violin 
instruction 
has a positive 
effect on 
attention and 
perseverance 
behaviours 
in preschool 
children
Shahin et al. 
(2004)
Quasi-experimen-
tal design
1 year
4- to 5-year-old 
children taking Suzuki 
music lessons (n = 7), 6 
pianists and 1 violinist
Age matched 
4- to 5-year-
-old children 
with no musi-
cal training (n 
= 7)
EEG 
recordings of 
auditory evo-
ked potentials 
(AEPs) using 
a Neuroscan 
Synamps 
amplifier
Auditory tra-
ining enhances 
the P2 audi-
tory evoked 
potential in 
4- to 5-year-old 
children
Fujioka et al. 
(2006)
Quasi-experimen-
tal design
1 year
4- to 6-year-old chil-
dren attending Suzuki 
music school within 3 
months before the first 
measurement (n = 6)
4- to 6-year-
-old children 
not attending 
any music 
lessons outside 
of school (n 
= 6)
MEG recor-
dings of audi-
tory evoked 
responses to a 
violin tone and 
a noise-burst 
stimulus
Maturational 
changes in au-
ditory evoked 
magnetic fields 
can be obser-
ved within a 
year in 4- to 
6-year-old 
children using 
individual 
waveforms of 
cortical source 
activity; musi-
cal training re-
sults in specific 
developmental 
changes in the 
responses to 
musical sounds 
but not to 
noise stimuli
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Author
Study 
Design
Measure-
ment time 
point
Intervention (n) Control
Research 
instrument
Research 
findings
Shahin et al. 
(2008)
Quasi-experimen-
tal design
1 year
4- to 5-year-old 
children taking Suzuki 
music lessons (n = 6)
Age matched 
4- to- 5-year-
-old children 
with no musi-
cal training (n 
= 6)
EEG 
recordings 
of oscillatory 
gamma band 
activity (GBA, 
30-100Hz)
Suzuki piano 
lessons increase 
power of indu-
ced GBA for 
piano tones in 
children with 
one year of 
training
Trainor et al. 
(2009)
Quasi-experimen-
tal design
1 year
4- to 5-year-old 
children taking Suzuki 
music lessons (n = 6)
Age matched 
4- to- 5-year-
-old children 
with no musi-
cal training (n 
= 6)
EEG recordin-
gs of auditory 
evoked and 
induced 
responses to a 
piano, violin, 
and pure tones
Suzuki music 
lessons alter 
executive fun-
ction-related 
oscillatory 
networks in 
the brain, and 
greater executi-
ve functioning 
might increase 
learning and 
performance 
across a range 
of cognitive 
domains
Meyer et al. 
(2011)
Quasi-experimen-
tal design
/
7.5- to 12-year-old chil-
dren from Suzuki music 
school (mean ± SD
age 10 ± 1.61 years, n = 
18) who began violin 
training at approx. 
5 years of age (mean 
4.80 ± 1.46), practiced 
between 90 and 485 
min weekly (mean 
217.22 ± 116.26), and 
attended an average of 
5 years (mean 5.19 ± 
1.46) of Suzuki music 
school
19 control 
children 
matched in 
age and gender 
(mean age 9.78 
± 1.62 years; 
nine male and 
10 female), 
four control 
children had 
also undergone 
instrumental 
education, 
the mean age 
of training 
commen-
cement was 
later (mean 
8.25 ± 0.64), 
the practice 
time per week 
shorter (mean 
75.2 ± 17.08), 
and none of 
the control 
subjects played 
violin
Behavioural 
pitch recogni-
tion test; 
EEG recordin-
gs of mismatch 
negativity 
(MMN) 
evoked by 
violin and 
pure sine-wave 
tones
Extensive 
musical experi-
ence affects the 
maturation of 
human audi-
tory function 
at multiple 
levels (accuracy 
and speed 
of auditory 
discrimination 
processing)
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Author
Study 
Design
Measure-
ment time 
point
Intervention (n) Control
Research 
instrument
Research 
findings
Gerry et al. 
(2012)
Experimental 
study
6 months
34 infants (19 females 
and 15 males), their 
average age at the start 
of the lessons was 6.49 
months (SD = 0.99), 
and their average age 
at the end of the classes 
was 11.56 months (SD 
= 0.85), 16 families 
(10 Active, 6 Passive) 
residing in very socio-
economically sensitive 
neighbourhoods for 
young children 
Control group 
of 26 infants 
who had 
no musical 
training and 
performed a 
subset of the 
final tests at 
12 months 
(average age at 
test was 11.41 
months, SD = 
0.54) 
Measure of 
sensitivity 
to Western 
tonality;
Measure of 
early com-
municative 
development
Active music 
classes in in-
fancy (Suzuki 
approach) en-
hance musical, 
communicative 
and social 
development
Trainor et al. 
(2012)
See Gerry et al. 
(2012)
See Gerry et 
al. (2012)
See Gerry et al. (2012)
See Gerry et al. 
(2012)
See Gerry et al. 
(2012)
See Gerry et al. 
(2012)
Bugos and 
Mazuc 
(2013)
Quasi-experimen-
tal study
4.9 years 
(SD 2.0)
8- to- 12-year-old 
musicians (M = 10.2 
years, SD +1.6) with 
two or more years of 
formal Suzuki violin 
training (M = 4.9 years, 
SD 2.0) and currently 
practicing violin for 
two or more hours per 
week (n = 18)
8- to- 12-ye-
ar-old 
non-musicians 
with less than 
three months 
of prior 
formal musical 
training and 
not currently 
practicing 
a musical 
instrument or 
reading musi-
cal notation (n 
=17)
Intermediate 
Measures of 
Music Audia-
tion (IMMA; 
Gordon, 
1986);
Wechsler 
Abbreviated 
Scale of Intelli-
gence (WASI; 
Wechsler, 
1999);
Finger Tapper 
Test (FTT; 
Reitan & 
Wolfson, 
1993); Cali-
fornia Verbal 
Learning Test 
for Children 
(CVLT-C; 
Delis, Kramer, 
Kaplan,
& Ober, 1994)
Suzuki violin 
instruction 
enhances 
verbal memory 
performance, 
including 
distraction 
list items, 
short-delay 
free recall 
trials, semantic 
clustering 
scores, and ove-
rall processing 
speed
Kajihara et 
al. (2013) 
Quasi-experimen-
tal design
16.3 years 
(SD = 2.8)
Children (M = 13.5, SD 
= 0.8) who had been 
trained to play violin 
via the traditional 
method (n = 11)
Children (M = 13.5, SD 
= 1.3) who had been 
trained to play violin 
via the Suzuki method
Children (M = 
13.8, SD = 0.7) 
with no musi-
cal training (n 
= 10)
Stroop-type 
task that 
required the 
execution of 
simple finger 
sequences 
according to 
aurally presen-
ted number 
sequences (e.g. 
“2”, “4”, “5”, “3”, 
“1”).
Pedagogical 
background 
influences the 
effect of obliga-
tory audio- 
motor 
coupling in a 
group of young 
violinists
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Author
Study 
Design
Measure-
ment time 
point
Intervention (n) Control
Research 
instrument
Research 
findings
Hallberg et 
al. (2017)
Experimental 
design
5 weeks (15 
hours)
Children (M = 5.12 
years, SD = 0.271) 
attending kindergar-
ten in
a local Title I public 
elementary school in 
Northern Arizona 
(47% of the children 
attending the school 
where the research 
was conducted were 
classified at federal 
poverty level) who had 
not received previous 
instrumental music 
instruction, could play 
the violin (they had 
physical capabilities), 
and have not lived in a 
primary non-English 
language home envi-
ronment (n = 26)
Children in 
the control 
group (M = 
5.19, SD = 
0.337) (n = 22) 
attending kin-
dergarten in 
a local Title I 
public elemen-
tary school 
in Northern 
Arizona (47% 
of the children 
attending the 
school where 
the research 
was conducted 
were classified 
at federal 
poverty level) 
who had 
not received 
previous 
instrumental 
music instru-
ction, could 
play the violin 
(they had 
physical capa-
bilities), and 
have not lived 
in a primary 
non-English 
language home 
environment
Stanford-Bi-
net 5 (SB-5) 
working 
memory and 
visual spatial 
subscales;
Kiddie 
Connor’s 
Continuous 
Performance 
Test Version 
5 (K-CPT) 
attention 
subscales
Instrumental 
training using 
the violin Su-
zuki Method 
affects working 
memory and 
attentional 
control of chil-
dren enrolled 
in kindergarten 
Hendricks et 
al. (2021)
Exploratory study 6 months
Suzuki students at 
a structured Suzuki 
school (n = 48)
/
Griffith 
Empathy 
Measure for 
children with 
additional 
questions re-
garding family 
demographics 
and values re-
garding music 
education
The study 
highlights 
the potential 
relationships 
between family 
music values, 
children’s 
empathy, and 
participation 
in group musi-
c-making 
discussion
This systematic review seeks to understand the outcomes of the Suzuki music 
education approach. In this section, we first provide a summary of our findings 
and discuss the present study’s shortcomings. We then go on to discuss how 
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the results potentially influence methods for teaching and studying music and 
make recommendations for further research. 
Firstly, we should point out that a diverse range of topics was covered when 
researching the outcomes of the Suzuki music education approach. The most 
common topics were behavioural neuroscience and auditory development, fol-
lowed by the cognitive, affective, and social processes. We should note that the 
studies came from a variety of disciplines, including musical education, neuro-
science, psychology of music, neurobiology, and so on. As a result, different re-
searchers used different methods, nomenclatures, and instruments, making it 
difficult to interpret the results in a common language. The vast dispersion of 
the articles reflects the recent emergence of this field of study, which focuses on 
this specific domain of music education and its results.
The reviewed scientific literature indicates that learning music through 
the Suzuki approach can have a positive effect on the development of audito-
ry perception and many cognitive, affective, and social processes. The research 
suggests that Suzuki music training may positively influence the child’s cogni-
tive development, attention, and perseverance. It can serve as an important fa-
cilitator of social and communication development and culture-specific musi-
cal acquisition. 
This systematic review highlights a limited number of studies that look 
at the results of the Suzuki approach, indicating a lack of evidence in this field 
and thus highlighting future research objectives. Some positive outcomes of 
the Suzuki method appear to exist; however, they are not fully understood, 
based on the findings of the included research.
The majority of this study’s limitations resulted from the significant var-
iability of the articles examined, making it difficult to integrate them into a 
unified framework. With this review we also want to highlight how aspects 
like methodological variation have an influence on the research of Suzuki ap-
proach outcomes.
However, we believe that researches like these will enable us to identify 
the barriers and flaws in order to continue building the foundation of a com-
mon language to better the comparability of findings and improvements in ex-
plaining the empirical data in connection to the Suzuki approach’s outcomes.
When discussing how the results of this review can potentially influence 
methods for teaching and studying music, it is crucial to point out the need for 
musical training at a young age. The findings of our research point to the idea 
that although early musical training is not essential to become a highly tal-
ented musician, it is important to make the most of the brain’s plasticity at a 
young age.
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Povzetek 
UDC 37.091.3:780.6
Pristop suzuki je progresivna, na učenca osredinjena filozofija poučevanja glasbe, ki 
vključuje številne vidike celostnega glasbenega izobraževanja. Ena od najprepoznavnej-
ših značilnosti tega pristopa je zgodnji začetek učenja instrumentov. Ta pregledni članek 
sistematično analizira študije v skladu s smernicami PRISMA z namenom boljšega ra-
zumevanja rezultatov pristopa suzuki za učenje glasbil. V sistematičnem pregledu smo 
opravili pregled v bazah podatkov Web of Science, EBSCOhost Web, ProQuest Dis-
sertations & Theses Global, ScienceDirect – SD (Elsevier), Scopus in SAGE ter prišli do 
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206 zadetkov. Po odstranitvi dvojnikov smo pregledali 159 zadetkov, ovrednotili 34 pu-
blikacij s polnimi besedili in na koncu v sistematični pregled vključili 12 člankov (Bugos 
& Mazuc, 2013; Fujioka et al., 2006; Gerry et al., 2012; Hallberg et al., 2017; Hendricks et 
al., 2021; Kajihara et al., 2013; Meyer et al., 2011; Scott, 1992; Shahin et al., 2004; Shahin et 
al., 2008; Trainor et al., 2012; Trainor et al., 2009), ki preučujejo najrazličnejše vidike re-
zultatov pristopa suzuki, osredinjenega na učečega se, in vključujejo sistematično merje-
ne kvalitativne ali kvantitativne podatke. 
Pri raziskovanju rezultatov pristopa suzuki za poučevanje glasbe je bil v ta sistematični 
pregled zajet raznolik spekter tem, študije so izhajale iz različnih disciplin. Velika razpr-
šenost člankov odraža nedavni pojav tega študijskega področja, ki se osredotoča na spe-
cifično področje glasbenega izobraževanja in njegove rezultate. Izsledki raziskav kažejo, 
da lahko učenje glasbe po metodi suzuki izboljša številne kognitivne, čustvene in social-
ne procese ter pozitivno vpliva na slušno zaznavanje. 
Verjamemo, da nam tovrstne raziskave omogočajo prepoznati ovire in pomanjkljivosti, 
da bi lahko še naprej gradili temelje skupnega jezika za boljšo primerljivost ugotovitev in 
izboljšav pri razlagi empiričnih podatkov v povezavi z rezultati pristopa suzuki.
Pri razpravi o tem, kako lahko rezultati pričujočega preglednega članka potencialno 
vplivajo na metode poučevanja in študija glasbe, je ključno poudariti potrebo po glas-
benem izobraževanju v zgodnjem otroštvu. Ugotovitve naše raziskave kažejo na idejo, 
da čeprav glasbena vzgoja v zgodnjem otroštvu ni nujno potrebna za razvoj uspešnega 
glasbenika, je smiselno, da kar najbolje izkoristimo plastičnost možganov v tem razvoj-
nem obdobju.