Diamond in the Sky: A Suzuki Biography

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Diamond in the Sky: A Suzuki Biography Details

From the Author Shinichi Suzuki was not always "Dr. Suzuki". What was he like as a kid? Where did he grow up? How did he handle the class bully? When did he first play the violin? (You might be suprised to know!) Why did he want to teach children? Why did he live in the mountains during World War II? To find out about the real guy, read "Diamond in the Sky"! Read more About the Author Jerlene Cannon lives in Evansville, Indiana with her husband, four children, a dog, and a cat. She was a technical writer before she became a Suzuki mom. Read more Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. Chapter One It was just after supper—and almost a hundred years ago—when a small boy slipped out the door and skipped down the path that led from his home to the nearby factory. The setting sun had turned the sky from red to a hazy purple, which deepened to a dark blue as the evening grew later. Occasionally the light breeze brought the sound of a voice or the laugh of another neighborhood child to his ears. But young Shinichi Suzuki was intent on getting to the factory. He did not stop for interruptions. It didn’t take him long to get there. Shinichi let himself inside and made his way to an area filled with workers. He could almost taste the smell of varnish and polish in the air. Oil lamps hung from the ceiling, giving light to the workers below. Shinichi greeted them as he found a comfortable place to sit. Then he patiently waited and watched, his eyes following the rough hands as workers polished the fronts and backs of violins until they shone in the lamplight. Finally, one of the older men would begin a story. Shinichi listened intently—this was the reason he came to the factory every night. The storyteller would weave tales about the samurai, warriors who fought for their lords in long ago Japan. These stories were terribly exciting to Shinichi. His own grandfather had been a samurai, the last in the Suzuki family to be one. So he listened to the story, breathless. Just at the most exciting part, the storyteller paused. Shinichi was jolted out of the past. This was his cue, as it was every night, to provide the storyteller with rice cakes. Shinichi jumped up and ran back to his home to fetch some from the kitchen. He knew that when he returned, the storyteller would finish the tale. So he hurried faster in the darkening night, swinging his imaginary sword at any samurai who might be lurking near. Although Shinichi’s grandfather really had been a samurai, the Suzuki family had another business enterprise. They made a musical instrument called a samisen. A samisen has three strings and looks sort of like a banjo. A pick is used to pluck the strings. Shinichi’s great-grandfather had begun this instrument-making business. It had done well in the late 1800s in Japan. Shinichi’s father, Masakichi, inherited the business in 1884 and he continued the tradition. Masakichi was a very smart man. The family business changed from making samisens to making violins. Masakichi had heard someone playing a violin, and he loved the beautiful sound it made. He learned how to make one himself. It was actually the first one ever made in Japan, in 1888. Masakichi soon began to sell them. Eventually he built a factory in the city of Nagoya, where he could make a lot of violins at one time. Ten years after Masakichi made that first violin, Shinichi was born on October 17, 1898. By this time, the Suzuki Violin Factory was the largest one in the world. Over 1,000 people worked there. Masakichi worked hard to always learn the best way to make the violins using machines. When everything was working well the factory could turn out 400 violins in one day. Young Shinichi didn’t really understand what a violin was or that each one had great value. He had never heard one played. He saw so many of them every day as they were being made in the factory. He must have thought they were common things instead of special musical instruments. One day, Shinichi and his younger brother were playing at the factory and began play fighting. Before they knew it, they had become samurai warriors in a fierce fight, using two half-made violins for swords! They swung at each other as the battle raged. But when the two violins crashed against each other, they clattered to the ground in pieces. The boys stared down at them. Their older brother had heard the fighting. When he came into the room, Shinichi’s heart began pounding. But his brother only picked up the broken violins and left again without saying a word. Shinichi felt so awful! Maybe he remembered all the times he had watched the workers polishing the violins with such care. Now he had caused two of them to be broken. He told himself that he would never fight again. Read more

Reviews

I ordered this book to be used for research for my two young children who play the violin. They were to prepare a report for a composer's fair and Shinichi Suzuki was their composer. The book is a nice read for young children who are trained through the Suzuki method. My children have enjoyed very much learning more about Dr. Suzuki.

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