Monarch Suzuki Academy Monarch Suzuki Academy offers individual and group lessons.[/caption]

At Monarch Suzuki Academy, 6000 Mountain Shadows Drive, Austin, children learn music concepts through a philosophy rooted in world peace, owner Shana Guidi said.


The school, founded in 2008, specializes in the teaching philosophy of Japanese violinist and educator Shinichi Suzuki. It relocated from rented space in Central Austin to its own building in September.


Guidi said Suzuki, following World War II, had the idea to teach music to children so they become kind and peaceful human beings. The Suzuki pedagogy spread to the U.S. in the 1960s, she said.


“The [Suzuki] method of teaching is based on the same way you learn your own language,” Guidi said. “All the things that are present in a baby’s environment when they are learning to speak are the same things that we create in the children’s environment to learn to speak the language of music.”


Guidi said she was a student of Suzuki-style violin classes when she was 3 years old. After finishing a master’s degree at the University of Texas at Austin, Guidi started the Monarch Suzuki Academy.


The academy offers lessons for violin, viola, cello, guitar, piano and flute.


Each week children take one individual lesson with an instructor on one day and a group lesson with fellow students on another, Guidi said. The group lesson is part of the Suzuki curriculum, she said.


Just as language is not learned in isolation, music is taught in groups at the academy, Guidi said.


Ashley Lassberg, a parent of two Monarch Suzuki Academy students, said the school’s group classes are important to her.


“For me, that was the biggest selling point—being part of a community that provides support in a group,” Lassberg said.







What is the Suzuki method?


Monarch Suzuki Academy Parents and children participate in the baby and toddler class at Monarch Suzuki Academy.[/caption]

Japanese violinist and educator Shinichi Suzuki wanted to create world peace after World War II, Monarch Suzuki Academy owner Shana Guidi said.


To achieve his goal, Suzuki applied the same methods children use to learn languages toward learning music. Some techniques include parent participation, learning in groups and exposure to music at an early age, she said.


At Monarch Suzuki Academy, parents are involved in music school activities, students sometimes play their instruments together, and children age 3 and younger participate in a specialized class that merges music listening with counting and reading, Guidi said.