Cork School of Music adds another string to its bow with new course

Although Suzuki string programmes are generally available in Europe, and progress into eastern Europe is under way, Ireland holds a special place in the international advance of the Suzuki method.

Under the directorship of Bernard Curtis, the Cork School of Music became, in 1968, the first centre in Europe to set up a Suzuki teaching programme. And the sense of musical leadership persists in the city: what is now the Cork Institute of Technology School of Music has established the first degree programme in Suzuki method in Europe.

The Sixth Annual European Suzuki Conference, attended by Suzuki, took place in Cork in 1985. The 12th Suzuki Method World Convention was held in Dublin in 1996.

The Cork school is, however, the only teaching institution in the State that has embraced Suzuki with such enthusiasm.

In Dublin, as in the rest of the country, Suzuki-style training is available only from private teachers. The method - with its emphasis on group activity (images of tiny fiddlers playing a Bach concerto together), on parents' involvement in the teaching process, on starting through playing by ear - has always raised scepticism from outsiders.

Mr Geoffrey Spratt, director of the Cork School of Music, said Cork has managed to avoid conflicts. "All that's good in the system is there to be capitalised on," he said. "What's open to debate is easy to work around."

And success is evident, as it is widely acknowledged that the country's most vibrant school of string-playing is to be found in Cork.

Suzuki-trained players work in both of RTE's orchestras, and Suzuki players score regular successes in feiseanna and in gaining places in the National Youth Orchestra.

There are no ready figures for the total number of Suzuki students in Ireland. But Cork has around 150 players aged between four and 14. The Irish Suzuki connection seems as strong as ever.