When a child begins to learn the violin, he is doing more than just training his fingers and limbs to move in new ways. He is learning to both read and speak a new language (through something other than his vocal chords!). The earlier a child begins learning the language of music and how to speak it through the violin, the easier it will be for him (as with any activity that requires skill).
Infants and children alike enjoy listening to sounds that are familiar. Their tolerance for repetition is much greater than that of adults and they enjoy learning in a manner which we unfortunately become faded to with age. Infants and toddlers pick up on their mother language with ease primarily because their love for learning and repetition is so great. From day one, parents speak to their infant and the child develops language. If parents were to play a certain piece of music for their infant as frequently as they said a particular word, the infant would develop the same innate understanding for music as he does for language.
Putting on a recording of Mozart or Chopin every time the child played or ate would effectively enhance his propensity for those composers. He would come to adore those pieces which were played repetitively in his youth, particularly if he listened while he was engaged in a positive activity. Even if it does not seem like the child is paying attention to the music, you would be surprised what their unconscious mind soaks in. Often they will recall events, like the music in a concert, even better than the parent who was seemingly paying better attention.*
All children learn at a different pace, and this should be noted when teaching them anything. Inevitably, it does not matter how long it takes them to learn, what matters is that they are all capable of achieving mastery on the instrument, so long as they are taught in the right way (in the violin studio and at home). There is no such thing as a child who is “not musically inclined.” The only real difference from child to child is the way they extrapolate information from their surroundings. Both parties (parent and teacher) need to be actively involved in finding out how the child learns best. All children react well to positive learning environments and repetition.
Suzuki noted this phenomenon after years of experience teaching young children the language of music through the violin. There are a handful of things we are born with, (facial recognition being one of them) but besides these base instincts, our environment serves as the craftsman to shape who we become. This should never be overlooked by adults when they are dealing with the most curiosity driven beings on the planet. The Suzuki Method for Violin points out that the best teachers are those who never stop learning with the same passionate curiosity as children.
*Suzuki tells of a story where a father took his young daughter to a Symphony Concert. The daughter squirmed in her seat the entire time, staring at the audience more than the performance. Some time later a piece from that very same concert came on the radio. The daughter exclaimed to her father that she had heard that song at the concert, and even remembered the name of the piece. Her father--having forgot which pieces had been performed--retrieved the program and was astonished to find his daughter recalled the event better than he had, despite her apparent lack of attention during it.
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