90th Birthdays of Tove and Béla Detreköy

By 11/04/2015Black Board

Tove and Béla Detreköy
Congratulations on your 90th birthdays!

This year, Tove and Béla both celebrated their 90th birthdays. Tove’s birthday was only a few days ago, and Bela’s was in February.  Their work as pioneers of the Suzuki method helped establish the foundation of the Suzuki movement as it spread throughout Europe, and they were founding members of the European Suzuki Association.  The structure of this organization would not have been possible without their tireless commitment and support. For decades, they generated major impulses toward the development and the adaptation of our method to European musical and educational conditions. In particular, Tove Detreköy was a permanent supporter in setting up Suzuki’s concept in many new countries.  As an ESA examiner, Tove stood for and remains committed to quality and excellence.  Through her tremendous efforts, the European standards in teacher training developed to a very high level.

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It has now been 43 years since Tove and Béla Detreköy introduced the Suzuki method in Denmark. Many of their first students are now professional violinists. Five of their students have been concertmasters in the Royal Danish Orchestra and The Danish National Symphony Orchestra.  These former Suzuki students now work as inspiring masterclass teachers for advanced students at the Danish Suzuki Institute.

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Their personal appeal, that teachers first and foremost adopt Suzuki’s basic values and truly live his philosophy, is unforgettable.  These values should not only be talked about, but lived as a reality.
During the last few years, Tove has become more and more concerned about the decline within the European Suzuki Association.  Quite unlike other parts of the world, Europe (with its great traditions of culture and the arts) is considered to be the cradle of classical music.  This is one of the primary reasons why the Suzuki method, a philosophy of music education from Japan, is still seen as a controversial concept in many European countries.
Right now, in this moment, there is an actual risk that Suzuki representatives are attempting to eliminate each other through their course of action.  This is a sure path leading to the destruction of the trust that has been built in Suzuki’s method and over three decades worth of foundation work.  Fighting against one another is no solution.
We ask all concerned Suzuki teachers to deeply consider Tove’s solemn words:

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Update from 2022

The German Suzuki Association is no longer a member of the European Suzuki Association (ESA), as we have different constitutional objectives than the national Suzuki associations in the European Association.

Here is a quote from the current European Suzuki Association constitution:

The purpose of the national Suzuki associations in the European Association is:

1. promote and protect the Suzuki brand as provided for and described in the sublicense agreement between the national associations and the ESA.
2. protect and enforce all clauses protecting the Suzuki brand, especially with regard to music education and pedagogy.

For the German Suzuki Association, Suzuki pedagogy is not a commercial product.

That is why we are taking a different approach in which we have international exchanges with many different music pedagogical approaches. This results in valuable suggestions also for the further development of the Suzuki approach.
The German Suzuki Association supports all teachers worldwide who want to implement Suzuki’s goals and further qualify themselves in this field, but also those who develop essential new materials and ideas to give students and teachers a deeper understanding.

The German Suzuki Association is an independent non-profit association and does not need any approval by the ESA.

You can find more details under the following links:

https://en.germansuzuki.com/?page_id=3900
https://www.germansuzuki.de/?page_id=9138

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