Worlds greatest music teacher found to be a massive fraud despite millions using his method

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A legendary music teacher behind a world-renowned method has been accused of being a fraud and lying about befriending Albert Einstein.

Shinichi Suzuki, founder of the Suzuki method which has been used by millions, claimed he spent eight years studying in Germany and cited Einstein as his 'guardian'.

It has now emerged that the Japanese musician was rejected from the prestigious Berlin music school at auditions, and only met Einstein once to sell him a violin.

The Suzuki method has taught millions of children since it was launched by the Japanese violinist in the late 1950s.

It sees children start playing an instrument as young as possible, preferably around the age of three, and learn by playing the same short pieces repeatedly from memory.

To back up his credibility as a teacher Suzuki, who died in 1998 at the age of 99, claimed he spent eight years as a private student of Karl Klinger, a leading violinist and professor at Berlin Hochshule, in the 1920s, during which time he says he befriended Einstein.

However a number of critics are now presenting evidence that Suzuki lied about his training and background, accusing him of being a fraud.

The most recent includes proof that Suzuki, the son of a violin maker, was rejected by Klinger and the Berlin Hochshule when he auditioned there in 1923, aged 24.

'I think it is one of the biggest frauds in music history,' Mark O'Connor, a U.S. violin teacher and composer told The Telegraph.

'I don't believe anybody has properly checked his past.'