The Pineland Suzuki School for students aged 3 to 18 was founded in Augusta by Betsy Kobayashi and Ellen Gawler, based on the principles of Shinichi Suzuki, in 1994.

“Ellen and I got our students together in our living rooms,” Kobayashi said. “That was the real beginning.”

Betsy Kobayashi started teaching music in Buffalo, N.Y. Then she studied for two years with Shinichi Suzuki in Japan where she met her husband, Naoto Kobayashi. She stayed five more years in Japan before moving to Maine.

Kobayashi said Suzuki, who lived to be 99, believed “all children could play music just like they could speak their mother tongue. If all Japanese children can speak Japanese, and all English children can speak English, then all children can learn to play music, he believed.”

Ellen Gawler has been fiddling since she was a child, and has studied and played with many Fiddle Masters. She has been a Suzuki teacher since 1983, and has brought many children to music playing maturity through her skillful guidance and fun filled teaching style. She has found her ways in which fiddling and Suzuki meet, to equip young players with the skills they need to be fine fiddlers.

Since its beginning Pineland Suzuki School has continued to grow! Today it includes 10 full time and part time teachers and serves over 70 students. In addition to individual lessons Pineland has added violin, viola and cello group classes, Capital Strings (a performing group for the most advanced students ), chamber music, Allegro Orchestra, fiddle classes with step dancing, Pineland Fiddlers who play in many concerts and contradances, Music Mind Games (music reading games) and Movement for the youngest beginners, Reading Music Class, Parent Discussions, Solo Recitals, and group concerts in the community!

Today, we proudly celebrate 30 years of making music in the Suzuki tradition and look forward to many more!

As Shinichi Suzuki said, “Where love is deep, much can be accomplished.”

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