About our Studio

Bluebird Violin Studio is a vibrant community of families who are pursuing violin learning together. We practice daily, learn from each other, build lifelong skills, and have lots of fun as well. When you join our program, you are gaining so much more than a fantastic violin education.

We welcome beginning students as well as transfer students who have a background in music already. Prospective parents are encouraged to come observe some lessons to get a feel for our program. We have a very special community and we would love to show you around!

How it works

Weekly private lessons are the core and foundation of our learning. Students begin with 30 minutes and advance to longer lessons as needed. Parents attend lessons as well until students are ready to learn independently.

Group lessons are held once a week in addition to private lessons. These are a vital part of the program as we learn ensemble skills, review repertoire, and more. We have so much fun in group class, learning from each other and playing together!

Performances are an opportunity to show what we have learned as well as share the joy of music with others! We host both formal recitals and informal opportunities such as play-downs, community concerts and more.

We are a Suzuki-based violin program. More than fifty years ago, Japanese violinist Shinichi Suzuki realized the implications of the fact that children the world over learn to speak their native language with ease. He began to apply the basic principles of language acquisition to the learning of music, and called his method the mother-tongue approach. The ideas of parent responsibility, loving encouragement, constant repetition, etc., are some of the special features of the Suzuki approach. Read more about the Suzuki method here.

 

Bluebird Violin Studio is located at the historic Old Woolen Mill in downtown Cleveland.

445 Church St. SE Cleveland, TN 37311.

SHAWNA DOSE, TEACHER

Shawna Dose is a registered Suzuki teacher and the owner/founder of Bluebird Violin Studio in Cleveland, TN. Aside from teaching, Shawna performs, writes and records as a violinist and singer/songwriter. A Suzuki student herself, she has been playing since the age of 3. She discovered her love for teaching in 2016 and has never looked back!

Shawna’s past teaching experience and training includes work with the Omaha Conservatory of Music (2019-2020), SoundPoint Strings (2022-2023) ongoing Suzuki training with Edward Kreitman (2021-2023) and SAA registered courses ECC, Unit 1, 2, 3, Practicum, and more. She has inspired the lives of countless children and adults to reach their full potential and succeed in every area of their life.

REVIEWS

  • “My name is Ellie and I’m 8yrs old. I have been playing violin with Miss Shawna for about a year and a half. Miss Shawna is a really great teacher! She makes learning the violin so much fun. She makes games out of our lessons and always makes me laugh! At first practice was really hard but once I got into it, it started to be fun. If you get discouraged, just keep on going. I have learned a lot from Miss Shawna. So has my mom. Miss Shawna is the best violin teacher in the world! You should take your lessons with her if you want to play violin. 🫶🏼😘🥰🎉💜🩷❤️🧡💛💚🩵💙💖💝!!!!! “- Ellie (8)

  • “Shawna has such a passion for what she does! She is very patient with the kids and also encouraging. Violin has been a wonderful addition to our homeschooling curriculum. Highly recommend to help foster so many developmental skills even beyond playing an instrument.” - Autumn

  • “Shawna is amazing. She is very patient with the children and teaches at their pace. Shawna is very knowledgeable about what she does as well. I would recommend Shawna for any child wanting to learn violin.” - Natalie

  • “My 7yr old daughter has been with Bluebird Violin Studio for just over a year now. I wanted to wait a while before posting so I could give a thorough and honest review. Taking on learning a new instrument is big undertaking and I wanted to make it through, what I assumed would be, the initial “growing pains” of the process. Shawna is an outstanding violin teacher!!! My daughter has learned so much from her and she makes the learning process so fun. Those initial growing pains I was expecting were nearly painless because she makes the lessons both engaging and rewarding for the children. Her enthusiasm for her students is evident in everything she does. She demonstrates patience and grace with the kids as they work through difficulties of learning. In the beginning my daughter struggled with wanting to practice. I think she imagined she would just pick up the violin and be able to play a song within a week or two. I shared her frustrations with Shawna who had some excellent ideas for how to make practice seem less like work. She also lent me a few books which spoke to the Suzuki process, how to make practice part of your daily schedule, and how to engage with my daughter both as her mom and her teacher when we were at home. It’s been a year and daily practice is part of our routine now and something she looks forward to.
    BUT….that’s not the reason I signed her up for violin. Honestly I didn’t really care if she learned to play any songs (of course she has because Shawna is outstanding). The things I wanted her to learn are all the life values that come with learning an instrument: self discipline, respect, positive self-talk, confidence, humility, perseverance, focused attention, and pride in her accomplishments. Shawna has taught her ALL these things and then some!!! Yes, my kid can play beautiful music. But more than that, she’s growing into a beautiful person because of the things she’s learning with Shawna. THAT is why we love Bluebird!! If you are looking to grow your child in more than just playing an instrument, this is the studio for you!!” - Erin

  • “My son is loving violin lessons with Miss Shawna! I am always amazed at her patience and ability to instill a love of learning in her students. I highly recommend Bluebird Violin Studio!” - Lauren

  • “Shawna is great! She patiently helps each child learn at their own speed. My child was very shy and didn’t want to participate at first in front of everyone, but Shawna patiently kept working with her and encouraging her and now my child loves violin class! She makes it fun and easy to learn through different kid-friendly exercises.” - Emily

  • “Shawna is a great instructor. My son and I have been taking lessons for 6 months now. The amount of progress my son has made is nothing short of incredible. She is very patient and it’s evident that she loves what she does.” - Adam