Snow Pond Center for the Arts - Summer Concert Series

Snow Pond Community Music School
Igniting a lifelong love of music
Over the past year, Snow Pond
Center for the Arts has truly come
to life as a year-round education
center. The picturesque lakeside
grounds buzzed all winter long
with the energy of young students
acquiring new skills and adult students
revisiting techniques of their
youth. This energy comes from
Snow Pond Community Music
School, where local teaching artists
and families have gathered to enrich
their lives with the study of music.
Snow Pond Community Music
School engaged 120 students of all
ages in individual lessons, group
classes, ensembles and workshops
in this first year. The faculty and
students of Pineland Suzuki School,
under the direction of Betsy Kobayashi,
came to SPCMS last September,
bringing with them the
nurturing energy and exciting pro-
16
gramming of the
Suzuki Method.
The SPCMS
faculty is a diverse
and talented group
of teaching artists
whose expertise
spans many genres, from classical
strings to rock guitar to Caribbean
steel drums. The SPCMS student
body comprises students from many
central Maine towns, from Bangor
to Damariscotta. And in true
community music school fashion,
a wonderful cross-pollination of
methods and talents has occurred.
Suzuki students perform in ensembles
together with more traditional
students, piano students are learning
accompaniment skills, students
experience other instruments in
rehearsal, and performance season
brings about a host of ways for stu-
dents to perform together.
The reasons for studying and
performing music are vast, beginning
with the fundamental way
music feeds our souls. Then there’s
the emotional engagement, the
intellectual stimulation, the self-expression,
and the sheer joy of making
beautiful sounds, not to mention
improved reading, verbal and
math skills, enhanced self-esteem,
increased sense of responsibility
and cooperation. All in all, music
makes us better people.
Snow Pond Community Music
School strives to offer music-making
opportunities to as many students
as possible. For this reason,
SPCMS has launched an Outreach
Program initiative, to help make
music education more accessible in
the wider community.
SPCMS Outreach
Programs
Even as the student body of
SPCMS grows, it is clear that there
are numerous community members
who desire to make music but
time and resources make it difficult.
Snow Pond Community Music
School is proud to partner with
neighboring schools and community
organizations to offer music
classes on site at partner locations.
150 students participated in outreach
programs in 2015, all free of
charge.