In Business: Wayland School of Music

Wayland School of Music offers private instrument lessons, group classes and ensemble coaching at several locations in the triangle of Rt 20/Rt 126/Plain Rd in the Claypit Hill area, including Beehive Community Arts.

Violinist Penny Wayne-Shapiro, WSM’s director, is a native of England. She initially came to Boston on sabbatical from her position as first violinist with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, but ended up loving the area and stayed. She moved to Wayland on getting married and, having always enjoyed teaching, founded what is now Wayland School of Music.

From 2000-2012 she was also concertmaster of the Cape Cod Symphony Orchestra, and is now violinist of the Aviva Piano Trio.

When did you open? We opened as Wayland Violin Studio in 1997, and then expanded to become Wayland School of Music in 2007 when we added other instruments.

What made you decide to open this type of business? I moved to Wayland when I got married. I had always enjoyed teaching a lot but had not had a great deal of time for it. A performer’s life is exciting but also unpredictable - you might be playing here one week, and out of state or even the country the next. Because I was planning to have children, I realized this was the ideal time to create a better balance between teaching, which is more stable, and performing. It’s worked out really well!

What do you like best about it? I love that we can share our own excitement about music and learning with our students! Helping them grow from the first awkward attempts, to hearing them being able to play with beautiful sound and expression, seeing them proud of what their hard work has accomplished - that’s really inspiring! Also, the musical life can be quite lonely - you spend a lot of time on your own practicing, and you might play in an exciting concert but then go back to a hotel room alone - so I really appreciate doing something that makes me feel part of the community and of people’s everyday lives. Along those lines, we do our student recitals at Traditions senior residence and bring our music out into the community.

Biggest struggle? Just figuring out how to let people know we’re here - I’ll confess I’m a lot more interested in music and teaching than I am in marketing, although of course I’ve had to get better at it! We have terrific teachers, but sometimes people come for a tryout and say, “I’ve lived here for years - I wish I’d known before that you were here.” We have to change that!

What do you see for the future? Well, we’re very excited about our growing Suzuki violin program, which started last year - I just hired a wonderful new teacher who’ll be teaching our group introductory classes in the summer for ages 3-6. And I hope to just keep getting the word out and introduce more local families to everything we have to offer - help with school orchestra music, intensive study for those who want it, recreational chamber ensembles and so on.

Watch a class here.

In Business is a regular feature on Wayland Patch that spotlights local businesses. Have a business that should be profiled? Email charlene.arsenault@patch.com.