Shelby (our founder) started playing the guitar and fiddle when she was 12 years old. She started learning comparatively older than most students, but was always determined to catch up. She knew it was her passion and calling in life, and traveled all throughout the United States competing, judging, and instructing at fiddle camps and competitions. She began teaching fiddle, violin, and guitar lessons in her parents basement in 2008! She taught lessons all throughout high school and found that she had a passion for music education!

She knew she wanted to study music in college, but she didn’t know how to read notes! Luckily she was able to pour her heart out to the college audition board and she was awarded a full-tuition scholarship. She graduated with her Honors Bachelors of Music Education in 2017. All throughout her college years she maintained a private studio of 50-60 students that she saw every week. (and even to this day she believes it’s better to feel the music first and learn to read notes later!).

Shelby got a job teaching music in the public schools for the 2018-2019 school year and realized that her passion lay in private music instruction because she was able to build a relationship with each individual student and help them develop better posture and tone. She noticed that those private students were more devoted and appreciative of her time. It was fun to help influence them and see their musicianship grow. But the problem was that she was at capacity, and had a waiting list of 30+ students. In addition to that, parents would ask her “oh their sibling wants to learn guitar, who would you recommend?” Or “I can’t find another teacher that has the same devotion that you do!” So Shelby officially created Snake River Strings Co. in 2019!

Her goal was to create a mission-driven music school, which meant that she would step back from teaching, and focus on developing the teachers to follow her same mission and devotion. She wanted to provide a space for teachers to collaborate, be held to high standards, and revolutionize the music lesson industry. She also wanted to provide a space for students to learn, grow, and collaborate as well.

We started out with just 3 instructors in a small two studio suite next to a gym in Blackfoot teaching only fiddle, violin, and guitar. We survived the pandemic in 2020 and soon grew to 5, then 10 instructors. We moved to a larger space in Blackfoot, with a retail and group lesson area, 2 waiting areas for parents, and 5 individual classrooms. We now have 14+ instructors and teach fiddle, violin, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, cello, viola, bass, ukulele, banjo, mandolin, piano, voice, and drums students every week. In 2023, Shelby announced our second location in Pocatello, Idaho, just south of Blackfoot.

Shelby loves the book “Atomic Habits” by James Clear. If you haven’t read it yet, you need to! It is such a great read for developing any type of improvement in any aspect of life, but it especially can be applied to music lessons. When reading in Chapter 2, the following made Shelby stop in her tracks, “The more pride you have in a particular aspect of your identity, the more motivated you will be to maintain the habits associated with it. True behavior change is identity change. You might start a habit because of motivation but the only way you’ll stick with it is if it becomes a part of your identity. Improvements are only temporary until they become a part of who you are. The goal is not to read a book, the goal is to become a reader. The goal is not to learn how to play an instrument, it’s to become a musician.”

And that is when Shelby coined the slogan “Become a Musician.” At Snake River Strings Co. we believe that there is so much more to becoming a musician than just learning how to play an instrument. It’s learning how to set and achieve goals, it’s learning delayed gratification and that sometimes we don’t see accomplishments right away, grit, perseverance, but also fun, community, sharing and preserving traditions, and speaking a language. At Snake River Strings Co. our mission is to provide a unique learning environment where everyone can become a musician.