Virtuoso Violin Hawaii

My baby’s been taking Mariko’s private lesson for 5 years and he keeps having passion for violin as well as joining orchestra at his high school.
Once his interest was more into cello but Mariko completely understood how teenagers go and arranged the schedule so that he could take both her violin and other teacher’s cello lessons.
Now he wants to focus on violin so quit cello but I think he appreciates the opportunity that he learned cello in order to play violin better.
Too bad he doesn’t play as much as I want him… but Mariko always helps me and gives him motivation! She’s always flexible also understanding how busy working mommy’s life can be.
She’s a native Japanese speaker but also perfect English bilingual so I would highly recommend to all Japanese and English speaker if you would like to broaden your music world! She might speak more language… lol Cause she’s so talented :)

My son it currently taking violin lessons with Mrs. Mariko since he was in 3^rd grade. He have been taking lessons for 5 years now. He has found violin to be very enjoyable because of the lessons from Mrs. Mariko. She is always eager to help my son get better with his violin skills. Because of her, my son achieved a lot of goals such as getting into 1^st violin of Hawaii Youth Symphony and the advanced orchestra for my son’s school. With Mrs. Mariko’s hard work and encouragement, my son has mastered the Mendelssohn’s concerto in E minor. He will be playing it at a violin contest with the support of Mrs. Mariko. I recommend anyone who is thinking of taking violin lessons to go to Virtuoso Violin. They will also be available to assist you in Japanese for people who has a hard time speaking English.

My daughter is learning to play violin since she was 4years old. She has very interesting time with Mariko-​Sensei.
She is wonderful teacher.

Ms. Mariko is a very nice Japanese lady with a great passion to teach violin to her students. My daughter who just turned 9 years old has been learning violin with her for about 4 years.
When my daughter was 4 years old, she must have seen violin somewhere and continuously asked me «Mom, can you buy me a violin today?» So after a year later, I finally decided to enroll her in a violin lesson which I had no clue how to play.
I only had an image that violin is an expensive stuff. The awesome thing about Ms. Mariko is that even though she has the top quality $$$ violin that makes the most magically beautiful sound, she doesn’t expect her little beginner students to own $ 10,000+ violin. My daughter started with one of the cheaper violin that costed under $ 300.
Even though my daughter was the one that asked me to buy a violin, she had no patience nor diligence to practice. I had to tell her to practice which was a chore for me. So I occasionally suggested to her «Why don’t you find an easier hobby?» But she liked Ms. Mariko and she never wanted to quit.
I asked my daughter «So what do you like about Mariko-sensei’s violin lesson?» Then she replied «Mariko-​sensei is nice! Sometimes she gives me lollipops. yum!»…lol.
Through years of going to Ms. Mariko’s lesson, she gradually acquired a habit of practicing consistently with patience. That is definitely not something you can acquire overnight. So I think it was worth enrolling her to Ms. Mariko’s violin lesson.
We usually have a recital once a year. It is such a joy to see my daughter play a piece so beautifully at recitals.
I like the location of the studio. It’s on the S. King St, near Kaheka St. There are parking spaces in the back of the building. There’s also lots of meter parkings on Young St.

My 7 year-​old son just started going to Mariko and we both really like her. She is a mother herself, so she really knows how to work with kids and motivate them. She was able to motivate my son to practice everyday. When my son was taking piano, I would have to prepare for a fight to get him to practice. We never fight about practicing violin.
One day, my son was in a really bad mood (probably from playing too much video games — moms know what I am talking about). We had to literally carry him into the car and from the car to violin lessons. Hey, I prepaid for lessons, so he was gong no matter what! :) He was throwing a major tantrum, and Mariko help calm him down and graciously offered to reschedule. She was so understanding and kind (being a mother herself), that my son calmed down and even continued with the lesson!
Mariko is very experienced, technical, and patient. From proper standing, finger placement and posture, to ensuring a «good sound», proper rhythm and pitch, she corrects all the details with patience and passion. You can tell she is an experienced teacher with all of her tricks — balancing an eraser on the violin, tape in strategic places on the violin, a bowl of lollipops for those special tantrum days…
In addition to being an excellent violin musician, Mariko also plays piano. She often plays the piano while my son plays his violin and makes the simplest tune (E string to the beat of «pepperoni pizza») sound like a concert! I think this motivates and inspires my son to play violin — because he thinks he sounds so good! :)
Mariko speaks excellent English in addition to her native Japanese. She gives clear instruction and different homework after every lesson tailored to whatever my son needs to work on next. When my husband took my son once since I had to work, Mariko emailed me a summary of lesson and what my son had to work on next.
Mariko is passionate about teaching violin. You can tell she teaches because she loves sharing and wants to truly help your child develop, not just for the money. She does it for love and it comes from her heart. I highly recommend Mariko.

My 5year old takes her lessons here and she loves it.
Teacher is great, kind, and has patience with my daughter. I highly recommend Mariko Sensei and the location is convenient. Close to Donquijorte.