Fun and Useful Links!
Luthiers:
Seman Violins in Skokie, great for renting instruments or local repair!
www.semanviolins.com
William Harris Lee in both Wilmette and downtown Chicago. They provide quality instruments to rent or own as well as quality repair!
http://www.whlee.com/
Peter Yang in Wilmette also rents instruments (Violin, Viola, and Cello).
www.yangviolins.com
Carl Becker and Son downtown. For advanced students looking to purchase or for repair.
www.carlbeckerandson.com
Michael Becker also sells/repairs instruments for advanced students. He offers a rent to own program too!
www.beckerviolins.com
Cassandra Strings in Evanston and Algonquin has a wide variety of student instruments for purchase. Rentals available too!
www.cassandrastrings.com
Piano Tuners/Dealers:
Heavenly Pianos offers a variety of services! Buy, sell, repair and tune pianos of all types and sizes.
www.heavenlypianos.com
Gus Roddytunes pianos for churches in Evanston. He is very knowledgeable and keeps diligent records of his clients. He will contact you to remind you when your piano is due for a tuning
www.gusroddypiano.com
Andrew Georgas tunes pianos for Northwestern. All of their instruments are in very good condition-he comes highly recommended.
www.pianoguy.net
Steinway of Chicago sells Steinway pianos. They also rent pianos!
www.steinwaychicago.com
Sheet Music:
Performers Music downtown, if you don't want to wait for Amazon to send your music, head downtown, they have a fabulous selection of repertoire!
www.performersmusicchicago.com
Shar Music online. This is a great resource for anything from strings to cases. Shar often has online specials and other sales to take advantage of as well.
www.sharmusic.com
Youth Orchestras:
Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra.
www.cyso.org
Midwest Young Artists.
www.mya.org
Concerts:
Summer fun at the Ravinia Festival! Note--classical concerts are free for children and students with high school or college ID.
www.ravinia.org
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
www.cso.org
The Civic Orchestra is considred the "training orchestra" for the Chicago Symphony. All of their concerts are $5.00, what a bargin!
https://cso.org/institute/civic-orchestra-of-chicago/
Other Fun Stuff:
Some games and quizzes to keep you on your toes:
www.musictechteacher.com/musicquizzes
Here is a great article on the benefits of learning a musical instrument:
http://www.childrensmusicworkshop.com/advocacy/best-thing-your-parents-ever-did/
A great read on successful practice!
http://www.bulletproofmusician.com/how-many-hours-a-day-should-you-practice/
This is probably the funniest video that I have seen to date concerning violin music. Thank you Perlman for having a great sense of humor!
Look! Even Mickey Mouse was a violinist!
Willie Hall! If you haven't seen this, it is a must and a favorite for many of my students!
Don't forget to log those practice hours!
Jacqueline du Pré - Dvořák Cello Concerto –
London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Daniel Barenboim