A talented young violist displaying both her posture, her jammies, and her feelings about how the lesson is going.
The first rule of instrument repair/work/etc is to take it back to the place you are renting it from. If you own it, you can still sometimes go back to that store/shop and get a good deal on it.
If not, or you are not in a position to do so, here is my list of recommended sites/suppliers/software to assist you on your musical journeys.
| SUPPLIERS |
| Sharmusic.com – My favorite place to go. Music, strings, accessories, instruments, the works. Free shipping after $25. Usually has sales at least once a month, sent via email. |
| gostrings.com – Sometimes has cheaper options for strings, but the strings are not always highest quality. Good for browsing, and sometimes there are great deals. |
| musiciansfriend.com – great for accessories – stands, recording devices, etc. Good deals occasionally! |
| amazon – may not have the best sales, but usually the prices are pretty baseline. If nothing else, check here for prices to see if you’re getting a good deal. |
| FREE MUSIC (!) |
| imslp.org – The king of free, classical music. Must be out of public domain (pre-1922). Will have all the older famous stuff, huge range of difficulty, several search options. Great for solo and chamber! |
| 8notes.com – Free, easy gig music. Good for weddings etc. Some popular arrangements, although you can find more online with a simple google search. |
| ScorSer.com – a search engine for music. Good if you want to browse by genre or chamber grouping. |
| musescore – Lots of decent arrangements of popular and classical pieces if you cannot find/play/have enough people for the real thing. Very useful for chamber groups! (Have to download muscore – which is free – to download the music.) |
| RECORDING/EDITING SOFTWARE |
| Garageband – The go-to for all with apple computers. Editing can be a bit tricky, but this is a good tool to have when you want to record and edit some music. |
| Audacity – Free, and another important tool for recording, especially if you don’t have garageband! |
| WRITING/ARRANGING |
| musescore – The best free option out there. I’ve used Sibellius and Finale (which are mad expensive) and actually prefer this one. Easy to use, instruction online, and with it you can access tons of arrangements of pieces. Win all around 🙂 |
| OTHER IMPORTANT SITES |
| youtube – I’m not kidding. Most of everything you will ever play (except the Andersen trio, apparently) is on here, so if you don’t know what it sounds like… |
| TonalEnergy tuning app – I recommend this one. Any tuning/metronome app is better than none, but this is the one with the demon smiley face, and we all love the demon smiley face. |
| Google search – always search it. The chances are that someone, somewhere, has uploaded it. |
Juliet Dawson 