Craig BirchfieldSep 28, 20191 minKrutz StringsWe are now dealers for the internationally famous Krutz Strings company out of Kansas City, Kansas. We are very impressed by their craftsmanship and value. P...
Craig BirchfieldMay 15, 20193 min6 Mental Benefits Of Playing The Violin For Children (Backed By Science)Special guest blog by Neil Nguyen Learning an instrument, especially the violin early gives your children many decisive benefits, both mentally and physicall...
Craig BirchfieldMay 1, 20191 minUpright Basses All Sizes in stock from $899!We finally got our basses in from backorder. We have a great selection of Uprights for you to choose from: Great playing student model for $899 in 1/4, 1/2 a...
Craig BirchfieldApr 28, 20191 minHome of the Lifetime Trade-UpThe number one question that parents have when they come us is, ”what do we do when our child outgrows this instrument.” Many advancing students also want to...
Craig BirchfieldMar 1, 20193 minA Poet’s Premier – Student Lights National Christmas TreeOne of the joys of my job is finding out that a young person who obtained an instrument from our shop did something very special with it. A few years back a ...
Craig BirchfieldFeb 10, 20192 minConcert Review: 2Cellos at the Moda Center 2/7/2019Roxanne and I were able to attend the 2Cellos concert at the Moda Center, Theater of the Clouds last Thursday. I had not seen them live before but I’ve watch...
Craig BirchfieldJun 21, 20183 minHow to keep kids practicing through the summerThe sun is out and the clouds are gone. Hooray! This is the summertime creed of Oregon kids who have to run between raindrops for most of the winter. With sc...
Craig BirchfieldApr 15, 20184 minWhy is a Cello not like a Toaster Oven?(I have updated and reposted this blog piece from a few years ago because I think it is good information to review) That is because a cello is not anything a...
Craig BirchfieldMar 11, 20182 minThe Little Shop That CouldI like the people who do business with us to also know a little about us. Roxanne and I have been musicians for most of our lives. We have also been making m...
Craig BirchfieldFeb 18, 20182 minThe Best Part of My Job“She has been bugging me for a year to get a violin and lessons. I wanted to make sure that she was serious but she hasn’t let up.” I don’t know how many tim...
Craig BirchfieldJan 7, 20182 minWell Why Not???It is the first week in January. We are just far enough into the new year to either be grateful that the holidays are over or be a little down…because the ho...
Craig BirchfieldNov 22, 20171 minOver 100 Violins, Violas, Cellos and Basses Available in StockCurrently we have an inventory in excess of 100 instruments available for sale and most are also available for rent. If you check our products pages you will...
Craig BirchfieldOct 6, 20174 minFYI, FAQs and Salient PointsI often hear the same questions or comments repeated by many of our customers so I thought that I would dedicate a blog entry to address them. This may help ...
Craig BirchfieldMay 22, 20173 minThe Infamous Violin Shaped ObjectI had a call from a young lady the other day. She was having trouble keeping her brand new violin in tune. I asked if we had sold it to her. She said no but ...
Craig BirchfieldApr 26, 20172 minImportant String Player Resources in Greater PortlandHere in the greater Portland metro area we have some excellent resources for string players. I will also list some links to the best of our our local ensembl...
Craig BirchfieldApr 3, 20173 minIn Praise of Personal Preference and Musical ToleranceI grew up in the 1950’s and 1960’s. There were not 70 different Billboard music charts like there are today – Adult Alternative, Hot Country, Mainstream Rock...
Craig BirchfieldFeb 20, 20172 min“So What’s in it for Me?”I usually try to find tidbits of information for this blog that you might find interesting but I thought that this time I would mention some reasons you migh...
Craig BirchfieldJan 18, 20172 min“We Love the Scott Cao STV017!! …You can’t have it back, sorry.”I recently received a text from a customer. We had shipped them one of our Scott Cao student violins. They paid for it in advance but asked for a little time...
Craig BirchfieldOct 13, 20161 minPaganini’s Greatest SecretOccasionally, I will find a video that I think will be of some real interest or usefulness to our customers and teachers. I found one that I think is pretty ...
Craig BirchfieldAug 24, 20161 minWE HAVE CELLOS!I am getting word back from the vine that some of our local Portland area shops are already starting to run out of cellos. As of right now I have a good sele...
