Music Resources for Instrument Study

Mail order resources for instruments, supplies, and sheet music:

Upper West Side instrument and supply shops:

New York City sheet music store:

The Juilliard Store

Your teacher is your best resource to answer any questions or concerns about equipment! Always consult your teacher before sizing up or otherwise changing your instrument or set up.

String Instrument Rentals

Silver Music students rent their instruments from Johnson String Instruments, which makes monthly trips from its Massachusetts store to the Silver Music studio. Johnson’s also ships to your home address, although you will be responsible for the shipping charge. If your item is not time sensitive, tell them that you are a Silver Music family and they will deliver on their next trip, free of charge.

Before beginning private lessons, one of our teachers will measure your child and assess the proper instrument size. Once you have this information, please call Johnson’s and place an order for that size instrument, standard package, along with any other supplies your teacher may request—particular violin supplies that we recommend are listed below.

We recommend renting for at least the six-month contract. It is very easy to extend the contract over the phone or online, and you can exchange the instrument at any time for a different size.

Music Book & CD:

Unless you already have a copy of the Suzuki CD, both violin and cello students should order their respective Suzuki book + CD:

Suzuki Violin School, Volume 1 plus CD,
or Suzuki Cello School, Volume 1-2 plus CD.

For inspiration and a glimpse of what lies ahead, we recommend also ordering a Suzuki Violin CD Volume 4, or a Suzuki Cello CD Vol. 5 for our beginning students to enjoy listening to!

Additional Items:

Violin students should order the following, unless otherwise instructed by their teacher: Wittner Hypoallergenic Chinrest with side mount, NOT center mount (make sure to order the same size as the violin). Blue firm foam shoulder rest (also in the same size as the violin).

Johnson String Instruments, www.johnsonstring.com
Phone number: 1-800-359-9351

Buying an Instrument (Guitar & Flute)

FOR GUITAR, we recommend buying an instrument. (Guitars are less expensive than cello/violin/viola).
Adult Guitar: Yamaha C40 Classical Guitar Bundle with Gig Bag, Tuner, Strings, String Winder, Austin Bazaar Instructional DVD, and Polishing Cloth

Young Child Guitar: Cordoba Guilele CE 6-String Acoustic Electric Nylon Guitar/Ukulele Hybrid AND Cordoba Deluxe Tenor Ukulele Gig Bag

All guitar students also need Suzuki Guitar School Volume I, Revised Edition CD, Footstool, Planet Waves PW-CT-12 D’Addario NS Micro Clip-On Tuner

FOR FLUTE, we also recommend buying an instrument. (You can resell when you are ready to upgrade).
We can recommend whether a curved headjoint or straight headjoint is most appropriate for a child under 10 years old. We recommend Trevor James, DiZhao, Jupitor, or Yamaha and students can visit The Flute Center at Columbus Circle to find a flute that suits them.

All flute students need Suzuki Flute CD Volume 1 (with Lorna McGhee) and Suzuki Flute Book 1 Revised.

FOR PIANO, a piano (Yamaha, Boston, Essex, Steinway) is ideal. Steinway & Sons offers Rent-t0-Buy options: https://www.steinway.com/pianos/rent-then-own-program-internal

Students can also purchase a full-size, touch-sensitive keyboard, with weighted keys in lieu of a piano. Yamaha or Cassio Digital are our piano teachers recommended brands and these options are available through The Guitar Center or Amazon.