We love Certain Music. My girls had taken music lessons from a number of other companies, but none…read morethat ever seemed worth my money or our time. Dr. Certain teaches a traditional method that includes not just playing the instrument, but also reading the notes, terminology, hand positions, music theory and good practice skills. I am so glad we finally found Certain Music.

As an experienced musician myself, I searched for the perfect music teacher for my own budding…read moreyoung musicians. I am beyond thrilled with the Suzuki Music Institute of Dallas. This school has phenomenal teachers, fabulous group music classes, and unparallelled theory and composition training. All their students study individually with instructors as well as in ensemble settings, and all take separate theory classes. They perform at least 4 times per year, which is great practice! It's a wonderful music community, one I only experienced when I got to college! I wish they had had a school like this when I was a child! We are not planning for our children to be professional musicians (and indeed I am not, either), but I appreciate that my children are in an environment that maximizes their potential. My children play piano, and it has always been fun, move-at-your-own-pace, and encouraging. My little ones are pretty sensitive, so negative pressure or stress would really turn them off--but they love this place and all their teachers, and happily skip into the building each week! The classes and the practice are definitely a time commitment, but the kids love it, and we are committed to making music an integral part of their lives. There is excellent instruction for all levels, from pre-schoolers and young children (like mine) through high school. Some of their recent graduates have gone on to study music at Juilliard and the Eastman School of Music.

I have had two children enrolled for several years and I have found that this school is…read moreextraordinary. It is an excellent experience for children, from 18 months to 18 years, and the music education is incomparable. Suzuki Music Institute of Dallas offers music lessons to children and their families. The instruments taught are violin, viola, cello, bass, piano, harp and organ. The teachers are committed, caring and extremely well trained. The school's history is long and its core mission has remained unchanged since it was first founded over 45 years ago. For the youngest students, SMID has the "Kodomo" class that is very good and unique. Imagine a circle of two-year-olds and their parents being led in song and rhythmic play by a teacher who has decades of music pedagogy experience, then add another equally knowledgeable and talented musician accompanying those children on a grand piano. This excellent class is affordable and meets on Saturday mornings. Instrument lessons are available for children age 3 and up. In addition to a weekly private lesson, there is a weekly group class and a theory class. Children, working a little each day with their parents, progress quickly and can do very impressive things musically. It is not unusual for children as young as 5 or 6 to be proficient music readers. The students love their teachers. It is possible, and not uncommon, for a student to have the same teacher for several years at a time. This long, caring relationship between teacher, student AND the parent, has a way of propelling children to do great things. Children are taught as individuals and the program is paced to each child's needs and abilities. Despite what other posters might have said, this school is the opposite of competitive! There are many special-needs children who are in the program, learning and growing. The spirit of non-competitiveness is actually intrinsic to the method; it was baked-in by Shinichi Suzuki himself and is carefully maintained at the school through ongoing parent and student education. I believe that the eduction my children are receiving at SMID will give a number of skills that will help them throughout their lives. They will probably not be professional musicians, but that is not the goal. The real goals for my children include learning that disciplined practice (work) can bring exciting and valuable skills, that effective collaboration with others is possible and rewarding, and that music can be beautiful and fun. Though a great value in my opinion, this is not the cheapest or easiest of music programs. There are other places where parents can simply drop off their children for instrument lessons and not have to be bothered with anything other that listening to the occasional practice. However, for those families who wish to do something more than "check the box" of getting music lessons for their kid, to instead actively pursue the rewards that a quality music education can give, this is the very best place for them.

I bought my harp from Minda about this time last year. Stellar service. She took the time to work…read morewith me and identify the harp for me. It's a year later, and I love it. Minda also teaches lessons, so I signed right up. Great experience. She's patient, willing to explain things to my engineering brain, and brilliant. More, when it came time to change a string, Minda gave me a lesson. She even let me change a few strings on a harp she was working on. Telling me how to do it, showing me how to do it, then letting me do it but talking me through each step. Finally, doing it on my own but with her watching. Great way of learning. I was able to go home and confidently change the string myself. Five of five stars. And an extra star because she's just so darn nice about it.

I had a great experience selling my lever harp with Minda. She was easy to communicate with, very…read moreprofessional and knowledgeable, and I felt very confident that my harp would be going to a wonderful family who will take excellent care of her. The store itself is spacious, easy to find, and felt very welcoming. I was expecting the process of selling my harp to be complicated, but Minda made it easy and stress-free.

For any families who are interested in violin instruction for kids, we highly recommend our son's…read moreviolin school, A Love Nurtured Music Suzuki Studio on Greenville Ave at Forest Lane in Dallas. Our son has been taking violin lessons here for a few years and has become proficient at playing, which had resulted in many unexpected benefits for our son and for our family. Yesterday they had their annual Christmas recital, below is a link to a video of their rendition of Jingle Bells, where siblings who don't play the violin were invited to play bells alongside the violins. https://youtu.be/-J-7x0lHsgQ https://www.lovenurturedmusic.org/ Mr. Rigo, the instructor, is a true expert in teaching kids, and it is a joy to watch them progress. I would never have thought to get our kids involved in violin if it hadn't been for my wife. Our son is more confident, disciplined and capable as the result of this school, and our other kids have become more interested in music and more willing to work for the things they want because of his example. Highly recommended!

We were looking for a Suzuki violin teacher for our daughter, as we had moved to the Dallas area…read morerecently. Since the first time I called Mr. Murillo, I had the impression that he was a very reasonable and professional violin teacher. My husband and I talked with him, visited him at the Suzuki school and got our daughter to play for him. He gave some good suggestions for practicing and was very effective communicating his potential goals for my daughter's progress. After talking with him about the details of the Suzuki program, he encouraged us to come to more lesson observations. We came once more and enrolled in the middle of the year. Fortunately, he had a time slot that worked perfect for us. Our daughter made great progress during the time we were in Dallas (we had to move out again in about a year for work reasons). Mr. Murillo has a way of making an impact on his students that they remember the assignments and musical points (at least that was our experience with our daughter). I was also taking notes and keeping track of what he assigned. Mr. Murillo is a first-rate violinist and teacher who loves teaching and is committed to his students. Sometimes you see good teachers that have many other obligations and end up missing many lessons. I can say that Mr. Murillo is very devoted to his students, and I have talked to several of his students' parents who gave me the same impression. The only downside (if you want to see it that way) is that he really expects the younger student parents to practice with them. I learned quite a bit of basic violin in the process, so it was good. I highly recommend Mr. Murillo as a Suzuki-certified violin teacher, especially for young students. He also has several advanced students who play really well. If you have a young child interested in violin, he is the one to call.

Our daughter has been in the MSI Dallas program for 3 years now and she has learned so much more…read morethan we could have hoped for when we were blindly searching for how and which method would be best for her to learn piano! We feel that we are So Blessed beyond any luck even - blessed- to have found MSI program so close to us. She is a musician I can safely say now from the full spectrum music education she has been receiving. Reading music, writing music, singing music, playing piano, playing percussion, performance poise accomplishment- music flows in her through her and from her. So good for her development- mentally physically psychologically emotionally. All her life, she will easily access this avenue of expression and creativity. what a gift to give to our children! thank you MSI Dallas you ARE the best.

We had looked for a long time to to find an actual builder and master luthier of violins for my…read moredaughter. She is 8 years old and very talented. Violins So we looked around Dallas. We dug deep, and asked professionals in the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. Finally the answer close to our house in Plano, the Vitale Violin Shop in Plano, Texas was recommended to us. The Symphony shared an article written in 2012 from the Dallas News Paper here: http://www.dallasnews.com/lifestyles/headlines/20120302-frisco-man-s-dream-of-making-violins-comes-true.ece Our search was over. The Violin Shop is absolutely amazing!!! The staff is courteous and very helpful. A master luthier that actually builds custom handmade violins and orchestra instruments! I didn't even know that type of skill set still existed out side of Italy, let alone this century in Plano, Texas! There is a 2000 sq ft. facility packed with custom handmade violins. There are many rooms and levels of instruments of all kinds. In addition we found a new teacher who plays in the Symphony from there! Thanks for reading! Go check them out... Billy Johansen Plano, Texas

I called to see if this luthier could set the bridge on a cello that I had bought online. Without…read moreseeing it, he laughed and said, "We don't do this because these always have problems." How could he know this without having seen the violin? Because he also sells cellos, I'm sure he would rather I have bought the cello from him, but, to my mind, business is business. I found his response and pre-judgement highly unprofessional and disappointing.

I heard from a friend that this place was legit. Went to sign up to get my little brother for some…read moredrum lessons. Laura at the front desk turned me off of the idea immediately. As I approached she didn't even say hello, she was stuck on her phone playing some game. I asked several times, "hey, can I sign my lil bro up for lessons". Finally she responded "what do you want, sure". My lil bro is kind of an energetic happy kid, he told her "I'm excited to learn the drums miss". She grunted and went off on a tangent about how its the hardest instrument to learn (its not) and it maybe wasn't for kids (kids can learn the drums lady). She kind of bummed him out saying this so I left. I get that being in a customer service position is hard, I myself was in customer service as a waiter, so I know that the service I got was pretty trash. Decided to take my brother to a different school. The teachers here may be good, or even great, but the front desk service turned me off too much. Ciao!

After my first impression as well as a few additional impressions, I could not be more impressed…read morewith this place. I could have driven by this place 1000 times and would never know there were music lessons here. The front desk girl was nice and the place is spotless clean. The instructor we had was animated and great with my son. What I find to be the most awesome is that the people here actually love music, so they seem to work here to spread the joy of making music. I was a bit reluctant when my son said he wanted to play drums, but after seeing how excited he is and how well he is doing, I'm sold. We purchased a set of Alexis drums so he can wear headphones, this allows him to practice while we sit quietly in another room doing something else. They have both regular drums and electronic drums at the studio. As you walk past the different rooms, you see various children and teachers and if you look close enough, you can even see the little light bulb above the kids heads. I find it amazing watching kids learn and I find it ever more amazing seeing someone actually enjoy teaching children. It makes my heart melt. These guys are talented, experienced and work very good with kids. I am impressed and will be introducing my daughter to the guitar soon after. My desire to have her take guitar lessons is solely based on the enthusiasm I've seen with the teachers. The drum sessions are 30 minutes, which is perfect since anything more would be sensory overload. You'd be amazed at what a 9 year old can pickup in 30 minutes, especially with an instructor that's excited to teach him. I tip my hat and say BRAVO, job well done Matt Burk Music Studio, I am a fan!

Mark is the best! My two daughters really enjoy taking piano lessons with him and he's helping to…read morefoster their love of music! Highly recommend him as an instructor for children.

Mark played at my birthday party in July! He had my friends dancing and singing along with his…read moremusic!! Everyone loved him!!! He's very professional, accomplished and fun to have around! Thank u Mark!!! A great time was had by all!!