Summerhays has been nominated for the Daily Herald's Best of Utah Valley 2024 Reader's Choice Awards! We are so honored by the nomination, and are incredibly grateful to serve the music community here in Utah County. You can vote for Summerhays directly at the Daily Herald's website ..read more

You're a parent, and you have a son or daughter that wants to sign up for beginning band or beginning orchestra. You talk with the teacher, and they say you have to go out and get an instrument. The first temptation might be to go online and find the cheapest instrument possible. You might justify this by saying something like: "I don't want to spend too much money on something they might not keep up with." Or something else like... "My kid doesn't know how to play anyway, so what difference does a more expensive instrument make?" These are valid concerns. Why would you spend money on an instr ..read more

When shopping for a new piano you may be tempted by other name brands you're familiar with like Yamaha, Steinway, or Baldwin. And in all fairness, those other manufacturers produce great pianos that have made many people happy over the years. So if there are so many other good pianos to choose from, then why choose a Kawai? For over 90 years Kawai has been a pioneer in modern piano design. Their instruments are made using cutting-edge technologies and high-quality materials, resulting in some of the best-playing pianos seen at home and on-stage. Here we'll be going over a few reasons why it mi ..read more

Many successful musicians, entertainers, doctors, and entrepreneurs all share something in common: They play the piano. Having a piano in your home can dramatically increase your performance in other areas of music and in life. Taking Piano Lessons Can Help You Succeed In Music Most obviously, piano lessons have easily transferable skills to band, orchestra, choir, and other areas of music. Here are some of the skills and knowledge you’d obtain learning the piano: Learning note names and key signatures A strong sense of rhythm and timing Understanding the relationship between melody and harmo ..read more

This article is for anyone who needs help anyone navigating the world of woodwinds. Specifically, I’m talking about how to buy new reeds for clarinet and saxophone. If you are the parent of a student who is playing the clarinet, or if this is your first time buying reeds, don’t worry! I’m going to walk you through everything you need to know. Things to Consider Before Buying Reeds Before just buying any random box of reeds, there are a couple of things to consider. The first thing to ask is “What strength and brand are you playing on right now?” If you know the answer to that question, your be ..read more

Tell us if this sounds familiar: You're tuning your instrument, but it's not quite there yet. Your instrument might have fine tuners on the tailpiece, but that only adds an extra step to the process. Even then, there's still a chance the peg will still slip out of place, making you start all over again. Thankfully there's a simple solution that combines the advantages of fine-tuners while also reducing the chances of string slippage. For years, we've installed Wittner geared pegs on many of the violins, violas, and cellos we stock. Teachers, students, and professional musicians love having the ..read more

We've all been there — your current instrument isn't playing as well as you'd like, but you're not ready for a new one yet either. The tone is off, or it's not as vibrant as you'd like it to be. Or it's just plain hard to play. Instead of spending thousands of dollars on a new violin, you can make some upgrades to your old one at a fraction of the cost. In this post, we'll go over five ways you can instantly improve the sound and playability of your violin. These tips are also applicable to viola, cello, and bass. 1. Changing to New Strings There are two main reasons why you might want to cha ..read more

When purchasing a new piano, it’s common to assume that grand pianos are better in every way, and if you have the money to, always get a grand. However, that’s not always the case. Piano sound, tone, and volume are affected by 3 main things (assuming a high quality piano), the size of the piano, the shape of the piano, and the set-up of the piano. The size of the piano determines the size of the strings in the piano, the things that actually make noise, and arguably the most important part of the piano for sound production. The longer the string, the better the sound in a nutshell. (You can l ..read more

There are two main types of acoustic piano, the upright and the grand, and each have a whole range of lengths and heights. You’ll normally find grand pianos from 5’ to 9’, split into 3 categories. Although there isn’t a consensus, generally anything from 5’ to 5’ 4” is considered a baby grand, from 5’ 5” to 8’ a medium, conservatory, orchestral, or classical grand, and anything over that is considered a concert grand. With uprights, although you’ll be able to find pianos with full vertical actions under 45”, those typically won’t be classified as uprights, rather as cabinet or studio pianos ..read more

Saxophone is an awesome instrument. But choosing a new saxophone can be a confusing process - especially if you’re a parent with no musical background. Whether you’re a parent shopping for your child or you’re an experienced player, there comes a time when many sax players will need to upgrade their saxophone. Why It’s Time to Upgrade Your Sax There are many reasons why someone would want (or need) to upgrade their saxophone. Here are the most common ones: The current sax is holding you back - Beginner saxes and older instruments can be great when starting out. But for many advancing players ..read more