One of my favourite stores to visit. I always try to make a stop and have an interesting…read moreconversation with Kathryn about changing the world or just hanging with Dean and chatting about trends. These guys are always welcoming and friendly.

My son has been taking lessons with them and has improved greatly but he also really loves going to…read morelessons. Their staff are young, fun and great mentors for the kids to learn from. I would recommend them to anyone hoping to learn music or get good quality instruments!

This is where the GuZheng was found! Chuen Ying Arts Centre teaches Art for children and Music for…read moreChildren and Adults. They specialize in GhuZheng and Chinese Flute teachings. Mostly are done in Chinese, but I believe that they can also teach in English. They have private tutoring classes as well in Chinese string and woodwind instruments. It's a husband and wife team. Mrs Cheng, a beautiful woman and her husband are well known in the Chinese classical music industry in Canada. They have a number of CD's of various music in their collection of performances. We were shown the $800 dollar GuZheng, but that wasn't what Mum wanted so Mrs Cheng brought our a few others to show. When the final selection was made and the purchase done, she tuned the instrument, offered the free stand and the free chair. We didn't get the chair, but daughter will get it next time. The ones that they had at the time were too small. There was a mumbling in the car of how expensive it was, but that it was more affordable than the other places. The Daughter hopefully really likes it (which she did) and that she'll take the lessons and learn it well. If not, Mom will take lessons! The service was quite nice. And after Daughters first class, she said that she enjoyed it. Soon, the melodic tunes of the skillfull GuZheng student will fill the air in the house with music. A Rhapsody in progress.

I attended the 23rd annual Mission Folk Festival a couple of weeks ago and had a blast. I have to…read moreadmit I was skeptical....folk music? Surely this event couldn't be that much of a party, but boy, was I wrong! Mission is the perfect distance from Vancouver to head out there on a Friday night after work and still arrive, set up your tent and settle in with a beer in hand before the sun has set. The festival was based in the Fraser River Heritage Park, overlooking the beautiful Fraser River. The vista from this park of Mt Baker was unbelievable, and the park itself offered lovely shaded groves to sit in and watch acts on the smaller stages and beautiful wide open spaces to dance your heart out to performers on the main stage. The camping facilities were top notch, great toilet facilities and even private showers for campers. The running water for the camp was a fair distance from the camping area, based in the festival site, which was my only complaint as it was a super hot weekend! I think Mission Folk Festival would more aptly be named Mission World Music Festival, or even just Mission Music Festival, because they host root, blues, and all manner of other types of music from all over the world. The Polynesian group Te Vaka had the crowd going wild with their combination of Polynesian singing, dancing and drumming and my personal highlight was watching Renato Borghetti, the Brazilian accordionist, shredding (yes people, I said SHREDDING) on his accordion to a highly appreciative audience. The ladies in Pacific Curls from New Zealand made me homesick, and Robert Sarazin Blake from Bellingham crooned to us like Johnny Cash telling a bedtime story, weaving tales well into the night. The crowd at Mission is really mixed, from oldies in wheelchairs with family members taking them from stage to stage, families with kids, 20 and 30-somethings lounging in the sun with drinks and everything in between. Its certainly a "family-friendly" event but there were some late night parties and impromptu jam-sessions at certain camp sites and some hardcore dance-offs going down over the weekend. A full market of vendors is set up over the weekend selling clothing, massages, jewellery, art, you name it. The food area was great - Jamaican Jerk Chicken, Indian Curries, Whales Tails, Corn Dogs, Salmon Burgers, enough to keep any festival goer happy. I think the thing though that I loved the most apart from the amazingly diverse musical acts (and the amazingly diverse audience!) was the relaxed, inclusive vibe of this event. We came and went from our campsite without so much as putting anything away, let along locking things up, and the schedule of events allowed plenty of time to picnic in front of the stage, nap in the grass and also see each act more than once, not only in their main performance, but also in unstructured jams with other performers, a really cool and unique experience. Looking forward to the 24th annual event, Mission!

Jack, Daniel & the staff at King's Music Abbotsford are top notch ! We've been dealing with King's…read morefor band & stringed instruments, sheet & book music for many, many years....Always a fantastic experience !...You've got to give them a try !.....And Victor is the "guru" of musical instrument repairs...truly amazing ! Highly recommend..... A++++

Had to get one thing replaced on a clarinet which was a new mouthpiece and some reeds cost close to…read more200 dollars wouldn't recommend

Extremely disappointed!…read more Called them January 24th about renting an instrument for 5th grade strings. They told me to come in to rent a violin and to try and bring my child with me since we needed to get the correct size. January 26, I bring my kid in. We arrived later than planned because I got lost (my bad) trying to find the store. We arrived at 4:45pm. Despite the store being empty, the guy there was apparently too busy to help us and handed us a paper to order online so it could be shipped to us. He didn't offer a sizing suggestion. I called back again yesterday afternoon because I realized strings starts next week and I wasn't sure if the shipped instrument would get here in time. The guy told me it would take a few days but they had some in stock. I told him I was confused because I was given a paper and told to have it shipped. He said they had multiple sizes in stock, including a size that should work for her given her age (10). We drove all the way back downtown again today and guess what - they don't have any in stock. What a joke and a waste of our time. Will not go to this store again.

Amazing service! They took the time to help my child get a perfect fit for his instrument. When it…read morewas time to return the instrument they were kind enough to pick it up at our house in the middle of a pandemic. I can't show enough gratitude.