I get a lot of violinists coming my way from Sunnybank, Eight Mile plains and Runcorn. There aren’t a lot of shops in Sunnybank that sell violins, especially with the closure of Music Express. Even across Brisbane there aren’t a lot of violin shops on brisbanes southside . These areas are quite culturally diverse and home to different migrant communities with quite specific needs.
The violin is a popular instrument for children of Chinese and Indian descent in particular. Traditionally both of these cultures highly value education, and accomplishment on the violin is highly desirable and somewhat synonymous with that. Violin students from Sunnybank tend to be highly motivated violinists (or at least their parents are) and I’m astonished at their playing abilities from such a young age with wonderful technical proficiency.
While I know most won’t continue into adulthood it really sets them up for life, through learning the value of discipline and practice through the violin. While there are music shops in the Sunnybank area I think they come to me for personal service and a certain level of expertise as a player and repairer. I suspect being a parent of young players I really get where parents are coming from too. I also get a fair bit of work and referrals from the violin teachers in Sunnybank and its nice to be involved in that community a bit as well.