Violin
Buying a gift for someone who plays violin isn't the same as buying a gift for someone who happens to play music. Musicians love music, sure, but violinists know what they love. They've spent hours with their chosen instrument, an object that requires great physical and emotional investment, daily. They can spot a token gift miles away. We've been there too. We've seen people open tiny wrench keyring, forced grin brittle as celery. We're not going to make that mistake with your giftees.
Instead, we went looking for products that fit the life of a violin player. No gag gifts with violins on them. Stuff that makes sense. Accessories designed by people who know what the heck it feels like to lug your instrument around in its case, nod along to your new practice routine while waiting for music to finish their lesson, and cradle yourantermid valuable kit like a baby. It also meant we immediately eliminated a lot of the most generic options because they were too cute without being useful or (let's face it) useful without actually being nice. As violinists, that's like saying "here, use a fork as a violin bow".
We considered kids who are learning as part of school or through Suzuki – probably obsessing about it way more than their parents do – right through to the adult amateur who religiously practices every night after work and live for their weekend orchestra rehearsals, right up to serious conservatoire-bound students. All of those people need different gifts and have wildly different hobbies. We picked products that suit a variety of players rather than falling back on what every other music gift guide tells you to buy.
Some of these picks are straightforwardly useful and every player will love. Some arethe kinds of treats that you might feel guilty buying yourself but would use all the time if you did. A couple are just downright gorgeous and speak to how special this extension of themselves is to a violinist. None of these gifts require the recipient to own sixteen other things before they can use it.
Gift a violin player in your life something they'll love with these picks.