The Woodstock Chimes Story
Woodstock Chimes offers a unique variety of high quality, affordable musical gifts from around the world that inspire, entertain and bring pleasure to people of all ages. We design and sell the world-famous Woodstock Chimes and distribute a line of award-winning musical instruments and toys called the Woodstock Music Collection. My wife, Diane, and I started Woodstock Percussion, Inc. in 1979. We are a family-owned business located in New York's beautiful Hudson Valley. In addition to being the founder and owner of Woodstock Chimes, I am a professional musician. I tour and record with the world-renowned percussion group, NEXUS, as well as with Steve Reich. My background in music explains my strong commitment to fine tuning and great sound—which is what makes our products appealing to everyone and unique to the gift industry. I am proud of every product we make and hope you'll enjoy them as much as I do. Garry Kvistad Founder & CEO .
Garry Kvistad,
Founder and Owner of Woodstock Chimes.
How It All Began
EARLY 1970s
As a music student in the 1970s, Garry’s curiosity about ancient worlds led him to learn about ancient music and musicians.The musical scales he was studying could not be played on modern instruments, so he decided to build a metallophone (a xylophone-like instrument with metal bars pictured at left) that could play the ancient scale of Olympos, a Greek flute player from the 7th century B.C.. Being an ecologically minded recent college graduate on a tight budget, Garry found the materials for hismetallophone at a landfill - it was made from the aluminum tubes of a discarded lawn chair! Garry’s metallophone experiment was so successful, he had the idea to cut and tune aluminum tubes to create windchimes, and Woodstock Chimes was born!
As Seen In...
It's always exciting to see our products in newspapers and magazines, as well as on TV and in the movies. See more sightings here.
GARRY KVISTAD GIVING A TEDX TALK
Woodstock Chimes founder and owner Garry Kvistad was a featured speaker at TEDx Navesink on April 9, 2016. Garry was one of 28 people selected from over 100 to speak about what he had created. In his talk entitled "Good Vibrations", Garry describes how his fascination with ancient musical scales as a young music student led him to make his first metallophone from discarded lawn chairs.
Click here to watch the video and learn all about how Woodstock Chimes came to be!
CBS Sports - February, 2016
This is a moving story about Zaevion Dobson, a teenager from Knoxville, TN who died shielding three young girls from a shooting. He gave his life to save theirs. His mom has a Woodstock Chimes Crystal Fantasy - Angel hanging from her rear view mirror (see picture at right). Watch the video below - you'll see the Crystal Angel at the 2:31 mark. This video was featured in honor of Zaevion before Superbowl 50 in 2016.
This skill provides ambient chime sounds. Relax, refresh and renew with Woodstock Chimes! Say “Alexa, play windchime music” and let our musically tuned windchimes set the mood for meditation or relaxation, or let them ease you into peaceful sleep.
And this skill plays original music composed to harmonize with specific Woodstock Chimes. Simply say “Alexa, play windchime music” and Alexa will select one of four CDs to play for you. Or you can play the CD of your choice by saying “Alexa, tell windchime music to play Music for Meditation”. The available CDs are:
- Music for Meditation
- Music for Yoga
- Music for Massage
- Music for a Pipedream
The Woodstock Chimes Mission
To produce musically tuned, affordable, high quality products that enhance well-being through beautiful sights and sounds. We strive for sustainability, supported by our business practices, our wind-powered chimes and our people-powered instruments.
Why Woodstock Chimes
Why Choose Woodstock Chimes?
- Woodstock Chimes are the original, musically tuned high quality windchime
- Woodstock Chimes are tuned to beautiful melodies and scales from around the world
- Woodstock Chimes were created by GRAMMY® award-winning musician Garry Kvistad
- Available in a wide range of styles, songs and sizes, you can choose the Woodstock Chime that speaks to your soul
- We stand behind every product we make with a one-year warranty and a lifetime tuning guarantee on our musically tuned chimes
- Woodstock Chimes are The World’s Favorite Windchime™—the chime more people ask for by name
- Woodstock Chimes are the choice of discerning customers for nearly 40 years!
Why Choose Woodstock Music Collection?
- Our musical instruments are fun, educational and creative—and they're selected by professional musicians
- Song sheets and easy-to-follow instructions are included, making it easy to start making music
- With both classic and original designs, there's an instrument for everyone!
- Our children's musical instruments are safety tested and age graded
- The Woodstock Music Collection has instruments suitable for children of all ages (even grown-ups!)
Woodstock Chimes founder and owner Garry Kvistad says it best