Sound of music, strum of community converge at Freeland Music Hub

Published 1:30 am Friday, May 8, 2026

By PATRICIA GUTHRIE

Special to The Record

The sounds of music floating out from a drab warehouse on a nondescript corner in Freeland are the chords of creativity, community and kismet.

Classical, jazz, rock, cello, violin, piano, drums, bass, blues, marimba and more are heard during lessons, rehearsals, recitals and concerts taking place at 1694 East Main Street, a collective of buildings and educational arts enterprises that include Tiny House of Strings, Whidbey Island School of Music and Dance, Blue Sound Music and the home of the Salish Youth Symphony. The Whidbey Island Language, Arts and STEM Center will also use the site for its summer programs. Inside a former supply warehouse, a community center for music, dance, camps, live performances and gatherings is taking shape with framing, drywall, paint, soundproofing and endless electrical challenges.

Aniela Perry, 49, is the musician, teacher, conductor, collaborator and visionary of the new space that started small and keeps expanding with programs, people and new ventures. Perry, who studied music and plays the cello, bass and piano, moved from Los Angeles where she was a studio musician to Whidbey Island in 2021.

She quickly joined the Saratoga Orchestra, became the Strings Teacher at Whidbey Island Waldorf School, formed a chamber ensemble called Trio Rasa, and became a bass player for the band, Buried Blond. She also noticed gaps on South Whidbey for music education, particularly string instruments, and a need to rekindle music programs.

“I discovered that there were all of these connections in the music community that had fallen apart for various reasons,” Perry said. “So part of my goal was to kind of recentralize everything and get people working with each other again and to facilitate a physical location to make that possible.”

Perry will run the space as a co-op, allowing music, voice, dance and other instructors to pay for use of the various-sized educational rooms. It will operate under a property management company called Freeland Music Hub and possibly be available for other uses, such as an event or art show. The entity will be under the umbrella of the non-profit organization, Whidbey Island Arts Council.

Perry’s first task four years ago was renovating a century-old cottage while she lived in it. Over the years, it had been a chimney sweep, massage parlor, daycare, jewelry store. Now it’s Tiny House of Strings that specializes in selling, renting and repairing violins. A glow from dozens of wooden instruments warms the walls. Two cats named Benson and Mr. Belvedere sneak behind cellos and jump up on unsuspecting visitors. Tools are piled on shelves that are needed to repair strings, a skill Perry is learning from Seattle luthier Duane Lasley.

“It just seemed kind of like there was an Aniela-shaped hole in this community,” Perry said, “and for once, I actually felt like I was somewhere where I could do something meaningful with my life.”

‘Doozy of a story’

Looking for a new career in a new city, Perry, who grew up in Oregon, narrowed her choices down to Portland, Boulder and Seattle.

How she ended up on Whidbey is a “doozy of a story.” It involves a former boyfriend she met in 1999 playing online video games, a scenic drive, and an offer she couldn’t refuse.

Her old beau and now husband, Dale Peyser, told her about an old family cottage in Freeland on Whidbey Island. She could rent it to live in or store her stuff there. She’d never been to Whidbey, never heard of it, didn’t know where it was.

“So I was looking at 1694 Main Street on Google Maps and it was not making me feel very good,” Perry recalled. “Across from an abandoned gas station, next to a warehouse, and a little building that desperately needed to be painted. “So I told him, ‘Thanks, that’s very generous but I’ll keep looking.’”

Choices in Seattle included an apartment above a bar in Fremont or a $1,500-a-month studio in Bothell available sight unseen. Then Perry found out the ridiculously low rent for the little Freeland cottage. So Whidbey it would be. Maybe she’d store her stuff there and continue looking for a place in Seattle.

“Because the thought of living where what Google Maps was showing me was not really giving me much hope,” Perry admitted. “It looked bleak.”

Then she drove across the Deception Pass Bridge. “I was like, ‘You’re kidding me.’ I drove my U-Haul down the island with my jaw on the floor. It was July so it was just stunning here.

“I just couldn’t believe it. It was so beautiful. And ever since then, It’s just been like one thing after the other that was just saying, ‘I needed to be here.’”

Live at the Royal Alvin Hall

Perry and Peyser are renovating the former building supply warehouse themselves, with some help from friends. The property is owned by Peyser’s family. The 6,000-square-foot structure is being divided into small rooms for private music lessons, dance studio, rehearsal area, lounge, makers space and a large concert venue named the Royal Alvin Hall.

The name is a gag on the old Beatles tune, “A Day in the Life” that mentions London’s famous Royal Albert Hall, and it’s a tribute to her uncle who died unexpectedly a few years ago.

“He bought me my first cello,” Perry said. “Then I found that he had left me some money… It ended up being enough to pay off my student loans. So Uncle Al, got me my first cello, and he financed my education. That really shaped my life.”

The inaugural show at the Royal Alvin Hall occurred April 25. Little Big Fest, which hosts a three-day music event in August, sponsored an Earth Day celebration with three bands, vendors and activities for families. Inside, black walls vibrated with colorful spotlights and tie-dye art while kids outside drew on sidewalks with chalk.

“Being a new venue most of the community is still not fully aware of its potential and availability,” said Keegan Harshman, Little Big Fest founder and owner of Blue Sound Music that moved from Langley to the Freeland Music Hub in January. “But there is definitely interest and buzz in the air.”

Monday evenings are devoted to symphony. Maybe a little off key and lacking in harmony but it’s the sound of learning, of aspiration, of ambition.

It’s rehearsal night for Salish Youth Symphony, a group Perry helped form and conducts. Comprised of middle and high school students, they are practicing for a May 16 concert in Mount Vernon where they’ll play with other regional youth orchestras under the umbrella of Northwest Youth Symphony Association. The Whidbey Island Youth Symphony of Oak Harbor is also part of the group.

Michelle Scandalis has watched her sons, George and Leos, benefit from Perry’s innovative style and approach to teaching difficult compositions to the youth orchestra.

“Aniela has a natural gift for connecting with young people and inspiring passion and enthusiasm by meeting them where their interests lie,” Scandalis said. “I have often seen her go the extra mile by rewriting music my kids want to learn for their instruments, whether it’s Radiohead or video game soundtracks.”

Her son, George Kyncl, 14, who plays cello and bass, put it more simply, “Ms. Perry is really fun to work with.”