Want to learn violin? The good news is you can!
What an adventure lies ahead of you as you learn violin! Not just the lessons and achievements. You will also meet so many interesting nice people who are as passionate about violins as you are! If you want,you can also have a great social life with other musicians. Your life will be full of music! What could be better for the soul? Read on to change your life. We all want different things out of our playing.? What are you looking for? Some of us might be starting to learn violin because parents or schools want us to. Don't knock it - you might find a passion for life.Take the opportunity to try it. Others might be on the path to become a professional player. I can't think of a nicer way to make your living than playing music. Some us might take it up as an adult. Or be returning to playing after having given it up earlier in life. That is great too! It is never too late to learn to play violin. The good news is, whatever your age, level or interest in playing, there has never been a better time to start! What makes a good violinist? Here are some pointers. Start early if you can. To be a great violinist, the earlier you start the better! But don't be put off. The great thing about music is you can enjoy it at any level. You need a reasonable ear. I have two I hear you say! No we don't mean that. Listen up. A reasonable ear means that you have good pitch and can hear the difference between notes accurately. Being tone deaf is the opposite! Violins have no frets like a guitar and so you need to be able to hear when you are hitting the note just right! Its not rocket science though. You will learn this until its second nature! You need reasonable strength and fitness in your upper body. Its quite tiring to hold the violin and play with a bow.Both involve posture and strength. Like anything, you will become fit for playing! Like an athlete! As you get more advanced, concentration is a must! For some of us who are musically talented, violin playing might come more easily than for others. But everyone needs to practice! To make progress you need to keep working on those skills! Technique is never static. You are either getting better or worse! What keeps you improving your playing is practice! You need reasonable dexterity in your hands. Those fiddly bits need quick fingers. Get yourself a good teacher - someone who inspires you! Get motivated! No problem here because you are passionate about violins aren't you? You must be to be reading this site! Give yourself treats and rewards along the way. So important. A nice violin case here. A new music book there. This will help you feel positive while you learn violin Go on holidays - with your violin! Join in summer schools, feises, tours. Breath of fresh air. You will soon wonder what you did with your life before you took the plunge to learn to play the violin. There are fantastic teachers in most areas. Search the web for someone in your area. Learn violin through your school, Universtiy or College if possible. Get Mum and Dad to get you private lessons if your school doesn't teach. If you can't afford one to one teaching, try to join in group classes. There are lots available in the UK though local authority nightclasses. You might not get the one to one attention of private lessons, but this can be a great way to start playing and make new friends! Violinists are such nice people!
And with the growth of the internet there are great opportunities for violin lessons online or to buy the above without having to break sweat. The violin lessons below are taught by one of the Manhattan String Quartet players and are great value! You get a lot of resources for your money. For concentrated violin lessons click here! Let us know how you get on! Violin teaching methods? Think about how you like to learn. Some of us are reflective learners. We like to do all the research. We wouldn't dream of trying to work the washing machine without reading all the instructions! Others are action learners. They are cool with trial and error! They never read anything and sail through - well most of the time! You need to get a teacher, or find ways of learning that suit you and your temperament.
Do you want to learn to play violin by ear? Some of my friends who are fantastic fiddlers - don't read music. They have learned through the aural tradition. I read music but have been playing by ear for years too. You learn with a different part of your brain. Its like learning a language. You become more and more fluent. The Suzuki method uses ear training and can be great for young children.
Click here to learn all about Suzuki's violin method and check out if it's for you. For adults, learning by ear can be very liberating. Its more difficult to read music fluently if you have not learned as a child. But don't be put off. You absolutely can do it if you want to! Are you shooting for the stars? The type of teacher you might look for might be different if you see yourself sitting all your music exams, going on to higher education and professional playing. You will need someone who can stay ahead of you! The good news is that you can learn to play nice tunes quite quickly - particularly if you play by ear. But there are no shortcuts to becoming an excellent player. Practice and passion makes perfect. Its a lifetime's journey which is very rewarding and great fun. Just start! Keep going! And enjoy! Good luck! If you want to start right away check out our page on
Violin playing basics. We value your feedback. If there particular topics you would like us to cover contact us and we will do an article or put up a web page. We'd love to help because we are passionate about violins.
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