How to learn the violin
I can’t tell you how many times I have heard someone say I always wanted to learn the violin but as a kid I just wasn’t any good. This makes me so sad. I hate when people give up on themselves. Children often have so much on their plate that expecting them to practice and learn something as complicated as the violin in their free time is just not realistic. And often times parents get frustrated at what they perceive to be a lack of progress when paying for music lessons. If you had to abandoned learning music lessons as a kid because you felt you weren’t good enough at it, or even if you desire to get started with something that you never had the opportunity for but feel overwhelmed, Violin Nation is a great place to start learning the violin. Because learning the violin is hard, but you can do it at just about any age from 4 to 40.
Why Learn the Violin Online?
Learning the violin online offers flexibility, affordability, and the ability to progress at your own pace. Whether you're a complete beginner or someone looking to refine your skills, my online course provides a step-by-step approach to mastering the instrument. I find that typically adults can have a lot of anxiety about learning something new in front of a peer. This of course is not logical. No teacher is expecting anyone to just know what to do, but I have found that adults tend to me more nervous then children. Learning the violin online takes away the need for that anxiety. There is no one judging how you sound. When you feel comfortable and confident enough to get an evaluation, you can proceed with sending in a video that you have spent time working on.
Building a Strong Foundation
A solid start is essential when learning any instrument, and the violin is no exception. Having a good foundation to build on will lead to less frustration in the future and ensure that you wont give up on yourself. Some good tips to getting started is number one make sure you have a good quality instrument. If you can afford to buy a cheap $100 violin online than you can instead put $15 a month towards a good quality instrument. Often the violins on Amazon or Ebay are glorified toys and will not produce a pleasing sound. Read about how to choose a good violin here.
Other important tips to get started.
Take time to build proper posture and holding techniques – This isn’t just for sounding and looking good. Playing the violin is a very physical experience and just like in sports or other physical activities you can get injured, especially if you don’t warm up. Take lots of stretch breaks and ensure that you have a proper fitting shoulder pad so that you don’t hunch your back and roll your shoulders. For more on information on how to properly hold a violin watch this video on how to hold the violin.
Good posture also leads to producing a clear sound – If you are wondering why you might sound scratchy or crunchy you can watch this video on diagnosing bad tone and you’ll be on your way to creating smooth, resonant sound on your violin.
After you have gone through a few exercises gaining control of your bow and just playing open string notes on the violin you can start to use proper finger placement to practice scales and arpeggios – These essential exercises develop finger strength, intonation, and an understanding of key signatures. When you understand key signatures you can play any piece in tune.
Practice practice and more practice. Playing a lot of songs throughout the day and repetition, getting comfortable playing songs multiple times is very important. Don’t just learn a piece and play it once. It’s important to keep playing a piece until you are comfortable playing it and then play it some more. Can it be faster? Can it be smoother? Can you use this piece to learn a new skill like slurring, vibrato or shifting? Reviewing beginner songs is a great way to learn new techniques.
Get Personalized Feedback and Progress Tracking
One of the biggest challenges of learning the violin by yourself is not knowing if you’re doing something correctly. Until your ears have developed it’s important to get feedback. Often a student will not realize that they are playing off key or using the wrong finger pattern and a student may have a vague sense of what’s wrong but not sure how to fix it. You can order feedback on your video performance to stay on track. The scope and sequence check points will also help you stay and track and moving forward towards more difficult and challenging concepts. The Violin Nation syllabus is carefully designed to take students from beginner to advanced. Along the way, you'll learn:
Beautiful songs – Play melodies that inspire and challenge you.
Engaging etudes – Build technique with exercises designed to enhance dexterity and tone production.
Music reading skills – Develop the ability to read sheet music fluently, an essential skill for any musician.
Preview Spots - I have chosen special challenging sections in many of the pieces you will learn and break them down so you don’t have to. Once you learn the difficult passages a complicated piece will seem less overwhelming.
How long does it take to learn the violin?
While you can start playing songs within your first week, learning the violin will take many years. It is one of the hardest instruments to learn. My course will get you started and ready for beginner and intermediate orchestra, but your end goals will determine how long your learning journey will be, and ideally it will be lifelong. Even as a professional I am constantly learning new pieces and improving technique. That is why a component of Suzuki Music education is that the musical journey begins when your mother was in the womb. Because the musical environment that you grew up in may largely be affected by the environment that your mother was exposed to, and the musical environment you provide your children may also be influenced by your own experiences or lack thereof.
Creating a love of music will help get through the hurdles. Listen to beautiful recordings daily, listen to live music as much as possible!