Violin for a 5 yo

[caitlinsmom]

Dd is five and wants to play the violin. What is the best/easiest/least expensive book set to get? Is it better to go with a teacher right off or is it possible to correctly teach it at home?

[In The Great White North]

With a 5 year old, I'd definitely go with Suzuki, though I was disappointed with it when ds started it at 10. There's a book and a cd, which are not that expensive. It's designed for younger children and works well with them.

 

You could teach yourself, if you're confident in it. Depends on your background. I know I'm not. The Suzuki method has a LOT of parental involvement whether you go to a class or not. Expect it to go VERY slowly.

 

A Suzuki trained teacher is best, but I haven't met any of those, just regular teachers who used Suzuki books. I guess it depends on where you live.

[Diane]

My son's orchestra uses a book called All For Strings. Last year he used book 1. You can find it here: http://www.amazon.com/All-Strings-Book-1-Violin/dp/0849732220

 

It has a lot of diagrams with pictures of the positions, etc...I played violin when I was little for a couple years so I already knew what a good hold was, etc...I'd be afraid of learning some bad habits- habits are hard to break. If you found someone that could help with positioning, teaching what a down/up bow, etc...is, then you could work on learning the notes, string names, etc...I always hear of the Suzuki method, and unfortunately I"m not too familar with it. His first year teacher was Suzuki certified, but in his classroom instruction, parents aren't involved. It's a big orchestra, however, I have heard him try different "techniques" and he refers to them as being "new"? Not too sure what that means.

 

Either way...get him fitted for the right size violin and have fun and expect screeching at first. :) Also, you will have to learn how to tune the violin. Violins go out of tune quickly, just by temperature changes. Violin will be in tune at class in the air conditioning, we walk outside in the Florida heat, drive in a hot car a couple miles until we get home, violin will come out of the case and already sound off. Playing on an untuned violin can be really bad because the child will learn to hear the wrong note, you know? Playing the violin is all about adjusting to get the note in tune, so if it's out of tune, then no good.

 

Sorry for my rambling.

[CLHCO]

Unless you play. If you play at a reasonable level (enough to know the proper bow and hand techniques), then you can probably start her.

 

Otherwise, violin is a particular critter. If you're certain violin will just be for fun, or she'll do some fiddle or something, get some books and give it a try. If there is even a slight chance she'll want to play at a high level, it will be a lot easier on her if she doesn't spend a great deal of time later trying to fix any poor habits.

 

I took it in college as part of a music education major but I wasn't about to teach my son. I was perfectly comfortable teaching my older daughters clarinet and trumpet but not violin.

[Jami]

Unless you play. If you play at a reasonable level (enough to know the proper bow and hand techniques), then you can probably start her.

 

Otherwise, violin is a particular critter. If you're certain violin will just be for fun, or she'll do some fiddle or something, get some books and give it a try. If there is even a slight chance she'll want to play at a high level, it will be a lot easier on her if she doesn't spend a great deal of time later trying to fix any poor habits.

 

I took it in college as part of a music education major but I wasn't about to teach my son. I was perfectly comfortable teaching my older daughters clarinet and trumpet but not violin.

 

 

I agree. I've had two children start Suzuki violin at 5 now (the 4 year old is counting the months till she's 5!) and with no personal experience with the violin I don't think I could have taught them proper bow holds, wrist position, etc. I had experience with brass instruments, but not with strings. We love our Suzuki teacher though and have found 5 to be a great age to start violin!

 

Good luck. :)

 

Jami

[mktkcb]

Hi,

Obviously, the #1 option would be lessons, due to the technical aspects of learning violin, but the ONLY books I would recommend if you are really determined to do this yourself would be the books by Ebaru called "The Violin Book", I believe even SWB recommends them. Here's the link. I guarantee they aren't the least expensive, and there are tons of violin method books out there, like All for Strings etc that are less expensive, but those books do NOT explicitly teach the technique (holding the violin, holding the bow....all the physical aspects). The Violin Book does. Here is the link. http://www.ebaru.com/index2.html

Hope this helps,

Kayleen

[cin]

Unless you play. If you play at a reasonable level (enough to know the proper bow and hand techniques), then you can probably start her.

 

Otherwise, violin is a particular critter. If you're certain violin will just be for fun, or she'll do some fiddle or something, get some books and give it a try. If there is even a slight chance she'll want to play at a high level, it will be a lot easier on her if she doesn't spend a great deal of time later trying to fix any poor habits.

 

 

 

 

:iagree::iagree::iagree:

 

 

 

 

 

In addition, I recommend Suzuki. Reading is not necessary at all. DD3.5 is learning alongside Big Sister. I did not realize how much there is to holding it for the least amount of muscle pain and such.

 

 

[caitlinsmom]

It has been so long since I played that I had totally forgotten how important positioning is! (bag over my head here) I was only thinking of the importance of holding the violin right, never thought about the bow stuff.

Thanks for all your suggestions. I have heard a lot about the suzuki method but as far as I am aware we dont have a teacher close by. I will head to the music store on Friday and see what I can find for books and teacher referals.

Any important questions I should remember to ask when talking with a prospective teacher?