I have a nine month old son who i would love to start giving him lessons and have him start to play.

i do realize that at the moment he's still too young to play (he should probably learn to properly hold himself up before holding a violin! lol)

I was just wondering what's the youngest age to start teaching him?

I was hoping to get him a violin for his first birthday.

I was thinking that getting him his first violin quality isn't a big deal at all since it's more just exposing him to the instrument and having him become familiar with it and touching it, holding it.


with that said, i was thinking of getting him a really nice novelty violin.

something like this

http://cgi.ebay.ca/NEW-1-4-BLUE-student-Violin-w-case-bow-rosin_W0QQitemZ110248994474QQihZ001QQcategoryZ38111QQtcZphotoQQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1742.m153.l1262


I intend to keep his first violin as a keepsake.
so years later he can see how small it was and how fun it is sort of thing (i guess kind of like how people keep first baby shoes or something like that)

after that i won't be buying him violins but more likely renting them as he grows until he reaches 4/4 size. at that point, purchasing (if he continues to play that is) will be in mind once again.




so basically. any advice or tips on first exposing him to the violin?

he touches and "plays" my violin a lot. we let him touch and play with all our instruments. we have a guitar that he likes to touch the strings and hear the sound come through the amp.

we also plan on getting him a bongo in June when Long & McQuade have their sale ($19.99 for bongo! sweet lol, so we'll grab a couple I'm sure)


oh also, I'm always VERY careful when he's around the instruments especially my violin. so already he's being taught to be gentle with them.

yeah i know a 1/4 is way too big for him.

i really like the blue violin for him. i would of course get it in a smaller size but i couldn't find a direct link to a 1/16 in blue.

Here's our baby playing around with her sister's 1/16. She's not yet 2 Yrs and will be a while yet before she starts learning even though she's really keen.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kU7ocunxnvE

Here's elder sister playing that 1/16 just before her 4th birthday. She started short lessons a few months ago.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NC9z3dTbsiA

We've got violins of sizes 1/16, 1/10, 1/8 and 1/4 and they do look very cute hung up on the wall!

you have such beautiful children! very talented

i saw links to your other youtube videos. is Benedict your son?
how old is he and how old was he when he started playing?

i'm very impressed!

do they all enjoy playing different instruments?

i really want my son to grow up to appreciate it and not look back with resentment because "i forced him" sort of thing.

do you think that one year old is too young to start with him?

of course i wouldn't expect him to actually play. more so like how you did it with your younger daughter in the first video.

just having him hold it and get used to the instrument.
he could "practice" or play with his while i practice my violin.

i wouldn't force it on him especially while he's this young, but i really want him to get a real good head start at least in the form of being very comfortable with the instrument.

Thanks! Yes, Benedict is our son. He has just turned 6. He had his first violin lesson on his 4th birthday. He was in a general music appreciation class for a couple of months before that and his music teacher suggested that he learn the violin. After a while, he started playing around on the piano so he started piano lessons about 6 months later.

Our 2 younger girls just can't wait to get their hands on the violin and piano. The love of music seem to come quite easily for them. Possibly because they have always been surrounded by music.

I'm not one to give advise but we're just letting our youngest one enjoy beautiful music for now. That's how it all starts. She keeps insisting that she has a turn at practise so we do let her hold the violin a short while. I guess it's the love of music that'll keep them going through all that hard work.

Do let us know how you get on.

Cheers!

thank you so much

i may not press too hard to get him a violin for his birthday but i'll keep an eye open for a good deal on something cute. i really like the idea of getting him a little blue violin for his first.

are your children learning Suzuki?

<Added>

i'm on his laptop and i didn't realize it was signed into his account until i left the post. i tried to log out and back in with my account but for some reason it won't let me!

No, we don't follow the Suzuki method although they do play quite a few of the pieces from the Suzuki books. They did go through some of the Adventures in Violinland series.

Cheers!