Hi everyone,

I have been considering learning to play the violin for some time now, but I've never had enough money to get started. It seems that my budget will now allow for that, so I've decided that I may begin soon. The thing is, I have a few questions, and I'm not sure where to go.

1. I would assume the answer to this question is yes, but should I turn to a teacher rather than to books and dvds?

2. I am 24 years old, but I have about a year's experience with the piano. Would it be fruitful for me to pursue this on a pure hobbiest level? How about playing semi-professionally?

3. What is the current going rate for lessons? I have found a place that does $60 US for 1 hour lessons, and I don't know whether or not thats a good deal.

4. While I absolutely love to listen to music played on the violin, I have never delved too far into the instrument itself. As such, I know absolutely nothing about buying a new one. What should I look for when I decide to buy a new (beginner's) violin?

Any other information that you all can give me would be wonderful.

Thank you,
Steve/Calliah

Hey
Definitely go to a teacher, there's only so much you can do with books and dvds!
I don't have a clue about tuition in the US though, I'm from Northern Ireland so we're a wee backward country and I'm paying £7 for a half hour lesson whch would work out at £14 for an hour, and that's about 8 or 9 dollars i think!
For buying a violin, a decent professional music shop. Until I'm decent I don't wanna buy an extremely expenisve violin but I'm using a student stentor 2 which i got about 4 or 5 years ago. There's a really good sound from it and it wasn't too expensive!
The violin is pretty difficult so I don't know about semi-professional. I'd say if you work at it hard enough you could get there. But it will takes years and lots of discipline!!
Hope that helps, maybe Northern Ireland does violin differently to the US and this doesn't make sense but sure!

I would definitely recommend renting a violin before buying one. Several reasons - you don't know what you're looking for yet, and several months of playing will help you pick out a good one vs. a bad one. Also, you may find you don't like it, and want to pick up the cello instead.

Find a teacher! At least start with a teacher, so you can avoid bad habits from the beginning, and get off to a good start intonation-wise. Especially if you want to play with a group someday.

And playing with a local symphony is definitely an option. Probably not a major one, unless you want to go back to college for the violin, but a local one should be within your reach. I joined a local symphony 1.5 years after I began playing the violin (starting at age 23) - they paid me and everything!

Good luck!

Hey,
Thanks for the quick replies!

I’ve been hearing from other forums that I should definitely go with a teacher so that I will avoid minor and major bad habits that would stop me from playing in the future. It seems that the going rate around my way is about $60/hour. I haven’t found any that have been lower than that and were still an hour long.

I’m definitely going to go with Eri's advice and rent one first. There are a few places that have been recommended to me that will let me rent to own, and upgrade as my skills allow. I’ll be asking peoples’ opinions on the stores before deciding on one, though.

I know its going to take a lot of dedication, but barring any major grievances with the instrument, I’m willing to put in the time and effort, because I really don’t have anything much better I could be doing at the moment.

Steve/Calliah

Definitely get a teacher. While DVDs and such are good for some things, they're not going to correct you when you're not doing something right.

Hm. If the violin is something you can pick up quickly and seem to be in 'tune' with (no pu intended...^_^)then you can consider doing it semi-professionally. If it's something that takes a while to learn, then maybe do it as a hobby instead.

$60 is pretty good, but it really depends upon the teacher. Ask musicians that you know personally who they'd reccommend. (I used to pay $125 for each lesson, but I switched to a better teacher who only asks $80.)

For a beginner's violin, make sure that it's in decent condition. Look it over CAREFULLY for dents, cracks, splits, etc. If the varnish (shiny stuff on the top) has rubbed away, that doesn't matter at all. It's for decoration, not anything else. Just make sure that it's in reasonable condition.

And also, it doesn't matter if you like the looks of one and not another. Sound always comes first.

Listen for the sound quality. Ask when you'r testing it to compare it to some more expesive instruments, so you get a feel for the sound.

Dragonsfire867