Hi,

I have twin 14 month old girls. I want to start them playing the violin and am excited about it. I was wondering how early is too early. I am a piano player and am hoping to get them into violin as early as possible. They bang on the piano now and I was wondering if it`s ok to "bang" on the violin so to speak. Also, size of violin?

Thanks!!!

Hi Tom,

I`ve only ever heard of one person starting below the age of three, and both her mother and her grandmother are professional players. Suzuki teachers will start kids at three I think, on a 1/32 size violin (usually). it requires very heavy parental commitment.

Lzi

Generally speaking, starting kids under the age of 6 is a bad idea. Children need to be able to focus during lessons, and understand what the teacher is talking about. They also have to feel some self motivation. Having a three year old play the violin, but not practice or understand what the teacher says isnt helpful. My suggestion, wait until their 4, 5 or 6 (since your a professional pianist)

I don`t think it`s a good idea to start too soon.
Let them mess around with the piano first, and maybe even take piano lessons; so that when they do start violin, they have some musical foundation.

Starting to play before 5 years of age is ridiculous, 14 months is even more so. It doesn`t matter how young someone is when that person starts playing, if that person doesn`t have a good teacher, then that person wont be a very good player. I`ve seen it a million times.

Try teach in them when they can talk and read and have a mental capacity over 100IQ

I didn`t expect such animosity from folks on a violin forum. Thanks for the help...from some of you

LoL to Tom`s Post

You should ask the professionals at Maestro net. E-mail me if you want the address:

d2ace@cogeco.ca

as soon as possible,im going to teach my kids the piano but i am to young to have cos still in college. but i am going to teach them as soon as they are able to reach the keys. start teaching them wen there about three. but untill then make them familiar of the instrument. play it for them so they get a general idea of what it does and what sound it makes

Hey Tom!

Congrats to you and you wife on the baby girls, they must be quite a handful!! My parents have 8 of us kids and all of us are musicians. My mom has got a major in Piano from Hartt, and my dad is very musically inclined, as well as playing trombone, so we were around a lot of music as little children.

While I`m sure you are anxious to start the girls, I`d just put them around music as much as you can, and let them pick up on it for a little while longer. There`s no problem with starting early, provided they have the incentive to practice on their own, without being forced, or being bugged about it. Don`t be discouraged when people say to wait, although you may have to wait for a period of time, if you wait too long, it may be harder for them to pick up on it. The trick is to instil in them a love of music (which it sounds like they already have!!!) and let them pick up on it. Also (especially being SO close in age , I`m sure there will be a lot of competition between them later on. Although you may start them on violin (or piano is a good choice also), be sure they feel free to switch to something else. It can be discouraging when your sibling excells in one area of music, while you live feeling that your parents won`t be happy unless you play that certain instrument. There is no rule that says one instrument is all you can play. I play more than one, it hasn`t hurt me any
It might be discouraging to set your mind on JUST violin for them, there are a lot of other stringed or brass instruments they might do better in.
One of my trumpet playing friends who has since passed on had a wife who was a wonderful musician, and two daughters that didn`t play anything. I think they were pushed too much, and simply stopped.

My sister (who`s 4 now, and regularly solos at our concerts!) started singing (humming melodies) before she could talk. She even performed before she could talk. She`s written a song on the piano that she plays the same exact way everytime!!! It sounds decent, full of 5ths

So don`t be discouraged, and keep up playing [piano, music] around them, and I think they should pick up on it naturally. If they really can`t stand playing, or you have to bribe them to practice, or even pick up the violin, maybe it`s too early. But as long as they show a desire, I think it`s ok.

Keep playing away!!!

http://10macdonald10.tripod.com/
There`s a picture of my little sister and the rest of my singing family there


Bonnie

http://trumpetplayer87.tripod.com/bonnie

Tom, you shouldn`t start them on the violin. Instead, let them "bang the piano". What I mean is, you should let them delve into music, like happy and sad chords, playing from middle C, etc. which helps in their hearing and musical ability tremendously when they are physically able to hold the violin. They will then be able to recognise when they play in tune at a very early age. A good musical ear, even absolute pitch can be developed.

I started teaching my daughter piano at age 4 and then she began the violin at age 5. She seemed to be just right at that age for the piano and the violin.

first of all, i cannot BELIEVE there is a forum for violinists... this shocks me to my bones... i was looking for Amazing Grace Sheet music to play at my grandfathers memorial and i just stumbled here. i look at car forums all the time but it never occured to me that there were these kinds of forums too....

i quit violin 3 years ago and it still feels like i`ve played yesterday

i`ve been playing since age 5 at Suzuki and quit at age 16. I unfortunately never motivated myself to keep practicing during the 13+ age when my parents became too busy to keep watching me.

i do regret it but even now i realize im too busy to play violin with my schedule (im 18 and working full time with a summer class)

Anyways back the the question:

Starting at age 5 would be best i`d say. 4 if you really are committed and determined to see your child through. But you MUST BE COMMITTED for at least 6 years... and then so forth

3 is very rare age to start and 14 months... well lets not even go there... but it was a nice thought..

Overall, it doesn`t truly matter since i`ve seen 7 or 8 year old`s start only to become extremely talented in a short amount of time... like a 9 year old i knew who was in book 6 of Suzuki. It`s just everyone takes there own pace.

hope this helps.

whoever said that young kids cant focus better is totally right!
the youunger the age the more they are likey to get frustrated and bored. and you wouldn`t want that bcz lets face it they are kids! who knows what could happn!
I know a girl who started the violin at the age of 5 and she is now 14. she has won ssoooo many competitions and is really really ace on the violin. she did tell me though that when she was younger and had just started to play it, her Mum just did little and short lessons at a time to make sure she understood everything. another thing she told me was that when she heard her Mum play the violin she thought it sounded terrific and she herself wanted to be like her.
so maybe you should show your kids the violin and play it ( if you can ) and they will like it so much they willl use you as a role model. does that help any Tom?

Dear Tom,

My little boy started Suzuki violin just before his fourth birthday. There is a list somewhere on the internet of Suzuki Institute accredited teachers. They seem to be the only people who want to teach children younger than about 5. If there is a Suzuki teacher near you, it can`t do you any harm just to contact them and see what they think - you can always delay starting but it`s no good leaving it for 10 years and then deciding that you should have started sooner. My son`s teacher says there is a huge variation in approach between countries. She reckons that in Japan children start at 2 or younger with tape recorders strapped to their tricycles, and are playing the Bach Double by the time they are 5. My aim is quite different. I started when I was 11, and was at quite an academic school where there were other priorities than violin practise. My Grade 5 exam coincided with O Levels, chess competitions, rowing training etc etc and I remember crying because of the pressure. I subsequently wished I had cracked such things as vibrato and sight reading before pressures of school work began to build up. The beauty of starting young to me is not about creating a genius, it`s about creating a bit of slack- if you take 5 weeks to take one step forward it really doesn`t matter. What I have observed from the Suzuki lessons is that actual technique (and the teacher`s personality) is down to the teacher just as with any non suzuki teacher. There is not really a particularly strong suzuki technique- that is left to the teacher. What Suzuki provides is a "syllabus" appropriate to very young children. Much of the syllabus is "off" the violin including little games which are often a bit dull even for a four year old, and may be more appropriate for a younger child. Furthermore I initially had to bribe my son with raisins to engage in the lessons, although he is now becoming more interested. If he had started younger, I think the lessons would have "osmosed" into him more easily. The first piece of music to be learnt is a number of variations of twinkle twinkle little star, bowed out with different rhythmns. But there is a CD of this and other tunes, which you are supposed to play quietly as background music for a few minutes each day. This means when you get to having a go at a rhythmn on the open E string, you at least have some idea in your head of what that rhythmn is supposed to sound like. Also I understand that tapes of nursery rhymes are very important in developing musical ability.
As to size: my son (small for his age) at 4 is on a 1/32 violin which is the smallest size. I therefore suspect that your children would be too small to hold a 1/32 violin. But you could probably buy the Suzuki CD and start playing that, perhaps get a 1/32 violin in readiness - one of the things in the lesson is learning the parts of the violin and the bow, so it becomes a familiar object. One thing to bear in mind, though, is that practise for some years will have to be entirely instigated by you, which is a big commitment. A little bit of practise seems to me to be a worthwhile antidote to the piles of cheap and inane plastic toys which society pushes at young children.
I read somewhere that Joshua Bell started at 5 when his parents found him in his room constructing and tuning a violin out of rubber bands. I guess all this means that there is nothing wrong with taking tentative first steps even at this young age, as long as you don`t feel you`re in some sort of race. To return to my earlier suggestion, though, speak to your nearest suzuki teacher.