The violin has always been a fascination of mine, one of the most beautiful sounding intruments I`ve ever heard.

It`s something I`d always wanted to learn how to play, however I wonder if the commitment/age/point in my life, would make it impossible.

I own and manage a successful company and have a family, I can`t imagine I could commit more than 2-4 hours a week learning/practicing. Is this sufficient to progress, albeit slowly, but progress nevertheless? I`m alright with seeing improvement slowly, however regression isn`t an option.

Hopefully there are some "older timers" on here with suggestions.

Thanks

its never too old to take up an instrument, but when you take it, you have to stick with it. 2-4 hours isnt a lot in my views, i was just practising 3 hours today, although my neck does get sore after, its fun. so yah, its good to try something new!

oh and a note, im 14! lol im not what youd call an "old timer" but if im "unlazy" enough to practice that much you wont have a problem.

It`s never too late, and you`re never too old. As for the time commitment, if you can manage 1/2 an hour a day, for a beginner, that`s not too bad. The key is consistency if you want to improve.
You have to make the commitment to practice every day, even if you can only do ten minutes one day, pick up your fiddle and do it.
Three hours a day is a lot, and for the more serious student. I`ve been playing since I was four, (I`m 33 now), and back when I was seriously studying for the RCM exams, I don`t think I ever practised that much!!! Now I just play for the fun of it, some days I play more, other days I pick up my viola instead, other days, I just don`t have time (probably cause I`m wasting it on the computer!!)
But it`s definately worth a try if it`s something you`ve always wanted to do.
Enjoy it!

I did this community service project to interest kids in playing instruments and this 75 year old grandfather came up and asked where he could get lessons from. So its never too old to start something. Go for it!

check out Roger Dowling`s write up at aeorchestra.org.uk; he took up violin as an adult because one of his children was having lessons, and he is now section leader of the second violins in the Alderley Edge Orchestra.

As to practise, I think the secret is frequency of practise more so than setting yourself a daunting length of practise. Even if you get your violin out for a 5 minute practise most days, if you like it you`ll end up playing for longer. If you set your mind to do 1hr+ practise "when you`ve got time" you might because of your busy schedule just keep putting it off.

I would say (and this is a very personal opinion), to progress at all, even at a crawling pace, you need to be getting your violin out at least twice a week even if it`s for 5/10 minutes practise. As you may imagine the pace of progress on such practise would be painfully slow, but I mention it as a baseline to counteract the fear engendered by the thought for instance that you need to do 2hrs a day practise or you might as well give up.

Received wisdom is there`s no point getting a nice instrument when you`re just starting. I think there`s actually a balance to be struck here. You don`t want to waste money you can ill afford. On the other hand I firmly believe a nice instrument can be as much appreciated by a beginner as by a star player. In actual fact a star player can use craft and guile to compensate somewhat for the sound of a cheap instrument, whereas a beginner can`t. Again, this isn`t what most people would say, but if the money is well within your range, I would consider treating yourself to a Gliga gems II or even Gama II from violinslover in USA or Elida in UK (both have websites). With such a gorgeous instrument you shouldn`t have any difficulty finding the motivation to take it out and play it from time to time.

Hi,

I am 31 and I started 3 months ago. And it actually works pretty good. I spend on average one hour per day on practise.

Katarina