hi there,
I just wanted to ask on what aspects of viola playing one should concentrate on at the very beginning of learning the instrument. I`ve been playing classical guitar for around 7-8 nows which means i can read music quite well and my hands are no stranger to strain.
At this point i am at university and its quite hard for me to find a teacher anywhere near here. I had one lesson with my guitar teacher who also plays viola, and he showed me the basics of tuning, of posture and of practicing with the bow.
I`ve also downloaded nearly all the videoclips from www.violinmasterclass.com, which have proved to be somewhat helpful. what i`m wondering about is if there are any other lesson sites around, which are perhaps more specific to viola?
My main problem at this point is bow technique. What exercises should i do to improve this, and for how long should i do each one? being a beginner at this instrument, i find it somewhat hard to keep focused on playing the same note over and over again.
thanx for ur help

Can you read alto clef? If not, you can probably teach yourself that. Remember that the middle line is middle C and there is nothing to it.
Also GET a teacher. It may be hard, you may only be able to commute once a month, but it`s worth it. Also you don`t start by just playing one note over and over again. You generally start on little tunes, then moving on to more serious peices, ect. Adding scales as you go along.

Yes, a teacher is your best bet. But on your own, isolate the bow. Play any notes you want to, or just open strings for awhile. Practice drawing a straight bow. Check out the motion of your right wrist (it should bend up and down as you draw the bow). The bow should always be drawn DOWN, never back. Make sure the bow is in the middle of the playing space (between the bridge and fingerboard). Practice changing the bow from string to string smoothly.

If you`ve got the fingers down (shouldn`t be hard once you know the basic positions), then play some scales as you do this. Less boring. Then grab yourself the Suzuki book 1 and practice those songs slowly, still focusing on the bow.

regarding books, wouldn`t A Tune a Day be a better buy? i`m not familiar with the Suzuki method books, but from what i understand the essence of the method is very mechanical and focuses more on an accurate, perhaps even mechanical replication of a piece than on feeling. thanx for ur help btw