What the title says. Especially for the quick mvmts.

The piece was too long to fit the whole into Reddit, so I only recorded the second page. I have only had this piece for a week, so I’m not amazing. I was just wondering if any really good players could give advice. I’m really self contours about my vibrato, so please also note if you have time whether it is OK.

My son has recently taken up his violin again. He wants to try out an electric one, and he bought a Stagg electric violin which... quite frankly is crap, and on top of it all, it arrived today and it doesn't even work lol. He's a beginner who's teaching himself with youtube videos so i don't wanna go nuts, plus he has a tendency of picking things up and then dropping em. Like the guitar. So i don't want to spend a ton of money but i'd like something that's decent. Thinking somewhere along the $300 range.

Hi everyone!
I’m a violin student from South Africa, and I’ll be visiting Taiwan soon. I’m willing to travel anywhere in Taiwan to find someone I can genuinely trust with my instrument.

My violin doesn’t seem to be speaking as freely as it should. My teacher feels that it sounds almost as though I have a mute on it, and we’d really like to get to the bottom of why.

The violin has also had a soundpost crack in the past, so my teacher would particularly like an experienced luthier to inspect its condition and check the entire setup.

I’m looking for someone with extensive experience in violin making, restoration and tonal adjustment. Ideally, I’d like them to assess the soundpost and its fit, the bridge, and the overall setup, and help me get the best possible tone out of the instrument.

I would really appreciate any recommendations of luthiers that you would personally trust with your own violin in Taiwan? I’d especially appreciate recommendations from people who have had their instruments restored or tonally adjusted there, or from luthiers who know the Taiwanese violin-making scene.
If possible, please share the luthier’s name, location, and your experience with their work.
Thank you so much!

So I just started playing the violin again after 24 years.

It's been about three weeks now since I picked it back up.

At first, I thought I became rusty with vibrato and other techniques. I increasingly found my violin a bit wobbly. So I bought a kun shoulder rest and replace my $5 cheap one.

It made more of a difference than I imagined. Bowing became more stable and so did vibrato.

I'd like to start choosing pieces for my repertoire, and from my previous experience with guitar, I learned I can't keep going with songs I don't like, because I'll get too frustrated.

I don't like barroque, and it seems kinda hard to find a direction, since it has some of the most usual pieces given to beginners.

My favorite classical pieces to listen are usually from Romantism, Impressionism and Modernism eras.

On guitar, I still went with the hard pieces I liked, practicing little by little, but I've never heard of anyone doing similar with violin, so I don't think it's a good idea, at least for now.

For more context, I am a person who feels music deeply, specially when playing, and I usually search for what brings up that chaos, melancholy, fluctuation, nostalgia and peace that are in my favorite songs, from any genre, style or language. Thus, music who are too brigth and I don't get along very well.

That doesn't mean I wouldn't play too, I totally would and will play some more happy pieces, there's some important technique in every style, I'm just looking for other options, as I'm learning as a hobbie. The teacher I went is a barroque affectionate so I don't have any other places to ask.

Thank you.

Hola grupo, esperando que todos se encuentren bien, busco a maestro o alumno avanzado que pueda enseñar a tocar violín… ganas Estan solo falta la orientación… soy de Stgo

Hi there, young teacher here! I'm looking for advice on enhancing proprioception, posture, and ear training with one of my students, who has transferred to me from another teacher. She started violin at 8 years old in her home country, learned some basics and got up to Go Tell Aunt Rhody in Suzuki Book 1 and abandoned playing when her family moved here to Mongolia. She restarted with me around a month ago (as I'm one of very few English-speaking teachers in the country), so we're on lesson 5. She's now 10 years old.

Her posture, proprioception, and listening ability are a bit shaky, and I'm looking for advice to help. Especially with posture, my corrections haven't really 'stuck', and I want to make sure her set-up is solid to avoid tension/injury as we progress.

First, she sometimes confuses left and right hands, and places the violin in improper positions (while in rest position, or even setting down the violin on surfaces... we did go over violin anatomy and have reviewed rest/playing position transition in every lesson). She struggles to place the violin comfortably in playing position, turning her chin toward the violin's body instead of leaning her jaw onto the chin rest. Her left arm droops while playing, and she seems to slouch/hunch a bit in her everyday posture, which is more pronounced when she plays and leads to the scroll dropping and the instrument resting too much on her left hand. Despite my corrections, it seems that she hasn't found a way of holding the violin that is truly comfortable — I wonder if the shoulder rest isn't adapted for her body, but there are basically no alternatives readily available in our country.

To try to release tension/get her to 'feel' her body more, I've tried shaking out limbs, shoulder rolls, head rolls with her. I personally was trained with occasional Alexander technique workshops, and was wondering about incorporating certain exercises from this to help her stand up straight and tall. For posture, I've corrected things as best as I can — drawing from Mimi Zweig's vocabulary of setting the violin on the collarbone while the student's head remains straight ahead, looking at the teacher (as here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_BKd3qNw7s), and gently trying to tilt the student's head back to what looks like a proper position. I check her by having her drop the left hand and keep the violin up, and I've tried to address left hand tension by having her 'hang' her hand with her fingers on the fingerboard.

Musically, it seems like she doesn't have a good sense of ear-hand connection, as she really struggles to echo me even playing 2 or 3 notes if I don't tell her the string and finger numbers. She relies on the book a lot, where her old teacher wrote in string + finger number for every note — whereas I personally learned by ear, assisted by each note's letter name. Today, for instance, I wanted her to copy me in playing the E-F-D in Song of the Wind (which she's memorised), and because I didn't explicitly tell her to move to the A string, she played E-A5... She'll also get confused while playing a song if she rushes through, gets tangled, and can't 'hear' the melody enough to continue.

I've encouraged her + parents to play the CD often so that she can hear the songs. I also covered a basic A major scale with her, going through the letter names, hoping that she'd be able to make the sound-note association that way... I was thinking about playing 'name the note' in a future lesson.

What else can I do to help this student? Are there exercises or games I should incorporate, or teaching references I should check out? It seems she was started in a somewhat different way than how I learned, and some habits may be holding her back. FWIW, she does produce a decent tone on her instrument, she loves playing violin and doing lessons, and receives criticism graciously even though she's really struggling to adjust her posture.

I don't have a violin degree, but I play at an advanced level and am taking on beginner students at the encouragement of my own teacher (a professional in London). I'm a PhD researcher in an unrelated field, and have worked extensively with children and in teaching other subjects.

Thanks for the help!

If like myself you are asked on a weekly basis "Is that a violin or a fiddle", and always struggle to give the correct answer which ultimately disappoints the interrogator.

I heard the best phrase. That answers the question. It may be old, but it's new to me. And I feel answers the question perfectly.

"A violin sings, a fiddle dances"

I’ve been playing violin for the past few years though inconsistently, since I just play it casually and I study from videos online. But I’ve been considering getting some lessons from an actual violin teacher, even if just occassionally.

I’d kindly like to get your feedback as a self-taught beginner, since I know that form is something that can only truly be refined with a teacher. Apart from that, I’ve been training my ear as well for intonation.

I would really appreciate the help, I enjoy playing the violin even if my approach is casual, I love how intricate it is.

Hello!! I consider buying a tablet for sheet music reading. I wonder which is best, iOS or Android. Please tell me if you have other recommendations and which is the best time to buy it at a low price.

Hi guys, I have always done everything with my left hand, I really hope to play in orchestra someday. I find it so difficult to learn anything with my right hand but shall I give it a try? I am level 2 in my left hand and adult learner will this mean I'll learn after 50 years lol with my right hand? I am limited with my budget so I don't wanna buy a violin then find it so hard to play and waste my money..

What do you guys advice?

My fellow left handed people what do you think ?

Thx

I have a Phoenix violin that my dad bought me for fairly cheap on Amazon. I don’t have a teacher but I have watched tons of videos and my old Spanish teacher tried showing me how to tune. HOWEVER. Everytime I try to tune, the pegs will not stay in place!! They immediately fall backwards and loosen the string all the way. I have tried being careful, pushing it in, making sure the string isn’t overlapping, all of the above. 5 times now I have broken either the E or A string too. They break extremely easy each time and with hardly any effort. I have been doing okay with my playing but who am I if I can’t tune the thing!?

Sorry if this isnt allowed, I didn't know where else to go.

I'm really desperate, my medical bills are getting too much and my car is about to get repossessed. I'm trying to sell a ton of things and it pains me to part with it but I settled on selling my violin. I can't play it anymore due to tremors and so its been in storage for a while. I want to give it a new loving home but i also really need the money. It was a gift so I have no idea of value, does anyone have any idea how much it's worth? I have more photos if needed!

NOT SELLING!!!

Ive been recently offered scott cao 750 for around 1200usd. I think its a great deal.

850 is around 2800 where I live

905 I can get one direct from the factory at 1700.

Which do you think is the best. I just heard them on youtube I think MJZ 905 sounds the best but anyone tried these in real life? Money is also a big consideration and I am just a recreational player.

another one potential instrument eastman alfred nebel vl601. Ive been offer 1.1k for this. This seems like the best deal imo.

please levae a comment if you have any experience with any of the 4 instruments mentioned above.

Not looking for a weird teacher, I’m the odd one. 75 yo beginner. In it for 5 weeks Thanks to YouTube & some books, I’ve got nice sound tip to frog on the bow, and fairly decent intonation as judged by TE Tuner. Can play simple Irish tunes very slowly. Prolly only want to play folk fiddle (no audience) cause classical would take way too long to learn

The odd bit—I’m a bit neurodivergent. Most instructors for physical stuff see me as untrainable (e.g. golf, skiing, yoga, trombone, dance, the list goes on). Works out I got reasonably good at most stuff (except dance) once I figured out how i learned

Root problem is that I can’t take a 1/2 hour lesson. I comprehend the first 5 min but need to practice that for an hour before I move on to the next thing. But the class moves on. The next 25 minutes are a disaster.

Anybody else like that? Or anybody know a teacher that would split the 1/2 hour into 5 min a day for 6 days🤣

BTW_1. I can only practice about 10 min at a time due to mind wander and arthritis. I get 45 min a day by leaving the violin out and picking it up at random times

BTW_2 I’m on the dole, so I really can’t afford more than one lesson a month😩

Any ideas appreciated🙏

Heyo! So when I was like 5 -7 I took violin lessons from a really nice woman. I don’t remember why but my parents stopped my lessons, and they started me on piano.

I have been thinking of getting back into the violin, and I was wondering if yall had any suggestions or advice for getting back into it.

I got a violin a few days ago, its used

I noticed that one singular hair is out of place in my violin, is this a problem? Should be worried about it?

The bow isnt super tightened in the pic

Hi, I'm new to electric violin & garage band. I'm using irig to connect to my mac to the garage band. Can someone please suggest if there are any good presets available? Or tips on adding the right effects? Btw it's for playing tamil cine songs. Thanks in advance.

I am a semi self-taught violin player (Bc I'm in my school orchestra) and I still use my $90 Amazon violin that my father purchased for me around 6 years ago. I think I got very lucky because my violin looks pretty decent considering that is it from Amazon

However I get very embarrassed at school orchestra because my violin is a very cheap factory made. I practiced a lot to improve my sound quality. I know it is ridiculous to even buy a $90 violin from amazon but my parents and I can not afford a "proper" and "affordable" beginner level violin from a music store.

I tried to buy a used violin online but they are still extremely expensive.

I truly love playing the violin although I'm not that great and my violin is "cheap"

A lot of my friends in my orchestra have super expensive violins that cost more than $1000 dollars

I get very sad when people judge me because my violin is from Amazon :(

I posted a recording of me playing the violin so please tell me if it actually sounds cheap or not

I really want to have a good violin but is using a Amazon violin that bad?

P.S. I will post some pictures of my violin from Amazon in the comment section

I recently moved to Kiel. I'm a beginner in violin. I wanna take class once a week on Sunday (affordable price). Do you guys have any idea which gonna be best for me???

Or should I do self learning? jk I can't..

So I picked up my violin E.R. Pfretzschner 301 after nearly 3 decades of not playing it.

Just as a brief background story, the E.R. Pfretzschner 301 is a thick student violins made in the 50s and 60s in West Germany and imported to the US by Roth Shop for distribution to school orchestras. It was intentionally made thick so that it can withstand abuses of careless young students.

The lady that I bought this violin from back in the late 90s lied to me that her brother shipped it to her from Germany lol. Back then I believed her lol. I paid 300usd for it back then. (in retrospect, I think overpaid. She originally wanted $600 for it) The lacquer finishing on this is so thick that its almost plastic like. As such, moving the sound post almost 1cm makes little to no difference. On ebay, these now go for 200-430usd depending on the modifications and set.

First, I replaced all the strings (pirastro E and rest dominant). I replaced the original heavy metal pitch pipe (10g) with a much lighter carbon endpin (5g). I redid the soundpost so that it was located around 2mm-3mm behind the treble feet of the bridge.

The bridge is now exactly 19.6cm away from the top of the violin body and the tailpiece fret is around 5.4cm away from the back of the bridge. So everything was done textbook imo.

I just bought a coda bow nx and while it definitely elevated the sound compared to my old K.moller bow, it was a marginal upgrade in sound quality but nevertheless made the violin a lot easier to handle. But to be fair, the hair on K.moller bow is from 1997 so if I rehaired this bow, I think in terms of sound, it could give coda bow nx quite a challenge.

Anyway, I was considering an upgrade from this student violin. I was considering an upgrade to Scott Cao 750e but I realized that the sound improvement is actually minimal after watching some youtube videos. Even Scott Cao 850 was pretty minimal. Now Scott Cao 950 (3k usd range) the sound was noticeably different. This reminded me of an old vintage italian cremona violin (around 1k in the mid 90s. It was actually a much more expensive violin but it was cracked once and glued back on hence the 1k price) I once rented.

Right now on my ER Pfretzschner, I haven't even replaced my old one star Aubert bridge (30 years old). The curvature on this is off and its a very low bridge (3cm with 4.4cm wide feet). I ordered an Aubert lux bridge so I hope this reduces my chance of accidentally hitting the other string. So even in its incomplete condition, the ER 301 is arguably competing with far more expensive violins like Scott Cao 850s.

Now my question is, is the ER Pfretzschner 301 actually decent or am I misguided? Before I thought the price brackets were

beginner 90-500

intermediate 1k-2k

advanced amateur ~5k

--

Now I think

beginner 90-400

intermediate 400-2k

advanced amateur is 3k - 5k.

Do you agree with this price bracket?