first violins

[tatianna]

okay so i'm ready to buy my daughters first violin
i've been looking all over the web for the best one in my price range ($200)
and i'm down to two
the SV-175 Cremona at  beststudentviolins.com
or GENIAL 1-Oil' Beginner/Student VIOLIN  by Gliga at www.violinslover.com

i know nothing at all about violin
does anyone have any advice?
thanks so much
tatianna

[2010BEBES]

Tatianna,
Also try asking the music teacher. They should give you different options on accord with your budget.
In some places you can rent the instrument until you see if your child likes the music classes and then you buy your own.

[DadDude]

My advice is: don't buy a violin.  Rent one.  Kids go through their first violins, when they're in the smallest sizes, very quickly.  In fact, we rented a violin just last week, and our local violin shop has a great rent-to-own program--the money spent on instrumental rental counts as equity toward a purchase.  You might see if your own has a similar program.  In any event, I'd say not to buy a violin until you're sure your child has a commitment to practice on the instrument.  Otherwise you're throwing your money away.  For now, my own little boy is sticking with piano.  Even though he sees me fiddling away every day, he's not up for violin practice just now.

[heath]

A few weeks ago we started our son on Violin.  He takes private lessons, we were adviced not to buy expesive violin.  So, first I took him to a local music store and got his hand measured.  They measure from the neck to the middle of the palm, with hand stretched to the side palm up.  I didn't like the rent to buy option at our store.  They were charging $30 a month. A good expensive violin will be like 500 .  Even if it is $ 1000. I don't think we will reach the 4/4(regular adults) violin for the next 6 or 7 years. So, 7*12*30 is 2520.  On top of it you should get insurance.  If anything happens you will have to pay for it. So, I got mine from ebay, $60.00 including everything, and it works  . Even if it breaks it's ok.  Although the first thing I am teaching my son is to respect the instrument and he has been very very careful with it. If it survives I will use it with my second one.

http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-SIZE-4-4-3-4-1-2-1-4-1-8-1-10-1-16-VIOLIN-70-GIFTS-/350233960809?cmd=ViewItem&pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item518b922169

I got Adventures in music land books by Shirley Givens.  I got the first three books.  These books are like story books with drawings. My son learnt all the theory part from these books before starting to play on the instrument.  I would recommend you get these books and teach your child the first few classes.  Then you can start with instructor led classes. Save some money.

If you are enrolling in suziki, you can get the CD's and the books online for free.  Check out this you tube video on how to get them for free

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/M4ARtdJGPtA&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/M4ARtdJGPtA&rel=1</a>

As with everything it requires lot of  patience and innovativeness on your part to get your child to practice. So try the first few lessons at home and then if the child is practicing everyday then enroll in the class.

[heath]

Forgot to add, the first few lessons are to hold the bow, the violin, stand with one leg to the front and the other a little bit back to the side. | / like that but the right leg goes a little back. Got it 
Holding the bow requires a littel practice, each fingure has a job.  My son got tired, so I told him that it is his wand and if he holds correctly things would disappear.  He was totally surprised when his favorite toys disappeared right before him. Now it is a little bit easier to get him to practice holding the bow. Givens book has nice pictures on how to hold the bow.  There are some videos on You tube that will show you this.  There are different schools of thought for holding the bow.
Then you introduce the 4 strings. Then you teach the beat one, two, three, four.  then you practice to rest on four, then three etc.

This is what we learnt till now.

[tatianna]

we bought the violin right before i read the post
i wish a read how to measure because i would have bought the next size up
oh well
thanks heath for your response it was very helpful
karma to you

DadDude
we chose to buy instead of rent for a few reasons
1 we live in mexico most of the year and renting from the US is complicated
2 a lot of the violins we saw for rent were not very good
3 we have a another baby so she can use the violin after
4 it was a bit of an investment but was way cheaper then renting in the long run
5 if we upgrade or need a larger size the store gives us 80% towards that 

 

[DadDude]

tatianna - that all makes sense.  We're in rather different situations!

[2010BEBES]

we bought the violin right before i read the post
....
4 it was a bit of an investment but was way cheaper then renting in the long run
5 if we upgrade or need a larger size the store gives us 80% towards that 

It seems to be not only a good investment but it will be a good return value.
good for you.
Keep us posted how the classe go.

[Tamsyn]

There are some very cheap violins available on the internet, and if you rent a violin you could end up paying a lot more.  We bought a violin for Peter and he loves it.  We are still not giving him formal lessons, but he knows how to hold it, how to resin the bow, and takes really good care of it.  I also play and show him little bits here and there as he lets me, but he's very protective and I have to be sneaky just to tune it.  For more information, I made a post about it here:  http://www.professional-mothering.com/violin-for-toddlers.html

[2010BEBES]

There are some very cheap violins available on the internet, and if you rent a violin you could end up paying a lot more.  We bought a violin for Peter and he loves it.  We are still not giving him formal lessons, but he knows how to hold it, how to resin the bow, and takes really good care of it.  I also play and show him little bits here and there as he lets me, but he's very protective and I have to be sneaky just to tune it.  For more information, I made a post about it here:  http://www.professional-mothering.com/violin-for-toddlers.html

thnaks for sharing your experience Tamsyn

[reei]

Tamsyn,

Saw your video and how protective peter is of his violin. He is very cute.
Have you enrolled him in formal lesson yet?

My 23 month old keeps imitating me as I practise my violin. I am very tempted to buy her a good proper violin before she starts formal violin lesson.

[Tamsyn]

No, he is not taking formal lessons yet.  There is not a Suzuki school in my area, or I probably would.  I do play myself though, and have made an effort to show him little tips here and there.  He now knows how to hold his bow and violin properly, and to play individual strings.  I have to be sneaky about tuning his violin though, he is very reluctant to let me hold it.  He pulls out his violin two-three times a week, which is more often than I pull mine out.  Right now I'm happy with his progress with it being a "toy" for him to experiment and play with.  We are doing other musical activities in our home, and violin is more of a side program.

[2010BEBES]

....  I have to be sneaky about tuning his violin though, he is very reluctant to let me hold it. ...

I am glad to see that there are other kids that are not willing to share when playing an instrument. I hope this is a fase and on time they will like sharing and playing with others. Does you child 'llows' you to play while he is playing? Maybe because each one has your own violin.
Thanks for sharing your experience Tamsyn.

[Tamsyn]

Oh yes, he often asks me to get out my violin and play with him.  I don't think that it is unhealthy for him to be protective of his violin.  In our home, the policy is, share the family toys, and sharing your own personal toys is optional.  The violin is his, and he loves it.  I am reluctant to share my violin, my husband doesn't share his work computer, and Peter doesn't want to share his violin.  That's okay with me, he is actually very good at sharing in general.

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