Music Tips

Here are six tips you can use as you learn the violin. These tips are not presented it in any particular order of importance. They will help you in choosing a violin, in choosing a course of instruction, and in developing a good practice routine.

• Learn to identify the basic parts of your violin. This is important when choosing a violin as it will help you to determine the condition of your instrument. You should be able to identify the scroll, peg box and pegs, the fingerboard, the strings, the fine tuning knobs, the bridge, the body, and the tail piece. Being able to speak with a degree of intelligence about these components will help you to negotiate a fair price.

• Have an experienced musician play a piece on your violin before purchasing it. An experienced a musician's ear will be able to pick up dissonance and help you determine if there are interior problems in the violin. Remember, there is no substitute for experience.
• If you are purchasing a vintage violin, make sure it is examined by a qualified luthier or violin technician. Vintage violins can be very expensive, some costing in the millions of dollars. One vintage violin sold recently in Russia for a reported seven million dollars. Great care must be taken to ensure that you get exactly the instrument that you want.

• When selecting a course of instruction, do your homework; you are entering into a long-term relationship. This is true whether you are pursuing a traditional manner of instruction or an online violin course. You must determine what kind of a learner you are. Do you learn best in a closed door, extremely quiet environment? Or are you at your best with a myriad of activities going on around you? Are you an audiovisual learner? Perhaps you just read it off the page and then have no difficulty applying the knowledge. Are you the kind of person who likes to have the instructions repeated multiple times? Making this determination ahead of time will help you greatly as you learn the violin.

• Make your practice routine a true routine. This means practicing at the same time in the same place every day, or at least as much as is possible. Science tells us that it takes 21 days of doing the same thing over until it becomes a habit. Make it a goal of your practice routine to become a true habit.

• Employ the use of a practice partner. This could include getting a friend or family member to take violin lessons with you. Practice becomes much easier and a lot more fun when you add a degree of competition to it. This can be done by seeing who can play a particular piece of music the best, or who can play the scales in the fastest time and with the best technique. A practice partner can also be used to practice duets in preparation for recitals or performances.

These tips will help you as you learn the violin!

Hailey Alton is a violin performer, music lover and teacher. For more great tips on how to Learn the Violin please visit http://learntheviolinfast.com/