Bit Of A Disaster First Lesson.... Options

[icklechick]

I expect a teacher to be able to tune a violin without an any aids such as a piano, tuner etc and to chane a string in about 5 mins. Also expect them to bge able o adjust a bridgeand be able to diagnose other simple faults, even if they are unale to sort it out themselves. For example there was a rattl on myprevious violin and my teacher correctly worked out it was the E string that needed changing. I took violin to a music stoe and got it changed.

All my teachers have been able to do this.

Furthermore if a violin is unsuitabl please tell the student. If they have a £50 instrument tell them to at least get a stentor 2 or conservatoire with dominant strings.

tell them they will enjoy playing violin of they have a better instrument. I have a stentor consevatoire and now enjoy playing loads more since I bought a yamaha v20g violin with a case and bow.

Well said - I agree 100% except for the bit about being able to tune a violin without a tuner. No one should expect a violin teacher or any musician for that matter to have perfect pitch - most musicians don't have it. However, nothing more than a tuning fork should be necessary - just one 'ping!' of an A should be quite sufficient.

Are there really violin teachers out there who can't tune a violin?!

[Masanta]

The same thing happened to me a few weeks back with a boy, at an expensive private school would you believe!

To begin with he turned up with his sisters 1/2 size instrument - which I tactfully explained that for a boy of 13 years of age wasn't going to be suitable.

Despite my advice, his parents purchased a full-size violin online and it was exactly the same situation as icklechick. To put it bluntly, the instrument was unplayable. The poor quality steel strings didn't even have any fine tuners on the tailpiece. I sent him away again, this time with the contact details of a certain member of these forums who can supply quality instruments at a reasonable price.

Whether he will return for lessons in the new year is debateable, but when you consider how much his parents are paying for just his academic learning, you'd think they could spare a few more quid for a playable violin, at the very least.

I don't think all parents realise the benefits of having a decent instrument especially if they are not musicians themselves. To many a violin is a violin! Also many parents (despite how it may appear) have to pinch pennies in order to afford the school, the uniform, the extras.

I know a set of these parents whose children's private schooling is funded by someone other than themselves and they have found it difficult in the past when they have not received details in advance of exactly what they need to get and the reasons why. They simply have to cut corners. It is assumed that they have an endless pot of cash and will only buy the best but this simply isn't the case. (obviously this won't be the case with all of these situations). If however you have told them in advance what type of instrument to get then there is no real excuse if they seriously want the child to learn!

I think you just need to let the parents know that the instrument will actually hold the pupil back and that it is a false economy as they will not progress. I would advise tact when approaching the parents however as this can be embarrassing.

[Misterioso]

I have also had a number of internet violins recently. The slippy pegs seems to be the main thing that is wrong with them which makes them a total nightmare to tune and after a few notes played the pegs have slipped again.

The biggest problem I tend to come across with new violins is that the pegs are so stiff as to be totally unmovable in some cases. Taking into consideration that fact that I have rhuematoid arthritis, Iactually feel that I am sometimes risking injury. On a few occasions I have had to ask husband / sons etc to move the pegs for me, and one bright pink violin brought to me by a beginner adult had to have a pair of pliers taken to one of the pegs (wrapped in a cloth, of course!) But what on earth do other people do? I never knew I would have to have sheer brawn to be a violin teacher!

[Violinia]

I don't think all parents realise the benefits of having a decent instrument especially if they are not musicians themselves. To many a violin is a violin! Also many parents (despite how it may appear) have to pinch pennies in order to afford the school, the uniform, the extras.

I think you just need to let the parents know that the instrument will actually hold the pupil back and that it is a false economy as they will not progress. I would advise tact when approaching the parents however as this can be embarrassing.

Yes this can be a really tricky area. On the one hand, the sort of parents who even consider extra-curricular lessons for their children usually tend to have a bit of spare money around but on the other hand they don't always prioritise spending it on musical instruments, particularly if they're not sure the child is going to carry on with the instrument, which is understandable, and yet...

sometimes I've picked up an impression of a family as being really poor, so I've said nothing about the dreadful Stentor 1 (or worse) with cheesewire strings their child is stuck with for the forseeable future. Then the child tells me: 'hey, we're going off round the Mediterranean on a cruise over half-term!' or 'we're all off to Disneyworld followed by Las Vegas!' and my blood practically boils over as I smile sweetly and say 'oh how wonderful for you all!'

My favourite one is when they refuse to buy a decent shoulder rest like a Kun but insist on economising on a horrible cheap nasty thing that scratches the violin to pieces before splintering into several parts. At which point they give in and go and buy the one I originally recommended, doing themselves out of about £15 in the process. I know the good ones are really expensive but you tend to get what you pay for. The cheap ones are cheap for a reason! Or strings - you ask them to get a set of Dominants which they can very well find online for about £28 - and the kid turns up with Dogal - AAAARRGHHH!!!!! Then off the family goes to Las Vegas again, or is it Sri Lanka this time? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wacko.gif)

[icklechick]

Update:

He came for 2nd lesson tonight. He'd taken my advice (finally!) and taken it to the music shop I recommended. They had the violin with them for 4 days, and adjusted what needed adjusting and didn't charge him anything! (I luuuuurve that music shop....)

So he came today with a nearly-tuneable-violin. I say nearly tuneable....I don't know if it's me now or what!! I couldn't get his A string to stay in tune. The peg was still very slippy and wouldn't stay put. His other strings were fine now, I could turn the pegs and they stayed put - but the A-string wouldn't hold - couldn't even get one note out of it in tune. Wasn't too much of an issue - it miraculously sounded exactly the same as the D string so we could practice moving on to different strings and we did a lot of rhythm work as he's struggling a lot with finding the beat.

He's enthusiastic as anything, and has obviously been practicing (in front of a mirror!) because his bow hold and posture was great. He'd relaxed loads and was drinking in everything I told him.

I would feel a bit silly asking him to go back again if it's something I can easily fix....so I'm here looking for advice! Someone mentioned chalk? Or soap? Or should I go and get something from a proper shop?

[maya3]

I'm glad that he took your advice!

As for the pegs, have you got any peg paste?

x

[SueHM]

I got so fed up with one family who were forever holidaying in the Caribbean etc, having work done on their house etc etc and yet would not buy a piano for their child, who was struggling with a grotty keyboard. Dad had a new Porsche, so I asked him how much he paid for the leather seat option, and pointed out that he could have bought a decent piano for a similar sum. It had no effect whatsoever and the child eventually gave up, surprise surprise.