New Player, New Violin?, starting violin Options

[lottie]

Hello!!!! At last! It's taken me weeks of problems but I am finally able to post on ABRSM and join in the forums!!!

I just started playing 6months ago and LOVE the violin. I was a clarinet teacher years ago but have taken up the violin as a new challenge. I play with a Scottish fiddle orchestra and am just starting to learn double stopping and position changes but I haven't started vibrato yet.

I'm playing a 'Zeller' but I'm finding problems using my fourth finger partly because the violin has such a thick neck and partly because my hands are quite small.

I'd like to know if anyone has any experience playing a 7/8 size violin and if they think the smaller size affects the tone? I think I'm outgrowing the Zeller already and am thinking of moving to a Gliga Gama.

Any thoughts/opinions would be of interest.

Oh and Hi again - I've been able to read the forums for ages without being able to join in and it sounds like such a friendly knowlegable place!

[AmandaL]

It looks as though I'll go for a 7/8th and I keep hearing fabulous things about Gliga violins. I've got three violins sitting in the house just now and although I don't like its sound, it's the 7/8th I keep taking out to play because it is so comfortable in my hands.

When I played the piano many moons ago I was told I had great hands for Bach and Mozart but not for Liszt or Brahms; I can stretch an octave but my fingers must really be quite short.

Gliga really are as good as people say. I've got a Gliga Gama viola with only a 15 inch back, but it has a terrific sound. I only really use it for teaching and if I was going to play viola professionally, I know I would need something with an even bigger sound, but Gliga can hold their own very well in good amateur orchestras.

My hands are probably about the same size as yours. I can stretch an octave on the piano, but, only with my thumb and little finger just hanging on the ends of the keys. Fitting any extra notes in in between, with the other three fingers, would be impossible.

If a 7/8th violin is what feels comfortable for you, then go with it. It's very easy to be swayed by people saying, "oh nobody else would ever buy it because it's too small". There are enough small handed players out there who benefit from the comfort this size of violin offers - otherwise 7/8th violins (and cellos!!) wouldn't have been made. Through bitter experience I know there are things I can manage on a 7/8th violin that I struggle with on a larger instrument. Being able to play at speed and move around the fingerboard swiftly is extremely important. If the instrument is too big to enable the freedom of the hand, then it will stilt your progress and general ability to play certain types of music.

I wish you all the best in your violin playing!