Today, my school's orchestra received their seating, and I received good news. I moved up three seats, up to sixth chair in first violin, which is quite impressive considering the relatively large size of my school's orchestra. My stand partner happens to be the concert mistress (i.e. first chair in first violin), which came as a surprise to me.

In order to keep or improve my seat, I am definitely going to have to take private lessons. The biggest problem, however, is finding a teacher. While I used to have a private teacher, he decided to ditch me over the summer (i.e. saying he was going on vacation and never communicating thereafter). This isn't too much of a loss for me - I never liked him too much in the first place, but he did help me improve. So, I am once again on my difficult hunt to find a quality teacher.

The problem is, I don't know what qualities I should look for in a teacher. My first teacher was recommended by several of my parents' friends, but none of their children claimed to like the teacher. Do you think the best idea is going with the teachers that other students have in the area, or just going to the music center and taking the risk? Also, during the lesson, is there a preferable structure? Are there any things you can notice at once that point out a teacher's ability to teach? Finally, do you have to like the teacher in order to progress towards your full potential?

My daughter's violin teacher is 5 stars! He's very patient, very clear, thorough and has a sense of humour! He's also very solid on technique and a perfectionist. She likes her teacher a mighty lot! But many kids don't like their teachers particularly and still make progress so maybe you don't have to like your future teacher so long as you get on reasonably well with him/her. However, depending on your age, you may like a fun teacher! You may not be too bothered if you are say, Yr 9 or above. To us, patience and clarity/communication skill come first, sound technique second and then a sense of fun! All the technique in the world will not make a good teacher if he's impatient!!!

You'd better not take risks and choose just about anybody on the music centre list! A strong word of recommendation is necessary if you're looking for a good teacher. Don't just ask parents, ask teachers of other instruments as well - they often know as it's a small world out there.

Finally, you've made me puzzled? Why shd it matter WHERE one sits as long as one is a first violinist?

Recently, we were at the junior dept of a London music conservatory. Whilst there, there was a new allocation of seats. We noticed that a girl who is known to have already achieved grade 8 ages ago (!) was allocated the first seat in the second row, i.e. right next to/beside the first chair in first violin. The latter plays grade 6 level, possibly not even examined yet? Perhaps maturity comes into it? Surely, it's a great achievement to be a first violinist and not have to think abt where one sits in competition with the rest? Does anyone care? We don't.

Tess

I'm also not so sure about the significance of where one sits, except for the concert master and the associate concert master, who sits in the first two chairs.

In a professional orchestra that i know of, they practise rotation of seats, meaning that other than the concert masters and the section leaders, all the other string musicians sit in different seats in different concerts.

Many conductors that I know like to make sure that a good sound comes from all parts of a section. One, in particular, was in charge of expanding a professional orchestra, and chose to recruit mostly young players with a good sound in preference to experienced ones (of whom he had many already) and placed each of the young players with one of the experienced ones who passed on his know-how. Another consideration is that inside players turn the pages in the part, and may have to miss their part out to do so, so it makes sense to put the players with the biggest sound on the outside. The book "Orchestral Performance: A Guide for Conductors and Players", by Christopher Adey,* goes into great detail about the way technical, musical and emotional requirements vary in different parts of a string section.

In professional orchestras, one can expect string principals to be both technically and musically outstanding, but in an amateur orchestra the same person might not have both characteristics. I remember being the sole regular member of the bass section of my local amateur orchestra when Mahler 1 was in the concert programme. Having attended all the rehearsals, I remained principal bass for the concert, but (with the agreement of the conductor) one of the visiting players, with a much better technique than mine, played the "Three Blind Mice" solo in the slow movement.

* one-time violinist with the Hallé and the LPO, now a very thoughtful conductor of both professional and youth orchestras.

The teacher that everybody goes to might be popular because s/he is a good teacher, or s/he might be a very relaxed teacher!

If you can, go and see his or her students performing (this is a good season to see Christmas performances or student concerts). Warning signs: violins pointed at the ground, bows wandering all over the show, both elbows clamped to the sides as if playing in a phone booth, scratchy, out-of-tune playing (of course, intonation can be an issue with very young and nervous students anyway), and general lack of interest in what they are playing.

Are there any other students around your age or level? Violin tends to have a lot of dropouts, so there always seem to be crowds of little girls, but try and find somebody who has at least a few older students.