Having had my viola (Gemmy) for about four months, I've finally taken the plunge and booked a lesson. Being seriously broke at the moment, I can only afford a 'one-off' to pin-point my worst habits. I don't know any local teachers so I checked out the list on the internet and found a teacher nearby. I rang last night and she asked whether I could come on Friday! I had to smile when she asked me, at the end of the conversation, whether I had a viola...

This morning I got a message from her asking whether I could come this afternoon instead so now it's panic stations to find some suitable music to take along!

W

Good luck! I hope you have a good session, and end up with plenty of new ideas.

Good luck, enjoy the lesson.

Must admit I'm really pleased with my Gems violin, and I hope you enjoy your viola as much.

Good luck - I'm sure you'll really enjoy it. The thing about having lessons less often than you'd like is that you really appreciate them when you do get them

Good luck. I hope your lesson goes well.

About a year ago I had my first viola lesson after a gap of many, many years (when I hadn't played my viola at all). I found that even just that one lesson was a huge help, because my teacher sorted out my problems with holding my viola ( I had been getting a lot of shoulder pain and my viola is quite large), and he gave me so many new ideas.

Enjoy playing your viola.

Ooooh, what fun! Enjoy!

Liz

Have fun!

Liz - you'll be pleased to hear that Gemmy was greatly admired She tried him and pronounced him 'lovely'. She was very surprised to hear that he wasn't hand-made and even more surprised to find out how little he cost - she had expected to hear about £1500!

As far as the playing went, she pin-pointed a lot of problems that I was already aware of (eg. careless bowing, dreadful vibrato and, once I'd pointed out, a completely incorrect hand position) but couldn't really offer much advice other than 'try to change it'. I guess I'm a lost cause...

W

I'm sure you're not a lost cause, willobie - you're much too musical for that! You will soon improve as you are clearly aware of what you need to work on. Good luck!

Did you enjoy the lesson willobie?

Yes I did- she was quite approachable and was quite positive about most things. She did give me suggestions for how to work on a lot of things but I think some are just too ingrained to fix. I'm definitely glad that I did it...

W

Just because your teacher didn't/couldn't give you advice about how to improve your technique doesn't mean that you are a lost cause, it just means that maybe she wasn't the right teacher for you. If you keep working on your technique it will get better.

Enjoy playing your viola.

I'm really glad you enjoyed it. I agree with the others that just because she had some criticisms doesn't make you a lost case. I think that awareness is probably the key to fixing problems with a musical practice - actually knowing that what you're doing is a problem, rather than blithely continuing without trying to shift, is a huge step towards fixing it.

Is there anyone near you that you could play with? I wonder whether some of the problem is that you're playing your viola in isolation. My experience of relearning instruments has been that playing on my own isn't easy. My teacher gives me pointers, but he's also someone to play with, and I think that's easily as important.

I really hope you'll soon be in a position to be able to afford lessons. Have you thought about advertising for a swap partner - someone who you could teach one of your instruments to, if they teach you viola? Your local music shop might let you put up an advert?

That sounds really defeatist! I don't allow the members of my elementary orchestra to say "I can't do that", only "I can't do that YET!" I definitely wouldn't want to hear any of them say "I'll never be able to do that", which is almost what you are saying.


Well at least that's positive.

I have the same tendency to be very self critical. I thought I was being realistic about my playing but it's been pointed out to me that having the attitude "I can't do that/or can't do it very well" means you're approaching it in the wrong frame of mind. Much better to think "I'll have a go". Same applies to changing some of those ingrained bad habits. Better to think "I'll try & change it" because if you think " I can't change it" then you're setting yourself up to fail.
Oh & break all these things into manageable small chunks - so eg bowing - work out a manageable target & spend a few minutes each time on it. Then when you've improved set yourself a further target. Do the same for each problem. Much better than setting some big target for yourself that is unrealistic......