Hi! I'm a piano teacher who has started learning violin again after many years. I was wondering what methods people would recommend? As I don't need to learn how to read music, and am very familiar with first position from the school lessons years ago I was looking for a method that deals with position shifts. I've flicked through a few, but the "music" (or exercises really!) aren't very attractive. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!!

Hi Nic

I'm a musician who started the violin from scratch last year at the grand old age of 38. It's my fourth instrument, so I'm reasonably comfortable with things like reading music, the need for decent intonation etc.

The one thing I would recommend is to find a teacher and go for at least a few introductory lessons.

A good teacher will work with you on the issue of playing the instrument without being phased by the fact that you are already a professional musician. They may even find this an interesting challenge, and it might just give you some ideas you can bring back to your piano teaching.

And they will ensure that you are playing in a way that won't injure you - a huge number of bad habits can creep in if you aren't being supervised at the start of your playing.

Best of luck, and enjoy your violining.

Cheers

katyjay

Hi KatyJay!

Thanks for your reply. I have a teacher (I am teaching her piano, she is teaching me violin!), and have had some lessons with the focus entirely on technique. But now my teacher is away until the end of January and I wanted to work slowly through some material using the techniques she has shown me, as I figure I can spend the next 2 months working on intonation (which is fine in first position) and position shifts (my teacher has prepared me for shifting, now I just need some material to work on!)

Great to hear you're enjoying violin .. my favourite piano students are adult beginners!

I would suggest getting etudes by Kayser, Wolhfart (not sure on spelling), or Suzuki method books. The Kayser one was my bible for 2 years. It focuses quite a bit on fast passages and bowing technique.

The Kayser studies are good and I would recommend them too, but they do get quite difficult, quite quickly. Kinsey Studies Book 2 would offer a slightly gentler learning curve. For some tunes to play, The Young Violinists Repertoire Books 3 and 4.

If you want to refamiliarise yourself with shifting technique, Position Changing for the Violin by Neil Mackay, is a useful book.

Thanks Amanda & Rai,

I'll check those out!

My teacher 'prescribed' me Wolfhart. *grin* There are 2 books. Book 1 is entirely in 1st position. It's only in Book 2 where you get to shift up to 3rd position.

As an adult student, my teacher made me walking thru etudes from WOHLFAHRT for 60 studies book 1 and 2, Kayser, Kreutzer and Mazas. It's bitter to go through them but it's rewarding afterall.

Indiretly, they helped to build up our intonation too.

Hi there.

I currently use Wolfhart studies book II Op 74. 50 Easy Melodic Studies. They are good. Some more difficult than others.
I've just bought the Kinsey Books Element Prog Studies II and III.
Does anyone have any idea what kind of level they are ?
I know on the back of the book it says approx G6 - 8, Elementary prog studies.

Thanks,
Fiona

Take a look at The Doflein Method, which comes in 5 volumes. There is a good mix of exercises, pieces, and duets. The first volume seems to progress too quickly for younger students, but it would work very well for adult learners who already play other instruments. Depending on your level of proficiency, you may even go straight to the second volume.

I am not a violinist so this is just to let you know that my daughter used "Position Changing for the Violin" by Neil Mackay and it helped her learn position changing very well, and fast, too. For exercises, she used 1 Wolfhart first, then 1 Mazas book (nice and tuneful!) and then loads of Sevcik (not tuneful at all!)

Try the 40 variations...they're quite tuneful

Dear me, you are right as usual! Don't know how you know so much, Jane and you know, I'm not flattering! Yes, she has quite a lot of Sevciks at least 4 or 5 and THAT one she has just reminded me, is quite tuneful, I'd forgotten. Thankfully, her teacher returns to Mazas from time to time - he swears by Sevcik but just to make sure she won't have a chance to get bored, he reverts to Mazas.

Nic, I hope you enjoy your new violin hobby (and your teacher, too). Now, given Neil Mackay, etc, you'd better start cracking!!

Tess

Any suggestions for an adult starting from scratch?

W

Try Kinsey Study books. They are exercises to develop technique but also tuneful.

Hi Willobie

When I first put bow to string, I quite enjoyed Kathy and David Blackwell's Fiddle Time Joggers. (Not sure if Amanda did, but I found it fun...)

Cheers

Katyjay

I like that one too but wondered whether 'some' adults might find it a little 'young'...

W

When I started a couple of years ago I used that book for awhile and found it quite childish. But I did like one of the faster pieces at the end.

How about String Builders? I used that when i learnt double bass and it didn't seem to childish, and they do them for fiddle, sorry, VIOLIN