Hi guys, am starting with a new violin teacher next wednesday. have been preparing for grade 3 abrsm violin with my old teacher - nearly there with pieces - need to be "polished" and have a couple of scales to learn but would love to do the exam in november session. What would you recommend as best use of limited practice time between now and first lesson with new teacher to give me the best chance of convincing her in the first lesson that i should submit my application for the coming session. The closing date for Rep of Ireland entries is fast approaching.....

Or....should I just start on new stuff with new teacher and take the grade 3 alone since most of the work has already been done???

Sorry for long post.Thanks in advance for you advice.

*EDIT* Should have mentioned my instrument is violin!!!

That wasn't a long post and you did mention you played violin, ('new violin teacher' kinda gave it away!!)

Anyway, having just recently changed teachers myself, I think you're probably best off just practising as before and taking the new lessons as they come. If in doubt, give the new teacher a call and ask for advice, but beyond that, I would just get on with your prac as you're used to and let her adjust as she sees fit. My new teacher made a lot of changes to my programme and my bowing and tone has improved no end, but I'm still pre-G1, so....

Well that makes 3 of us.

I think my violin teacher is pretty much stopping Saturday lessons and she can't teach after 5:30 in the evenings so that means that as i work, I can't have lessons with her anymore.

To be honest even if she wasn't stopping, I would still be looking for another teacher as my current teacher doesn't teach any adult students: I'm her only one! I've got god knows how many books we've used 2-3 times and then never used again as she can't make her mind up on what we're learning. It's getting frustrating.

So now I'm looking for a new one.

I think I'll just practice the stuff i can play before I see a new teacher. Not much else you can do.

Hi Orla

I'm not a strings player, but I imagine it's the same for most instruments. I think I would recommend that you make an attempt at learning the scales that you don't already know. You might not get them to be secure, but at least it shows that you've made an attempt at them rather than having to admit that you've not even tried them

And as well as your pieces, try and get plenty of sightreading practice in the next few days

And maybe have some pieces to hand to show her that you haven't ONLY been doing exam pieces but have tried to have some variety as well.

If you can't convince her that you're ready to take the exam, I'm afraid I would recommend that you take her advice and wait until the following session. I can't help feeling that it's not a good idea to put yourself in for it - you'll need her help to polish off your pieces and also to test you on aural, and it doesn't seem like a good start to the relationship to pointedly go against her advice. I'm sure this would be very disappointing, I know I would find it so, but it might be better in the long run.

I hope the lesson goes well though, and that she thinks you're ready to go in for it Do let us know what she thinks, and good luck!

Hi I've got the same problem. I'm starting with a new violin teacher on wednesday too. Due to illness and teachers being quite away, I have located a violin teacher locally; had every thing gone okay I was hoping to take my grade 5 current series which ends in Dec 07 but I'm told that you can take the exam in the 1st session of the new year. I'm hoping that I won't have to start the new syllabus but I'll have to wait and see.

I agree very much with this in principle. I think the thing that might be pushing Orla to get her G3 done and behind her is that the set pieces are changing from '08 and those she's painstakingly prepared for November will not be valid in March. Yup, the practise is good, but I think it will be more than an average disappointment this time!

Actually the pieces will be valid for the Spring term. There's always one term of overlap when the syllabus changes.

So no emergency on that count....

Really? That's handy to know, K, thanks!

Orla, I think you have to wait and see what your new teacher advises. Some teachers like to enter you for an exam quite quickly, to see how you do under stress; others wouldn't dream of entering you before they've had time to properly evaluate your playing. For Wednesday, make sure you can play the scales you've learned, and your pieces, musically and up to speed. Then just go along with whatever your new teacher thinks, rather than being set on doing grade 3. In my experience, teachers hate being put under pressure to enter pupils for exams - they want to decide for themselves when the time is right.

I do hope that your teacher won't want to enter you for grade 3 in March, as you will be well sick of the pieces long before then! Try to prepare your mind for different scenarios. For instance, how would you feel about bypassing grade 3 and perhaps going for grade 4 in the summer term or next Autumn? If you have the grade 3 pieces nearly ready now, and your teacher doesn't want to enter you this term, she may feel this is the best course.

Whatever is decided, remember that improving your playing and enjoying the music are the two most important things. It's nice to have a certificate, but it's just the icing on the cake. Hope you really hit it off with your new teacher and learn lots more about playing the violin!

Edit: Ooops, just looked at your profile and realised you are not a child! Hope the above doesn't sound dreadfully patronising - assumed I was adressing a 13 year old or similar! Sorry!

If you haven't already done so then I would discuss it with the teacher at your first lesson.
Have everything as prepared as you can so that the teacher can see how near to ready you are.

I'm not so sure about going ahead and doing the exam if your teacher isn't happy about if your teacher sets you enough to work on then it might be difficult to fit in the 2 lots of practice anyway.

Hi Everyone, thank you so much for the replies and very good advice. I will keep practicing lots between now and Wednesday and take it as it comes. I do agree that doing the exam in Nov is not the be all and end all......maybe continuing on to grade 4 would be better - new pieces would be more exciting as the grade 3 ones are getting a bit "old" now.

Obviously my real goal is to make improvements in my intonation and bowing - that's much more important than just working to get a certificate. Am really looking forward to getting back to lessons after the summer break.

Ah the post wasn't patronising - I am a little older than 13 but appreciate all the advice. I'll let you know how I get on on Wednesday. The first lesson is one hour (instead of the usual 30mins) so it will give us a good chance to get acquainted!

Good luck to everyone else starting back at lessons this week!

Good advice IMO


^ yes, always worth bearing this in mind - as far as I am aware, with a few exceptions (one such was when the harp syllabus was totally revamped) this is always the case.

Hope your lesson goes really well

Thank you. I am really looking forward to it. Dying to get home this evening to practice. It's such a pity when work interferes with fun things like music! Going to give the scales a good attempt this evening and also see how the 3 exam pieces are sounding too and maybe try out an old favourite or too also....

This will be my fouth teacher in as many years so am keen to settle for a while.....think it's too much changing around but it couldn't be helped. I was moving around and then was unlucky with one teacher that didn't work out....hopefully this one will be good. I am also starting in an adult violin ensemble class too,which my new teacher runs so I think that is a really good sign that she in interested in adult students. It's aimed at those of a Grade 1 - 3 standard. Can't wait for the challenge of playing in an ensemble. I think I will really learn alot.

Playing in ensemble rocks have fun!

ps I wrote this in response to someone else's post earlier in the day but it seems appropriate to say it to you, too:

Thank you for all the advice. Just hoping it goes well on Wednesday and that the teacher and I "click" if you know what I mean. She knows that I have been preparing for Grade 3 because she asked what level I am at - wanted to know if I was a complete beginner....I'm not even if I do feel back at square one after the summer break!!! Nearly hometime for practice :-) and husband won't be home till later so I have the place to myself to play all the scales (they are not so nice to listen to :-) )

Yes, I know what you mean about clicking hope it goes really well!

Well first lesson with new teacher was earlier this evening and I am delighted. It was great - she was very encouraging and her first words were "oh great you are doing grade 3 - the closing date is very soon, lets see how prepared you are"......and that was before I even asked for her advice about entering for the exam.

I really need to work on my intonation - my pitch was well off tonight but i put that partly down to first lesson nerves......she also went through every scale and arpeggio on the syllabus - have to work on getting them all from memory for next week especially the minors.....and we are doing a fun piece too in addition to the exam work.

Oh and another thing - she saw my theory work book in my bag - I am teaching myself theory - and suggested I get some past papers and she would be happy to answer any questions or mark them for me.

So far so good - must practice hard though- I really want to show I have taken her comments on board and improved for next week.

Thanks for all the encouragement here - I feel really motivated now. Had been in a bit of a violin rut and think I had picked up some bad habits with my last teacher who didn't check my hand position or posture so am keen to correct that - new teacher has already given me some pointers on bow hold and keeping my right elbow held up and left hand wrist angle......

Roll on exam session - just need to make sure I get my entry in by Monday now - might mean a hand delivery to the Rep of Ireland Rep house!!!

It sounds as if you've really landed on your feet here Orla! I'm so glad it went well and that the signs are good for doing your exam this session. Best of luck!

Great news! Your new teacher sounds just what you've been looking for, and I'm sure the ensemble you're joining will help as well. I'm so pleased that she agreed you should do grade 3 this session. Keep up the practice and keep us posted on your progress.

Your new teacher certainly sounds like a good find - yay!

My lesson with my new teacher was quite good. How long is your lesson Orla? mine was 20 min I've never had such a short lesson, but apparently that what this teacher does. Has any one else heard lessons this short?

After playing scales to warm up and 2 pieces of music it was decided that the focus would be on shifting positions and practising a piece of music. I must say that when the lesson was over I thought that I had done quite a bit of playing.

My first lesson was 1 hour but this was because the teacher will be missing a week during the term so she rolled two lessons together....usually the lessons are 30 mins. I found the hour quite long - we covered lots and I certainly learned loads but 30 mins is more manageable certainly at my current level. Out of curiosity when have other forum-ites moved to longer lessons? I imagine after about grade 5, longer lessons might be necessary. The music school also offer options at 45mins and 60 mins. Does anyone have an opinion on that?

Glad to hear that your lesson went well amati!

*Woodwind player wanders in*

I had 20 minute shared lessons up to about G5 - they wern't ideal, but certainly enough to get things done As a total beginner 20 minutes was about all I could manage at once, on clarinet, but it didn't take long. I now have half an hour individual lessons, working at around G7 standard. I think hour long lessons are great, once you get to the stage where you could happily spend an hour working on things and have the stamina for it!!

/invading string forum

[quote name='amati' date='Sep 19 2007, 01:59 PM' post='594006']
[quote name='Rosemary7391' post='593118' date='Sep 17 2007, 09:00 PM']
*Woodwind player wanders in*

I had 20 minute shared lessons up to about G5 - they wern't ideal, but certainly enough to get things done As a total beginner 20 minutes was about all I could manage at once, on clarinet, but it didn't take long. I now have half an hour individual lessons, working at around G7 standard. I think hour long lessons are great, once you get to the stage where you could happily spend an hour working on things and have the stamina for it!!

/invading string forum


Hi Rosemary, many thanks for your comments, for the past week i've just concentrated on the few things we covered last week, next lesson is tonight so I'll see if I practised alright.

How did you get on? The thing I've found with a 20min lesson is you have to be organised - even 10 minutes longer and I seem to do an awful lot of rambling through things..