Could be both really. What sort of level violin is it? Some of the cheaper ones couldn't sound good if Benedetti played them!! You should have heard my first viola! Ouch isn't in it! My old teacher told me the poor sound was me, but I never had those nasty, muffled notes when using 3rd finger when I got my current instrument...

Let us know how you get on and what the verdict on the G string is.

Very true. The quality of my violin was a major issue after about a year of learning, and there were various problems with it. Teach was convinced it was me for a long time, then finally gave it a good try herself and realised it needed work. Ended up having to replace it purely because it wasn't cost effective to repair.

Well - I've just got back from my first viola lesson in 25 years!

I was so nervous i was shaking when i played the first piece. However she is very nice and we seemed to get on ok.

My viola sounded a lot better once whe cleaned the strings!

I've lots of work to do on my bow hold - I'm just so stiff! - and I don't think i can remember everything I'm supposed to do - my brain has gone downhill along with my body - so i think i will take a note book next time.

Another lesson in a fortnight.

All in all I enjoyed it - and I've joined a choir after 20ish years too - new year, new me!

That's great that you enjoyed your lesson!

You're lucky you only shook after your first piece - I shake all the time

I had a great lesson last night too - I had practiced really hard because I love the piece I'm playing (Telemann) and my teach really noticed

I get to play Amazing Grace this week

Waaaah! You're all making me homesick for lessons and viola paying! I'm off everything at the mo with a really nasty virus, (been in bed most of the last 5 days! ), and have had to lose the chance to make some extra cash too.... My next lesson is 29th, which I arranged to come after I'd finished the exam work that I currently can't do. I'm so rusty as well as I hadn't played much for the last month.

You'll get into back into it soon I didn't play for nearly 3 weeks over christmas as I was away for a while and then got a heavy cold when I got back which had me sleeping on the sofa for several days and left me really worn out! I went to my lesson thinking I was going to be awful but it went fine

I know! It's just when you want to get re-started and you shouldn't even be sitting up posting in forums..... All I can do is read, so maybe I'll take my little red theory book to bed with me. Mmm, good idea, that!

Have fun reading it, I don't know where mine's gone! I don't think I've looked at it at all since my exam

Well, I don't suppose you need to really, do you? You've got your G5, whereas I've only done to G2 and some of that needs re-learning (passed on short-term memory, really, but 98% for all that!)

OK, i'm orf.....

Hope you feel better soon

Ok, here I am!

You asked for me, you got me!

Hello!

hiya!
can't wait for my first lesson this sunday!

Hey! 2 newbie violists, huzzah!

Welcome to the party, guys!

Oh, I remember my first lesson. I was so exicted I had to go for 30 mins' brisk walk beforehand to try and get rid of all the energy!! We want a full report, mbr!

LOL LOL Elizabeth, here I am!!! I have been VERY QUITE for a few months, apologies for having disappeared!
My excuses?
New job in february 2008, been working and commuting on a motorbike 6 days a week!!! doing still 6 days a week (about 50 hours in total without the commuting that is). Had 'home problems' and moved home in august. Have not played violin in MONTHS apart from during my fortnightly lessons for that half hour, so my progress has been ZILCH! I am stuck somewhere between grade 4 and 5 I 'think' I am now since 2 weeks ago started to find some time to practice again, about 2 or 3 days a week for an hour or so. Had to drop the piano completely because of all my 'troubles' and the 6 days a week work thing! I was VERY TIRED for at least a good 6months but now got used to work ALL THE TIME, have toughened UP! So anyway, this thread 'IS NOT FOR ME' I see Fine, I'll go off and find somewhere else to post
Anyway, just wanted to say 'hello' and 'I haven't forgotten you', glad to see you are still keeping at the viola, virtual hugs your way
Jo

Don't go

Us beginners need the more experienced string players for adviceand stuff

just went home from my first lesson!!
it went well actually, she taught me much about posture, holding the bow, holding the viola
and the good news, i don't need shoulder rest.

anyway, she gave me a copy of guide book and also will use suzuki viola school book

after the lesson, i stayed for a while in the course room, i tried to replace all the strings from the pegs, in order to make the roll of the strings in pegs neatly (oh, this is really improper english, i dunno the right term/expression for this, correct me please)
and the bad news, i broke two strings in 5 minutes
the G and A strings

i phoned my teacher and told her about this, and fortunately she's going to music shop tomorrow, so i buy one set from her

haha

How exciting 'broken reeds', you brought me back to my first lesson, nice memories
About the strings.....I did that too!!! (braking them LOL )

Mmmm, yeah, you might want to leave the 'technical' stuff to your teacher for a little while, but some people have to play engineer....!!! I've only ever lost one string and my old teacher bust it trying to tune up!!

JO! I've been wondering for a while where you'd got to! Good to see you're still with us and still enjoying your music, even if on a lower scale than before. Makes me feel better as I remember you started only a month before me and I'm still not ready to take my Grade 1! I'm planning to take it in June and Grade 2 in November, with theory Grades 3, 4 & 5 - one each term. I've entered for the theory exam already.

Like you, I'm a bit out of prac as I've been really ill over the last fortnight and hadn't had much viola time for almost a month before, so I'm really rusty, but I intend to get really well caught up ASAP and move ahead apace. Look out DipABRSM, here I come! NOT!!!

Keep in touch, hun!

I'm feeling despondant already - after only 1 lesson. The problem is, my old brain can't remember what it was told to do re my bow hold. Can anyone tell me whether what is considered the correct bow hold has changed over time - I'm sure the way I was shown last week is not how i was shown 25 years ago - my hand just doesn't remember the shape. When i play piano stuff i played 30 years ago my hands seem to remember so i think they would with the bow hold too.

I guess the problem is it's harder to learn as an adult - especially when you are out of practise at learning.

I don't have a lesson until next week so i shall soldier on and hope I'm doing it at least partly right.

Are there any pictures anywhere on the internet which i could compare my hold to?

Hope everyone else's practise is going better than mine!

I found this site quite useful for things I couldn't remember from my lessons - it has little videos too http://violinmasterclass.com/sitemap.php

i vibratoed! I VIBRATOED! [b] I VIBRATOED!

(and i'm more than a little proud of myself. even if it was only one good bit of vibrato amid lots of ###### vibrato. and even if it is only on the first finger!!!)

Well done on the vib, Rabeybo, just please watch the naughty words! ##### in a post doesn't look nice....

I understand there are a couple of slightly different bow holds, but don't worry, none of them are really a natural thing to do, so don't fret that it takes a while to get your head (and hand) around!!

cant' wait to get my viola.

however, some bad news...our old home isn't selling as quickly as hoped, so I have to wait unitl it sells before I can get a new viola (or used).

My boss is giving me a violin for free (she's a retired professional violist), so I could play that for awhile until I get the $$$ for the viola. Should I do this? Will it hurt me? I was thinking I could at least get used to 'fiddling' aroudn on it. hahahahaha!

Hopefully I can get my viola by summer at this rate.

hx

Hi everyone

Lottie - i wanted to say thanks for the website - it seems to have a mind of it's own when it comes to playing the videos but i did get it to behave and I think it helped - I'm at the point now where I can sort of analyse what I'm doing so i have loads of questions for my teacher - again!

Raceybo - i would love to vibrato - but long way off I fear!

And yet another question - whilst fully acknowledging that the squeaky noises i make are almost all down to me, would new strings/a new bow make a difference? I'm saving up and asking everyone for money for my upcoming birthday in the hope i can afford at least one of these two!

I decide on a weekly basis that my squeaky noises are due to a desperate and overwhelming need for new strings and a new bow.... and on a weekly basis my teacher tells me that my squeaky noises are entirely due to my incorrect technique..

But that's just my experience Your teacher can advise for best.

(However, I did go 'up a grade' in bow last year and I think it's made a tangible improvement Oh, and I also changed my E string and that I think that helped too..... )

It's all so confusing to be a learner!!!

It's much harder being an adult learner - I gave up work 11 years ago to look after my children and the two brain cells i have left arre almost packing their bags and leaving - one of the reasons i decided to learn the viola.

My daughter is far less wound up about it all than i am - she told me yesterday that practising was "such a happy thing", whereas i find it a totally frustrating thing!

Back from another lesson It was pretty good. At the start I complained that my homework was too hard but it wasn't that bad really, apart from Amazing Grace

I asked my teacher if it was ok to just play a note using the third finger without putting fingers one and two down (you know, like it's always taught in beginner books....) and she said that was fine which is good because I was finding it really hard moving my whole hand around...

I also learnt to play some new note like F on the D string and C on the A string, so I can now learn a 2-octave C major scale

As much as it is ok, I'm just warning you that when you start shifting etc, it is a good idea to be able to play with your first finger down as it helps to keep the hand in he right position when you're flailing about miles up the string with no peg box etc to anchor you.

But then again, you vibrato with only one.

Its great to hear that you're all doing so well.
x

I'll remember that, thanks

hi all!
i just tuned the new strings, it's rotosound brand
by the way, they are all easily out of tune for example the C string decrease to B flat and so on
i think they need some time to adjust

they sound gorgeous though

anyway, anyone know or using otto langey's for viola
i'm using it, also with suzuki viola no 1.

NOOOOO! You musn't do that! You'll be overtaking me soon!

If it's any consolation it sounds awful when I play it

What are you playing atm?

Claudia honey, I'd love to hear me play anything other than CDs at the mo! I've barely touched my poor baby for about 6 weeks - being ill for a few of them didn't help, nor did mucho invigilation and getting home shattered this week! Hoping to get back to it tomorrow. I did cut my nails this evening, so that's a start and I have been giving my little red theory book some hammer whilst bored to tears in exams, so I've got the main bits of Grade 3 theory under my belt. Just need to go through the exercises in the 'Practice' book now to consolidate and do some past papers. Oh, if you have any of those, I'd be interested.

My scales are one octave of F, D and G and two octaves of C. You can do the F scale once you've got the 2nd octave of C OK as it's the same (using low 2nd finger), just starting with 3rd finger instead of open string. I was excited when I mastered that one as it's a Grade 2 scale!!

Other than that, I'm to get sorted with the last section in Essential String Method Book 2 and I'm also using Viola Time Scales and doing the first 5 sections of that (which covers the above mentioned scales, just splits C into the 2 halves). Should be started ESM Book 3 v soon and I have my first lesson since 11 Dec next Thurs. Honestly, I should think poor E despairs of me.....

We'll meet at the concert next w/e, yes?

Erm no, I'm not going to be going to that, sorry

I've discovered that low 2nd finger is pretty hard. Guess I need to get used to it
Did you see my post in the forum events thread? The beginner orchestra funday looks fun, I might go along and play viola

Awww! Whad'ya mean you're not coming! NOT acceptable!

Yup, I just found the 'Events' posting you mentioned (I don't often go to other forums than this one - takes up too much time! ), but I'm not free that day. Actually, weekends, other than Saturday afternoons, are just not good for me. Sundays are rarely any use and that one we're in M'cr (nothing musical). Shame, but there it is.

I WILL do some viola prac today, I WILL!

Aww that's a shame I wasn't too sure about playing viola there as it says 1 year's playing, but I e-mailed the organiser and she said parts start with just open strings so that's ok

Sounds like lots of fun, but it can't be helped. Something else will come up, (probably something that I also can't make ).

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT:

I just did 15 mins or so of viola prac. Just scales, arps, open string and first finger exercises, but I did it and I'm well pleased with myself! I'm not that lazy, but being ill so much recently (don't you just love winter bugs?) has meant that my prac has really hit the wall. Anyway, I'm now determined to get back down to it and de-soften my fingers!

Nice one Elisabeth!

You'll get back into it don't worry.
Spark

hi upper strings beginners!
(btw, what are upper strings? are they only for violinists and violists, or also cellists and double bassists)

whoa, nice for you elisabeth
i also did practising after my lesson today, also practising piano there, because last week my teacher said no one use the room after my lesson, so i also brought my piano books

one more thing, as i'm no longer playing saxophone and clarinet, so it's not my_broken_reeds anymore
i want to change my username, what should i do?
thx

Does anyone find that it tends to go from one extreme to the other in terms of practice, or is it just me?

I've had loads of time over the hols which was great, now I'm back at uni and on placement, I'm spending so much of my time commuting and catching up on paperwork, reflections etc and next to no time with my lovely new violin. *sigh* My teacher says 20 mins every other day is better than nothing, and I'm struggling to fit that in at the moment.


AGH. goshdarnit.


edit: also, I've just realised that I'm getting frustrated. Not with practice/lack of, but not knowing quite where I'm at. While I understand that I'm building upon what I've already learnt etc etc, I'm finding it frustrating that week after week new "problems" keep cropping up- some of which we thought we'd sorted. One week we can sort my left hand out then the next it's a new bowing problem and vice versa. Ugh.
Also, the recurrent shoulder problem is probably not helping. I'm thinking I may have a problem with tension which is causing a lot of difficulty for me.

Does anyone else get the frustration at all???

All the time! Take yesterday for example - my teacher said really good things about my progress and I still came away from it thinking 'well that bit was rubbish' and 'I still can't do that'. I do try to be positive but some lessons nothing pleases me! I also don't know what any other beginners sound like so I only ever hear people much much better than me. There are definitely some pieces I feel I can only get up to a certain point with at the moment so I tend to leave those for a few weeks at that point and come back to them. My teacher is always saying things like 'remember when you couldn't do this and now you can' which is reassuring (although I never can remember what I was like!)

scarily enough the V word was mentioned for the first time yesterday which fills me with utter fear

Call yourself my_broken_strings?

I should try the 'My Controls' section to change your username. Alternatively, ask Skylark, she used to be under another name, but not sure if she re-registered or changed on-forum.

Re frustration, I think the reason that many of us get this is that, as adult learners, unlike kids who are just happy to be at their level and have fun, we really know the difference between what we can do and what our fave CDs sound like! I love, say, Bach's cello suites on viola, but I also know it's gonna be years before I can do that and that the violist on the CD will have been doing what I'm doing when she was about 8!! It does puzzle us when our teachers say we're doing well, but they do have a lot wider experience of what beginners are like! My first teacher, for all her faults as a teacher, did assure me that she'd heard people who'd been learning for more than 2 years making a far worse job than I was after a couple of months. I figured that she ought to know!!!

Upper strings are violin and viola. No reason why lower strings beginners can't post here too though. If this thread ever dies out (like 2 previous ones on the same line have), I'll re-start it as 'Strings Beginners' Thread', OK?

Haven't done any prac today and, frankly don't feel much like it at the mo, esp as I'm susceptible to frustration for the above mentioned reasons today and I'm tired, but I'll have a go as, the more I do practise, the closer Cello Suite #3 5th movement gets.....

haha, okey will try to change it

i see

hope you guys have wonderful practice

Not sure my practice could ever legitimately be called 'wonderful', but I have done it 3 days in a row now.

I've reaslised that I'm making more of a mess of things than I need to through sheer hesititation, esp. when I'm not alone at home. I did far better when I put the mute on and relaxed than when I was playing without it! Perhaps I need to tackle new things more that way and then play them 'full volume' when I've got my bow around them!!

i started violin 5 years ago - and gave up BUT came to my senses and restarted - Am i still a beginner?


x

If you're still on the 'elementary' levels (starter - Grade 3-ish), then this is the thread for you!! When most of us get post-Grade 3, I'll start the 'Intermediate Upper String Learners' thread!!

Just got back from my 2nd lesson - and feeling more like I have some idea of what I'm aiming for. We worked a lot on getting a more flexible bowing hand - can't do it yet but have more idea of what my teacher meant. Also worked a bit on my left hand position.

I've come to the conlcusion it's harder taking up the viola after not playing for a while as I have all these half remembered (or totally mis-remembered) bits to sort out, rather than learning from scratch - but don't let that put off anyone else thinking about returning - I'm really glad I did!

How are everyone else's lessons going? Anyone else using violatime joggers?

Hi, I don't think I've posted on this thread before. Does anybody have any ideas on how to sort out a wandering bow. It usually starts near the bridge then tends to wander up towards my left hand. My teacher did suggest that there is a bit of scaffolding that you can use, but I am not keen on that.