Hello, Strings Forum - this is my first post here and my first post on the forums for a while

I'm posting on behalf of my fourteen year old daughter, who wants to learn to play the violin. We have hired a Stentor 2 for three months today to see how she gets on but this is not necessarily the instrument we will buy. I understand that these are decent starter instruments but there are better alternatives out there when we come to purchase.

I hope to speak to some teachers locally on Monday, so that we can get on with lessons as soon as possible. In the meantime, she has got A New Tune A Day and has been watching the DVD, and practising bowing long notes. As a woodwind player, I confess to complete ignorance of string instruments but obviously I want to help her all I can. We've tuned the instrument and she is getting some decent sounds from it. I've told her to try to use her ears rather than relying on her tuner all the time - she has some previous musical experience, since she plays piano and electric and acoustic guitars and is good at playing by ear anyway (much better than I am!)

I think it is likely that she will need to use a shoulder rest and obviously I will seek advice from her teacher (once we've found one!) but wondered if anyone could suggest a good one to start with. She is currently using a scarf - is this acceptable for the time being? Also, are we right in thinking that the rosin needs to be applied to the bow every time she plays? We found a Youtube clip which suggested 5 - 10 strokes - is this good advice?

Grateful for any advice, tips and suggestions!

Rosin only every 2 or 3 days, maybe less! 5 or 6 strokes is plenty.
Bow hold, most important is the bent thumb and arched pinkie. 2nd finger opposite thumb. And relax, just like piano, it's arm weight that does alot of the work.
Kun or wolfe are very good shoulder rests, around the ?28 mark. Wolfe are good as you can bend them to fit exactly. For now a scarf, or a duster, or if she needs a little more height, a bath sponge will work.

Good luck with finding a good teacher!

I have yet to find anyone who has put too much rosin on a beginner's bow, the typical Chinese bow supplied with an outfit needs A LOT of rosin. That said, if it's a hire instrument the bow might not be new?

Liz

I've PMed you with a recommendation for a teacher

Agreed! And a Stentor II is perfectly fine for a while yet.
As for technique, even bow holds and hand positions, that's better left to the teacher as we all have different views!
Have fun!

I wouldn't go running out and buying a shoulder rest. Plenty of players who do without. It probably depends on the individual and what they feel comfortable with. A teacher can only give guidance on this aspect, ultimately it has to be the player who decides what feels comfortable and 'right'.

Thank you so much everyone for your replies!

The violin is new and I think the bow looks like it could stand liberal applications of rosin! We've taken on board the comments about shoulder rests - I think it's likely that she will want something but I will leave this to teacher for the time being, as the folded scarf seems to be adequate for now!

Saxophile, many thanks for the contact details - will follow this up on Monday.

Good to know that the Stentor is a reasonable choice to get her started. She's played us a selection of tunes by ear - including Happy Birthday (it's her birthday today) but I think we need to enlist the help of a teacher quickly or we might have an element of trying to run before she can walk! She seems to be doing a reasonable job of 'finding the notes', as she puts it - think it's the guitarist in her!

I think it's likely that she will want to set up her own username, so that she can post her own questions to you all but in the meantime, very many thanks for your help and advice - it's lovely to have a new instrument in the house and I'm looking forward to seeing her progress!

If you get the stentor conservatoire (which is the next one up from the stentor 2) you will find it a lot better, but i would change the strings to maybe dominants (the very cheap wires they put in them are no good). They are dearer, but you would then not have to bother up-grading to a better violin for quite a while. Mine is fab and i have played stentor 1's and II's ...... so have compared them. Mine easily plays grade 5 and will easily go higher! (i should think will go to grade 8).

Better strings on a Stentor II is very good advice. A high quality properly-fitted bridge is another upgrade which can improve the sound a lot, but is a bit more expensive than the strings, and isn't worth doing unless it's with the better strings.

I agree with this, but I wouldn't recommend changing anything other than strings on a rented instrument (and keep the original strings to put them back on when you return the instrument) unless you have written permission to do so, or have them make the changes. It would be fine if you then bought that instrument, but if you are likely to return it you don't want to run the risk of them charging you because you've modified the instrument (it can affect things like their warranties).

Thanks again everyone for your help. We have first lesson booked for tomorrow - thank you, Saxophile!

My daughter has registered on the forums now and I'm sure will post an update, as soon as she's able to start posting.

Time for me to head back to Viva Woodwind!

Excellent - glad to have been able to assist!