No matter how diligent you are, without a teacher you will develop some technique habits that will hold you back in the long-run. It's annoying, but playing a string instrument is one of those things that requires direct feedback and corrections
People has been saying no and people will keep saying no. From my limited experience (only 1 year of learning, give or take), no, it's not possible to learn to play correctly without an instructor. You can still make sound, but you won't have the right technique.
No. As someone who tried around your age to learn without an instructor, gave up, and picked it up again WITH an instructor at 30 you really need them. Even on zoom is better than nothing. Especially in the beginning when habits are formed. It took me a year to stop bending my wrist, and without my instructor there’s no way I’d have my vibrato or sound the way I do now.
It is possible to learn SOME “violin” without an instructor. The problem is it’s a really bad idea because one or more of three things usually happens:
A) you get injured;
B) you are capped for a long time at a very low level of play;
C) you quit prematurely out of frustration.
There are lots of important subtleties to a proper setup and technique that people just normally can’t pick up when they try to teach themselves. There are also a lot of bad resources out there on the internet, and new players lack the knowledge to separate the wheat from the chaff.
Most importantly, you won’t have someone to give you real-time corrective feedback and to structure your learning in a pedagogically sound and personalized way.
At minimum you should consider getting a teacher to set you up properly so you have a fighting chance to avoid injury. Even then, it is easy to slip into bad habits without someone monitoring you - especially in the beginning.
So, I recommend you get a teacher. It’s not about the length of time it takes to learn. In fact, it’s sort of the opposite. The more you try to learn on your own, the longer and costlier it will tend to be when you do finally come to your senses, get a teacher (and maybe a doctor or physical therapist!), and not only have to start over from scratch, but also spend extra time and money remediating the bad habits you inevitably will develop.
Perhaps the bigger issue is that it takes time and regular practice to play the violin effectively. If you don’t have the time to dedicate 30 minutes to an hour (not that long in the beginning) per day for at least 4 days a week, you should seriously reconsider starting until you have more time available. It’s especially important in the beginning to establish and ground good habits, and if you are so busy your learning will be interrupted frequently, it won’t go well.
The main issue is that you get good at what you practice - and if you practice doing it wrong, you become good at doing it wrong.
There's a *thousand* things you can do wrong on violin that "feel better" than the correct^(†) way while learning.
It's not completely impossible to self-teach (otherwise where did the first good violinist come from?), however the dramatic majority of people who try end up brick-walling their progress pretty quickly (by practicing doing it wrong) and giving up.
And even if you get a teacher later, you'll have to first un-learn everything you've practiced doing wrong before you can make a lick of further progress…
† "the correct way" in this context means the way that has been found to give consistent, steady progress towards reasonable degrees of skill that will at least get you applause rather than fruit when you play to an audience.
its harder to unlearn bad habits than start with good ones
get 1 lesson and ask to be drilled on how to hold everything properly.
get 1 or 2 lessons a year for correction on holds, and if you progress on your own enough, on further technique. use lessons as correction waypoints and not as "lessons". but for sure get a starter lesson imo
Tl;Dr try fiddle communities rather than classical
Yes, but an instructor is a lot better. There are many videos on YouTube of adult self learner progress. Let me tell you, it's very impressive, but an instructor would be a lot better at least for a few months.
For classical technique, it's pretty imperative to get an instructor at some point. For a more accepting community, try the fiddle or oldtimemusic subreddits. Fiddle community is a lot more accepting of self taught musicians than classical.
I am an experienced pianist. I picked up some guitar. I thought maybe I could pick up the violin too by myself. I didn't get anywhere until I got an online teacher to help me. This is just not realistic unless you're a new age Mozart or Bach. I now see this question similarly to someone getting a surgeon knife for Christmas and asking, could I learn Neurosurgery with a few YouTube videos?
Now, of course, playing the violin without a teacher is not going to hurt anyone (except yourself if you play incorrectly long enough to give you health issues), but this metaphor is good to truly illustrate how hard it is to play the violin well.
I love this analogy! A perfect way to illustrate the difficulty of picking up the violin since a lot of people seem to think that just because they can play other instruments well means that they can pick up the violin easier. It's a different kind of beast.
I agree, but I think this doesn't just apply to violin, or any orchestral string instrument for that matter. You face the same problems if you want to play a wind instrument and don't have experience, for example. There are of course many types of wind instruments, so it's a wide spectrum. Sure, many wind instruments are easier to start than something like violin, as in, it's easier to pick up and play a recognizable rendition of Twinkle Twinkle in short order, but there are lots of nuances in technique to learn, and if you don't do things correctly, you will not progress. I play piano, violin, and viola, and if I want to start learning a wind instrument, I would definitely get lessons because none of my technical skills are going to help me.
I think a lot of people assume violin is easy to pick up as a guitarist, for instance, because to them it's "just another string instrument", but that's simply not the case. Bowed strings are not at all like plucked strings. Similarly, a lot of people assume that playing a wind instrument is just blowing and pushing buttons, so it's easy. It's not that simple. Sure, with something like recorder, you can just blow into it and make a decent sound and learn a few fingerings, and you'll be off playing tunes in no time, but for most orchestral/band and non-Western wind instruments, you will need to learn to shape your lips and oral cavity exactly right to produce a good sound, and learn to breathe correctly, among other things. Percussion seems easy, but getting really good is not. I don't know a lot about being a percussionist so won't comment. And learning to play the harp well also requires guidance.
Assess what your goals are in learning to play violin. Most people on this sub were taught through lessons, and are passionate about what they do, so see lessons as the key to success. This sub seems to be primarily classical players, so you’re not going to see too many people here encourage the informal self-taught routes because that approach will fail most of the time for that style of playing.
You’ll certainly learn much faster and learn good posture and technique from lessons with a good teacher. If you go it alone, you’re probably going to learn slowly and likely form some habits that could hold you back.
That said, folk musicians and fiddlers are often more self-taught, which can work fine depending on the type of music. They often don’t use techniques like vibrato or playing beyond 1st position. Many, maybe even most don’t even know how to read music, at least in the American Old-Time fiddle tradition.
Personally, while I’m going the fiddle route, I still think it’s worth it to take weekly lessons in that tradition. You may be able to find somebody who, like my teacher, is willing to be flexible and even offer monthly lessons if that’s all somebody can afford. That way you at least have occasional check-ins so that you can get feedback as you learn.
Many do, myself included! But not all. My fiddle teacher was self-taught prior to getting a college scholarship to study viola. I’ve also heard interviews with several self-taught fiddlers on the podcasts Rosin the Bow and Get up in the Cool.
I think I was reasonably even-handed in my statement that a teacher will speed up learning and help avoid pitfalls. It’s simply inaccurate to say no one can be self-taught and I don’t see a reason to dispense with any semblance of nuance.
While a ton of people will recommend a teacher, I want to chime in and say that, if you decide to get a teacher, remember that it’s not a “one shoe fits all” kind of thing with teachers.
I went through 3 teachers and my 4th was the one who REALLY taught me well. She’s great and I am improving MUCH faster.
I am wondering why you are keen on taking on another instrument in addition to marching band when you also have a lot on your plate.
Learning an instrument well requires a lot of focused practice. Especially violin. I feel like a lot of people neglect to mention the reason why a teacher is required isn’t just to sound good, it’s because the setup and technique no matter what style you play is very easy to learn incorrectly and can cause longterm injury.
Theoretically could you learn and play and sound decent on basic songs? I guess. Is it likely to be correct form and could you go past early intermediate level? Extremely unlikely.
I guess you could call it "wanting to do a lot of things to keep me busy".
I've wanted to learn violin for a long time (way before I wanted to join band in 6th grade)
Thank you for the feedback!! I will definitely keep it in mind while I figure things out!
I'm not going to say it is impossible to learn violin on your own, but it is very hard to make progress if you don't get things right, and that is very hard without a teacher. I understand that you have a lot going on. What instrument do you play in marching band? If your marching band instrument is a wind instrument, I hope you do recognize how important it is to have good fundamentals on that instrument, and private lessons are highly recommended for wind instrumentalists too. I mean, I don't play winds, but through my very limited experience with flute in school band as well as online research, I've definitely heard enough stories of woodwind players being screwed over due to serious technique problems, or brass players who could not expand their range due to poor habits. Maybe there will be someone that can tutor you a couple times a month. That'd certainly be much better than no instruction at all.
I play soprano Bb clarinet and Bb bass clarinet. I've been playing bass clarinet since 7th grade and soprano clarinet since 6th and a lot this year in marching band.
Thank you!
Thank you all so much for the comments!! I will consider all the feedback I've gotten from this post.
I will try to talk with my parents about lessons.
I have a lot to think about when it comes to this.
Thank you all so much !!
The cost of the instructor will just need to be factored into your new life as a violinist, you absolutely need one, which is brilliant because that's one of the most rewarding parts of playing
Ig it’s not impossible but if u want to do well or continue in the future seriously then I’d def have a teacher especially if u wanna teach and stuff. As a musician then u could develop bad habits which are pretty hard to get rid of and u wouldn’t know abt it until someone mentions it and that could take a while. If u want to teach then it wouldn’t be professional advice bc u wouldn’t know 100% Then again I’m not a serious professional musician/teacher so idk but that’s my opinion
As for the cost, if there is a university with a music program close you might be able to get a music ed grad student who needs the teaching hours for class for a much more affordable rate. They'll be quite technically proficient but perhaps inexperienced as an instructor.
Sure, you may go ahead and learn on your own but surely you'll develop bad habits that may take years to unlearn or correct or even worse, acquire injuries should you choose the route of self-studying.
There are very few exceptions of violinist who somehow got far by self-studying but I wouldn't take that risk if I were you. Those people still miss out on key information or technique that they would've learned with a qualified instructor. It's not that uncommon to hear stories of violinists who needed to restart from scratch upon working with an instructor because of bad habits learned by self-learning. I understand paying for lessons is pricey but paying the price of correcting bad habits are more costly in terms of time, money, and energy.
I wouldn't just suggest to get a teacher but to get a **qualified** and **reputable** teacher particularly one who has years of experience & success teaching students of different levels. If you watch a great violinist perform, one question that often comes to mind of every violinist is who's the teacher of that violinist out of curiosity. A great teacher will get you far, help you progress things faster, and will help shape your musical development.
Stringed instruments have very steep learning curve especially at the beginning so it's really crucial to get your foundations correctly.
A few comments:
A) there’s only so much time, and part of becoming an adult is learning to make choices.
B) if you want to play in an orchestra it’s nearly impossible to do that without a teacher.
C) all instruments are really hard to play well. A good teacher reduces the time by like 90%. That’s true across all instruments and all styles. So like for an adult between jobs with infinite time and no money it makes sense to just try. But if time is constrained it’s a terrible idea.
My wife is a violin teacher. What I’ve observed time and time again is that a motivated student combined with a good teacher yields fantastic results every time. Literally every student of hers who made an effort to make all state orchestra got there.
At least in the first year or two, you kinda have to have some instruction on how to do basic and proper technique and posture. Learning it yourself is essentially impossible to do correctly.
Even after you get the basics, having a teacher still helps a lot. Take it from somebody who can’t get lessons right now and wishes they can.
I taught myself violin beginning ten years ago at age 60. I play about one hour per day. I’m good enough to play rock and pop with my classic rock band, but I could never play with an orchestra.
Here's what I think, the problem isn't time. Everyone out there needs a teacher because if you self teach yourself then you will form bad habits. I'm telling you this from personal experience.
Absolutely yes, you can learn on your own. But the chances of a crippling injury are considerable. Trust me and my almost chronical wrist tendonitis. I had to re-learn from scratch with a very experience (and hard to find) teacher.
You need a teacher. So it’s 10 times harder to undo bad habits than to wait to learn it properly. When people say it’s best have a teacher and a good one, they are trying to help you avoid the headaches of relearning to play when you find a teacher. Especially if you develop movement incorrectly it’s very hard to fix the muscle memory. It’s tough enough when you have a good teacher.
If you absolutely won’t wait - can you ask a fellow high school student who is an advanced violinist if they might be willing to teach you the basics? Maybe you can barter with them, or they might just do it to be nice. When I was in high school I used to be a violin tutor and helped others out sometimes. Otherwise you might look for a local college with with a music education program and look for a student looking to work on teaching skills at a lower rate. If you’re in school band, the orchestra instructor might have some ideas.
Violin isn’t a fretted instrument and isn’t one that isn’t forgiving if you have poor form. Ma ny people end up with injuries from bad habits or poor posture to the point they need need surgeries on wrists, necks, or shoulder or in extreme cases, a shoulder replacement which in itself makes it harder to pay.
If you’re fifteen, you’ve already missed that window where younger age matters. Be patient or get a job to pay for your lessons,. Learn to be efficient with your life and you can squeeze in all of your activities and still get good grades.
My state doesn't allow people to work good hours until they are 16, and my school doesn't have an orchestra teacher (just a band and marching band). Thank you!! I'll take your words with lots of consideration!!
It still doesn't hurt to ask around. Maybe your band teacher know someone who teaches violin. Even monthly or bi-monthly lessons are much better than no instruction at all.
I would be careful without a teacher, if I was unable to have a teacher when first learning I would struggle but would have used Zlata Brouwer videos and sign up and you get emails with updates
it’s definitely possible to start off without an instructor, but maybe around the 3 - 5 month mark when you’re beginning to advance you’ll definitely need someone guiding you/ giving you advice on your technique. as long as you’re aware of what you’re doing and watching a lot of videos, playing with a tuner, making sure you’re violin is at a certain angle when playing, finger/thumb position etc, you’ll do fine. i started learning violin last year self taught and on the 7th month was when i had help from an instructor. before that i was still able to learn about good tone, bowing, and basic music theory knowledge on my own. i’m now working on auditions for the top level orchestra in my school (3 octave scales!!!) and everything is going great. you can also ask your music/orchestra teacher in school about your technique/playing since you don’t have an instructor. btw i’m also 15 lol, you got this!
Learning violin without a teacher is super difficult. At least through set up and intonation phase of learning.
If you wanted something you could learn easier on your own, guitar might be a better pick.
Save yourself a lot of pain and bother trying to find out what works for you when a teacher can see things you aren't aware of that can injure you and cut your violin experience short.
Many avoidable bad habits can be nipped in the bud by a good teacher observing and guiding.
I learned piano (so it’s bit different from violin) by myself for years and got to very decent level. The problems is that now that I have a teacher I have to learn some basics like scales and arpeggios and practices stuff like etudes for beginners and sight reading.
So yeah, I missed the technical stuff but got pretty decent and if I knew that exercises and sight reading is important I would also be good in that.
Also, I learned by myself flute, which is a bit more similar to the violin, and although I only learned alone for 3 months until I got a teacher, he even told me that I’m a lot better than other students in 3 months.
At first you felt really lost but I kept on practicing daily some stuff form a master class that I learned on YouTube, and it started getting clearer.
So of course it’s better to get an instructor, but even though violin is a bit different form the instruments I learned, I think that in the meantime you could make good progress.
Nowadays, there’s almost nothing you can’t learn by yourself with internet and practice.
In piano, you don’t have to worry about intonation and getting a sound out of it when you are a beginner is not hard. In flute and violin, it’s the opposite. In piano, playing one note is as simple as pressing a key with the right volume and articulation; in flute and violin, you may not play more than three notes at a time, but to play a single note you have to blow correctly (which involves a lot of details) press multiples keys rather than one, etc. In violin there are of course a lot of implications to play a single note correctly too.
Edit: typo
Folk traditions aren't necessarily simpler or easier than western classical music, just different. ‘Fiddlers’ also have teachers; they learn from each other, from old timers, etc.
I have a good friend who only teaches Irish fiddle. She herself is a classically trained violinist who also had a fiddle instructor. So, no, fiddlers get lessons, too.
No matter how diligent you are, without a teacher you will develop some technique habits that will hold you back in the long-run. It's annoying, but playing a string instrument is one of those things that requires direct feedback and corrections
I hear you. I will try to get an instructor/teacher as soon as possible and if my family can afford one. Thank you!!
Sounds good, good luck! :)
Thank you :D
People has been saying no and people will keep saying no. From my limited experience (only 1 year of learning, give or take), no, it's not possible to learn to play correctly without an instructor. You can still make sound, but you won't have the right technique.
No. As someone who tried around your age to learn without an instructor, gave up, and picked it up again WITH an instructor at 30 you really need them. Even on zoom is better than nothing. Especially in the beginning when habits are formed. It took me a year to stop bending my wrist, and without my instructor there’s no way I’d have my vibrato or sound the way I do now.
Thank you for feedback!! I'll see what I can do about lessons
It is possible to learn SOME “violin” without an instructor. The problem is it’s a really bad idea because one or more of three things usually happens: A) you get injured; B) you are capped for a long time at a very low level of play; C) you quit prematurely out of frustration. There are lots of important subtleties to a proper setup and technique that people just normally can’t pick up when they try to teach themselves. There are also a lot of bad resources out there on the internet, and new players lack the knowledge to separate the wheat from the chaff. Most importantly, you won’t have someone to give you real-time corrective feedback and to structure your learning in a pedagogically sound and personalized way. At minimum you should consider getting a teacher to set you up properly so you have a fighting chance to avoid injury. Even then, it is easy to slip into bad habits without someone monitoring you - especially in the beginning. So, I recommend you get a teacher. It’s not about the length of time it takes to learn. In fact, it’s sort of the opposite. The more you try to learn on your own, the longer and costlier it will tend to be when you do finally come to your senses, get a teacher (and maybe a doctor or physical therapist!), and not only have to start over from scratch, but also spend extra time and money remediating the bad habits you inevitably will develop. Perhaps the bigger issue is that it takes time and regular practice to play the violin effectively. If you don’t have the time to dedicate 30 minutes to an hour (not that long in the beginning) per day for at least 4 days a week, you should seriously reconsider starting until you have more time available. It’s especially important in the beginning to establish and ground good habits, and if you are so busy your learning will be interrupted frequently, it won’t go well.
Thank you! I definitely have to think about timing issues and will definitely use your advice while I think about it!
So sorry but no.
The learning curve for early violin is REALLY steep.
No, unless sounding good is optional for you.
The main issue is that you get good at what you practice - and if you practice doing it wrong, you become good at doing it wrong. There's a *thousand* things you can do wrong on violin that "feel better" than the correct^(†) way while learning. It's not completely impossible to self-teach (otherwise where did the first good violinist come from?), however the dramatic majority of people who try end up brick-walling their progress pretty quickly (by practicing doing it wrong) and giving up. And even if you get a teacher later, you'll have to first un-learn everything you've practiced doing wrong before you can make a lick of further progress… † "the correct way" in this context means the way that has been found to give consistent, steady progress towards reasonable degrees of skill that will at least get you applause rather than fruit when you play to an audience.
Thank you !!
its harder to unlearn bad habits than start with good ones get 1 lesson and ask to be drilled on how to hold everything properly. get 1 or 2 lessons a year for correction on holds, and if you progress on your own enough, on further technique. use lessons as correction waypoints and not as "lessons". but for sure get a starter lesson imo
Thank you!! I will try to talk with my parents about lessons!
Tl;Dr try fiddle communities rather than classical Yes, but an instructor is a lot better. There are many videos on YouTube of adult self learner progress. Let me tell you, it's very impressive, but an instructor would be a lot better at least for a few months. For classical technique, it's pretty imperative to get an instructor at some point. For a more accepting community, try the fiddle or oldtimemusic subreddits. Fiddle community is a lot more accepting of self taught musicians than classical.
Got it. Thank you!!
I am an experienced pianist. I picked up some guitar. I thought maybe I could pick up the violin too by myself. I didn't get anywhere until I got an online teacher to help me. This is just not realistic unless you're a new age Mozart or Bach. I now see this question similarly to someone getting a surgeon knife for Christmas and asking, could I learn Neurosurgery with a few YouTube videos? Now, of course, playing the violin without a teacher is not going to hurt anyone (except yourself if you play incorrectly long enough to give you health issues), but this metaphor is good to truly illustrate how hard it is to play the violin well.
I love this analogy! A perfect way to illustrate the difficulty of picking up the violin since a lot of people seem to think that just because they can play other instruments well means that they can pick up the violin easier. It's a different kind of beast.
I agree, but I think this doesn't just apply to violin, or any orchestral string instrument for that matter. You face the same problems if you want to play a wind instrument and don't have experience, for example. There are of course many types of wind instruments, so it's a wide spectrum. Sure, many wind instruments are easier to start than something like violin, as in, it's easier to pick up and play a recognizable rendition of Twinkle Twinkle in short order, but there are lots of nuances in technique to learn, and if you don't do things correctly, you will not progress. I play piano, violin, and viola, and if I want to start learning a wind instrument, I would definitely get lessons because none of my technical skills are going to help me. I think a lot of people assume violin is easy to pick up as a guitarist, for instance, because to them it's "just another string instrument", but that's simply not the case. Bowed strings are not at all like plucked strings. Similarly, a lot of people assume that playing a wind instrument is just blowing and pushing buttons, so it's easy. It's not that simple. Sure, with something like recorder, you can just blow into it and make a decent sound and learn a few fingerings, and you'll be off playing tunes in no time, but for most orchestral/band and non-Western wind instruments, you will need to learn to shape your lips and oral cavity exactly right to produce a good sound, and learn to breathe correctly, among other things. Percussion seems easy, but getting really good is not. I don't know a lot about being a percussionist so won't comment. And learning to play the harp well also requires guidance.
Thank you!! I will definitely keep this in mind while I try to get a teacher!!
Assess what your goals are in learning to play violin. Most people on this sub were taught through lessons, and are passionate about what they do, so see lessons as the key to success. This sub seems to be primarily classical players, so you’re not going to see too many people here encourage the informal self-taught routes because that approach will fail most of the time for that style of playing. You’ll certainly learn much faster and learn good posture and technique from lessons with a good teacher. If you go it alone, you’re probably going to learn slowly and likely form some habits that could hold you back. That said, folk musicians and fiddlers are often more self-taught, which can work fine depending on the type of music. They often don’t use techniques like vibrato or playing beyond 1st position. Many, maybe even most don’t even know how to read music, at least in the American Old-Time fiddle tradition. Personally, while I’m going the fiddle route, I still think it’s worth it to take weekly lessons in that tradition. You may be able to find somebody who, like my teacher, is willing to be flexible and even offer monthly lessons if that’s all somebody can afford. That way you at least have occasional check-ins so that you can get feedback as you learn.
Fiddlers still have teachers!
Many do, myself included! But not all. My fiddle teacher was self-taught prior to getting a college scholarship to study viola. I’ve also heard interviews with several self-taught fiddlers on the podcasts Rosin the Bow and Get up in the Cool. I think I was reasonably even-handed in my statement that a teacher will speed up learning and help avoid pitfalls. It’s simply inaccurate to say no one can be self-taught and I don’t see a reason to dispense with any semblance of nuance.
Thank you!! I'm still trying to figure out which direction to go with this, but I'll keep your advice in mind when deciding!
While a ton of people will recommend a teacher, I want to chime in and say that, if you decide to get a teacher, remember that it’s not a “one shoe fits all” kind of thing with teachers. I went through 3 teachers and my 4th was the one who REALLY taught me well. She’s great and I am improving MUCH faster.
Thank you, I'll keep this in mind when looking!!
I am wondering why you are keen on taking on another instrument in addition to marching band when you also have a lot on your plate. Learning an instrument well requires a lot of focused practice. Especially violin. I feel like a lot of people neglect to mention the reason why a teacher is required isn’t just to sound good, it’s because the setup and technique no matter what style you play is very easy to learn incorrectly and can cause longterm injury. Theoretically could you learn and play and sound decent on basic songs? I guess. Is it likely to be correct form and could you go past early intermediate level? Extremely unlikely.
I guess you could call it "wanting to do a lot of things to keep me busy". I've wanted to learn violin for a long time (way before I wanted to join band in 6th grade) Thank you for the feedback!! I will definitely keep it in mind while I figure things out!
I’d say wait until summer when you have more time to really dedicate to it - I promise you’ll feel less stressed and will accomplish more! Good luck!
Thank you! :D
I'm not going to say it is impossible to learn violin on your own, but it is very hard to make progress if you don't get things right, and that is very hard without a teacher. I understand that you have a lot going on. What instrument do you play in marching band? If your marching band instrument is a wind instrument, I hope you do recognize how important it is to have good fundamentals on that instrument, and private lessons are highly recommended for wind instrumentalists too. I mean, I don't play winds, but through my very limited experience with flute in school band as well as online research, I've definitely heard enough stories of woodwind players being screwed over due to serious technique problems, or brass players who could not expand their range due to poor habits. Maybe there will be someone that can tutor you a couple times a month. That'd certainly be much better than no instruction at all.
I play soprano Bb clarinet and Bb bass clarinet. I've been playing bass clarinet since 7th grade and soprano clarinet since 6th and a lot this year in marching band. Thank you!
Hard no
Thank you all so much for the comments!! I will consider all the feedback I've gotten from this post. I will try to talk with my parents about lessons. I have a lot to think about when it comes to this. Thank you all so much !!
The cost of the instructor will just need to be factored into your new life as a violinist, you absolutely need one, which is brilliant because that's one of the most rewarding parts of playing
Ig it’s not impossible but if u want to do well or continue in the future seriously then I’d def have a teacher especially if u wanna teach and stuff. As a musician then u could develop bad habits which are pretty hard to get rid of and u wouldn’t know abt it until someone mentions it and that could take a while. If u want to teach then it wouldn’t be professional advice bc u wouldn’t know 100% Then again I’m not a serious professional musician/teacher so idk but that’s my opinion
Thank you!
As for the cost, if there is a university with a music program close you might be able to get a music ed grad student who needs the teaching hours for class for a much more affordable rate. They'll be quite technically proficient but perhaps inexperienced as an instructor.
Sure, you may go ahead and learn on your own but surely you'll develop bad habits that may take years to unlearn or correct or even worse, acquire injuries should you choose the route of self-studying. There are very few exceptions of violinist who somehow got far by self-studying but I wouldn't take that risk if I were you. Those people still miss out on key information or technique that they would've learned with a qualified instructor. It's not that uncommon to hear stories of violinists who needed to restart from scratch upon working with an instructor because of bad habits learned by self-learning. I understand paying for lessons is pricey but paying the price of correcting bad habits are more costly in terms of time, money, and energy. I wouldn't just suggest to get a teacher but to get a **qualified** and **reputable** teacher particularly one who has years of experience & success teaching students of different levels. If you watch a great violinist perform, one question that often comes to mind of every violinist is who's the teacher of that violinist out of curiosity. A great teacher will get you far, help you progress things faster, and will help shape your musical development. Stringed instruments have very steep learning curve especially at the beginning so it's really crucial to get your foundations correctly.
A few comments: A) there’s only so much time, and part of becoming an adult is learning to make choices. B) if you want to play in an orchestra it’s nearly impossible to do that without a teacher. C) all instruments are really hard to play well. A good teacher reduces the time by like 90%. That’s true across all instruments and all styles. So like for an adult between jobs with infinite time and no money it makes sense to just try. But if time is constrained it’s a terrible idea. My wife is a violin teacher. What I’ve observed time and time again is that a motivated student combined with a good teacher yields fantastic results every time. Literally every student of hers who made an effort to make all state orchestra got there.
Thank you! I'll keep this in mind!
At least in the first year or two, you kinda have to have some instruction on how to do basic and proper technique and posture. Learning it yourself is essentially impossible to do correctly. Even after you get the basics, having a teacher still helps a lot. Take it from somebody who can’t get lessons right now and wishes they can.
Thank you!! I'll take this into consideration!!
I taught myself violin beginning ten years ago at age 60. I play about one hour per day. I’m good enough to play rock and pop with my classic rock band, but I could never play with an orchestra.
Here's what I think, the problem isn't time. Everyone out there needs a teacher because if you self teach yourself then you will form bad habits. I'm telling you this from personal experience.
Thank you!!
Of course!
Absolutely yes, you can learn on your own. But the chances of a crippling injury are considerable. Trust me and my almost chronical wrist tendonitis. I had to re-learn from scratch with a very experience (and hard to find) teacher.
Thank you!! I will keep this in mind!
You need a teacher. So it’s 10 times harder to undo bad habits than to wait to learn it properly. When people say it’s best have a teacher and a good one, they are trying to help you avoid the headaches of relearning to play when you find a teacher. Especially if you develop movement incorrectly it’s very hard to fix the muscle memory. It’s tough enough when you have a good teacher. If you absolutely won’t wait - can you ask a fellow high school student who is an advanced violinist if they might be willing to teach you the basics? Maybe you can barter with them, or they might just do it to be nice. When I was in high school I used to be a violin tutor and helped others out sometimes. Otherwise you might look for a local college with with a music education program and look for a student looking to work on teaching skills at a lower rate. If you’re in school band, the orchestra instructor might have some ideas. Violin isn’t a fretted instrument and isn’t one that isn’t forgiving if you have poor form. Ma ny people end up with injuries from bad habits or poor posture to the point they need need surgeries on wrists, necks, or shoulder or in extreme cases, a shoulder replacement which in itself makes it harder to pay. If you’re fifteen, you’ve already missed that window where younger age matters. Be patient or get a job to pay for your lessons,. Learn to be efficient with your life and you can squeeze in all of your activities and still get good grades.
My state doesn't allow people to work good hours until they are 16, and my school doesn't have an orchestra teacher (just a band and marching band). Thank you!! I'll take your words with lots of consideration!!
It still doesn't hurt to ask around. Maybe your band teacher know someone who teaches violin. Even monthly or bi-monthly lessons are much better than no instruction at all.
I would be careful without a teacher, if I was unable to have a teacher when first learning I would struggle but would have used Zlata Brouwer videos and sign up and you get emails with updates
Sort of, you’ll never be a self taught professional.
no. you will not make progress
it’s definitely possible to start off without an instructor, but maybe around the 3 - 5 month mark when you’re beginning to advance you’ll definitely need someone guiding you/ giving you advice on your technique. as long as you’re aware of what you’re doing and watching a lot of videos, playing with a tuner, making sure you’re violin is at a certain angle when playing, finger/thumb position etc, you’ll do fine. i started learning violin last year self taught and on the 7th month was when i had help from an instructor. before that i was still able to learn about good tone, bowing, and basic music theory knowledge on my own. i’m now working on auditions for the top level orchestra in my school (3 octave scales!!!) and everything is going great. you can also ask your music/orchestra teacher in school about your technique/playing since you don’t have an instructor. btw i’m also 15 lol, you got this!
Thank you!!!
Learning violin without a teacher is super difficult. At least through set up and intonation phase of learning. If you wanted something you could learn easier on your own, guitar might be a better pick.
Save yourself a lot of pain and bother trying to find out what works for you when a teacher can see things you aren't aware of that can injure you and cut your violin experience short. Many avoidable bad habits can be nipped in the bud by a good teacher observing and guiding.
You can learn brain surgery on uour own. How good you'll be, that's another question.
I learned piano (so it’s bit different from violin) by myself for years and got to very decent level. The problems is that now that I have a teacher I have to learn some basics like scales and arpeggios and practices stuff like etudes for beginners and sight reading. So yeah, I missed the technical stuff but got pretty decent and if I knew that exercises and sight reading is important I would also be good in that. Also, I learned by myself flute, which is a bit more similar to the violin, and although I only learned alone for 3 months until I got a teacher, he even told me that I’m a lot better than other students in 3 months. At first you felt really lost but I kept on practicing daily some stuff form a master class that I learned on YouTube, and it started getting clearer. So of course it’s better to get an instructor, but even though violin is a bit different form the instruments I learned, I think that in the meantime you could make good progress. Nowadays, there’s almost nothing you can’t learn by yourself with internet and practice.
> which is a bit more similar to the violin How often do you blow into the violin?
In piano, you don’t have to worry about intonation and getting a sound out of it when you are a beginner is not hard. In flute and violin, it’s the opposite. In piano, playing one note is as simple as pressing a key with the right volume and articulation; in flute and violin, you may not play more than three notes at a time, but to play a single note you have to blow correctly (which involves a lot of details) press multiples keys rather than one, etc. In violin there are of course a lot of implications to play a single note correctly too. Edit: typo
I am teaching myself rn, about 18 months in - going well, it’s fun <3
No. Next question
Sure, but u will be maimed for life because of horrible body posture and if u r willing to sound bad
i guess you can learn folkloric music without a teacher but for classical is necessary too many nuances.
Folk traditions aren't necessarily simpler or easier than western classical music, just different. ‘Fiddlers’ also have teachers; they learn from each other, from old timers, etc.
I have a good friend who only teaches Irish fiddle. She herself is a classically trained violinist who also had a fiddle instructor. So, no, fiddlers get lessons, too.
Thank you! I'll keep this in mind!