Learn to play, learn to love (Violins)

Name: craigy_baby_2000

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Product:	Violins
Date:	17/02/02 (835 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great fun, Rewarding

Disadvantages: Expensive

Whilst on my daily 25 minute dawdle home from school the other day, thoughts were flying through my head as to just what my next opinion could possibly be on. I wanted to pick something I've still yet to write on, but something that would be interesting and a real passion of my life.

I chose the category ‘Violin’ because, unsurprisingly enough, I play violin. Being an A-level Music student, and Grade 8 violinist, as well as choral director and singer in multitudes of choirs, I do tend to spend a rather large proportion of my life based around music and composing, playing, singing and breathing it. Although I can play Grade 3-4 piano and sing at a professional level (head inflating, sorry), it’s only the violin that is my one true musical passion, and the only one I’ve had private lessons for.

I’ve played the violin for around 10 years now, and I’ve gone through a number of different love-hate phases. To begin with, and this would apply to the majority of people, the violin is one of the most frustrating things you can ever decide to do. Whether you can read music or not, most teachers decide that you need to go through it all from the start, just so the other students can go at the same speed as you. This makes the whole process extremely tedious, since tunes are very basic and extremely boring, both to listen to and to play to.

The violin isn’t a difficult instrument to get a noise out of, simply by bowing with your right arm, and placing fingers with your left, you can get a sound. However, unlike with other instruments, where there are definite notes or keys to play in order to get one note, there is no sign of where you have to place your fingers to get a note. Hence, you have to commit all the gaps and spaces between each finger to heart just to make the notes in tune, which takes a long time. The quality of sound is also a key issue. For those of you who aren’t musical, vibrato is
a term used to slightly alter the pitch of the note in order to make it more pleasant to the ear (why it makes it sound more pleasant, I’m not too sure). Vibrato is a difficult thing to perfect on the violin, it involves remembering the gaps and moving your hand whilst trying to change notes. Hence, quality of sound takes time to perfect, several years even.

All of these problems are why people tend to give up on the violin almost as soon as they’ve started. A large percentage of people who take up the violin drop it within a year or two. Lessons are expensive, and without one-to-one tuition, there’s very little chance of improving quality of sound in a short amount of time. People (usually parents) get fed up paying out masses of money each week for lessons, music, strings, and instrument hire, and the players (usually kids) get frustrated.

About four or five years after you take up the instrument initially, the magic starts to work its way into the heart. Pieces suddenly sound more professional, and, however hard the piece is, you can generally sight-read it with next to no difficulty. You learn to adapt more to the style of the piece, and the period of the music, and, as with any instrument, your appreciation of the music helps you to develop your individuality as a performer. It’s unbelievably satisfying to be able to play a piece of professional music, especially when people believe that pieces are too hard for you to play.

However, there comes a stage where, either the music gets so tough that you need a couple of hours on each bar to work it through thoroughly, or the music requires too much concentration, because it’s so fast and you lose interest. The pendulum swings. There are some pieces that are too quick for the eye, and have to be learnt off by heart before you can even attempt them. Such is the piece I am trying at the moment, the famous ‘Flight of the Bumble-Bee’ by Rimsky-Korsa
kov. However, I will persist, even if it does take me hours just to learn the damn thing.

Playing in orchestras with violins is rather fun. Violinists are generally regarded as big-headed (I think I’ve already won you over on that one), not only because their music is so challenging, but also because they are the leaders of the orchestra, quite literally. They rarely have anything other than the melody, (unless it’s a piece that has been specifically written for another instrument,) and they are an essential part of any orchestral mix. Orchestral music is therefore a lot of fun to play, it’s difficult, but rewarding work.

As some general advice, I would make sure that the violin is the right instrument for your child or for yourself before indulging your life-savings, but quality of instruments (violins can cost from £150 right up into the thousands), strings (about £40 for a good set), bow and case are all important. They don’t, as you can see, come cheap. Also consider the music; at around £8 per piece, you may soon see the need to start up a fund, or why the lottery spends so much money on helping people learn instruments.

I would also recommend private lessons. These can cost substantially more (it’s usually around £10/half hour for a private lesson, but only around £4 for a lesson with other students), but it’s well worth the extra money. The attention and focus that you receive helps to improve your playing substantially, and your individual playing needs are catered for as well. Private lessons become essential after you reach Grade 3-4 standard, but are a good idea even before then.

The main thing is to persist with it. It can become tedious, it can become tiring, and it can be very very expensive. But there is nothing like being able to indulge in a little Vivaldi after a hard day at work or school, or being able to play along to Czardas with Nigel Kennedy on the TV, even if he does
play very unprofessionally… And when new music arrives, you find yourself fully living the music as opposed to simply playing it, as soon as you get it out of the packet, incorporating the tone that the composer wants, and playing with the passion that fills all violinists for their beloved wood, horse-hair and sheep-gut. Giving the child the gift of learning any instrument is rewarding, but violins are something special. The most respected of all instruments, the simplest to pick up, the hardest to perfect. Who said the Italians weren’t geniuses?

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