Since I was a child I always had a keyboard and a great appreciation for the piano, but I also always admired the sound of the violin, until I finally decided to buy one. In this article I want to tell my first experience with violin, difficulties and mistakes.
Before buying the violin, I asked several people, I did several researches, to find out the difficulty of playing such an instrument. At first glance I could not see so much difficulty, although everyone says that it is very difficult.
Every beginner wants to start at the bottom, choosing a cheap violin in the range of 200 reais. I'm kind of crazy, I prefer to take something already intermediate with a better quality sound. I paid 700 on my Eagle Ve 441 violin through the free market.
Finally with violin in hand
I think the violin is a beautiful instrument, both in appearance and sound. It was amazing to see one up close, but get ready to break your head by putting the easel on the instrument. There are videos that teach you how to do this.
When I put it on, I was afraid to know if it was right or not, I took it in a Luthier in my city, he barely looked at the instrument and said that everything was right. I was relieved to know that I had done a good job, even though I didn't sand or anything.
Remembering that the tuning in the first days of the instrument is easy to undo. Always try to tune with an app by following youtube tutorials. Be careful, because in my first week I broke a string when trying to tune (use the micro-tuner).
Do not be alarmed when passing the bow on the strings of the violin no sound comes out. You just forgot to pass the pitch on the bow. A stone that looks like soap (don't say that otherwise it will fall to the ground and break).
I actually broke the two breus I bought by dropping them on the floor. Just pass the pitch on the bow as if using a soap. This pitch releases small solid particles that scratch the violin strings to make the sound.
Can you play a song in the first days of the violin?
In the first few days I was able to take a song on the violin, but not audibly. The difficulty of passing the bow on the strings is very great, it needs to slide without shaking and without changing the angle, it needs to pass straight for the sound to be beautiful.
Another difficulty is when changing strings, positioning the hand and arms. Absolutely everything you do is able to influence the sound that comes out of the violin. Personally I found the violin easier than the guitar in some ways.
Looking for easy songs to play on the violin? Some of the songs I learned in the first week were:
- Ode to Joy;
- Hallelujah;
- Titanic;
- Twinkle Twinkle Little Star;
- Canon in D;
I also learned short excerpts from other popular songs like Imagine Dragons, Dance Monkey, Viva la vida and others. Of course I just made the sound, now for it to look good is another very complicated story that we will discuss ahead.
How long does it take to learn violin?
This is a very frequent question I asked myself before buying the violin. How long will I be able to master this instrument? The answer is never! Exactly, you will never fully master the violin or other instruments.
Violin is an instrument that requires a lot of practice. It is true that in a few months you will be able to play a perfect song, but if you see professionals playing the same song, you will feel a gulf between you.
Some have practiced violin for decades and have not reached the level of perfection of other violinists. Despite these quotes, don't be discouraged about having a violin, I personally didn't find it more difficult than other instruments.
People don't understand the difficulty of the violin
If you film the first attempts to play the violin and put it on your instagram profile, many will make fun of you, simply because they don't know the need for time and practice to play the instrument. They believe that it is only necessary to pass the bow and the sound comes out the same.
Mastering the bow is a living hell. You need to dominate your hand, something I don't have that much control over. The reason for choosing the violin as a secondary instrument is the simple fact of working with patience and control that I don't have lol.
Any wrong slide, movement in the hands, lack or excess force, can alter the sound that comes from the violin. When changing the strings you will be frustrated by the sound of the string hitting the other, the bow going up or down too much, it's a nightmare.
Violin is not an instrument to display on social networks, nor to play close to friends, because the first years are annoying. Watch a video of a student's progress over a year, studying at least 15 minutes a day:
Watching the videos above I am relieved to see that I have made greater progress in the same period of time without studying, practicing or exercising. Violin has no secret, just practice and have the grip.
The biggest difficulty - Practice and exercise
I am a great procrastinator, I do not have much discipline to study and practice exercises with an instrument. Whenever I pick up the violin I want to play a song directly, I believe I am exercising by playing a song.
I know this is a mistake, it will take a while for my sound to be beautiful if I don't practice loose rope exercises or scales. Not to mention that I can't pick up the violin every day and study for at least 30 minutes. I have this difficulty in all areas of life.
For this reason youtubers always encourage students to take some face-to-face or online courses to have discipline and practice in the exercises, because without them, your sound will never be good enough. To master the violin is to train, train and train.
Didactic Violin - Best Online Course
What helped me a lot in learning Violin was the Didactic Violin channel and course taught by Jean de Oliveira, he offers many free lessons and tips on his youtube channel and also has several closed and advanced online courses.
If you want to receive some Didactic Violin lessons by email just click here. We also recommend visiting the Didactic Violin course page to understand Jean de Oliveira's proposal. Enough click here to know the course.
So that's it, I hope you enjoyed this short article. I intend to write more about violin, piano, scale and even guitar which are the 3 instruments present in my house. If you liked it, share and leave your comments.
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