Choosing a Violin and Violin Dealer and a Violin Teacher

For anyone starting out in the violin three critical choices have to be made which is how do I choose my violin? How do I choose my violin dealer? And how do I choose my violin teacher? These three questions are the topic of this article and there are various tips that one can keep in mind to help make the right decision.

How do I choose the right Violin Dealer?

Since there are many things that go into making that perfect violin and it is an imperfect science it is always advisable as a first step to look out for violins in specialty stores and not in general music shops.

One of the better ways of determining whether your violin dealer is any good or not is to see whether they are providing any sort of guarantees or not. A dealer which is not too keen on what happens after the sale is definitely not a good bet.

Next step is to ask your violin dealer whether they will take back their instruments in trade. A good dealer is one who assures you of the condition of the violin and puts his money where his mouth is by providing a trade in guarantee.

Once you find a dealer like this make sure to talk to the people and understand whether the violin dealer and their staff are into playing violins as well or better still are they teachers. Talking to dealers is a very good way to get a feel of how passionate they are about their music and how helpful they are for you. Be sure that they do not make you feel bad about the fact that they know more than you because it is their job to do so and more than that use that knowledge to benefit you.

The above three are important conditions to ensure that you don’t end up with the wrong dealer. Over and above this one must take advice from teachers and others in the trade. However a word of caution here is that ultimately teachers are in the business of playing the violin not so much in how they are made. So it follows that they will not know all there is to know about it. Again another thing to keep in mind is that some teachers have arrangements going with the dealers wherein they make commissions on the sales that happen because of there referrals.

People have recently also started buying violins off e-bay but this can never really substitute the good old violin dealer as you don’t get to see what you are buying before hand. There have been cases where people have bought violins from lofty sounding brands and have got them imported to their countries only to find that they were duped with duplicates.

How do I choose the right Violin?

The first thing that one needs to keep in mind while choosing a violin is the size. As a rule of thumb the smaller sizes which are 1/16; 1/8; 1/4; 1/2; ¾ are for the children and teenagers and adults use the full sized ones 4/4. While it is advisable to take assistance of a knowledgeable person as a general guideline when one holds the chin rest under one’s left jaw one should be in a position to extend one’s left arm under the violin and be in a position to curve the left finger’s tips around the end of the scroll which should include a slight bend of the left elbow. If this is not possible then a smaller size should be considered.

While taking a look at the violin one must keep in mind that it should be “set up” well. This essentially means that the finishing must be proper such as the bridge, fingerboard, pegs and other finer details. While playing the violin one must keep in mind that the instrument should be powerful and it is a given that a good violin will sound louder among other things.

While the general feeling among violinists is that old violins are better than new ones, this is not necessarily true and the maintenance that comes with buying an old violin is certainly greater than what will come with buying a new violin. Change in weather especially sometimes has a dire effect on the old violins as too much humidity or lack of it, causes tonal problems. Similarly cracks can get open, buzzes can occur, the neck can drop and other such problems may occur. However if you can take care of all this rest assured that an old violin will sound better because the sound resonates as the wood hardens with age.

Another general feeling among violin buyers is that the more you pay the better you get. While experts suggest that for learning the violin seriously a range between $1200 and $20000 must be considered this is not to mean that a violin worth $20000 will be better than one which is $1200. This is because violin making is an imperfect science and while more care and better material will be used for building a more expensive violin in no way does it guarantee success. The idea should be to explore various ranges and see which one you like the most. Another important thing to keep in mind is to take note of the range that you aspire for in the future.

Make of the country is also a good criterion and Italian violins are especially renowned because this art has not been commercialized here to such an extent as it has been done in other European countries. So if you are buying a violin from an Italian maker of repute chances are high that it will be made by a single person. One must always look for handmade violins and avoid machine made ones.

If you are still not confident of making the right choice and fear that you will end up making the wrong choice it may not be a bad idea to actually rent a violin instead of buying one so that there is no chance of getting stuck with it.

How do I select the right Violin Teacher?

Selecting the right violin teacher is of paramount importance and finding the right person can sometimes even take years.

While selecting your violin teacher you should keep in mind that the violin teacher should also play the instrument and if possible look for attending the concerts that he may have held. While most good teachers do play the instrument professionally as well, some may be devoting all their time teaching and hence may not be able to play the violin currently. Even then it is indeed better to go with someone who has some experience of actually playing.

Another guideline would be to take note of the students under him and how well they have progressed over the years. Again if possible sit through the concert of one of the students and see if you like it. Not only the number of students but also the level where they have reached is important for you to make the right decision.

Its also important to be aware of the popular Suzuki method of teaching the violin. This is the method popular for teaching to young children. It is used world over and is based on the principle that learning the violin is like learning a language and can be done by creating an environment surrounding the child like buying CDs, parental reinforcement and peer reinforcement by making the child attend group lessons. There are 10 Suzuki books in which the teachers can get certified and while selecting a violin teacher it may be worthwhile to see if he or she has undergone any certification at all.

The other method is known as the Traditional method which is for slightly older children so while the Suzuki teachers would like to start at an age as early as two or three the traditionalists favor the range 6 to 10.

There are differences in the two methods not only in age but also in the way music is taught. For instance in the Suzuki method passive learning or learning by watching others is given importance while in the Traditional method little or no chance is given for observing others and more importance is laid on a class room type of one on one training. Another key thing to keep in mind is that in the Suzuki method the involvement of the parents is quite huge and parents must be in a position to spend that time. On the other hand the role of parents in the traditional method is negligible and they are not expected to interact much with the children with respect to the violin classes.

So to conclude while the Suzuki method is the more preferred in both methods the selection of violin teachers play the important role as in both cases there are excellent and just about adequate violin teachers.