Choose A Violin Teacher That Brings Out The Musician Inside YouWhen you’re looking for a new violin teacher one of the first thing you should bear in mind is that there are many different types of teacher. You will have a particular type of teacher that is suitable for you right now. And at a later point, you might need a different type of tutor. In order to pick a teacher that is suitable for your needs right now, you have to ask yourself a series of question about what you really want. This will help you to get a shortlist of teachers that you can try out. Notice that I said try because there is no foolproof way for finding a suitable teacher upfront. Usually you have to try a teacher out and time will tell you if that teacher is the one for you. Just as with a driving instructor, the first class might be perfect but as you have more and more lessons with that individual, you start to find perhaps little problems or even things that you like but couldn’t tell from the very first lesson. One thing you need to ask yourself is the kind of style you’re interested in. For example, are you looking to play violin and in an orchestra? If you are, then you might be looking for a teacher who has a similar background to this. You can ask him or her whether they are currently playing in an orchestra and if so, what their position is within the orchestra. Ask them how many years they have been a professional violin player or an amateur playing within an orchestra. Likewise, if you’re looking for a more informal style - perhaps you just want to learn a few engaging tunes that are interesting - then again, you can also ask the music teacher for parts of their background that relates to this. If the violin teacher has a very classic and structured background, ask them how they feel about teaching you that type of violin repertoire. Personality is always important and is one of the most underrated aspects of choosing a teacher. The violin can be a very technical instrument. There are numerous little things to learn for example, posture, finger positions, and how to hold the bow and the violin. Particularly for children, you need a teacher you will show kindness as they teach these basics which students are likely to often forget. It’s also going to be helpful if the teacher is creative enough to find some ways of re-teaching the basic violin positions in different ways. You might also want to ask the teacher about the level of students, they normally teach. Many people will tell you that individual teachers are suitable for different levels. For example, one particular violin expert said that his first teacher mainly gave him enthusiasm. His next teacher mainly helped him learn how to work with a metronome. The teacher he had after that taught him how to be respectful to music and keep his own personality out of a piece when it wasn’t required. Another teacher taught him how to be really great at audition and helped him win his first audition. And finally his last and most important teacher taught him how to put everything together showing him the architecture and the true internal mechanics of complex pieces. Bear in mind that a great student is actually a shadow of many good teachers so you should not feel that the teacher you have now is the end of your horizon in learning music. Find a good teacher, enjoy learning with that person but when it no longer feels right, don’t feel shy to move on and find another good instructor. If you’ve been around violin courses at all, then you probably heard of the popular Suzuki Method. It’s probably true to say that the teacher and their personality is more important than the method but some people do swear by the Suzuki Method for teaching very young children. So, if your child is young, by all means try the Suzuki Method. For older children and as the child gets older it will be more important for the child to start learning some of the traditional aspects of playing violin such as reading music, using method books, scales and practicing with other (non Suzuki) pieces. |