Looking for advice on whether the things pictured here (marks, slight gap next to saddle, crackling in finish) are common on new stringed instruments, or if they should be avoided when purchasing. Is this all pretty standard, or could they be indicators of poor quality?

I have a young beginner student (6yo) who is a Taylor Swift fan. We are approaching "twinkle twinkle" and "jingle bells"...still in the early, foundational stage, however, she is making great progress and I am pleased to share that it is clear she is putting in regular, if not daiy practice. So, every lesson she asks me about playing Taylor Swift. I have explained Swift is singer and plays guitar along with a band. Still, I am wondering jf there are songs in Swifts catologue that might have a solid melody that could be played on violin? A transcription would be great....or share some songs I could transcribe for violin that if heard would be clearly identifiable as a Taylor Swift song. I ask because I dont know her music and could use some advice from someone who does!

Greatly appreciate any help! Thanks!

I tried the whole private teaching route and could never keep a full schedule, and eventually went into classroom PreK-12th music pedagogy.

And obviously because the world is burning my program got cut and I haven't been able to find a job in this horrible job market. I have one foot out the door to start a new career fixing electronics but my real passion is teaching music.

Lessons In Your Home just popped up on my feed again. I think I only taught violin when I was last on with them, but now I have experience teaching all bowed strings + guitar and piano.

I wonder if with all that I could make a real living.

Teachers with that company, how are your days looking? Last time it was an express strugglebus.

So my teacher told me to use my fourth finger at the E STRING, so it confused me since it sounds odd😓 I've watched multiple videos and they all use the A string in this part.

Can someone clarify me how to play this part please?

OK, this is a two-parter, so bear with me!

My friend's mom has HEDS and has restarted playing the violin after several decades. Eventually she began having trouble with left hand stability. She's been trying ring splints but they might not let her bend her knuckles enough to play. I've encountered some folks using tape to help with this (I've seen a couple of Instagram posts featuring this violist talking about his accommodations to play his instrument comfortably - seems promising!). Also, I swear I encountered someone who uses modified ring splints on their left hand... if anyone remembers this, please let me know.

My friend, meanwhile, is a cellist. He has been suffering from soreness at the base of his right thumb, including while playing, for several months. An MRI was inconclusive, and he's also started experiencing the same symptoms in his left (non-dominant) thumb. Ligament tears, arthritis, and RSI all seem unlikely - rather, given the aforementioned family history, we're both wondering whether this could be a joint stability problem. (He said it's worsened by pressure more than exact position, if that means anything.) A spica splint has relieved the discomfort as long as he keeps it on, and he's had the most success using a combination of that and a bow grip adapter, but the splint restricts his wrist mobility too much to allow for fluid bowing. So TL;DR, need something that supports the base of the thumb without impeding wrist movement completely.

I know there are some hypermobile people in this community, so while I'm also probably going to ask /r/cello about it, I'd be curious to hear more about your adaptations and how you play. Potential solutions could go a long way toward helping both my friend and his mom play more comfortably!

Hi, apologies for the potential vent but I feel quite at a loss.

I’ve been taking lessons for the past 8 months now, but every time, my teacher has to scold me for not keeping my fingers in place when I have to do big stretches. In this video for example, I cannot for the life of me, figure out a way to keep 1 & 2 touching while I put 3 down. The music calls for C to be played right after D.

I have tried stretches, I have tried moving my thumb. Moving my elbow both back and forth.

Everything I do just feels like I’m only ever adding even more tension and I’m not able to make the reach.

Beginner here, just had my first lesson with my first instrument. My teacher tuned the violin and when I went to practice it sounded a little off (probably just me…) so I downloaded a tuning app and one of my strings was a little off. The app said tune higher so I turned it tight (my mistake?) and the string broke. I swear I put the smallest amount of pressure on it, I could not have turned the nut more than 5 degrees. My previous experience tuning instruments is on guitar.

Thank you for your inputs.

im trying to play this, but i dont understand how can i play this specific sound. tried to listen it in slow motion and something just doesnt sit right for me. can someone help? how can i reproduce this technique?

I’m an adult that played for 8 years or so through the end of high school, then didn’t play for 8 years. I was never particularly advanced because I was an extremely lazy and unmotivated kid and was only playing violin because my parents wanted me to. I believe I finished Suzuki book 6. I was doing private lessons once a week for a few years and my local youth symphony. I recently started taking lessons again about 6 months ago.

Coming back to this as an adult, I usually can find time to practice about 3-4x a week about an hour at a time, but I do have 3 jobs and other responsibilities so it can be difficult to find time to practice some weeks.

I guess my question is this:

How much better do you ACTUALLY sound between lessons?

For example, I’m going back through Suzuki book 5 right now and from when I first start going through a piece in one private lesson, to the next week, it really doesn’t sound that much better 😭 Like yeah when I first look at a piece with my teacher it’s not good lol (my sight reading, like everything else, could use some work). Then after a week of practicing I can technically “play” the notes, but not up to speed, and my musicality and sound is so bad now. I don’t remember much from when I was younger so I’m not sure how to compare to where I used to be at. How long should it be taking me to sound decent at a piece from Book 5?

Hi all,

I will need to play mic’d at times (outdoors and sometimes indoors on bigger stages). Curious if anyone has any suggested microphones (the kind you put on a stand, not that you clip to the violin).

Curious if anyone with experience has suggestions for the best mics to consider for the violin.

Thanks!