|
27 Apr 04 - 04:12 AM (#1172003) Subject: Tech: Children's violins - any suggestions? From: allie kiwi My four year old son is interested in learning the violin. As well as my full sized violin I have a 3/4 size violin from when I was learning, but obviously this is far too big. I've seen various violins on sale, but really don't know what sort of quality they are. I vaguely remember my teacher looked down upon various mass produced ones - I think one of those was skylark (?) - but really I have no idea. I've also seen 'hoffman' advertised. Has anyone any suggestions? Are skylark any good, or are Hoffman better/worse? Other brands I should look at or avoid? Allie |
|
27 Apr 04 - 04:18 AM (#1172013) Subject: RE: Tech: Children's violins - any suggestions? From: Sorcha At such a young age I wouldn't spend a bomb for one. Start with a Suzuki kit or something. The scroll should easily fit in the palm of his hand w/o stretching out the arm. I would suggest finding a teacher first, and let the Teach help you find a violin. With ref. to the actual instrument, it MUST be playable or he will get frustrated. The nut, bridge, etc must be set up properly. If the strings are too high off the fingerboard or to close together it will cause big problems. |
|
27 Apr 04 - 04:25 AM (#1172020) Subject: RE: Tech: Children's violins - any suggestions? From: allie kiwi He's actually very good on piano already - well, as far as his finger span will allow - and has been reading music for over a year (he's autistic, and music is his *thing*). What sort of tone do the suzuki ones have? I saw a second hand skylark on sale today for $150 New Zealand, and wondered if that was a good buy or not. I know smaller violins have a bit of a tendency to screach - enhanced of course by their young players. But do some screach more than others? Unfortunately I live rurally, and teachers are rather thin on the ground. But great idea - I'll look into that and see what they have to say (presuming I can find one - am teaching the piano myself) Allie |
|
27 Apr 04 - 01:29 PM (#1172456) Subject: RE: Tech: Children's violins - any suggestions? From: selby From our experience my son started at 6 years old now 16 he learnt on skylarks and it seems to us the more he played it the better it sounded which in turn made him want to play more and the better it sounded etc. He currently has 3 violins but for playing outside he has a Sklark painted with Dennis the Menace (a UK cartoon character) on it and the sound is good. Hope this helps.There are a set of books published by Bossey Hawkes by a guy called Edward Huws Jones that are quite good with easy and hard parts well worth a check out. Keith |
|
27 Apr 04 - 04:27 PM (#1172614) Subject: RE: Tech: Children's violins - any suggestions? From: Fibula Mattock Perhaps find a teacher that rents out the instrument? My fiddle teacher does this - it costs about 1 quid per week and whatever the insurance is. That way you don't have to worry about him 'growing out of it'. |
|
27 Apr 04 - 05:48 PM (#1172695) Subject: RE: Tech: Children's violins - any suggestions? From: open mike for very early, beginning practice I was advised to rig up a play violin from a butter box with a ruler taped on to it for the neck and fingerboard. a pencil or dowel can be the bow at first. This is just in order to learn to hold it. When he is able to walk around with this under his chin, and get the bow hold correct then he can transfer these skills to the real thing when he gets it. here are some web sites: http://ching.apana.org.au/~oliri/ here is a place where the book and tape can be purchased: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0874871441/103-6562222-2933400?v=glance the suzuki method, should you choose to follow it is based on: listen, listen, listen....the music gets planted in the brain and the kstudent is more able to play because they can tell what it is supposed to sound like. so yo might want to get the tape... this site is not likely to have any critical opinions about suzuki but might be full of information: http://www.suzuki-violin.com/ |
|
27 Apr 04 - 06:05 PM (#1172704) Subject: RE: Tech: Children's violins - any suggestions? From: allie kiwi Thanks for all your excellent suggestions! I really appreciate how the poeple here at Mudcat are so willing to help. I think I'll buy the skylark, but do the 'make a practice violin out of a box' thing first. That sounds like a lot of fun to do as well. Allie |
|
28 Apr 04 - 12:41 AM (#1172919) Subject: RE: Tech: Children's violins - any suggestions? From: open mike more links here: http://www.denversuzukistrings.com/kids_korner.html |