Mumsnet Talk

I can't play any musical instruments. I can't even read music.

DS is 7 and has been learning to play at school - one 30 min lesson per week, one to one.

Other than making sure he practises, how can I help him? he sounds awful to me (but i don't tell him).

I started the violin at 7 with one to one lessons a week. Neither of my parents were musical in the slightest either. As long as you're supportive, praise lots and make sure he practises, that's all you can do. Am sure I sounded awful to start with too but I did improve quite quickly!

thanks!!

Mine sounded awful for the first two years but they are Grade 7 at 11 now and I'd pay to listen to them if I weren't their dad. So, they do improve

I'm similar in that I am not musical either but I do find that having an appreciative audience does motivate children to practice.

Sit with him and try not to wince.

I remember when my DB started learning the violin the cat ran up the curtains to try to escape

You might want to learn how to tune the violin if he doesn't know how to do it.

Definitely make sure the violin is in tune - you can get little pipe-things where you can blow the 4 notes for the separate strings, to match them against. Or fancier tuning things which tell you whether to tighten or loosen one and when you've got it right, if you can't hear it for yourself.

They don't have to sound awful. If he plays something and it sound sbad, get him to play it through again - he ought to be able to find the right notes while he is practising, else he's just practising playing it wrong!

Thanks all for your advice. It is comforting to know that I am not alone.

I agree with getting a tuning thing (I needed an electronic one cos I'm a music dunce). Tune using the fine tuners not the pegs unless its really bad and you are feeling brave. (I snapped 2 strings the first time I tried to tune dds violin!) but watch with the fine tuners that you dont keep tightening so they go crunch into the violin body.

Also make sure you get him to put plenty of rosin on the bow, esp if its a new one.

I would agree with the tuning thing, and you can ask a teacher to show you how to tune it. If you invest in fine tuners then it is easier to fiddle about with the thing and avoid snapping the strings - there is usually one on the E string, because it is metal, but it is quite cheap to get a music shop to put them onto the other three strings as well.

If you are anywhere near Cambridge I would be happy to teach you how to tune it and help you get it sorted.

Violin can sound nice quite quickly. The teacher will be telling your son how to do it and it really does help if you can praise specifically what he is doing well and suggest just one single area to work on.

eg "Well done! You have got the rhythm spot on and a lovely straight wrist. Give your wrist a little rest then let's hear that again and see if you can keep your bow straight all the way through like your teacher has written in your practise book."

Here's a checklist for a nice sound. It helps a lot to practise in front of the mirror and take each of these sections one at a time:

Feet apart, left foot forward, knees able to bend.
Supporting violin with the weight of the head, the left hand helps a little.
Violin parallel with the ground.

Holding bow as teacher advises, with soft thumb and curved little finger.
Bow resting on the strings, not crushed into them.
Draw the bow straight, at a right angle to the strings. (Try it different ways to hear how much better the tone sounds with a straight bow.)
(He should be able to get a nice sound out of the open strings like this.)

Left wrist straight, violin resting on V between thumb and first finger, not in palm of the hand which would give a hairy out-of-tune sound.
Left fingers standing straight up on the strings.
(This requires strengthening some muscles in the wrist, best to practise for one or two minutes with a perfect wrist, stop, rest, repeat. Encourage your son to quit while he is ahead with that and his wrist will soon be lovely and strong and he will be playing nicely.)

Hope this helps. Let us know how it goes.

V helpful Strongestmummy. We definitely have a problem with "squashing James the mouse" ie palm on neck!

Does beginner violin practise really sound that bad? I teach & hear constant moans from parents many of whom make their child give up or won't allow them to start violin because they think it sounds 'dreadful'! I must admit I find it baffling that these same children are proudly carrying their shiny trumpet or saxophone home from school just a couple of years later because parents feel that the sound is more bearable than the violin!!!! At least violins can be played quietly!

never, ever mention strangling cats.

ditto what everyone else says.

importantly, if you can hear improvement, then tell him.

My mother never complained about me learning the violin which I started when I was 10.

Ds is learning the violin. One of the difficult things is keeping the bow parallel to the bridge all the way down the stroke - because your arm naturally will pull it back towards you when you're at the point of the bow - so you have to feel as though you're pushing it out away from you.

The 'Fiddletime' book range is good (have asked my teaching friends) and it has a CD that goes alongside that might help.

Short practise every day better than long once or twice a week.

Grating noise with the bow - weight and speed is not right - try slightly faster bow speed and make sure that he's not pushing down too hard - violin playing you should feel as though you're stroking satin (viola bowing you need to be pushing into the pile of thick velvet)

watch her bow, are the bow and violin forming a cross shape? Is the bow staying parallel to the bridge?

or is the bow wibbly wobbly doing a kind of scissors movement/rolling around? (bad)

a straight bow is the number one thing to make a violin sound good. So just search for "violin technique straight bow" on youtube, watch a couple of tuturials then make up some fun games in which you are the bow police. Professor V is a great violin youtube teacher.

I've been reminding dd about straight bows as sometimes she slips up. Looked foolish when she saw me watching video clip of Vengerov whose bow was doing all kinds of curly wurly shapes (this must be the genius technique )
I just told her that for now she has to do straight bows.

yes, straight bows until she's so perfect that her bow can never slip.