Problem with DD violin teacher

[MarkyMarky]

DD 7 started violin lessons in sept and I don’t feel she has made much progress. I encourage her to practise most days but the noise is atrocious. I contacted the violin teacher to ask why it’s so bad. The violin teacher basically said in not so many words that we must be patient and the violin takes time as it’s a very difficult instrument and implied that maybe she needs to practise more. This rubbed me up the wrong way as we are already practicing.

however DH is an accomplished cellist and said it must be the teacher as he’s musical and knows how to played stringed instruments. He said DD should be using her left hand fingers by now and making a ‘half decent’ sound.

I contacted the teacher again and said I’d appreciate more detail as what is covered in lessons as I wasn’t satisfied. She has ignored me so I contacted the local music service who basically said it’s down to the teacher to liaise directly with us, I explained that she was ignoring us.

I spoke with the school who said the same thing, the teacher needs to speak to us as there’s no-one else who will be able to help us.

AIBu to now make a complaint as we are not being listened to and we are paying a fortune for lessons?

Yes ours was four when she started.

Instructions for the Hand frame.
Play D on the A string, listen for the resonance. Adjust if needed

Play G on the D string and listen again for resonance. Move finger back and foward if sharp or flat A on the G string. Do the same for all strings in 1st position and repeat many times if needed.

She just needs to keep playing simple scales, focusing on hearing the resonance and onnce her hand frame is established you will all hear the difference.

Don't give up on the teacher, or your daughters playing. It took me 5 months of teaching myself before I could make a nice sound that did not make my ears bleed.

Hope this helps😀

I’m a violinist, my daughter is 6 and has been playing since she was 3, daughter 4 has been playing cello since she was 3. We use the Suzuki method. This is all just for context.

There are a few things you need to do (and I mean you really need to do these) if you really want her to progress any more quickly than she is doing right now:

1. a parent (preferably your husband) needs to sit in on lessons

2. same parent needs to supervise practice

3. practice needs to happen every single day - at least the instrument needs to be picked up anyway

4. practice needs to be kept short so that she’s not practising errors

5. (and most important) you yourself need to completely reset your idea of progress on the violin. It’s one of the hardest instruments and takes years (and I mean years) longer than the cello to make a good sound. Now might be the time to switch if this is a problem to you.

I suppose you could invest in a nicer instrument if you’re just hiring a Stentor or Primavera, but the difference will be minimal compared to the above. I realise that these things might not be possible, especially if she is having lessons in school, in which case I would either switch teacher so you can do it out of school and do all of the above things, or else just chill out as honestly you’re not going to have Nicola Benedetti on your hands in only a few months!

Good luck! Do come back and let us know what you end up doing and how she is getting on!

3 of my DC started violin age 5. All did well with it. I had to learn with them. They all took ages to take to the right bow hold but all were on grade 3 by year 2. Grade 8 by year 6 or 7. Because I spent every day practising with them in the early years for 10-20 minutes. Made them sing the tune, listen to the correct note on the piano, do the exercises. Violin Star 1 is your friend with the CDs. Mine were all playing Christmas tunes using 2-3 fingers by Christmas of their first term.
you can download a fingerboard online - there are endless apps like smart scales, Abrsm practice app etc once you start the grades. For now learning open strings, finger 1, then 2 then 3 on all strings and reading the music. Write out the lines for her to copy etc

Get your DH to teach her then?

As an aside, I have never understood why so many schools start DC music lessons with violin. It is hard and it sounds awful until it doesn't. Bring back the recorders, I say.

Violin is hard, but I would first of all get her ears checked - the number of kids I have seen who have struggled with the violin due to ear problems is very, very high.

I would say starting between 3 - 7 is optimal; how much is she actually practicing? It does need to be for more then ten minutes here and there in the early days - she'll get more enthusiastic about practicing as it starts to sound nicer.

YANBU that the teacher should be updating you with what she is teaching, how she is teaching and her views on your daughter's progression.

My DD started violin last year and spent most of the year working on open strings, and octave harmonics. She started first finger before the summer holidays and has been consolidating it on all 4 strings along with adding 2nd finger.

I'm happy with her progress, we spent the first year working on using her bow properly and play a lot of duets (I play flute rather than my very beginner violin) so she's not bored by open string music and is used to playing with good tone. She also does a lot of duets with her teacher which helps with tone.

Violin is tough to learn and it sounds horrid at times, especially fractionals. She should play with your DH and learn about pulse and tone from him.

Flute sounds less horrid at the beginning but you pay when you get to G7/8 scales, orchestral "decorative" bits in the top octave and the awkward corners of more advanced pieces, in much longer bites than a beginner violinist has to practice! Basically practicing is never going to sound good, repeating stuff you can do well isn't practice!

!!! 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

I played violin to grade 8. It sounded awful even up to grade 6 when practising! Im afraid that's the nature of the violin! Unless you are very good, and playing a lovely piece, on an expensive instrument, it just won't sound good during practise when you are trying to get the piece right! In the beginning, at the low grades, it's an awful sound! My son has been playing for a term and I swear my ears are going to fall off!!

Poor teacher! It's not her fault! If you DC is going to be a violinist, get used to this!! It won't sound beautiful for many years!!!

I played violin for 10 years. I always sounded awful. I didn't actually want to play it at all. You sound like a nightmare to be honest.

I’m a professional violinist (I play,don’t teach).

Read the post by @Ilovewheelychairs She is spot on and knows what she’s talking about.

😂

Cancel the lessons, get an in home teacher so you can watch/listen.

Practice needs to be good quality and your dh should help dd with this. Otherwise she may be practising stuff badly.

When I learnt violin (as part of a whole class lesson a primary school) we weren't allowed to take our instruments home for the first year or so because of the risk that parents would pull their kids from lessons.

There was a documentary made about the scheme I was part of. This brings back memories!

So you want to complain to the teacher because your child is shit at violin!

LOL fuck off🤣🤣🤣🤣

We are not able to sit in on the lessons as they take place in school.

I’ve found the email response from the violin teacher….

“we have been working on the fundamentals of music such as pulse, rhythm, pitch and aural skills through singing and musical games and activities. We have also learned to hold the violin as correct posture is really important as it directly effects the sound which is produced. The four strings can be identified as G, D, A and E and we are familiar with the concept of pitch from playing low to high (G to E) and high to low (E to G).

An introduction to bow has been made and reinforced through exercises holding a pencil. We have practised using full bows on the D and A strings and have introduced rhythmic patterns using crotchets and quavers. I have encouraged practise at home using a mirror to ensure the bow remains parallel to the bridge, I have also encouraged practise without looking into a mirror to think about how it feels to cross from the D to the A string and encourage muscle memory.

I place a lot of importance on getting the basics correct to avoid problems further down the line. I would recommend at least 10 practise most days at this level”

DH says it’s a load of waffle and DD should be playing tunes. We should get a different teacher right? I mean it’s supposed to be a violin lesson nota general music lesson

She's 7 and only been playing since September so like 8 lessons? I know nothing about instruments but even I know violin sounds crap for a good year

And it should be fun!

And she is SEVEN

You've got completely unrealistic expectations
2 months is nothing
I played the violin as a child - it's not easy whatever your husband thinks (and I'm musical, I was already playing the piano and recorder - both of which are MUCH easier than the violin)

Hilarious. It’s a bloody hard instrument to learn. Added to the fact that the music she will be learning is probably hideous even when played by a talented musician.

It took my DD 3 years before it was a pleasure to listen to. She practiced every single day for hours.

Cut your DD a bit of slack OP.

Ffs. What the teacher has been doing is perfect. So many students progress seemingly quickly and then come unstuck a few years down the line as they have to relearn parts of their technique. Far far better to get it right straight away.

Your husband is an idiot and you have ridiculous expectations. Your poor child and the poor teacher having to put up with you.

Give her time. She's only 7!
Maybe the violin isn't where her talents lie.

Is she enjoying it?
If so, then it's money well spent.
If she is not enjoying it and you are forcing it on her then you are choosing to waste your money.

You want to complain because your 7 year old daughter is not an instant musical genius? Wow!

Each child will get 4 minutes each week with school lessons. With the best will in the world, neither your daughter or her teacher could get a huge improvement during school lessons since September, it's just not possible with the amount of time they have. I'd suggest investing in some dedicated lessons outside of school.

You clearly don’t trust the teacher to do a good job so there’s no point carrying on. She’s given you an explanation but you’re not still not happy so there’s not much else to be said.

I’m sure there’s plenty of other teachers in your area that could take on your DD.