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?

Unless your DC is proficient at other string instruments, your DH is talking shite (or this is a reverse)

My God daughter learned the violin. We all called it the vile din. Awful, just awful. After two years she gave up and learned the flute, it was a relief to all visitors and their neighbours as she played that quite well 😁I flatly refused to let my DDs learn the violin. DD1 had guitar lessons and DD2 plays the piano. (Note the difference in phrasing, not all children are musical...) If you really want her to progress OP I suggest you bite the financial bullet and pay for one to one lessons.

Try to find a Suzuki group. The emphasis is on listening to the music and trying to replicate the sound by developing technique. All players, all instruments start with "The Twinkles". Twinkle twinkle little star played to different rhythms. Until they pass that stage epr hey don't go on to the next. Parents are expected to sit in on lessons and learn practice points. Obviously some progress faster than others, it's all about practice, I think several thousand repetitions of the twinkles are a minimum to progressing further.

Nicola Benedetti is a Suzuki graduate and strong proponent of it.
Most of the top players started that way as it is all about the sound which is achieved by learning the technique which is achieved by multiple repetition.

She started two months ago!

You have a DH problem, not a music teacher problem!

Teacher’s message aligns with what I’d expect. Dd is 11 and has played since age 7. £68 a term sounds cheap to me as Dd has one to one lessons at £15 a time. Dd still sometimes makes awful sounds when learning something new. Your dh is not a violin teacher so his opinion is as valid as yours… ill informed. If you want tunes, get her learning piano.

Cello is much easier than violin at beginner level surely? I could get a basic tune out of my friend’s cello as a kid by copying what she did but no way could I do the same on my brother’s violin (I played the Piano)!

You seem to be expecting a great deal from 2 months of group lessons!

I would be tempted to try individual lessons in both cello and violin to see which she prefers.

Wondering if this is a reverse from some poor violin teacher who is being harangued by a parent because their child isn’t progressing fast enough? In which case, much genuine sympathy to you. With any luck the parent will decide to send their child for lessons elsewhere……..

I wish my DS’s music lessons cost £68 a term! It seems you have unfortunately set your expectations too high. We are only two months down the line and she is 7. My DH took violin lessons as an adult and it took ages for it to sound vaguely musical.

What pressure this poor child is under after just 2 months. Does it matter if she is good or not? Isn't just enjoying music at that age the most important thing?

You pay £68 a term and claim you pay a fortune lol.

I think I I’ve decided this is not the right teacher for DD. I was just looking at her website and she doesn’t even appear to have a teaching qualification. Just a degree, DipABRSM and LRSM.

I’ll start looking for local teachers for lessons outside of school

Why would you not want your DD to learn the basics of music and how to hold the instrument properly before trying to learn “songs”?

2 months is a very short space of time.

you do realise your DD will also need learn to read music this does take a long time!

my brother is a music teacher, plays various instruments to a very high level and if this was his daughter/family would be helping, encouraging and perhaps seeing if the child wanted to play that instrument/ try something else.

Teacher sounds great that she's actually focusing on form, and the basics, instead of parent pleasing tunes to feel they have gotten their money worth.......but clearly adult DH who,plays a completely different instrument, and couldn't teach violin to his daughter as it's a different instrument, is much more correct that the instructor. I learnt two instruments as a kid, one the way you want, tunes quickly to make the parents (and me) happy, one the right way, which took bloody ages and concentrated in form, notes, cadence, etc......guess which one I still 0ay because long term I'm 'better' at it.........ll

I think we’ll look for a private tutor for individual lessons so we can focus on the violin and produce music rather than all this rubbish with singing and looking in the mirror

You and your DH are both completely lacking in respect.
In my previous post I suggested you might have made this up as satire. The way you have written the above just sounds like a complete and utter pisstake to wind people up.
"Rubbish with singing and looking in the mirror"? Eh? I have pupils who have been learning for 10 years and are now advanced looking in the mirror. It is absolutely essential.
I started learning another instrument as an adult and one of the things that helps the most with that instrument is singing the intervals before playing them. If you can't hear intervals in your head you haven't got a hope in hell of making much progress.

DH says she should be playing Hot Cross Buns and Twinkle Twinkle by now

Good one OP, throw in another "piece of wisdom" from DH to wind everyone up.

It's pretty normal for a kid playing a violin to sound not so good after just two months. Possibly music is not your daughter's talent. If she has trouble with pitch, she may have trouble knowing when her fingers are in the right place to be in tune.

I'm going to suggest that maybe your daughter doesn't know how to practice. Many kids think it's just playing through the pieces, but there's more to it than that. Practicing well is a skill that can be taught. Maybe this is something your husband can do with her.

If you want a more pleasing sound straight away, then maybe the violin isn't the best instrument for you. Go for piano maybe?

The more of the OP’s posts I read, the more I’m convinced that this thread is one massive Chomp.

OP are you actually reading any of the replies here? Are you paying any attention to what people are telling you?

Those are wholly respectable qualifications for a professional musician.

You're a loony.

Cellos sound much nicer than violins at first (although for sheer horror I give you beginner brass - I've had it all in this house).

Your dd is likely to be playing a student fractional size violin. And has been playing for two months. I assume that she hadn't learnt to read music previously so as well as learning the instrument is also learning about music.

I'm also assuming that your dh is expecting a rendition of the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto by Easter or it's game over...

That said, if she does show aptitude see if you can change to individual lessons. You'll pay more.

Give it time. My own dd started piano at 6. She's 15 and might be doing Grade 6 this year. On the violin, however, she's diploma level. Started at 7.

LOL. That's a very well qualified music teacher.

I think I I’ve decided this is not the right teacher for DD. I was just looking at her website and she doesn’t even appear to have a teaching qualification. Just a degree, DipABRSM and LRSM

So you've googled what those qualifications are and their equivalencies have you?
What is the degree in?

You are aware that a PGCE in Music is a qualification to teach music in secondary schools and not a qualification as an instrumental teacher?

Do you know whether the DipABRSM and LRSM are teaching diplomas or performance diplomas? There are two strands which you can opt for.

£68 for a term - 13 weeks so about £5 a session. Op that's pennies. I pay £20 a week for 30mins and that's cheaper end.

This is a wind up.

She's probably hoping to play badly on purpose so she doesn't have to go to any more lessons 😂

Hahaha I like how you ignore all the comments that don’t agree with you and call out your jerk of a husband and your unrealistic expectations and now trying to blame it on the teacher not being qualified enough.

Goodluck.