Violin Piano conundrum

[Saffirebleu]

DD (7) has been offered subsidised music lesson starting in September (year 3). When the letter went out I had a lot on (ds was in and out of hospital) and I was late to return the form to school. This meant that we didn't get our first choice instrument piano but the option of violin lessons instead. DD loves the piano and is also excited at the thought of playing the violin.

However, I have to say that I am quite disappointed. I played the violin for a few years and didn't do well at all. I found it frustrating and as an amateur it never sounded pleasant. I wonder if we should bother. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Well, just because you didn't take to it, doesn't mean she won't.
It is true, the violin does sound like a cat that's trapped its paw in something until you get the hang of it, but it does have the advantage of being an instrument she can play with others, so it is quite sociable rather than a piano which doesn't lead to your dc playing in an ensemble of any sort.
I'd give her a year or two and see how she takes to it.

Thank you very much for your reply BackforGood.

I am wondering if it's worth arranging private lessons but it would be more convenient if lessons took place during the school day. String instruments ARE social, which is why I chose it as a young teenager but the do sound bloody awful unless you are really good.

DD is also a little bit clumsy at times and i worry that the vibrato might be too tricky to learn, i never mastered it which is why I gave up.

I think piano would have been such a great opportunity and am kicking myself for letting the school letter slip.

Like BackforGood said, the great thing about the violin is the social side. My parents got me to learn the violin as a kid because they'd both been sent for piano lessons (my dad had got quite good, I think) but both drifted away from it because there hadn't really been an incentive to keep going. I on the other hand joined a youth orchestra aged about 12 and never looked back. Forty years later, I'm still playing! And still playing in amateur orchestras. Yes, it will be painful for your eardrums to start with, but well worth sticking with it.

(Long term if your DD's clumsiness turns out to be an issue, try a brass instrument - I also used to play the French horn and it is much, much easier than the violin, despite its fearsome reputation - and it is meant to be the hardest of the brass instruments.)

Many people I know have found private lessons to be much better than school lessons, because the school ones were group lessons (even just one other person in the lessons means less time devoted to a pupil, having to go at a pace that suits both, etc), they were often shorter (20 min, by the time you got there and back, waited for everyone, set the instruments up, got everyone tuned, etc.), there were sometimes longer gaps between lessons because of holidays, school trips, other activities etc., and because there was much less communication between parent and teacher, which then influenced how much practice took place and how good that practice was.

if your school lessons are individual, though, and with a teacher that is good and that values communication with parents, then it can work. But the ones I know who've done well - especially with violin, where there is a lot of basic posture, hand position etc to get right to start with - have had private lessons