How loud is a violin?

[Abellana]

And would practise annoy neighbours? Asking for a friend.

Where do you live?
A beginner, screeching the strings, for an hour every day in a poorly insulated flat. Probably.

A child beginning to be able to make a reasonable sound, 15 mins a day, detached house, almost certainly not.

Depends who’s playing it 🤣

Semi detached. New build. Adult learning. Ok I admit it. I have a crazy idea about learning. As a child I learnt guitar and trumpet. NEITHER were my choice. I just love violin/viola/cello.

Can you learn quietly I guess is my question!

My daughter plays violin and it’s pretty loud, we are in a semi and I think the neighbours have to put up for 20 mins a day. She practices at a reasonable time about 4pm.

is there a time you can practice when the neighbours are out? Or at reasonable time during the day?

Ten years of DC learning violin in this flat, downstairs neighbours have never complained about it (although they do sometimes feed back about other noise such as jumping on the floor).

As a parent I did have to discreetly put my fingers in my ears at times in the first couple of years for both children. That's more about sound quality than volume though - you can use a mute to make it quieter.

Violin is great though, I say go for it!

There is no worse sound than someone learning violin haha

Really really fucking loud. It's the pitch rather than volume. I 'relearned' violin recently and it was excruciating!
We live in a fully detached house on half an acre. My neighbours but one play many instruments in their house and I can hear them clear as day
You can get a little 'duller' type thing that quietens them a little.
Other option is electric with headphones

At the moment the house next door is empty so only have my family to annoy. But will have new neighbours in a few months as it’s just sold. If you can mute it then that would obviously help. I have no idea if I’d like to actually play it, or even if I could but fancy learning something new. I guess first step is maybe going to a music shop and holding one to see how it feels. Then finding a teacher.

My dad agreed that there was no worse sound than the violin, and I was never allowed to learn it.

I rebelled and brought back a euphonium in high school!

DD2 started with the violin and it was indeed exruciating!

It can be quite loud, and you might not have much volume control as a beginner (and will need to practice across the range to develop that control), but you can mitigate it to some extent and probably be quiet-ish most of the time.

Instrument and string choice affect the volume a bit, a mute will help, and there are some electric instruments that are pretty quiet if not amped if you want to go down that route. Maybe go and try some in a shop (or get someone who can play to demo them) so you get a better idea.

Haha! This is why my instruments were chosen for me. Guitar was classical and quiet. Trumpet could be muted and played mostly in an orchestra! Not at home.

Really really fucking loud! Haha. Hmm maybe electric would be an option initially. I hadn’t really thought of that.

Haha yeah, the violin was designed to project.

You can use a mute which sits on top of the bridge, though people learning are advised to spend some time playing without the mute because it affects the resonance.

Go for it OP! It's not loud enough to be anti-social unless you're a beginner practising for 4 hours a day.... As you improve you'll practise for longer, but it will sound nicer. And if the house next door is empty it's the perfect time.

That said, viola or cello would make a nicer sound straight away (as they're lower) but if you've set your heart on violin you should try it.

Speaking as a viola player, go for that. Much nicer, more mellow sound, lower too.

DH calls it my "diesel violin".

Does it depend how long your arms/fingers are?I’m only 5ft so have pretty short arms! I presume a violin is lighter as well as smaller than a viola.

It isn't particularly loud, volume-wise, but it is painful to listen to a beginner.
It is a difficult instrument to get to a level where it isn't awful to listen to.

However as long as you aren't practising at 6am, everyone is entitled to make a reasonable level of noise within their own home. If you live in any home attached to someone else, you will hear neighbours at some point.

Violas aren't a standard size so you could get a smaller one. But kids play them (I took it up at 12).

I learned the violin as a child (i was rubbish) and I have often thought about trying again as an adult. In the end I took up the double bass - it is huge but because it is lower it isn’t nearly so excruciating for others!

But as long as you don’t play during anti social hours or for really long practice sessions right up against the wall, I wouldn’t worry too much about neighbours- it is just normal sounds of people living their lives

I bought an electric one as I heard people say it was quieter

I've just taken up the violin and love it.
So good to do something different and make your brain work.
Like you, I play other musical instruments and that definitely helped me to make a reasonable sound quickly I think. You can hear easily if you're slightly sharp/ flat because your finger is not in exactly the right place, whereas someone who hadn't had that experience might not hear it.
Do it!

Just don’t take up the oboe. Newbie oboists are unique torture.

My DD was told to practise in a room with a hard floor and no curtains, to maximise the volume and projection for when she was performing. I guess therefore if you play it in a carpeted room with lots of soft furnishings, it will end up a bit quieter!

Ha, depends how loud you play it. You can get a mute, you can also get a practice mute that makes it extra quiet, but you shouldn't use them all the time particularly as a beginner as you should be trying to learn how to get the strings to resonate properly and mutes deliberately damp that.

Key to not sounding awful on a violin
a) not having an awful violin. Ebay £50 violins will sound screechy even in expert hands.
b) being patient. Don't set out to play complicated tunes straight off. Play simple things and listen listen listen to the sound you're making and try to improve that. Both bow stroke and tuning with your LH fingers.
c) having a good teacher to help you do b).

As an adult who's played music before, you're in a great position to not actually sound that awful.

Violas - do come in small sizes; you are very small though, and violas make a better sound the bigger they are, so probably violin? you might try to find a nice 7/8 size violin rather than a full size too. Smaller is easier.

Hmmm. My old landlady plays violin and I could hear her through two granite walls BUT she plays beautifully (orchestra member) so it wasn't a hardship. Learning I can imagine isn't always quite as pleasant but if you're mindful about length of time / playing at sociable times of day I wouldn't worry too much.

DH plays his guitar in our flat but only in the room that doesn't share walls with anyone else, and never after 9pm.