Violin advice grade 8

[spinningplates2024]

My ds has completed grade 7 and will move onto grade 8 - likely do the exam in December. He has an intermediate violin that I already owned but is a very good musician and I’m not sure if it’s at the standard it should be. His teacher said he is ‘making it okay’ because of his standard of playing. Anyone with proper knowledge about the sort of instrument that would suit his standard of playing please do advise. He is on a full size now and going into secondary this year. I will speak to his teacher again but I just wanted to have a bit of a look first to see what’s possible/costings etc.

You will get better advice on the extra curricular music thread. For many instruments it's perfectly possible to get to grade 8 with a relatively basic one. However, if you can afford it, it will make a difference to upgrade and bring more joy to their playing.

@spinningplates2024 I think it all depends on your budget. At grade 8 and if your child is really musical, performs in orchestras and chamber groups, or even if you want to give him a little positive boost, you could try and get a good violin. A starting price for a good one is around £2.5-3.5k range. My son owns a £3k full size which I got him around G7, and I thought it sounded amazing, till his school lent him a £10k 19th century instrument, which I thought could have been a target when he would be in Yr13. He got this expensive instrument when he was about G8.