Suzuki Violin - is age 8 very late to start?

[MCos]

DD2 started Suzuki violin at school at 6. DD1 really wanted to do it too, so I started her on private lessons at age 8.
9 months later, we attend Suzuki summer camp. DD1 seems to have made good progress, she is half way thru book 1 (much further on than DD2) - but all the kids in her summer camp class seem to be so much younger, in the 5-6 age range.

Anybody else get involved 'late' with Suzuki violin, and what are your experiences? (I will add, she does love her violin lessons, and is pretty good to practice, but much prefers lessons to practice. And she loves her teacher)

If your DD1 does not mind being with younger kids for a while it will be fine and she is likely to progress faster than them and move into a group with her peers anyway in time. It's a shame to change a working relationship with her existing teacher though - could she maybe stay with that teacher and still attend the Suzuki group classes?

I will keep her with current teacher.
She is a bit 'meh' about being with the younger kids, and is dying to catch up with kids closer to her age. This does serve as a good motivator for practice!
We do have group lessons about one per month.

One of her good friends is about 1 book ahead of her, and her best friend is 2 books ahead of her.

I guess if she keeps progressing, and can get on the same 'book' as her friend who is one book ahead (just started book 2), then they will be in same group class - and that is what she is really hoping for. But I"m not sure how achievable that is, at least for book 2-3..

I am thinking another option could be to get her involved in Junior orchestra or Chamber group. She probably needs another year before this is an option.

I'd love her to stick with violin, as she is progressing well and is enjoying it. I know if she was in groups with kids of her own age, it would motivate her further (I see this in her dancing class). I am just a bit concerned for her, since the social side of things is such a big motivator for her.

Practise, practise, practise is the best way to accerelate their progress...

Your local music service may well have string orchestras suitable for beginners upwards. It's worth investigating.

If you've got a good teacher, no worries. Suzuki violin taught well can work with a wide age range. I learned in Australia and believe it or not was clearly an "old" starter age 6. But we had friends who'd started older as well as younger and we all romped through it and had a ball. Yes you would expect, in the early books, a faster rate of progress age 8 to age 5, although quite a lot comes down to the child as well. As long as the teacher isn't holding her back, stick with it.

I've got some personal concerns with British Suzuki in general, relating to slow progression and inappropriate rigidity of approach - but that's really another matter! Suffice to say that having started at 6 I was in book 9 age 11, we had a wide range of post book-10 repertoire and I learnt the Mendelssohn concerto competently when I was 14. I wasn't exceptionally fast - my younger sister moved ahead of me eventually and there were a whole group working at a similar level in her age group. When I look at the standards displayed at the graduation concert in London I'm puzzled.

Every so often I contemplate doing teacher training but not sure if it's a good idea for me right now. My 9 yr old is on Book 4 and I'm increasingly understanding how well the repertoire is structured for technical development - reviewed some book 2 stuff with her that her brother is doing and then went back to her current piece and hey presto exactly the same thing we'd just worked on, just more developed.

Agree absolutely at 8 get her involved in a string group if you possibly can. The best thing about learning the violin is the social aspect and orchestra work feeds back into general achievement as well as supporting note reading etc.