Violin help needed

[sebbieLondon]

my DD has recently started the violin . She is very keen . However she tried to practises today and was very confused by the idea of open and closed stings and what to do with her left hand . She's been given music to play with notes b and f in them and hasn't a clue how to play them . I have no knowledge of the violin and can't help her .

Thanks . That's helped a lot .Xx

erm - find a better teacher - my DD has been learning the violin for just over year and I have never needed to explain anything to her ( and wouldn't be able to, apart from reading music). sorry to be negative but you will just both find it stressful and horrible if she is being taught badly and it might put her off palying music for life - how old is she?

playing

B is first finger on the A string (2nd from highest) with a tone space.
F (assuming you mean top F) is first finger on the E string. Is it F#? Because if it is then again it's tone space. If it's F natural then it's the semi-tone space. If it's not labelled then it should be F natural, but I suspect they want F# so it's the same spacing as B.

An 'open' note is the sound played with the bow or plucked.

The longest finger stretch (to make the note) is one inch. The spaces get shorter as the notes move towards the bridge (the piece of wood holding the strings up).The thickest string is G. Next is D. Then A. Then E.

The A and E strings are taught first.

So B on the A string will be about one inch from the nut (where the string starts) but less on a smaller violin about 3/4 inch.

F will be the first finger on the E string about 1/2 inch from the nut. But as the previous poster so succinctly explained it is probably F# (sharp) that is required so would be played with the same finger position as the B.

If she has just started I would have thought she should be getting really confident on the open strings before she adds the first finger notes (A, E, B and F) (my ds started last term and took half a term to get to first finger and wasn't the slowest in his group). Can you go and sit in on a lesson to get oriented?

I responded above.

My mother was a professional violinist and taught me. I learnt in a different way starting in the G string. It's easy to play as a beginner because the angle of the bow doesn't interfere with the middle strings A and E and it sounds nice.

Open strings with no finger placement are great for practising bowing by playing each string individually. Playing two strings together is good too and sounds much more dynamic.

My DS started in September and did first finger notes last week! It's hard for them to get the hang of it so don't worry.

Very strange for the teacher not to make things clearer to your DD. The majority of beginners will normally have small stickers placed on the fingerboard to allow them to correctly place their fingers initially.

Do you have a little keyboard or xylophone, becuase you could use that to help explain the E-F# and A-B relationship/sound to your DD. If all else fails you can use this, or this also seems like a good resource.

If she is still confused, I would encourage her to keep going with the open strings for now, until you or her have a chance to speak to the teacher again. Is she being taught at school in a group, becuase I sometimes think that leads to confusion? If so, if you can afford it and she's keen, you may want to think about paying for some private lessons (often music students will offer these cheaper than normal private music teachers).

I'd be very happy to help out if you'd like - feel free to send me a message with your email and I'll get back to you.

I'm a violinist and currently teaching my 6 and 9 yr old children. They did have a teacher but she dumped us last summer (l o n g story!) so I've taken over completely at the moment. Part of the problem with the teacher was that we hadn't adequately sorted out our dual roles in helping the kids.

It does help a lot if a parent can help a child, especially in the earliest stages of learning an instrument, but a good teacher shouldn't make this essential.

Is there any way that you could sit in on any of her lessons? A good teacher should welcome this if it is practical, and could then show you the basic things you can be looking out for to help.