A must see for learning to play violin! Parents and children learn together!

Mastering a musical instrument and learning to play violin is a long process. This is not only a process of accumulation of knowledge, but also a process of adaptation to movements of human organs (mainly hands). several hurdles to overcome. Each student has a different starting point, different conditions, and there are also individual differences: someone easily overcomes certain obstacles, and someone encounters bottlenecks and cannot overcome them, no matter what. As a teacher, you should think of different ways to help a particular student pass test as quickly as possible.

First pass

Musical instrument support

Including carrying piano and bow, shape of left hand, and relationship between bow and string.

Common problems include: a low piano head, bow cannot form a right angle with strings, bow is crooked, 3rd and 4th fingers of left hand cannot stand, etc.

1. The piano key is low

Playing violin requires two correct points of support to hold violin. In beginning, left hand gets a little tired, but if you insist on practicing correct posture for five minutes a day (sometimes you can put top of violin on wall) after a period of development. Once you get used to it, you will find that you have found a balanced position for holding piano and you will not feel tired. On contrary, lower head of piano, more tired it is that it cannot be raised. Some children look at score, and pastern goes down and down all time. Can you let child figure out which line of staff headstock is on? Use this reference often to remind and test yourself.

2. Poor pronunciation, weak voice

In order to place bow on bowstring, you need to hook bowstring to make an accent. This sound should have resonance and vibration of bowstring should be audible. Starting with individual bows, it is better to draw and stop, each time a new beginning. Even if you are slurring, you can draw a short sentence and then stop for a while. Especially when changing strings, you must change string for a new one before moving bow. Doing "pull, stop, stop" practice often will help improve sound.

Second pass

The left hand is familiar with neck

Including finger placement and fingering skill for each position from first position to fifth position.

This stage is stage of "engaging brain" and is necessary for development of ability to understand, calculate, analyze and remember mind.

Common problems include: not knowing whole tone and semitone, not knowing key, whether it should be raised or not, not knowing fingering, learning one and forgetting previous one, etc.

3. Study music theory, study scales of each position, study general building scales and arpeggios that fix second and third positions untilmaster them to perfection.

4. Finger placement is unclear, and commonly used finger arrangements fall into different types. For example, A, B, C, D, etc. Consciously say what type of arrangement is current phrase?

Third pass

Find a balance of action

Including balance of right hand at tip of bow, balance of plane of change of string of each string, balance of four fingers of left hand, balance of handle change, etc. .

Common problems: not straight bow and excessive or weak fingers.

5. Bow not straight

I have no idea about two points of base of bow and tip of bow, and I have not figured out position of hand at these two points and relationship of action between these two points.

Our human hands are actually very much like birds spreading their wings when we draw a bow. Imagine that way a bird retracts when it stops is very similar to our state when we bow. When a bird spreads its wings to fly, it is sternum that is exposed. We learn from birds that spread of wings should not cause bow to slip due to loose shoulders. Putting a bow root on each string, positioning tip of bow, and doing birdwing exercise will help bow move straight.

6. Excessive force or weakness of fingers

People who stretch their fingers excessively tend to use wrist or palm rather than fingers just above base of finger. The palm can be placed in third position, leaning against crook of neck so that fingers can only move over base of fingers. Do finger exercises according to Sevchik and others. In people with weak fingers, fingers usually do not stand up, especially little finger should not become straight.

Fourth pass

Learn to listen and develop your mental abilities.

Including listening to intonations, developing inner rhythm, learning to read and recite scores, etc.

Common problems include following.

7. The sound is inaccurate

To teach students to listen to intonation, they must learn to make full use of open strings. In first position, develop habit of using 3 fingers on an octave empty string, 1 finger on 4th, 2 fingers on 3rd and each finger should be parallel to 5. In second position, use 2 fingers to match empty strings and use 1 finger to match empty strings in third position, etc. The stability of left hand is of great importance for playing on field. Establishing good hand and stride form has a good foundation.

8. The rhythm is getting faster and faster

Most children have a habit of pulling faster and faster. Psychologically, they may want to show that they are capable, but they may also be unable to control it. If you frequently play with piano accompaniment, developing habit of cooperating with piano will help you develop a sense of rhythm. It is also important to practicewith a metronome. In addition, doing rhythmic exercises with reference will also help establish a sense of inner rhythm.

9. I don't remember bow fingering

Choose a few characteristic slopes or fingering changes and repeat them several times until you remember. Others can be forgotten, these few must not be forgotten and gradually develop habit of memorizing melody and bows and fingerings.

10. Remembering is always wrong

Relying solely on perceptual memory is unreliable, and children should be given opportunity to analyze music as soon as possible. Just like when analyzing paragraphs when learning Chinese, often look at how many paragraphs this piece of music is divided into? Which sentences look same but are actually different? Use picture browsing method to find similarities and differences to discover these difficulties. Develop yourself as you play and remind yourself in your mind (by saying name of sound) like conductor on bus says name of station. Some children do not use their brain to control their hand movements when playing violin, but rely only on their hands when playing violin, which leads to a separation of brain and hands, which is not good.

11. Reading music slowly

Each piece of music, be it an etude or a piece of music, must first of all respond to tonality (finger arrangement) and beat (heartbeat). This is a long accumulation process. If you learn fewer etudes, you will read scores more slowly. It is best to develop habit of reading music under supervision of a teacher each time you learn a new lesson.

It often happens that at some stage there seems to be a blocker and for some time there is almost no progress. As a result, teacher thought, "Why is this child so stupid?" The child lost confidence and even lost interest in playing violin. And sometimes a breakthrough solves some problem, and then there is a rapid change, a qualitative leap, a new level.

These barriers are actually basic violin skills. Sometimes these barriers need to be overcome intensively, and sometimes you need to wait patiently. After a long period of hard work, it will produce effect of thick accumulation. Generally speaking, when children reach age of eleven or twelve, their minds mature and habits are gradually formed, effect of basic skills is manifested. If you only focus on playing repertoire without accumulating basic skills, then it's not surprising that bad problems will appear.