Suzuki Violin - Discussion
-
Hi mommyNg/ Hi Chamonix
how old is your son (and his group)?
Most of them will be reaching seven in a few months time, including my son.
I still don't understand why he would suddenly teach the group by reading notes.
The parents of this group could have been relying on him too much. Guess this is the only way to help those parents to coach the child.
Maybe you can seek the teacher’s advice on what can be done to help your son to sustain his interest?
To sustain interest is one thing, but he has been rubbing and blowing his nose every now and then that it becomes a phobia for me to even ask him to touch the violin.
In any case, it’s a good thing you exposed him to music since young. Even if he decides to stop, it’s likely he might pick up the instrument later on.
In fact I have no regret even if he has to stop the lesson now . The lessons have provided him with a strong musical foundation. I'm glad that he was being taught with a start of Alphabet Notes, rather than Do Re Me. I tested him last night if he still can remember the Alphabet notes for Minuet 2. He sang the whole song for me. Then I just remind him the key signature of this song, F# and highlight the D sharp and D natural notes for this song. That's the only thing I can do for him so that he can still survive in his violin class.
Now, I am looking forward to his keyboard class starting soon which is in the curriculum of music lesson of his school this year for all P1 and P2 pupils. I am so excited! Hope that I can learn something from him. -
Hi Karmeleon,
Are you using the traditional tuner? We are using an electronic tuner which uses colors as an indication - red => too high, green => right, orange => too low.
Hi Ocean,
Your son's allergy to rosin sounds bad. But if he's gonna continue with violin, do keep a lookout for the rosin I mentioned earlier on. It costs about $12.50.
From your description, your son seems to be doing well in his class. Just that his allergy to rosin is affecting his learning. Anyway, you have done a great job! Give yourself a pat!
Keyboard class as part of school's curriculum? That certainly sounds interesting and fun. And yes, we get to learn too as the kids pick up new things. That's one exciting part of parenting. I'm quite tempted to get a full sized violin and learn along with them too. Just that i don't know if my fingers are still nimble enough... :? -
chamonix:
Oh yeah, I know. the electronic tuner. But on my really bad days, it will go \"too high\", and \"too low\" and also hit jackpot, but then the next time I play the same string again, it will be either \"too high\" or \"too low\". How frustrating. Or maybe it's just my ears are too sensitive. Bc sometimes even when it is right in line, my ears tell me the tune is not right.Are you using the traditional tuner? We are using an electronic tuner which uses colors as an indication - red => too high, green => right, orange => too low.
:?
Thankful that my elder boy can tune by himself. -
Hi karmeleon,
I'm using this chromatic tuner that gives a more exact tuning experience... you can even get the right Hz too.
http://www.amazon.com/Korg-CA-30-Chromatic-Tuner/dp/B000EE2136
It's currently on sale at Amazon, pretty good reviews too. I have pretty good experience using this tuner so far, especially the initial phase of learning how to tune a violin. The only problem (which I think is pretty common for such tuners vs clip-on types), is that it can't tolerate loud noises/interferences (also not if someone is talking near the tuner) so you may need a relatively quiet moment to tune the violin.
Or if you have a computer handy, you can also tune the violin online...
http://www.get-tuned.com/violin_tuner.php
But even if I use that tuner, I also sometimes experience the same \"roller-coaster\" tuning experience - e.g. tune D, then tune G, then when go back to D it is out of tune. This is probably not the tuner's fault, it is likely the violin's fault. That is, the tuning pegs may be slipping, or some other problems. I've got a \"cheap\" violin for my daughter, especially when I was not sure if she is going to stick with it, and there were times that her violin teacher was so frustrated that her violin couldn't stay in tune that he asked me to get a new and better quality violin.
Try applying some chalk / powder to the tuning pegs and it may help the pegs to stay in place for a while... it works for me sometimes!
Hi chamonix, we should be coming back sometime end this year. Thanks for your encouragement! She is preparing to graduate from Book 1 in probably 2-3 weeks' time. Whether or not she is in time to perform in the Graduation Concert next year will depend on whether I can find a suitable suzuki violin teacher for her! -
mommyNg:
Hah, yes MummyNg. Our chromatic tuner is similar. For violin the Hz is 440, for erhu, it's 442.Hi karmeleon,
I'm using this chromatic tuner that gives a more exact tuning experience... you can even get the right Hz too.
http://www.amazon.com/Korg-CA-30-Chromatic-Tuner/dp/B000EE2136
It's currently on sale at Amazon, pretty good reviews too. I have pretty good experience using this tuner so far, especially the initial phase of learning how to tune a violin. The only problem (which I think is pretty common for such tuners vs clip-on types), is that it can't tolerate loud noises/interferences (also not if someone is talking near the tuner) so you may need a relatively quiet moment to tune the violin.
Or if you have a computer handy, you can also tune the violin online...
http://www.get-tuned.com/violin_tuner.php
But even if I use that tuner, I also sometimes experience the same \"roller-coaster\" tuning experience - e.g. tune D, then tune G, then when go back to D it is out of tune. This is probably not the tuner's fault, it is likely the violin's fault. That is, the tuning pegs may be slipping, or some other problems. I've got a \"cheap\" violin for my daughter, especially when I was not sure if she is going to stick with it, and there were times that her violin teacher was so frustrated that her violin couldn't stay in tune that he asked me to get a new and better quality violin.!
And yeah, I do use that online tuner sometimes too.
Re the roller-coaster effect. It's like, it should tune to D4 right in the middle...for D-string eg. But...on my off-days, it just slips. *haha*. Yeah, it's also the instrument. I don't use rosin to put on the pegs since it can tend to have a slight corrosive effect. I use either Peg-Drops(this holds!) or Peg Compound (this holds but allows the pegs to slide as well.)
Both my boys have upgraded their instruments, so it's quite a joy since they don't go out of pitch quite so easily these days. And easier to tune too, so we'd need to use less of the pegs to tune but mostly adjusting with the finetuner only.
How old is your girl?
The children grow up. After a while, they can tune by themselves. I used to just tune my son's violin using relative pitch (ie. each string in tune relative to each other - then don't need to use tuner. :shock: lazy mom), but as he progressed, he only wanted it tuned at Absolute Pitch (duh), so I'm glad he does it himself now. Whew! :lol: -
Hi karmeleon,
Your son is really capable to be able to tune by himself!! How old is your son? My daughter is about 6.5 years old, and I’m looking forward to the time when she will tune her violin all by herself!! -
mommyNg:
12yrs - gr8 already. If cannot tune, *faint*, man!Hi karmeleon,
Your son is really capable to be able to tune by himself!! How old is your son? My daughter is about 6.5 years old, and I'm looking forward to the time when she will tune her violin all by herself!!
Beyond Gr 5, they have to be able to tune on their own. I still remember tuning his violin once again in the studio during one of his earlier exams bc altho' we'd tuned it earlier outside, the violin was not exactly in tune with the piano INSIDE the studio. Something to note. -
smurf:
Anyone's kids learning this? :? IS there any differeny between the normal violin course and Suzuki?
Hi Smurf, let me share with u my experience. My daughter started on a 1:1 private lesson at a private music school when she was just 3.5 years. The teaching method was not suzuki and the teacher taught her to theory and sight read too. This means, she started with pure note reading on the open strings. G, D, A, E. Her teacher does not promote using numbering but strictly on notes in alphabets. We were sketical inititally as she was very young then. But after one year now, my daughter could read notes perfectly... in fact, we thought she could read notes faster than words! In fact, she recently started on piano as her secondary instrument and has no difficulty coping with the lesson at all.
The benefits of private 1:1 lesson is that the teacher is able to build a good music foundation, develop good posture etc. The suzuki vol 1 in also one the books that she used. It's a great book with many good practice repertoire. My gal enjoys the most of the songs in this books and plays in rhythm when I accompany her violin playing on the piano. I think both methods of teaching have its benefits. But the most important thing is setting sufficient time for practice. My gal practices at least 30 min each day. Initially, it was difficult to instill such discipline. But she did it with time and this makes a difference.
It's good for parents to explore on the two methods and select the best fit for their child. This way, the kid will enjoy music and appreciate the instrument better. -
Hi Ocean,
Just to share with you that we (the parents) have also been advised to teach our kids to read the notes. Still wondering why the change. We have finished Allegretto and doing Andantino now. But I speculating that the teacher may want the kids to try other songs (on their own) if they are capable of reading the notes. Most of the time, I will teach my kids the songs and the teacher will monitor and correct the posture, fingering and the playing itself. Just realised that this is similar to what my kids’ piano teacher shared with me. She hopes I can drill them on the notes at home so that she can teach more advance stuff and focus more on their playing - expressions of music etc.
Anyway, I’ll check with him the next lesson and let you know. -
I am looking for violin class for my 3.5 yr child, preferably group on Sat morning on the Eastern Sg. Please post or PM if you have any recommendation for patient teachers with experience for young kids. Thanks in advance.
Hello! It looks like you're interested in this conversation, but you don't have an account yet.
Getting fed up of having to scroll through the same posts each visit? When you register for an account, you'll always come back to exactly where you were before, and choose to be notified of new replies (either via email, or push notification). You'll also be able to save bookmarks and upvote posts to show your appreciation to other community members.
With your input, this post could be even better 💗
Register Login
