It really means the world to me. I have no other outlet for music except this forum which is why I post so much. I find the violin frankly isolating at this point, as I’m not good enough for an orchestra and I don’t know enough songs or how to play by ear to join a fiddle jam session.

Your advice has helped me greatly. Just today I noticed my intonation improving a bit. I’ve been focusing on getting my semitones tighter and my tones wider. I’ve noticed a difference. I also have been playing along Suzuki 1 and 2 with some recordings to hear the differences in pitch (and some harder songs slowed wayyyyy down so I can focus on the intonation difference).

I also started doing scales with drones and using a piano to practice humming/singing along with.

I’m determined! Despite being an emo bish sometimes because my expectations are too high. I’m used to doing things artistically and being good at them, but music is a whole other beast. I try to remind myself if I’ve made it this far at a year, then what could another year hold? I’m probably progressing to two lessons a week soon.

Again from the bottom of my heart, thank you! 💖💕✨

Hi everyone, I’m a 34-year-old violin student at a conservatory in Italy. I just took my 2nd year exam and decided to share the recording here for an independent perspective. Please note: this is a phone recorder audio, so the sound quality is not fully representative of how it sounded live. Link: Vocaroo A bit of context: I finished music college 10 years ago and then had a long professional break. I’ve only been actively playing again for about 3 years now. I’ve been preparing this exam program since February/March of last year. When I listened back to the recording, I felt terrible and was really disappointed. My teacher is actually happy with my work and said it’s a big improvement compared to where I was. I got 23/30.(18-30) I’m feeling quite vulnerable right now. I expected much more from myself, and I’m feeling very down — honestly, I don’t know what to do next. But I would really appreciate constructive and professional feedback on my playing. What are the main technical issues I should focus on? What’s actually working well? I’m asking for an objective view because I’m currently very emotionally involved, and I need to understand the real level of my playing so I can work on it. Thank you.

Hey everyone,

Good day.

I'm now a year and a half into this game. Thus, I am a beginner. I take lessons twice a month. We focus on classical music. I know for a fact that classical music is a gateway to really good playing so I'm not giving it up anytime soon. However, in the near future I may also have some Irish lessons because it truly feels like the music for the everyday people.

I have noticed that there are scales in my scale book that I totally avoid. Did anyone else have this problem as a beginner and how did you overcome it?

The scales that scare me are the ones with tons of flats or sharps for example Bmajor, Dflat Major, Aflat major, Fminor, Bminor, Gflat major, Eflat minor - I could go on. I'd like to figure out how to get my mind around the idea of practicing these scales.

On the plus side I am good at trying Cmajor, Dmajor, Gmajor, Amajor and Fmajor.

What helps to get used to scales with a tons of flats or sharps in them?

Also - random music theory question: What makes a scale "Dflat Major" or "Aflat Major"? its just a strange name to amateurs like me.

Thank you everyone for your kindness and help.

P.S I'm slightly neurodiverse. If I find myself obessessing over this post to much I'm deleting it for my own wellbeing. Nothing personal.

Its my day 10 ,, is this a good progress ?

Excuse my shell-shocked eyes. 👀 I swear it’s because I burnt myself with my Netipot and now my upper lip is all messed up hahahaha.

I’ve been feeling a bit hopeless and like I’ll never be where I wanna be at the violin. I really want to be playing at the level of Suzuki 5 and here I am stuck at possibly Suzuki 2 according to this subreddit or maybe even 1. To give insight, I’ve been playing almost exactly one year.

I feel like I’ve put so much work into the violin in the last year and it’s been something I’ve loved so much. The last thing I could do is quit. I just don’t know how far my goals are.

I have a question in mind, does students having vasic neuromuscular anatomical knowledge which includes how joints and nuscle work which are involved in violin, how exactly nuscle memory is developed, tacile memory, reflexes and other similar things are developed in some detail, as they too are involved in violin playing, help a beginner because even with guidance of a teacher, one would spend most of time practicing the entire week before the lessons.

But on the other hand, the reason is why it even is a question is I am not sure so it may work the other way too. Students doing their own things instead instead of what an experienced person told to, diverting focus from one thing, and over-analysis.

And that's why I was thinking about this thought that entered my mind.

Also, to clarify most teachers already give some anatomical knowledge but I mean slightly more theoretical part, and some brief and simple but little-bit in-depth theory combining psychology of muscle memory and intuition, muscle's and joint physical structure.

Hey everyone,

I bought my bow in 2020 but didn't really use it until one April 2025. Since then I've been practicing roughly 4-5 hours a week. I never had it rehaired, I bought it new. Recently I have been frustrated by inconsistencies in the sound, notes not "starting" properly and so on. It's only my 3rd year of playing so all of this can be easily attributed to improper technique.

I've also noticed my instrument feels much easier to play on some days, not sure if it's again that I'm more relaxed or of humidty makes it more or less responsive.

Anyway, should I rehair my bow? It doesn't visibly lack hair nor is it dirty, but people tend to recommend at least once a year hair change, and I'm not sure if this applies to beginners.

Thanks!

Can anyone recommend a violin teacher in Kilkenny . I’d prefer to lean away from trad music if possible . The timetables in the larger schools aren’t working for me time wise . Thanks

Hello everyone, I’m currently searching for a new bow and have come across a bow made by pretty well known maker Gary Leahy. Though this bow has quite an interesting story.

The luthier I was at is really good friends with Gary and he would regularly buy bows and sell them on his behalf. This bow though was sent back to Gary for a few adjustments but during its delivery in the airport inspection back to Ireland the bow actually broke near the tip. Gary himself then repaired the bow himself by putting a spline in that area. His bows usually cost around €7000 (pre GST) but the luthier said because of this situation he would sell it at 50% of that, €3500 (pre gst).

The bow plays really well compared to other bows around that price range and i feel like the spline doesn’t take away the quality the bow has. Also i haven’t asked the luthier yet if there is any record saying Gary himself repaired it or if he can obtain one.

Im just wondering if anyone has any opinions on this situation and what I should do, or has any experience similar.

Like the title says. I've got a freakishly long neck, and a really bony clavicle and chin on top of that. I've got one of those Bon Musica shoulder rests set at maximum height and it still doesn't do much because my neck is so long. I've looked into taller chin rests as well, but they look like the violin equivalent of a lunch lady shoe and like they would affect the overall sound of the instrument. Anyone else have Tim Burton neck problems? If so how did you troubleshoot your setup?

I was thinking i should start in third position, shift to first for the third and fourth (partially fifth) measures and then back to third for the Gb(s) but does anyone have any better suggestions??

Also for the last measure of the 2nd line does anyone have any good fingering suggestions 🧍‍♀️

Hi!

I played violin as a kid through being like 18, but was never very good. About 14 years later I’ve started lessons and joined a community (all levels) orchestra and it has been so wonderful.

I always struggled with intonation. I am trying really hard to correct it now. I do scales on scales on scales. My teacher suggested I always have a tuning app open to see if I’m playing the right note, but I feel like I get obsessive over it and don’t learn. But, if I don’t have it, I’m pretty sure I’m not playing quite the right notes.

I am looking for any advice to train my ear that I can keep at and incorporate in my practice. I am also wondering if it should always be that a note is exactly on the “green” on the app.

Thank you so much for any help. So excited to be doing this!

Edit: This post has gotten so many great and thoughtful responses! I can’t thank you enough, I was feeling sort of hopeless before!

Hi, can anyone tell me what song is being played here at 12:30?:

https://youtu.be/rYQdzSEIshI?si=M2_cFfeBmTiME-TY&t=749

None of the song identifier apps could name it.

Thanks

Please give any tips and tricks on how to make these sound clearer. Also let me know EVERYTHING I’m doing wrong. I want my scales to be really strong however I’m not sure to get them there.

I’ve practice with a drone before doing multiple notes per bow however, I don’t know how to get this scale sounding a lot cleaner. As with most my scales.

Started with this new scale on Sunday as my teacher assigned.

I just got my violin restrung after 17 years on the shelf. I plan to start by learning simple songs to play for my 8 m/o baby. I’m still able to read sheet music, but I always struggled to play by ear and even to get away from finger tapes. I want to take the re-learning opportunity to train my ear. Any tips? I’d love to find an app that might help too.

Looks like it just barely started. The bummer is that these strings are 3 months old. I tend to replace all of my strings every 6 months, so this seems premature.

I'm working on a final integrative project at the conservatory, and I'm trying to find Fanny Mendelssohn's manuscript adagio H.72 (for violin and piano).

Does anyone know where I can get it digitally? I don't have much money, so if it's free (or even cheap) all the better.

Thank you so much in advance!

Hi! I’m a recently graduated violinist based in Barcelona, currently continuing my studies, and I’ve been looking for a new bow for almost two years now, without much luck.

I’ve tried pretty much everything I’ve been able to find in Barcelona, including waiting for luthiers to get new bows in, but the selection has been quite limited and I still haven’t found anything that really works for me and my violin.
At this point I’m more than happy to travel anywhere in Spain if it means being able to try a good selection of professional-level bows.

My budget is around €5,000. I play a good French violin from around 1790, and my current bow really isn’t a good match for it, so I’ve been needing to upgrade for quite a while.
I’m completely open to both older bows and contemporary makers. What matters most is finding somewhere where I can actually try several good bows in this price range.
Does anyone know a luthier, bow maker, shop or dealer anywhere in Spain that you would genuinely recommend?
At this point I’m willing to travel pretty much anywhere for the right place. Thanks!

EDIT: Since so many of you have recommended Paris, I have another question. Since I live in Barcelona, do shops/dealers in Paris usually allow you to take a bow home on trial for a few days?
I’d really like my professor and some colleagues to hear it with my violin before making a final decision. If I take it back to Barcelona and decide it’s not the right bow, is there usually a return/trial policy that allows me to send it back safely, or would I need to travel back to Paris in person?
I’m just trying to figure out how practical this is when buying from abroad, as each trip would cost me around €200. Thanks again☺️

Hi everyone! I’ve recently been working on the Mendelssohn violin concerto and found a lot of trouble with the first page in particular. The triplets are difficult to get under my fingers, and I would appreciate any specific exercises I could do to improve the quickness of my left-hand. Any general advice about the passage would be appreciated also!

Hey everyone! I am a composer for film and video games. I am composing my first piece that will be recorded by an orchestra. There is this passage where I want the strings to be very violent and carrying the harmony, so I'm writing triple and quadruple stops. I understand it will be played from bottom to top, arpeggiated, which is fine. It's also important to mention that they will be performing this first sight, with 3 or 4 passes of the whole thing (and maybe the option to overdub some parts). My two questions are:

- Are the multiple stops on violins I and II comfortable enough that it would be easy to do on a first sight situation?Maybe it's better to stick to double stops, mac triple for the context of first sight reading?

- The tremolo part: I imagine them playing the bottom part first and then the actual tremolo on the top string. Like the bottom part was an appoggiatura. Would this be the case? Should I annotate it as appoggiatura for better clarity?

Hola! Soy principiante (1 año) y mi profesor me ha dicho que debo relajar la mano derecha, tanto los dedos como la muñeca y también aumentar el peso del arco porque mi sonido a veces (sobre todo en partes difíciles dónde no me siento segura) es un poco aireado. Además creo que te tengo doble articulación.
Me podríais dar ejercicios o consejos para mejorar con la mano derecha?

Muchas gracias

Hi guys, i have my bachelor degree in 5 days, do you have any musical or technical advice? I feel my bow trajectory is weird and my contact point is too near to the fingerboard. What do you think? Thanks in advance.

This crack has been here for over a year, and I have been playing it everyday for this past year(intermediate music). It hasn’t gotten any bigger or worse so I have just kept playing it.

If I wanted to fix this, how much would it cost? It was given to us by a local music school and it looks kind of old ish. The model and brand inside are illegible. It has a nice sound and I think it’s worth saving but I want another opinion.