Starting violin lessons is a very exciting time for children and their parents. If you’re looking for violin lessons in Seattle, or any other big city, you’ll be able to find plenty of professional, qualified Seattle violin teachers ready to share their knowledge and experience. The first couple months will be a whirlwind of learning violin for young students, and they’ll need a little support from their parents to help guide them to success. Here are some simple things that you can do to help your child excel on violin!
Listen to Violin Music
Enthusiastic students make the best students, and the best way to get your kids engaged in learning the violin is to let them hear the instrument in action! Don’t feel like this limits you to classical music – you can hear violins in pop songs, hip-hop beats, or indie rock bands, just to name a few. Be sure to point out the violin whenever you hear it! Not only will you be teaching your kid to identify the sound of the violin, you’ll also be teaching them about the wide range of music a violinist can explore.
Watch Videos That Will Make Your Child Excited and Inspired
Watching a good violinist perform can be enormously inspirational to children! Children are often very visual, and videos of live performances, music videos, and violin youtubers can engage a child’s attention and get them excited. Watching a good violinist will subtly reinforce good posture, which is essential on the violin.
Make Sure Your Child Has a Good Space to Practice
It can be their room, a home office, or a corner of the living room, but there are a few things to consider when choosing a practice space. Try to find a space away from noise and other distractions. Keep it equipped with a couple of pencils. If your child prefers to sit when playing, find a chair that will encourage good posture, and avoid sofas or lazy chairs that will tend to encourage slouching. If your child is taking lessons online, make sure the space gets good internet reception.
Make Practice a Part Of Your Child’s Daily Routine
Work with your child to find a time for practice that fits into their daily routine – maybe right before or right after a meal, or right before or after a sports practice or another class. If the two of you can agree on a 20-30 minute time that will work for at least 5 days a week, then your child will know when they’re expected to practice. Violin will have its own dedicated time in the day.
Learn to Tune Your Child’s Violin
Violins require regular tuning, and tuning can be extremely frustrating and difficult for little ones. Learning to tune the violin and keeping it tuned regularly will go a long way towards helping your child sound good. Luckily, there are dozens of free tuning apps to help you out – just search for “free tuner” in your app store.
Learn the Basics With Them
Violin has a steep learning curve, and while the first few weeks can be very exciting, they can also be hard for young beginners. At first, many children will have trouble remembering how to hold the violin and bow, and they will need you to remind them of the basics during their practice. If they have a method book, read through the first few pages of it. Method books often have photographs and diagrams that can help you understand the basics of good posture and good playing. If you can, try to sit in on their first few lessons so you can help guide them through the early stages of violin.
Communicate With Your Child’s Teacher
A good violin teacher is essential to guiding students through technical challenges and musical growth, but violin lessons have to be backed up with good practice at home. If you have any questions or concerns about your child’s practice, bring it up with their teacher. Whatever your questions, your child’s teacher has probably dealt with this before and can offer some good advice.
When your child is ready to start on their musical path, contact us to set up lessons with a teacher! Our teachers will come right to your home for every lesson, plus we offer virtual music lessons, too. However, our online music lessons are being taught by local music teachers with live lessons tailored to your child!
By Jonah Byrne
