Ive discovered a latent talent. - Omg how do I teach this person the violin.

[mindlessobserver]

Be me. Classically trained violinist that was pretty much forced into it as a kid and never did anything more with it. And I do mean classically trained. From the Levine School in washington DC. All I have to show for it is my violin, some bullshit pieces of paper and the violin sitting in my closet for the last 10 years or so. Brought out occassionally. I've not forgotten my learned skills but I dont want to do anything with them. My idiot parents were quite successful in turning music into a chore.

Enter my coworker. She is someone who literally crawled out of the gutter. Severe drug abuse, 3 sons from different fathers. The works. But she has gotten clean, has become a manager for a business and in passing I commented to her that I knew how to play the violin. And to my surprise she responded that her life goal was to play one. Okay. Strange life goal thinks me, but I agree to show her the ropes.

I walked into this lesson today fully expecting her to get bored and give up. An entire hour of pick up the violin. Put down the violin. Pick up the violin. I will now physically smack your wrist. Grab you by the head and force you into the proper position. Now pluck the strings for the next 20 minutes. A. E. D. G. A. G. E. D. A.

Now grab the bow. No. Not like that. Like this. Now. Pull across the string. A. E. D. G. A. G. E. D. A.

It was pretty much at this point I expected them to lose interest. Instead my violin, an instrument I have played for decades began to sing. Holyshit.jpg. I was expecting some idiot girl who thought she had a talent. Not an actual raw talent.

I remember my own original instruction but I have never had a student before. Any advice on this one?

 

[NOT Sword Fighter Super]

It must be cool to help somebody to discover their talent.

 

[Niggernerd]

If op doesnt fuck her, he's a faggot

 

[DeadFish]

She will fall in love with you. Be careful.

as far as teaching people? I've had to teach jewish children and adults chess. Some were denser then others. The slower ones like me cause I never yelled at them or got upset. I told them why I never got upset was because I had learning disabilities and know what it's like to have people to lose their cool with me.

Why do the same to them what was done to me?

It just a game. Point is have fun or something to talk about.

One thing I did was ask them to make their own rules. One kid came up with the move he called "the teleporting horsie".

 

[mindlessobserver]

It must be cool to help somebody to discover their talent.

Honestly terrifying. The violin is a temperamental creature. I am going to have to get her do hours boring posture bullshit if shes even going to have a shot at her potential. I dont want to fuck this up though. Anyone who is able to pick up some rando violin on day 1 and make the A string sing has something going for them.

 

[DeadFish]

Honestly terrifying. The violin is a temperamental creature. I am going to have to get her do hours boring posture bullshit if shes even going to have a shot at her potential. I dont want to fuck this up though. Anyone who is able to pick up some rando violin on day 1 and make the A string sing has something going for them.

Naaahh.
Teach her how to read music.
First lesson? Rhythm.
What's a whole note, half note and so on. Then get her to clap out the rhythm of a music piece. Once she got that done ask her to make her own piece of rhythm.

Once she is her clapping in rhtymn then work on hearing and reading pitch. Id suggest a kazoo. Or just humming along. Whistling too if she finds it fun. That's key word whatever easy and fun.

Have her pick out her favorite pieces to hum along to. Get her to try to match the pitch she reads on the paper.

When she becomes proficient at that go for the next step. You take out the violin and play it. Have her hum, whistle and clap as a duet. Keep going until she can match pitch and keep rhtymn.

Third step is music theory

Fourth step is when you teach all the bitchy parts you just mentioned.

If she can't read music, can't match pitch, can't hear pitch, can't do rhythm, and doesn't learn how to play with others then all that other stuff isn't going to happen. You can teach her these things way I just described or another way. She can't advance without these fundamentals.

The other reason you teach those things first is to get her to buy in. While difficult to learn it's easy (and less boring) versus the more complex stuff. Like posture. The time and effort learning those things (pitch, rhythm, learning how to play along with others) creates the mentality of "I came this far now I won't back down. I'm finishing this" once she gets to nasty bits.

 

[mindlessobserver]

Naaahh.
Teach her theory and rythmn first.

My lesson plan is theory first. She does not know musical notation at all which means I will need to teach her how to read it. I learned this shit when I was 5, which means I have no idea how I learned it. I've just always known how to read musical notation. In the interim I told her to order a blank book for musical notation off of amazon.

Now I need to use it to teach her how to read it.

 

[Rusty Crab]

My lesson plan is theory first. She does not know musical notation at all which means I will need to teach her how to read it. I learned this shit when I was 5, which means I have no idea how I learned it. I've just always known how to read musical notation. In the interim I told her to order a blank book for musical notation off of amazon.

Now I need to use it to teach her how to read it.

that's kind of the hard part of teaching people in general. I code for a living and sometimes I get asked how to come up with solutions for stuff. There's certain methods you can apply for specific cases... but most of the time I flat out don't know. I can tell you how I verified it afterwards, but how I got there in the first place? Beats the shit outta me. Like asking "how did you come up with this melody?".

 

[mindlessobserver]

that's kind of the hard part of teaching people in general. I code for a living and sometimes I get asked how to come up with solutions for stuff. There's certain methods you can apply for specific cases... but most of the time I flat out don't know. I can tell you how I verified it afterwards, but how I got there in the first place? Beats the shit outta me. Like asking "how did you come up with this melody?".

Ran into that today. The one thing my teachers rammed into my skull was posture, posture, posture. I could not explain in words what the correct posture was. Could only demonstrate and then force into position when slipped. At one point when she turned her head to look at the strings while I gave off the commands to play, A, G, E, A, I literally grabbed her head, turned it to proper position, then moved her wrist away from the neck and then told her to play the notes again.

And she did. No complaints. This is day one mind you. And after I did that the strings sang. I was expecting a murdered cat of screeching.

At the end of the session I told her she had some talent but not to get her Hope's up. It may be years before she can play anything meaningful. And now I am here sperging. She picked up all 4 primary strings with both the bow and pizzicato in the span of an hour. that is supposed to take at least a month.

 

[DeadFish]

My lesson plan is theory first. She does not know musical notation at all which means I will need to teach her how to read it. I learned this shit when I was 5, which means I have no idea how I learned it. I've just always known how to read musical notation. In the interim I told her to order a blank book for musical notation off of amazon.

Now I need to use it to teach her how to read it.

I would suggest rhythm. Pick a piece and move to it. The whole point is feel and hear music.

It's been years since I've had lessons but never forgot that stuff. How my teacher did it was focus on the concrete experience then move to abstract parts. First play the music. Have me dance, count along or move or clap to it. Once I was able to keep along is when I was shown what the beat looked like on paper.

Then was shown how to make my own rhythm on paper. I was a kid and thought it was funny my teacher was playing something I made up. Hey he put me up to it. I'd make him look silly with stuff I made but he would get even by doing the same. The deal was I perform to something you made and I'll perform something he made.

Then would tell me what actual music I came close to. Hey this rhythm you made is like this piece. You know this guy a genius? You came close to genius. How about we try this one yeah?

In short tldr:
1. Feel and experience music while it plays on a cd or recording. Such as dancing.
2. Perform. Clap with recording or clap while teacher plays.
3. Create.
4. Go back step on and repeat cycle.

Teach something that can be picked up immediately then work up from there.

 

[mindlessobserver]

I would suggest rhythm. Pick a piece and move to it. The whole point is feel and hear music.

It's been years since I've had lessons but never forgot that stuff. How my teacher did it was focus on the concrete experience then move to abstract parts. First play the music. Have me dance, count along or move or clap to it. Once I was able to keep along is when I was shown what the beat looked like on paper.

Then was shown how to make my own rhythm on paper. I was a kid and thought it was funny my teacher was playing something I made up. Hey he put me up to it

Then would tell me what actual music I came close too. Hey this rhythm you made is like this piece. You know this guy a genius? You came close to genius. How about we try this one yeah?

Thought about this and have decided to incorporate it all. Going to write down a sequence of whole notes of various time intervals. Not even going to bother with using the fingers to land notes at lesson two. But I've decided on top of autistically harping on posture from the get go I also need to make sure timing and rhythm is rammed home at the beginning too. Best to nip the most common bad habits in the bud right away I think.

So its going to be 4/4 time using a sequence of whole notes and half notes. All on open strings. I am gonna end the sequence with four quarter notes on the A string with a notation to play loudly so there is an introduction to volume change and faster bow movement.

 

[DeadFish]

Thought about this and have decided to incorporate it all. Going to write down a sequence of whole notes of various time intervals. Not even going to bother with using the fingers to land notes at lesson two. But I've decided on top of autistically harping on posture from the get go I also need to make sure timing and rhythm is rammed home at the beginning too. Best to nip the most common bad habits in the bud right away I think.

So its going to be 4/4 time using a sequence of whole notes and half notes. All on open strings. I am gonna end the sequence with four quarter notes on the A string with a notation to play loudly so there is an introduction to volume change and faster bow movement.

Basic premise of my teacher was get me doing as soon as possible with what can be picked up asap and build from there

Good luck.

 

[mindlessobserver]

Third lesson done. She can now play all four strings and has begun to grasp musical notation. I decided to introduce 4 by 4 time rythm from the beginning. I remembered that tempo was always a bitch for me largely because it was not introduced properly.

Introduction of the first finger went off flawlessly. I am not using tape to teach finger positions here. The fact that she could nail the B on the A string and the E on the D string after 30 seconds of instruction is impressive and I dont want to stunt this with bullshit visual cues. You either feel the note or you dont.

She also took my advice about getting her own violin. Makes it far easier then handing her my own and also means she is serious. I also dont like any of the beginning violin books I have read so am writing my own and having her copy my notation. May as well front load musical theory with the practical.

It's really hard for me to keep to myself. She has advanced in 3 weeks what usually takes 3 months.

 

[Bad Gateway]

Ben?

Ben? Is it really you?

Stop fucking your sister, Ben. That's for us to do, Ben.

 

[Stoneheart]

Classically trained violinist that was pretty much forced into it as a kid and never did anything more with it. And I do mean classically trained. From the Levine School in washington DC.

Is that some fancy school for Colonial retards?

I also dont like any of the beginning violin books I have read so am writing my own and having her copy my notation. May as well front load musical theory with the practical.

just start with european metal and go up to normal classic music, its a 2nd tier instrument in classic, but i think there is something from Wagner.
The right name for the instrument is Geige.

 

[mindlessobserver]

Is that some fancy school for Colonial retards?

more a fancy school for parents with delusions of grandeur about their kids. Which I guess is the same thing. Funny how forcing a 5 year old to do something to the detriment of going to friends birthday parties causes interest in the thing being foisted to wane.

just start with european metal and go up to normal classic music, its a 2nd tier instrument in classic, but i think there is something from Wagner.
The right name for the instrument is Geige.

We'll need to get the scales down before we can start playing some songs lol.

 

[Stoneheart]

more a fancy school for parents with delusions of grandeur about their kids. Which I guess is the same thing.

Playing Geige well is a valid path in europe.

Funny how forcing a 5 year old to do something to the detriment of going to friends birthday parties causes interest in the thing being foisted to wane.

thats not a good way of doing stuff... I had some cousines ship off to some music school, but well they had become sluts at the age of 16, so somebody had to beat them...
You cant force a child to have talent, thats why my youngest brother will get the farm...

We'll need to get the scales down before we can start playing some songs lol.

well you should give her some homework to listen too. to train the ear and to feed the hunger.

 

[Goyaanisqatsi]

now I'm following this like some reddit-tier fag. Thanks a lot, OP!

 

[gangweedfan]

OP the way you talk it sounds like the violin will eat you if you play it wrong