Where Do You Put Your Fingers on the Violin?

Any beginning violinist can tell you what makes violin is so hard—knowing where to put your fingers! While decals like First Frets can help, you can’t put a sticker where every single note exists on the violin. You can memorize where certain notes are on the violin, and your muscle memory might get pretty adept at finding those notes, but if you don’t understand two important concepts, then you will never truly understand where to put your fingers. 

These two concepts are essentially the two reasons learning violin is so hard. However, these two concepts are often left out of violin lessons all together. Why would teachers leave out the two things that could help everything make sense? Well these two concepts take a lot of self-study to master. They also require in-depth study. You can’t understand these concepts with just a few words of advice from your teacher every week. When you only have 30 minutes to talk about songs, tone production, rhythm, note reading, posture, and so on, there’s hardly time to focus on these concepts. 

But if you don’t learn these concepts, it’s the same as just learning certain phrases in another language as opposed to really understanding how the language works. You may be able to play songs and read challenging music, but without understanding these two things, you will never truly understand the language of the violin. These two concepts are not dry by any means, but they can be hard to grasp. But I’m going to help you with that! 

Are you ready to learn the real language of the violin? Are you ready to know what two secrets could help everything make sense? Here they are: ear training and music theory.

Before I explain why these two concepts are so important, let’s take a moment and talk about where to put your fingers in first position. The violin strings are (starting from the lowest string) G, D, A, and E. Your left hand fingers are numbered 1-4. Index finger being 1st finger, middle finger is 2nd finger, ring finger is 3rd, and pinky is 4th finger. (Remember that the musical alphabet goes from A-G. After G, your next note is A but a higher A than the first A you played).

Okay, notice how there are three letters separating each string? 

G (A B C)

D (E F G)

A (B C D)

E

Those notes in parentheses are going to be your 1st, 2nd, and 3rd fingers respectively. What about 4th finger? Well it’s the same note as your open string below it.

When you are first learning, you will learn a finger pattern in which the 2nd and 3rd fingers are touching on every string (half steps apart) and all the other notes will be whole steps apart.

Just knowing what note you are playing won’t necessarily help you know where to put it on the fingerboard. Sometimes your fingers will be right next to each other, sometimes they will be a step apart. You have to understand how each note relates to the note before it in order to know where the finger goes. You have to be able to hear how the next note sounds. Which brings me back to those two big concepts. 

What are these concepts? 

Ear Training

Ear training is a term we use to describe the process of teaching our ears to to discern certain things in music. You might have heard of people with perfect pitch—people who have the ability to say what a note is just by hearing it. (You don’t have to have this ability. I definitely don’t! But you can get close). Or you may have heard of “playing songs by ear”—without looking at music. These are both ear training skills, but ear training is more complicated than just that. Ear training involves the ability to hear and understand the distances between notes, the quality of chords, whether a song moves by step or by skips, and most importantly for the violin, whether or not a note is in tune! 

Since there are no frets or keys on the violin fingerboard, you have to be able to hear a note in your head before you play it in order to know if it’s in tune once you put your finger down. This sounds complicated, but with practice it can become second nature. 

Before we talk about how to start tackling ear training, let’s discuss that second big concept: music theory.

Music Theory

Music theory is the the structure behind songs. It’s like the frame of a house. You don’t always see it or understand it, but without it, music would be a big mess. Theory involves understanding how all the notes work together.

For instance, when students first learn violin, they often learn “high 2” or high second finger. Teachers rarely take time to explain why the 2nd finger is high because it would take too long. “Just make sure you call it F sharp on the D string and not F. Don’t worry about why it’s sharp right now. Oh and yes, the 2nd finger on the A string and E string are also called sharps, but not the second finger on the G string. It’s just B natural, but you don’t have to say natural. Just call it B.”

Confused yet? Just wait until you start learning to lower that 2nd finger and play “low 2.” “Now that 2nd finger on the A string is no longer sharp, it’s C natural, but you’re still going to need to play “high 2” on the D string and G string those are still sharp, well except for the G string. That one’s still just B natural. Don’t worry about why it switches around, we’ll tell you later!”

If you don’t understand the framework behind music, you will just be trying to memorize worthless rules to put your fingers in the right place. But those “rules” will only apply when you are in first position. (The collection of notes that you learn first. Eventually you will learn higher positions and move up the fingerboard.) With a little music theory knowledge, you’ll know why some of those notes are sharp, which ones are sharp, when they’re not sharp, and how to play those notes all the way up the fingerboard and not just right there in first position.

If you look at a piano key board, you can see all the notes and their relationships to each other. Each violin string works the same as a keyboard, except you can only see the notes in your head! And there are 4 strings, each string starting with a different note, so really something like THIS is what you should be seeing in your head (this isn’t an exact representation of the notes on each string. It just gives you an idea of how each string is like a keyboard).

If it looks confusing, don’t let that deter you. With just a little bit of theory, you will be able to build this structure in your head when you play. 

So how do you start learning the language of the violin? Check out my easy ear training exercises to get started teaching your ear to be the boss! As you learn about ear training, you’ll see how it’s intertwined with music theory. Check out my music theory lessons to start learning how to see the structure behind music. 

Learning ear training and music theory might seem like big tasks, but gaining even a basic understanding of these concepts will not only make playing the violin easier, it will make it more enjoyable! You will not only be able to understand the language of music when other’s play, you will be able to speak the language and make your own music! How wonderful is that?

Happy (ear training, music theory) Practicing! 

New to the Violin? Here's Some Tips for Parents

TIPS FOR PRACTICING

WHEN TO PRACTICE

Try to practice right after the lesson while everything is still fresh. The longer you wait, the more your child will forget. If you aren’t able to practice right after, have your child talk through the new things they learned.

The amount of time each student needs to practice will vary with age and level. For all students, it is much better to have short daily practice sessions than to have one or two long weekly sessions. For beginners, at least 10-15 minutes a day 5 days a week is a good start. 

HOW TO PRACTICE

Students often fall into the trap of just running through pieces for their practice time. Running through a song might make it sound better after multiple attempts, but there are better, quicker ways to make something sound good. Set daily and weekly goals for yourself. I try to give students one or two big concepts to work on for the week. Think of these things while you play. Stop and ask yourself if you are doing them. Identify any problem spots. You don’t always have to start at the beginning of a song, start at the hard parts and try to understand what makes them difficult. Simplify the music if needed: pizz. the song without the bow or shadow bow it without the left hand. Make up words to songs or listen to others playing them. Finally, reward yourself for playing something well! As musicians, we are always thinking about what we did wrong and forgetting about everything we did right!

PARENT INVOLVEMENT

Parent involvement will differ with age level. For very young children, parents should be present during the lesson. Take notes and ask questions since you will be your child’s teacher during the week. Practice time for young children should be adult supervised as well. I can always tell an incredible difference with young students who have parents assisting them during lessons, versus parents who are not present during the lesson. When parents (or older siblings) help out a child during lessons, we can cover much more material, and the parent knows exactly what to work on during the week. If you can’t be present for your child’s lesson, ask for your teacher’s notes on the lesson. I leave lesson notes for every lesson so parents always know what we worked on. Use these notes as a guide throughout the week.

MOTIVATION 

Staying motivated is hard no matter how well you play. Once the honeymoon phase has worn off, parents should make sure their children still practice regularly. The less they practice, the more discouraged and frustrated they will become and the more they will want to quit. Hearing other musicians play is always encouraging. Take advantage of the internet and YouTube to find some great performances. Encourage students to also improvise on their violins. This is a fun and important part of developing the necessary aural and tactile skills.

Consider Learning the Violin Yourself

When a parent learns violin along side their child, something magical always happens. The child almost always progresses much, much faster than other students. The child will hear the parent playing their songs, reinforcing what the songs sound like. The parent serves as a role model throughout the week. The greatest benefit is the joy of sharing music together, which is priceless!

How Do I Play Music Faster?

Learn to play faster and sound better!

“How do I play faster?” That’s one of the questions I am asked the most. Even if students don’t ask it, I know they’re thinking it based on the tempo of their performances. When students ask about playing faster, I sometimes say, “Just move everything faster.” That’s not the answer they’re looking for because they don’t want to know how to play faster. What they really mean to ask is, “How can I play faster and actually sound good?”

Ahh. There’s the rub. What is it that makes us sound bad when we play fast? There are lots of potential problems but I boil it down to two: our left hand fingers aren’t hitting the right notes and our bow and left hand fingers aren’t coordinated.

Left Hand
Let’s tackle the first problem. You’re fingers aren’t hitting the right notes, a.k.a. you’re not playing in tune. Even if you have finger tapes, playing in tune involves more than just putting your finger down. There are two must-do’s to playing in tune.

1. You must hear the note before you play it. If you can’t hear the note before you play it, how do you know if it’s in tune? Practice playing a note then singing the next note before you play it. That’s a big eye-opener. I know what you’re thinking. “That means I have to play SLOW!” Yes. I’m getting there. You know it’s coming.

2. You must relax. You have to be able to quickly adjust your finger if it is out of tune. You can’t do this if you are tense. Try tensing up your left hand and wiggling your fingers as fast as you can. Now relax and try it again. This is another reason to practice slowly. It gives you time to think about relaxing and placing your fingers as lightly as possible.

Coordination
Now the next big problem with playing fast. Coordinating your bow with your left hand. As you place a left hand finger, your bow should move almost simultaneously. If your coordination is off, you’ll get that overlapping “blub blub blub” sound. The faster you play, the harder coordination becomes. Add in slurs and string crossings and it gets even harder. There are two parts to staying coordinated.

1. Putting down fingers as soon as possible. As you advance in technique this will become more crucial to playing cleanly. If you are about to play a fingering of 3-2-1, go ahead and have all fingers downs. This allows you to move your fingers quicker than placing and releasing each one. You can’t always put a finger down ahead of time (for instance, if you’re going from 3rd finger to another 3rd finger). Even when you can’t get the finger down before you play, you can get as close as you can to actually putting the finger down. If you are going from a 1st finger to a 4th finger on the same string, let your 4th finger stretch and hover right over where it needs to go. Practicing this way requires planning and forethought and it also requires you to practice…ahem…slowly to make sure the fingers are doing what they need to do.

2. Coordinating the bow with the left hand. First put down your bow and play the excerpt pizzicato until your fingers move quickly and smoothly. Add the bow but play very slowly and stop in between each note. Place the finger and then move the bow. For string crossings, make sure you stop the bow, drop or raise your elbow to the new string level and continue. Play the passage again making the pauses shorter and shorter. You are training your muscles to do exactly what they need to do so you can play quickly without having to work as hard.

Tempo
Students often start out playing something smoothly and cleanly and before long they get excited and finish the song like they’re at the Kentucky Derby. Using a metronome helps you stay consistent and keeps you from rushing. I like to start slow then move the metronome up 10 clicks then back 5 and on and on until I get it to the tempo I want.

Keeping everything in proportion
Generally, the faster you go, the less bow you will use. Otherwise you will start a small fire on your violin. Using the right amount of bow helps everything stay coordinated.

What’s the real key to playing faster?
Playing slower. There’s really no other way around it. I’m not talking a brisk walk, I’m talking turtle slow! And just because you play it slow once doesn’t mean you can go back to tempo and expect major improvement. You have to start slow and increase your speed gradually. Remember, any listener would rather hear a song played slowly and cleanly than to hear something quick but messy and unrecognizable. When you choose a a tempo to play a piece (whether for a teacher or an audience) choose the fastest tempo you can play cleanly. This might be slower than what you achieved at home but you’ll know you’re playing at a tempo you can actually manage with all those extra nerves and sweaty hands.

In order to play faster, you’ve also got to make sure your form is correct. If your left wrist is like a pancake or you can’t bow straight, you’ll want to tackle those things first. Learning how to practice can also help you improve your speed.

Remember, it’s never a waste of time to practice something slowly. On the flip side, playing something fast before you are ready can be detrimental and even hamper your progress. You are also less likely to get frustrated when you play something at a relaxed tempo. So take a deep breath, before you start playing fast, play slow. I promise you’ll be pleased with the results!

Happy (Slow) Practicing!

Stop Wasting Your Practice Time! How to Set Up a Great Practice Routine

Making your practice time "golden."

A good practice routine is the key to staying motivated to play the violin. But if you don’t have a good practice routine, chances are you will just dabble with the violin and never make any lasting progress. Does the following story sound familiar?

You get out your violin to practice. You know you’re supposed to start out with scales so you whiz through them so you can get to the good stuff. You play through the piece you’re working on. If it’s a good day, you make it all the way through. If not, you stop when it gets hard and go back to play the parts you sound good on. Let’s say it’s a good day. You make it all the way through. What do you do next? Start at the beginning and play it all the way through again. It might sound a little better, chances are, not much has changed. You decide to buckle down on the two or three hard lines. You play through the measures once. Ugh. It sounds awful. You try again. Even worse this time! Stupid fingers. Maybe if you try it faster…nope. Slower? That’s agony, too. You’re frustrated but you’re determined to get it right. You play it again but nothing is sounding right today and your practice time is up. You put the violin up for another day.

Sound familiar? What progress did you make? Not much of any. In fact, you probably reinforced some bad habits. You may not be doing all of these practicing no-nos but everyone is guilty of some of them from time to time (including me)!

What’s the key to being a better player? What’s the key to staying motivated? Practicing smarter. Not practicing more or practicing harder but having quality practice that yields tangible results. Practicing smarter is a skill you must learn. It might be slower going at first but as you get better at practicing, you’ll advance quicker.

Here are some tips to get more out of your practice time and keep your motivation up.

1. Get a warm-up routine—Doing the same warm-ups every day makes it easier to measure progress. Don’t rush it. You’re not only warming up your muscles, you’re getting your mind primed to focus. Start off with some stretches focusing on your upper body. Next I do “windshield wipers” with my bow. Then I move on to open strings. This is yoga for the violin. It’s a time to focus on relaxing, breathing, and making a good tone (one of the hardest things to do!). Draw your bow as fast or as slow as you need to make a good sound. Experiment with different parts of the bow. Try adding more weight or less weight. Think about the angle of the bow.
Next I play scales and arpeggios. You might think scales are easy and therefore don’t require much attention. Teachers prescribe scales because they are easier than your piece and are a great way to perfect difficult skills. Start by focusing on intonation then move on to varying the speeds and using different bowings. There are a million things you can focus on while doing scales. If you can’t think up any, I’m sure your teacher has tons of ideas. For now, only focus on one problem for each scale.
Depending on your level, you’ll want to transition to etudes or other method books and then you’re ready for the main song you’re learning. What’s the number one rule?

2. Keep your expectations low—Then you won’t be disappointed! That’s my life motto. Dream big for long-term goals, but for day to day practice, keep your goals short and manageable. Don’t try to conquer an entire song in one 30 minute practice session. Focus on one ore two measures. Even then, don’t repeat them aimlessly. Focus on one thing at a time to work on like getting your F sharps in tune of smoothing out your string crossings.

3. Keep a practice log—Before you start practicing, write down what your overall goal for the day is. Keep it manageable and tangible. Nothing like “I want to make my song sound better.” Pick something specific and simple like keeping your bow straight and relaxing your grip. If other things fall by the wayside, don’t beat yourself up. If you’ve progressed a little on that overall goal, you’re doing better than if you had no goal at all. As you practice certain measures, again write down what you want to achieve. This keeps you safe from aimless repetition. But, to determine what you need to work on, you need to stop and do some thinking first. Which brings me to my next point.

4. Be a detective—When something doesn’t sound right, don’t play it over and over again the same way hoping that one day it will sound better. Stop. Think. Is it a left hand or a right hand problem? Is it a difficult fingering or a difficult bowing? Are you correctly reading the notes or the rhythm? Once you’ve determined the problem, you or your teacher can come up with a way to fix it. You must do this for every measure and every note that doesn’t sound right! This is what your teacher is doing during your lesson. Learning to practice this way means learning to be your own teacher! That means you can use your lesson time to talk about other exciting things.

5. Stay focused—These tips won’t get you very far unless you can devote your utmost focus to the task at hand. For me, 5-10 minutes is the max I can focus on any one measure or problem, and that’s assuming I’m rested and removed from distractions. When you are past the peak of your focusing ability, simply move on to something else or take a break altogether. It’s better to practice shorter amounts and be focused. Otherwise you could be developing bad habits or reinforcing incorrect bowings, rhythms, etc. Like wise, if you start to get frustrated, put the violin down immediately and come back when you are refreshed.

6. Stop practicing on a high note— When you are nearing the end of your practice time and you play something well, STOP! Put the violin down and walk away while you are still happy! Sure, you could plow through a few more measures and risk getting frustrated but it’s much better to end feeling good about something. It will make you want to practice the next day.

Happy Practicing!

8 Ways To Make Practicing Fun!

Before I share a few ways to make practicing fun for your child, let me start with a caveat. Practicing isn’t always fun. That doesn’t mean that it’s tortuous, but it’s not always smiles and giggles. Sometimes your child just has to buckle down and do it. At the same time, you don’t want music to be yet another homework assignment. Having fun during practice time can be a great way to cultivate creativity and encourage focus if you choose the right “games.”
Some of these games are ways to get students to practice for longer. Keep in mind that as students progress, we want them to stop focusing on quantity practice with mindless repetition and start aiming for quality, goal-oriented practice.

As much as we wish our 7 year-olds would wake up and say, “Today I’m going to focus on getting my F sharps in tune,” that’s probably not going to happen. So until they do start thinking like that, here are 8 ideas to make practicing fun.

*Some of these games can get crazy. Use your discretion to ensure violins and bows aren’t harmed. Otherwise, you might be making an educational visit to the violin shop for repairs!

1. Hopscotch—Perfect for when your child is having problems with a specific section or measure. It requires them to focus to “win.” Using a a tiled floor or a carpet with squares, place a piece of candy on a square. Then position your child 7 squares behind the prize. If they play the measure correctly, they can move forward. If they make a mistake, backwards. When they get to the candy, they’ve played their problem spot correctly for at least 7 times.

2. Crazy Cup—Ideal for when students have already learned a measure or song but still need more repetitions before they’ve mastered it. On several slips of paper, write down actions your child can do while playing their piece (they can help you think up ideas). Keep in mind, they’ll be holding a violin so nothing too crazy like somersaults. In the crazy cup I use for my students, I have actions like “play with one eye closed” or “walk around in circles,” “sway like a tree.” Having them move around while playing can also help them relax and keep them from developing tension problems.

3. Recess—Take advantage of your portable instrument and go outside for practice time! When your backyard gets boring, go to a park or playground. Better yet, surprise a neighbor or friend with a song at their doorstep.

4. Every room in the house—Challenge your child to play a song in every room in your house. They’ll have fun playing in the dark in the closet. Ask them what room they sounded the best in. This will get them actually listening to themselves (which doesn’t always happen). A tiled bathroom will be a lot different than a carpeted bedroom!

5. Teacher time—Have your child be the teacher and let them give you or another family member a lesson. Make sure you ask them if your bow hand and posture are correct. You can deliberately mess something up so the child has to fix it. Act confused and ask them to demonstrate how to do it right. This helps remind them about all those curved pinkies and thumbs!

6. Free time—You might call this noise, but I call it improvisation. Being able to experiment and come up with their own songs is vital to a child’s creative development and aural skills. I never did this as a child and as a result, I was terrified of “jamming” with a band or playing anything without music in front of me. It was a fear that took me a long time to get over. It’s important to start this exercise early. The older the child gets, the more terrified the student becomes of playing something “wrong.” Imposing a few rules gives this time some structure. You must insist they continue to hold the instrument and the bow correctly. To reduce the chaos, give them a certain string to improvise on or a rule of “only open string and 2nd fingers” or “only use the Mississippi Hot Dog rhythm.” You can even make another cup with slips of paper with “rules” for guided improvisation.

7. Play along—Listening to better violinists is the best thing to keep students motivated. Students in orchestra programs have the benefit of always being surrounded by better players to mimic but students that only take private lessons don’t always have that. Youtube a professional violinist and let your child “play along” with them. They won’t be able to play all the notes, but simply pretending to play all the notes can do wonders for motivation. They’re listening to what they could achieve. Of course, use caution. If they’re pretending to be Lindsay Sterling, things could get out of control pretty quickly so be ready to take the violin away and transition to “air violin” before anybody, or anything gets hurt.

8. My Candy—This is my all time favorite trick for getting students to focus while they practice. Identify a problem measure, section, or song. Put five pieces of candy on the music stand. When the child plays the selected measures correctly, they get a piece of candy. But if they play it incorrectly, I take one of their pieces of candy, quickly pop it in my mouth, and comment on how delicious it is. Just seeing me eat their candy is enough to motivate them to focus on the task at hand. Before you start, give some parameters on what is considered “correct.” No stopping and starting, no wrong notes, no flat left hand wrists, good posture, etc.

What else do you do to make practicing fun? Share your ideas!

Happy Practicing!

Recital Time! How to Master Your Recital

It’s that time of year again! Flowers are bursting into life, birds are singing, music students across the country are furiously practicing (hopefully) to get their recital music in shape. First timers are often surprised to learn that they don’t sound as well as they did in the comfort of their own home. That’s because performing is a skill that gets better with time. Just like you practice playing in tune, you have to practice performing! Here are 5 tips to help you dropkick your recital.

1. Perform, Perform, PERFORM!

There are people who are naturally wonderful at everything. And then there are the rest of us who actually have to work for it. But people who perform well have practiced performing. I guarantee you, when a 10 year-old prodigy performs at Carnegie Hall, it’s not the first time they’ve ever played in front of an audience! You must practice performing to be good at it! Start with your most adoring fans: your goldfish, your stuffed animals, your music-loving houseplant. Then move on to more demanding listeners: your dog, your mom, your little brother. Then go for the really tough critics: your grandparents.
Go through the whole rigmarole when you practice performing. Dress up, walk to the stand, play, bow, smile. It’s also a good time to school your family on recital clapping etiquette!

2. Think about the little things.

It’s those pesky things we never though of that trip us up. Like the fact that the pretty necklace we bought just for the recital buzzes when it touches the violin. To avoid wardrobe malfunctions, have a dress rehearsal. Get used to playing in those 6 inch heels. Make sure your dangling earrings aren’t too dangling. Does your collar or tie interfere with your violin? Figure it out before you go deer-in-headlights in front of 50 people.

Think about the other little things. Imagine yourself in the space you’ll be playing. Memorize how high you like your stand. If you are playing from memory, where will you look? Figure out page turns, erase confusing markings in you music. People develop weird quirks when they get nervous. I’m a nose-runner so I keep a hanky handy. Know thyself and be prepared!

3. Don’t Rush!

When adrenaline is pumping through your veins, the natural instinct is to play everything super fast. You’ll get done quicker that way, right? Well, yes, but you’ll hit a bunch of pot holes along the way. At home, practice at a faster tempo than you plan to play at the recital. Just in case your nerves take control, you’ll be prepared. But always plan to play at a tempo slower than your max speed. It’s better to go a little slower and get all the notes than go faster and get every other one.

4.Whatever happens, don’t do this!

Everyone makes mistakes. What separates the professionals and the amateurs is what they do after the mistake. If you grimace like you just swallowed spoiled milk, everyone will know you goofed. If you go on and pretend like nothing happened, there’s a good chance no one in the audience will ever know! But if you stop, grunt, roll your eyes, and publicly flagellate yourself for messing up, it’s like taking a highlighter to your boo boo. Keep a straight face and keep on chugging along.
Performing is like being an actor. You have to pretend you know what you are doing even if you want to crawl in a hole and die. Recital audiences can be oblivious, only slightly better listeners than your houseplant. Even if you make a mistake, and an audience member thinks he heard it, if you keep on going without a scowl, that audience member will shrug and think you meant to do it that way.

5. Eat a Banana!

Seriously. This is a hint handed down from my teacher. Anytime I perform I eat a banana about 30 minutes before I go on stage, even if I have to force it down. It’s hard to eat when you are nervous, but you don’t want to perform on an empty stomach. Bananas reduce anxiety. It’s scientifically proven—probably. Surely someone’s proved it scientifically. Oh, who cares. It works, scientific or not. So grab a bunch before you start getting the jitters!

When you get discouraged, remember, if it were easy, everyone would be doing it! I’d rather mess up on the field than watch from the sidelines.

Happy Practicing!

Making Children (and Adults) Practice Their Violin

How do you make young children enjoy practicing their instrument? That’s the million dollar question.

When I tell people I play the violin, I almost always get one of two responses. The first, proclaimed with joy is,“Violin is my favorite instrument!” The second, muttered with a hint of remorse is, “I played violin in fourth grade.” When I ask if they still play, they give me a hapless shake of the head.  If violin is everyone’s instrument of choice, why doesn’t everyone play it? Why don’t they keep it up after they started in 4th grade?

If you play violin or have a child that does, you probably already know the answer. Violin is a difficult instrument to learn. Period. Like mastering any complex skill, it requires an immense amount of dedication and self-discipline. That’s one of the reasons we all want our children to take music lessons, right?

Most children are excited to learn violin but after a couple months, once that honeymoon phase has worn off, they all begin to wonder if the juice is worth the squeeze. This is one of the most critical times for a young player. They will pitch fits, whine, refuse to practice, beg to quit lessons, and drive parents insane. It’s at this point when students are on the brink of understanding all that wonderful self-discipline, that parents give up the struggle and let their children quit lessons, thereby erasing whatever self-discipline they were about to learn.

The Hump

I call this moment, “The Hump.” (You’re supposed to whisper it with great fear and trembling.) Don’t think you or your children are immune. It hits everyone, young and old.  I was there as a young piano student and my mother let me quit. Now, being a violin teacher, I would give anything to be a better pianist. Remember, you never hear adults say “I’m so glad my mother let me quit music lessons.”

 If you’re an adult experiencing the Hump, this is the point when you have to push through. But if you’re a parent, you’re going to need some different tactics. (I call them tactics because this is WAR!)

Make a Plan With Your Teacher

First, talk to your teacher. Sometimes it’s not obvious to them that your child is going through the Hump. I change my own tactics during this time to help students stay engaged. Your teacher probably has their own ideas to help you.

Creating a Rewards System

There’s definitely something to be said about rewards, especially at a time when children haven’t learned to do something for it’s intrinsic value. Developing a reward system for your students is a great idea to get them over the Hump. Ice cream at the end of good lessons. A dollar for every song completed. Being excused from doing the dishes to practice (this was my mother’s tactic).

On the flip side of rewards, you have to be firm in withholding them when progress is not made, otherwise they’re worthless. Keeping your child motivated with live performances or youtube videos are other great ideas.

Make Practicing Fun

There are lots of ways to make practicing something children look forward to. One way is to learn violin as well. When I have children and parents learning violin together, the children always progress faster and enjoy playing more than the students whose parents aren’t involved. Even if you can’t learn violin too, keep students motivated with performances (whether live orchestra concerts or YouTube videos). Getting creative with your practice time can keep it from being another chore.

It’s All in the Mindset

Watching parents over the years, I’ve learned there is one tactic that is essential to keeping your child in lessons during the Hump. It’s the “over my dead body” tactic.

Even the most innocent children will turn into little devils and try to make you bargain. They will think of reasons to skip out on lessons, forget their music books, use practice time to make the most painful, inhuman sounds on their instrument—just to drive you mad. The minute you start to bargain and say things like “Maybe we’ll take a break for a few months,” YOU’VE LOST.

You don’t bargain with them about attending school or taking showers. Why would you bargain on something you know will make them better, well-rounded adults? When parents adopt the “over my dead body” approach, something amazing happens. Students resign themselves to lessons and within a few more months and they’re surprised at how good they sound!

Remember, if you give up now, music lessons were nothing more than an expensive experiment. Students have also inadvertently learned that’s it’s okay to quit when the going gets tough. Stand your ground! Make your children practice! Trust me, in about twenty years, your children will thank you.