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Can a Beginner Take Violin Lessons From a Instructional DVD?
paschaderk asked:
My 7 year old daughter received a violin for her birthday but I don’t have the money or time to drive her around for lessons. Would it work if she took lessons from a DVD? If so any recommendations?
My 7 year old daughter received a violin for her birthday but I don’t have the money or time to drive her around for lessons. Would it work if she took lessons from a DVD? If so any recommendations?
Tags: Violin Lessons, Money
Gosh, I’m sure anything is possible. My 40 year old roomamte just baught a violen for $100 from Target. He wants to take lessons but doesn’t have time either. I have never seen a DVD like that but I had never thought about it before. Check your local Music Store and see. Thanks for the idea. Why not? Worth a try isn’t it?
absolutely NOT!!
the problem with learning ANY instrument from a DVD when the student has not any prior training is that you develop so many bad habits without knowing it, especially with violin since it’s relatively difficult to learn. A good teacher is invaluable in the sense that he/she can observe/evaluate how the student is understanding and responding to what they are learning. Since eveyone is different physically, there are bound to be questions and problems that every student would have along the way, and only a teacher “in person” would be able to help.
In my professional opinion, many of these DVDs are there for the profit.
And if your daughter gets into it, you will have to spend even more money to get rid of the problems. See if you can get a violin major from a university near you(call their music department) to come to your house(get someone who’s a violin major, not minor). Or maybe her school has an orchestra so the string teacher there may be able to help her. If you can’t do that, then I would say wait a little bit till you can.
I’m afraid the answer to that question is No, it’s a waste of time. Adults have difficulty doing it, and with a child, it’s not going to work. Sorry. Find a teacher. TAKE the time and money to “drive her around.”
It depends on what she wants to get out of it. As a player since I was 4 years old, I doubt I would be anywhere near the level I am at today from instruction from a DVD. It would teach her the basics, I’m sure, but if she makes a mistake, there’s no one there to help her fix it, or to show her. Showing me my mistakes and then showing me how to correct it was very important when it came to my learning. If she just wants it as some sort of hobby, I guess a DVD could teach her to play a some songs. Using her violin to make a career for herself or playing in college? Well…DVD will certainly not cut it.
I know there’s tons of instructional DVDs out there for guitar. It seems like the same concept, but it’s not really. Even learning guitar from an instructional video is difficult, but then add the difficulty of trying to teach a proper bow hold, the lack of frets on a violin neck, and how to hold the instrument itself, and there’s a problem. A private teacher would be able to personally put temporary tapes on her violin, so she would know where to put her fingers for the notes. I don’t have any recommendations for DVD’s, because I would never recommend using one to really learn well. A private teacher is your best bet, but definitely look for some sort of public youth orchestra she could perhaps get involved with. Even my elementary school offered an after school orchestra program for beginners, which is where my friend learned to play. Paired with private lessons, she became very good, very fast.
The violin is a great instrument to play! I hope your daughter gets something out of it.