Study with good teachers.

Practice

Take advantage of auditions, camps, competitions, etc.

Practice

Be committed enough to not need Prom, boyfriend, and other “usual and customary” things in a teen’s life.

Practice

Practice

Practice

and more Practice.

In general, the level of string players that are in ANY professional orchestra is very, very high. Almost all of them have a university education in performance, if not a master’s degree or possibly a conservatory training.

I play in a community orchestra and we have a wide range of players, from a bass player who retired from the Cleveland Orchestra, to people with only a few year’s experience. However, the average level of players are people who studied their instrument for 10+ years and have quite a bit of orchestral experience.

I’m telling you this not to discourage you, but to let you know that string playing is often a life-long commitment, and a very worthwhile one. I actually received a bachelor’s degree in viola performance, but chose not to pursue a career as a performer. However, I enjoy playing very much, and have picked up the violin in the past couple of years. I play in a quartet as well. Because I learned how to practice from an excellent teacher in college, I now can learn music fairly quickly and polish my parts very well. I still have taken a few lessons now and again from prominent players and teachers so that I don’t veer off course.

I hope this helps,

-Karl

The greatest musicians are the ones who practice the most, starting at an early age.

You must already be practicing at least a fair amount. Can you up your total time to average 2-3 hours per day? Don’t do that all at once–keep to your current practice time, and add an additional practice later that’s 1/2 as long to start. Slowly increase the second session until it’s as long as the first. Then build both a little at a time.

Try to keep more than one practice per day, splitting time into several short practices helps you learn faster than having one really long session.

Keep this schedule going for several years and you’ll start to be professional-level–assuming you’re still young enough to get several years in before entering the music program at the university.