Can violin be learned through online lesson for a person with piano knowledge?

Question

I am a grade 2 piano player. I am interested in learning to play the violin, but I’m afraid that I might learn my basics wrong. Is it possible to learn violin online with a mediocre violin?

Answer 1

The techniques are entirely different, so I would say no - it is essential to get the technique correct. Holding the violin and bow, bowing the strings, finger, hand, wrist and arm position are all difficult without a tutor present to ensure correct movements and muscle tension.

Once you have the basics correct, you should be able to progress with online training to a reasonable level, but start with a tutor in person.

Answer 2

Is it possible to learn violin online with a mediocre violin?

Yes, it is although it is not easy, particularly at the beginning. A teacher will be able to spot and help you correct problems almost instantly in your weekly lessons. Without a teacher you will first have to work out that you have a problem and then find out how to fix it. Meanwhile you can ingrain bad habits and postures which can take a lot of time to correct years later.

A mediocre violin and bow are perfectly adequate, particularly if you have bought them. It will likely be 2 or 3 years before you need a good violin and bow. In the meantime you may have given up and your wasted investment will be much smaller with mediocre equipment.

One problem you will have regarding equipment if you don't have somebody like a teacher to advise you is that you won't know if they are merely mediocre or down right bad. In the beginning your playing will be poor and if your playing problems are down to shoddy equipment you won't be in a position to tell the difference between that and your natural awkwardness with a new instrument.

Regarding free online tuition, there are plenty of YouTube videos out there which can help you get started. Somebody with a channel called "The online violin and piano tutor" Has a series of 30 videos starting with "How to hold the violin". I watched a few of an earlier incarnation of this series just before and just after starting to learn but once I had a real, flesh and blood violin teacher who I still see once a week I found the pace of the videos very slow.

Bottom line: you can learn the violin via online but you will make much better progress and enjoy the experience far more with a real violin teacher.

Answer 3

How do YOU define mediocre? In one lesson I don't think anyone could learn much of anything, unless they are a savant.

There are essentially no overlapping techniques. Other than that fingers move nothing is the same. You have no frets or keys so there will be effort to learn to be "in tune". Even if you manage to get your string fingering hand adjusted there is the issue of holding the bow and learning to produce the correct pressure, hold the frog correctly (or hold the bow at the frog correctly). Holding the instrument between your jaw and shoulder takes time and adjustments.

Based on my definition of mediocre I'd say no way. My issue with online learning is that if it is from videos you will never get feedback and have no way to know if you are doing anything correctly. At the very least online with a live instructor would be a better choice.

Answer 4

We don't know how old, how musical, how disciplined you are and those are all important factors.

If you can use the music for piano, then vioin music is simpler - there's only one staff to use. So, theoretically, part of the job of learning the violin is already on the way. Learning any instrument is part music itself, and part technique on that instrument.

If you happen to choose good sites on the internet,and you're prepared to work hard, and can copy positions (of fingers, arms, violin, body, bow, etc.) you may get there. But how, as a beginner, do you ascertain that it's a good site?

Having a teacher isn't cheap, but gets any questions answered there and then, and there's always extra pressure to complete each task. Not there on computer!

As a beginner, you may or may not know how good (or bad) your violin actually is. Teacher will be a good judge.

So, with little information about you and your violin, there's a lot of guesswork in the answers.

Answer 5

Yes.

As both a music professor, a violinist (non-pro) and the owner of an online music school business where we have dozens of great online violin instructors.

I can honestly say that as long as the bandwidth is there and as long as headphones and Zoom are used you can accomplish a lot in an online violin lesson. As a person with previous experience in music you should benefit even more from that format. I say this because I have found that the online format eliminates many of the little social quirks we do in person that aren't about learning. In a Zoom lesson both teacher and student have to listen more and talk more efficiently.

There are lots of resources for getting a Zoom teacher. For online only I would recommend My Music Teachers Online if you are looking for hybrid lessons in future (a combination of in-person and online learning) I'd say check out Beethoven at Home

Cheers,

Neal Bennett DMA, Premiere Prix & B.Mus

Answer 6

You can totally learn violin online with a virtual teacher! I'm an adult beginner here and I've been learning with the same teacher from Take Lessons for years.

Playing piano means you have some understanding of music theory, probably can sight read and know what all the scales should sound like. Knowing the sound of those scales is going to be helpful as you try to get the intonation correct.

Getting posture and bow grip correct is going to be more difficult, however a good teacher can do all of this via video chat. Also learning to tune and replace strings on the violin