I am 19 years old and I have been playing the violin for 13 years, I have a job right now, but have recently been interested in playing publicly for some extra income. If anyone could pitch in an idea or two on where I could play or places to start, it would be GREATLY appreciated. Thank You

See:

How do I break into the music business (i.e., get gigs?)

http://beststudentviolins.com/AuditionsGigs.html#2

Cool and inspiring video of a deaf girl playing violin.

Meet and interact with deaf musicians at http://www.alldeaf.com/deaf-musicians/

Commercial video created by Grey Thailand for P&G’s Pantene Chrysalis brand.

Duration : 0:4:3

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I played the Violin for two years (8-9 yrs old). I am now 19 and I want to start playing it..FYI…I was forced to quit, and I am mad about it.
Also, I do have music experience (sight reading, notes, melody, etc.) because I have been singing since I was 8 years old.
since I have music experience, how long or how difficult would it be if I took up the Violin again.

I played violin in 4th through 7th grade and because of my peers, I quit playing. Around 2 years ago (age 27) I got my moms old violin and started again. For me it was not that hard to pick up where I left off. I was a bit "rusty" and needed to break a few bad habits, but over all it was simple.

This is the first in a series of road movies Aleksey Igudesman has started to make. It features Julian Rachlin, Maxim Vengerov, Nicola Benedetti, Pavel Vernikov and his humble self on the piano, an instrument he can not play to save his life.
On the whole it displays quite acurately how weird violinists really are.

Duration : 0:4:40

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I have been playing the violin for almost 8 years. I recently found out that I have a scoliosis in an "S" curve. The top curve is 28 degrees and the lower curve is 30 degrees. Does playing the violin affect it in any way? Also, are there any good exercises that I can do to help it?

I can’t imagine any possible way that playing the violin would affect your scoliosis. As for treatment, you should probably be in a brace by now. Braces are effective when your curve is between 25 and 40 degrees. So hopefully you are seeing a scoliosis specialist. Any doctor without the specialized training doesn’t have the expertise to treat scoliosis.

I’ve posted the following a few times for other people with questions. I hope I’ll answer the things that have you concerned.

Scoliosis comes mainly in two flavors – functional (the curve is caused by another issue (uneven leg length for example) and structural. There are two main kinds of structural scoliosis – congenital (present at birth) and idiopathic (unknown cause). It is important for you to know what kind you have.

If you have functional scoliosis, a chiropractor may be able to help. Shoe lifts may help with uneven legs, but there can be many causes of functional scoliosis. I don’t have much experience with functional scoliosis.

If you have structural scoliosis, there’s not a lot you can do. The main treatments depend on how bad the curve is and how much more growth you have to go. Its not possible to predict how much or how fast a curve may increase.

You need to see a scoliosis specialist if you’re not doing that already. A doctor that is not trained as a scoliosis specialist doesn’t have the expertise to treat it.

Any curve under 10 degrees is considered normal and probably isn’t monitored.

Curves from 10-25 degrees are mild but should be monitored, especially if you’re still growing.

Curves from 25-40 degrees are moderate with bracing possible. You will need monitoring, especially if you’re still growing.

Surgery may be recommended if your curve doesn’t respond to bracing. Bracing will do no good if you’re through growing. The purpose of a brace isn’t to make your curve better, but rather to keep the curve from becoming worse.

Curves greater than 45 degrees is major. Surgery may be recommended. This depends on many things, but whether you’re done growing, whether your curve is increasing, whether your heart and lungs are in danger of being squeezed by your curve, whether you’re in pain, quality of life, etc.

If your curve is over 30 degrees, there is a good chance that it will increase even when you’re through growing. (Mine did.)

Unfortunately, nothing can *fix* idiopathic scoliosis. Surgery can keep the curve from getting worse, and in most cases, will reduce the curve but most likely your spine won’t be straight (unless you are very flexible in the area to be fused, then you might be lucky).

Chiropractors, message therapists, acupuncturists, etc., can’t fix idiopathic scoliosis. These people adjust the soft, connective tissues and that may (or may not, you can’t tell ahead of time) make you feel better, but remember, idiopathic scoliosis is not a connective tissue disease. Your spine is growing curved.

violin guitar metal playing

Duration : 0:5:4

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I’m a first year violin student and having a lot of trouble keeping my upper arm still while playing. For the last few months I’ve been letting it go nuts and my teacher just now decides to correct me on it :/ Any tips??

Which arm? Bow arm or violin arm? Your left arm should be pretty still right now, and even when you begin vibrato you should be flexing from the elbow or wrist, upper arm should stay still.

Your right arm needs to be stationary on top. If you bow from the shoulder your bow will travel in an arc and not contact the instrument properly…hence a really uneven and generally lousy tone. As a beginner you should be bowing from the elbow, and as you advance you should learn to bow from the wrist (although you will not use this skill all the time). A trick you can try is to stand against the wall and play your scales. Get your upper arm right against the wall so you won’t be able to move it and start to get used to the feeling. Another option is to stand at an angle in front of a mirror so you can watch youreslf practice your scales and try and get that arm to stay still.

I say "during scales" because that is the time where you are playing something that can allow your focus to shift to your posture; when you are playing pieces your focus should be entirely on the music and your interpretation of it.

This is a skill my teacher mentioned late in the game as well, but I got through it and you will too. Remember, it IS important to do this the right way, so not cut corners or allow it not to matter to you. Your playing will be so much better in the long run if you fix this NOW.

First position in violin is the classic hand position and can be played on any string. Learn more about 1st position for violin with tips from a classically trained violinist in this free music lesson video.

Expert: Elizabeth Willis
Bio: Elizabeth Willis is a classically-trained violinist and pianist. At age 5 she took up the violin and studied at the St. Louis Community Music School.
Filmmaker: Christian Munoz-Donoso

Duration : 0:1:9

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I play the violin and at school were playing two pieces that are 4 pages each. For some reason when I’am position of playing for a long time my shoulders start to hurt really bad. If I go to rest position it stops soon but I can’t really do that in the middle of the piece.

Chances are you are already using the correct position for playing the violin if you are playing at school as posture is one of the first things music teachers usually address. There are couple of other things that can be causing this. The first could be you have a violin that is too small or too big and the second is it’s possible that the violin may be digging into your muscles or tendons and you may need a shoulder rest. I am including 2 resources below, one is a sizing guide that shows you how to determine if your violin is the correct size and the second is an example of the shoulder rest that I am refering too.

Video for ‘This Is The Dream Of Win And Regine, by Final Fantasy

Duration : 0:3:47

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