Beginning Strings: What Not To Expect

So, you and your child are entering into the world of strings! It's a great place to be, and the rewards are endless. Someday soon, your child will be at the front of the stage, performing concertos and symphonies with the orchestra and you'll be in the front row, with the bouquet of roses ready for the final bow. You can see it now! But first, third grade strings.

The first day of string lessons is upon us. Surely your child will come home playing a variation of "Twinkle Twinkle," (he's already playing Mozart!), or maybe even Ode To Joy (Beethoven!!!). Even if it's just Hot Cross Buns - he is a beginner, after all.

So Sarah walks in the front door, violin in hand, and exclaims, "Mom! Dad! Violin lessons were so great today!" And you smile and say, "Show us what you learned!" Sarah excitedly opens her violin case, grabs the instrument (not the bow yet, that's probably the last step), puts her little sponge shoulder pad in the rubber bands at the bout, and stands up (why hasn't she grabbed the bow?). Sarah stands, looks down at her feet, and goes through a carefully choreographed routine that puts her into the proper stance for violin-ing (she looks so professional!). She settles herself into position and gently lifts her fingers to the fingerboard (here it comes!) and....plays four beats on one of the open strings. She looks up at you and smiles broadly, obviously pleased with herself for her performance. You wipe the confusion from your face as quicky as you can and smile and say, "That was great, honey! What else did you learn today?" Sarah smiles and says, "That's it! We learned how to stand up and pluck a D note!"

Third grade strings learning how to stand on their first day of lessons with Mr. Boynton

What?

The truth is, learning an instrument is a slow process, especially for strings. There aren't frets to show kids where to put their fingers, their arms are doing completely independent movements, and they're learning how to read an entirely different language than the one they're used to reading. Tone quality on a stringed instrument (how good it sounds) is determined by the pressure in the left hand (the one on the fingerboard) and their bow technique (speed, weight, contact point). When a kid starts a stringed instrument, their fingers haven't built up callouses, so they don't put a lot of pressure on the fingers in the left hand because it hurts to push down the strings, so the pitch isn't clear, it's scratchy, it's not the most pleasant to listen to. When they start using the bow it's even worse, because there are so many different factors that go into a good bow stroke - are they holding it correctly? Are they using the right amount of speed? Where is the bow placed on the string? Are they putting enough pressure into it, consistently throughout the stroke? Are they using enough bow? And these are all factors that have to be combined and worked on until perfected into the best bow stroke your kid can muster - it takes years. A violist of twenty years, I'm still constantly working on my bow technique. It is truly a never ending process.

It's important to know that it's okay to be put off by the less-than-dulcet tones put out by your beginner. It's okay to think, "Wow, this doesn't sound great, I don't love this." Where the difference is made is how you encourage your child. Maybe their rendition of Twinkle Twinkle is less than twinkl-y, but encouragement and support is key. "Sarah, your posture looks great. Why don't you show me how to do that? I'm so excited to see what you learn next week," "Wow! Twinkle is almost there! What did you think? What do you want to practice to make it better?" And then, send them off to practice for 15 minutes, and then come back to show you what they worked on. You don't have to be a musician or have any idea about how to play the violin to be an active participant in their string education.

If your kid isn't playing sonatas at the end of third grade, that's okay. They're not supposed to be. But with encouragement and support they'll be motivated to continue learning and in time they will come home and play you that Twinkle variation (and more!). They'll have something that they belong to and can be a part of and you'll be so happy you suffered through the scratchy and unpleasant sounds of beginning strings. Quality playing takes time. Not to compare your kid to a car, but you wouldn't buy a car that was built in an hour, and we're going to make sure your child has a quality string education so they can play their best. Does it move slowly? Maybe. But at the end of the day it's worth that little extra bit of time it takes to make sure they're comfortable and understand what they're doing.