Violin Lessons

LO1: Identify their own strengths and develop areas for growth

LO2: Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process

Music is my biggest passion and I find interest in anything related to this area, whether that be playing an instrument, composing or analysing. I have been playing the piano since I was 3 and have been fortunate enough to experience so many incredible musical opportunities that have allowed me develop as a learner. When it comes to music, I try to challenge myself and step out of my comfort zone of playing classical music, therefore joining the jazz band in middle school was big milestone for me, and ever since then I have continued to push myself to explore unfamiliar areas within music, which has allowed me to become a more confident musician. Playing different types of genres and in various groups have encouraged me and fuelled my interest in the idea of challenging myself. I had always wanted to play an instrument other than the piano, but I had only recently been drawn to the sound of string instruments – the way it resonates, capturing various moods and emotions, the richness of the melodies it played, I just found everything about it beautiful. Therefore, I thought this was a good opportunity to pick up the violin and have fun with it.

Since I was completely new to this instrument, I had to take things one step at a time. Interestingly, I found the process of establishing my foundation extremely enjoyable – playing scales, focusing on the resonance of a note, quality of sound, placing of fingers etc. – and my teacher often said she was sorry if this was all boring. However, I realised that because with piano I am so focused on playing challenging pieces and continuously practicing difficult passages, there aren not that many opportunities where I learn new techniques, therefore going through exercises and the ‘basic’ elements were very enjoyable to me as I was able to take in more information. But of course there were many challenges I experience along the way. Firstly, with the violin, you have to place your fingers on the correct spot to obtain the sound you want, whereas with the piano, essentially even a toddler could press a random key and the sound would automatically be produced. Therefore, I struggled to find the correct spots alongĀ  the fingerboard and I was very irritated because the notes I would often play were slightly out of tune. Furthermore, my finger would easily get sore since I was not entirely used to the metallic feeling that was pressed against my fingers and my whole arm would hurt because I was not used to having to support an instrument. In addition, I struggled with string crossings in pieces because my transition between two notes would not be clean where I would play an extra unnecessary note to get to the next string and I also was very bad controlling my bow and fingers. Despite the challenges I faced, I continued to practice daily, going through the exercises and pieces covered in class, making sure I paid attention to the corrections made by my teacher and I could finally play several pieces smoothly. The small praises I would get in class really motivated me to keep maintaining my persevering attitude and commitment, which are important factors that would allow me to improve further and show growth.

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