My son is currently obsessed with violins. Unfortunately there isn’t a Suzuki teacher in our area, so I can’t arrange lessons for him. I am thinking about getting him a violin for Christmas (he’s got a subscription to SM for his birthday 
) but I don’t know how much I can teach him - I scraped a pass at Grade 1 in primary school and hated to practice because I knew it sounded terrible :rolleyes:
Is there anything on dvd/online that I could use with him? I really don’t see a point in investing in an expensive instrument if he can’t have some form of lesson. He has a real passion for music and I want to capture this desire to play the violin, but unless a teacher magically appears in my area, I can’t really help him 
Thanks!
My biggest concern would be form. Leaning to hold the bow correctly, knowing how hard to push. Holding the violin with your chin and not your hand takes knowledge. And you have to be aware of all of these nuances.
Also you will need to be able to tune the violin and teach correct finger placements. That is a pretty daunting task for someone who does not know how to play. And I am not convinced that a DVD or book would help.
However… Could you perhaps hire a student in the area who does play violin. College would be preferable, but even a good highschool student may be able to show you child the rudimentary but correct form.
I played violin in highschool, I never learnt Suzuki, and I plan To teach my 3year old son myself. I will be going with the Suzuki method for a few years. If he still enjoys it I will have to switch over to traditional violin teacher when he surpasses what I can teach.
I also could recommend to read this thread - http://forum.brillkids.com/teaching-your-child-music/violin-size-for-a-3-year-old/msg87212/?topicseen#new There are a lot of good recommendations for books, blog and detailed video lessons (which one I found extremely helpful for a mom without music education)
Hope it will help
Thanks. I think I could probably teach how to hold the violin and bow, but I would definitely come undone at the tuning and finger placements! I would have to utilize his soon-to-be-learned perfect pitch…
I hadn’t even thought of looking for a student to teach him - I know most non-Suzuki teachers won’t take on small children and would probably not be willing to change the way they teach, but I could probably find a student who would be able to help (and it would be a lot cheaper, too!).
I think I will wait and see for now - we are starting piano and Little Musician, and if he’s still interested in violin come Christmas, then I will look for a teacher.
I had said that I would never encourage him to take up violin (I know from experience how bad it sounds when you don’t hit the notes) but now that he is actually interested, I find myself trawling the web for the best deals on 1/16 violins and bemoaning the lack of teachers!
The things we do for our kids :biggrin:
I am copying and pasting this from an old post I made on Sassmanhaus Violin method in case it is of use to you:
This method teaches reading and playing at the same time, is a “classic” program originating in germany. While looking up more info on it, a program called Jump Right In was also mentioned. So, these programs might be worth looking into if you do not have a Suzuki school near you or if you prefer to use a method that teaches reading and playing at the same time.
https://www.baerenreiter.com/fileadmin/Domain/User/Produkte/Werbemittel/Allgemein/englisch/SPA123_Sass_violin_web.pdf
http://www.violinist.com/discussion/response.cfm?id=14583 Apparently, Sassmanshaus uses very large print and teaches animals to correspond with the notes, making it very child friendly. I really like the look of their book and the size of the notes!
http://www.di-arezzo.co.uk/multimedia/images/barenreiter/part/ba9676.jpg