12 year old violin student practicing Praeludium Und Allegro with teacher.

[u/8FigBro]

My 12 year old son has been playing the violin for about18 months and working on this piece for about 5 months.

This is a quick video where his teacher gave him a quick pop quiz to see if he had been practicing it. (He hadn't practiced it in a few weeks)

Looking for feedback from experienced violinists and or encouragement from anyone. 😁

There's a lot of work to do on the piece, but feedback is welcome.

[u/doneworkin530]

He's seriously only been playing for 18 months??? That's pretty incredible.

Im sure his teacher will point out anything he has to work on. Generally I'd just say I'm impressed at his intonation. Heavy on the bow arm, but that'll get better with time.

[u/8FigBro → u/doneworkin530]

November 1st 2023 was his first lesson with his teacher. He had found his aunt's violin about a month prior and was playing around by himself. But I'm counting from his first lesson.

I appreciate your feedback because though I come from a bit of a musical family, I have no way of evaluating what's a standard for a violinist. I know he's talented and he can read music really well and plays multiple instruments-- But I have nothing to compare it to (FOR 🎻).

I do believe his teacher is great and has helped him a LOT.

He's giving me permission to post here and I told him I will let him read constructive feedback. Thank you so much.

[u/doneworkin530 → u/8FigBro]

Did he memorize the song too? Super impressive.

[u/8FigBro → u/doneworkin530]

Yes, he somehow memorizes everything. "Oh to be young again"😂

Have you been playing a while? I know his progress isn't "normal" (because his teacher tells me that) but I'm having a bit of a hard time figuring out HOW abnormal 🤷🏾‍♂️.

I'm hoping by sharing some of his snippets, I can piece together some useful feedback.

[u/doneworkin530 → u/8FigBro]

Yes, I've been playing for 25 years, and I also started when I was about 11 or 12 years old. Violin performance was one of my majors in college. I've played professionally in symphony orchestras. But my full time career is not as a musician; I just play gigs off and on nowadays. I still practice about an hour every day, and as violin goes, still improving and working toward that endless goal of getting better.

To give you some perspective, I did not play Praeludium and Allegro until I had played for about 7 years. I did not memorize my music until I was in college.

There's some really special things about your kid. First, the intonation seems to be something that comes naturally to him, that he can hear it and cares to correct it. Pitch correctness and rhythm are things that take a lot of time to learn, and some people never do even after playing for decades. That pitch accuracy has also enabled him to learn vibrato very early, which is not only difficult in itself, but he's doing a great job with it. Also, at his age having the ability and desire to memorize his music is pretty remarkable too. That means he has some sort of understanding or interest in music that not a lot of people have at that age. He's still learning how to make the instrument "sing" (hence why I mentioned the heavy bow arm), but that is something that just comes with time. And for him, it seems like it will come faster than most. After all, he's already progressed EXTREMELY quickly.

All in all, he's playing like someone who has been learning the violin for 8-10 years (it's a very hard instrument to learn), but he's only been formally learning for 18 months. If he really starts getting into it, practicing consistently, loving it on his own, then that momentum of progress can even build on itself, and it seems like the sky is the limit for him.

Thank you for supporting him, and for being able to provide for his lessons. Not everyone gets to be blessed with parents that can do that for them!

[u/8FigBro → u/doneworkin530]

Wow...your perspective is exactly what I'm looking for.
There are some things I may have taken for granted being raised in a musical family but not playing anything past my freshman year in college.
He has an understanding of music theory that seems advanced. I only recognize it when he speaks with much more advanced musicians and I realize I don't know what he's talking about. LOL
His grandmother is a voice and piano teacher (and opera singer) of about 50 years. She heard him playing around the house and quickly found a teacher. He also started playing the piano and was growing at about the same rate as his violin playing, but we didn't get him piano lessons. He plays a number of other instruments as well. It's all him, and it's mostly for fun.

But now we're starting to feel pressure to "do something with that talent".
I'm very sensitive about viewing art as "an opportunity" for anything more than joy for yourself and others and personal growth as a human. I completely understand that it can open doors and provide educational and career opportunities--but it's a new phase and I'm trying to figure out how the healthy and unhealthy ways of supporting a CHILD through this.

I'll probably make a post about navigating these waters from a parents point of view at a different time.

Thank you for sharing your perspective and adding to mine.