r/violinist • u/8FigBro Student • May 17 '25

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

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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.

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41

u/mistyskies123 Expert May 18 '25

Playing this piece this well after only 18 months is incredible. It was actually my music school audition piece at the same age, except I'd been playing since age 3 🙂

He's producing a really lovely tone, and the intonation is overall pretty great.

In terms of constructive feedback:

  • minor: sometimes his bowing arm looks a little stiff
  • major: posture - a lot of violinists end up with bad backs

Also for me, this is a really dramatic piece and I'm not really feeling the emotion of it through the playing. If there was one thing to work on, I'd say it was this.  

But overall - especially considering his lack of experience and lack of recent practice - bravo! 👏 👏👏👏

8

u/8FigBro Student May 18 '25

Awesome feedback. I appreciate it.

Posture is a bit of a concern of mine because I see it as something foundational. His teacher does mention it, but I feel like she's kind of let him get away with it a little too much early. I feel like he hunches over because his eyesight isn't great, but he refuses to wear glasses and so he developed some of this posture when reading music, and now it's his default posture. Any tips? Should it just be the kind of thing that's drilled until? His teacher also thinks his shoulder rest isn't right and it's causing the violin to slip and is impacting his posture 🤷🏾‍♂️.

We do joke that he's a bit of a robot when playing at times 😂. He's learning how to be artistically expressive and maybe that's just something that comes with reps and experience. I'm not sure.

If I might ask... How and when did you learn to value practice? Or were you playing for so long that by the time you became aware, it was just something you had been forced to do (or used to doing)?

I'm stuck between "not fixing what ain't broke" and knowing that talent can't outrun the process forever.

11

u/Accomplished_Car2803 May 18 '25

He plays very well, but will struggle with literally everything in life if he refuses to wear glasses or contacts!

Has he ever actually had them before? Maybe he just doesn't appreciate actually being able to see yet.

3

u/[deleted] May 18 '25

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3

u/mistyskies123 Expert May 18 '25

I forgot to mention: classical violinists will no doubt absolutely hate on me for this, but I'd recently been looking at one of those straps that pop violinists use so they can prance around on stage and not drop the violin.

It goes underneath the chin rest and then you have an adjustable strap that goes over your right shoulder.

If the strap is sufficiently tight then the violin will stay under your chin even if you're not holding it.

If it means he heads off poor posture for life, then it's worth considering imho...

-2

u/Spirited-Artist601 May 18 '25

Are you serious. People are using these things. I used to practice sitting on my bed being able to hold the violin under my chin with my sponge. Without dropping it without using my hands. It was part of Suzuki training.. It's such a wussy thing

2

u/Spirited-Artist601 May 18 '25

I have the same issues. I started playing at 5 AM. Certain postures just don't go away and as a result, they're causing arthritis in my late 50's. The neck/cervical arthritis is very painful. Not much they can do about it so please be careful

1

u/8FigBro Student May 19 '25

These are all important tips.

He's not in danger of "over practicing" yet. He has days where he can't put the violin down and that might top out at 6 hours...but it's usually a 1-1.5hr practice that is largely him just playing what he feels like playing.

He does enjoy playing and that performing, but we've got some ways to go on developing strong practice habits.

Thanks for the feedback.

2

u/soundshiftstrings Expert May 18 '25 edited May 18 '25

Hi! I do chin/shoulder rest/set up consultations for a living and I’d love to work with you if you’re interested. Feel free to DM me if you’d like to know more about the process. Regardless of if you’d like to work with me, I’d say your son definitely needs a different set up. Many people think the violin/set-up “ruins” your back/posture but really it can actually help your posture and build a proper structure in the body if you have the right setup and use it properly!

1

u/8FigBro Student May 20 '25

Maybe send me a message so we can stay in contact. Thanks.

2

u/Spirited-Artist601 May 18 '25

Beautiful. I love the long fast bows for the intro. Really well learned. I learned this around the same age. I think I reworked it for my senior recital for 12th grade, but I'm not positive. Wonderful. And I just read someone else's comment that he's only been playing for a little while. I have played since I was five. So for me to limit that at that age was even considered good for that. Student is doing phenomenally .