Now that you or your child is embarking on the wonderful journey of learning the violin, you need to know how to select one from your local violin shop. As a first timer, you may be apprehensive with regards to selecting you or your child’s first violin and violin bow. Indeed, this can be quite overwhelming given the immense amount of information you can access with a simple search online via google. However, how do you know that the information presented online is accurate? Even Wikipedia can be written and corrected by anyone.

Moreover, well meaning friends, relatives and acquaintances may also offer plenty of suggestions. They may have their opinion which is correct based on their perspective, but each individual is different. What works for them may not necessarily apply to you. These may be given in good faith, however the information may not necessarily be accurate or may cause even more confusion.

According to Rita Yeo of Stradivari Strings, a violin shop Singapore which deals in handcrafted bowed strings instruments and bows, there are four important factors to consider when looking searching for the best violin shop looking for your first violin:

First Factor: What Is The Objective Of Starting Violin Lessons?
The first thing you need to consider is, what is the objective of learning to play the violin. This question needs to be directed at the potential violinist, and not to the potential violinists’ parents, relatives, friends and so on. Why is this so? Its because no one can answer better than the violinist himself or herself.

Adult violin learner’s objective broadly fall into two categories. One --- learning for leisure. Two – learning to take the Associated Royal Schools of Music (ABRSM) or Trinity Exam board examinations. Now, learning for leisure does not mean that you only learn children nursery songs like “London Bridge is falling down” or “Baa Baa Black Sheep” after ten years of starting violin lessons! Under the tutelage of an experienced violin teacher, you will be paced through all the techniques and repertoire pieces needed to get up to intermediate level and advance level playing. If your learning objective is to take the examinations at a later stage, you need to determine that you will aim for advanced level playing.

If your objective is to target to play at an advanced level, then you should be looking at the advanced level violin for sale range.

Violin learners who are children may have different objectives. Depending on the age of the child, the parent may think that acquiring the skills set of playing the violin helps the child to gain admission into prestigious schools based on the musical ability of the child. Indeed, in Singapore, such a program (called DSA --- Direct school admission) exists to give children who have a sports or music ability to enter into a prestigious secondary school or junior college. Children who have this objective typically need to take the ABRSM examinations to ascertain their grading level before they are eligible for audition slots. Of course, the child must also impress and perform well during the audition process. For children in this instance, it will be wise to select a fine, handcrafted violin as opposed to a factory made one.

If the child’s objective is to be exposed to the joy of music. An intermediate level handcrafted violin may also be suitable.

Second Factor: How Fast Can You Or Your Child Master The Violin?
If one can master the violin in three years versus ten years, suffice to say that one should just get an advance level violin at your local violin shop. This is pure common sense. Let me elaborate.

Three years is a relatively short time period to be able to achieve advance level playing. And it is very possible for one to do this. If you or your child can achieve that, then you can consider getting an advanced level violin. There is no point changing violin every year, from beginner to intermediate level to advance level violin, in this case.

On the other hand, if one takes six to ten years to achieve advance level playing, then it makes sense to probably start off with a beginner level violin and trade that up for a better violin a few years down the road.

How can one predict how fast one can progress on the violin? There are a few areas you can look at to have a best estimate:

Area 1 --- Do you or your child have music background in other musical instruments? If yes, this will shave off around half the time one will take to learn the violin as a second of third musical instrument

Area 2 --- Do you have a good sense of space? When you travel abroad in a new city, when you explore the city on foot, are you always aware of where your hotel direction is relative to where you are heading? In other words, do you have a good sense of direction? If yes, you have the ability to pick up violin playing fast

Area 3 --- Are you starting violin lessons with a senior level violin teacher? By definition , senior level coach will have many more years of coaching experience. Also have higher level qualifications in music, for example Bachelors of Music as opposed to only an ABRSM grade 8 level certification. If yes, then the likelihood of you progressing faster on the violin is more or less assured.

Area 4 --- How interested or motivated are you or your child in pursuing violin playing? The more interested, the more keen. That means you or your child will do anything to better your violin playing skills. In this case, go for an advance level violin.

If you answer YES to all the four areas above, then hesitate no more. You should go for an advance level violin.

I hope you have gained much insight into this, as this is something that all new violinists go through. Good luck with your quest to play the violin!