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Violin Lessons Online For Beginners – My Honest Opinion

Posted by violin on March 23, 2011 1 comments

What do I think of firstly, trying to learn violin online and then secondly, what do I think of Eric Lewis’s Violin Master Pro which has been recommended to me as the best violin lessons online for beginners product available? (Please note – this is not the actual product website.  This is a review of the product.  If you want to go directly to the product website go to the official Violin Lessons Online For Beginners website by clicking here).

Well, I have to say that I have been blown away by the whole concept of music lessons online without the physical presence of a teacher and by the quality of Eric Lewis’s violin lessons.  Before I looked at this product, I actually thought that learning violin online would, at best, be a good try-out starter to see if learning the violin is for you, before you go and find a teacher to undo all the bad habits you developed because there was no-one there to correct you.

ON THE CONTRARY, this guy is brilliant.  Watching his videos is like having the BEST violin teacher available, not the OK one who lives around the corner (apologies to my ‘OK’ violin teacher I had!).  ALSO, because you are learning to play the violin online through videos, not through a physically present teacher who can prod you into position, Eric Lewis gives really clear explanations, with a great language of description.  I remember being yanked into position by my teacher so that I may have felt what the movements of playing the violin should be for that moment, but having a clear description, plus videos to watch every time I practice would have been, in my view, superior (let alone $$$$$ cheaper!), especially as he is in a different league altogether from most teachers, being extremely experienced and an outstanding professional violinist.

Click Here to visit the Violin Lessons Online For Beginners offical website

Another unexpected positive of Eric Lewis’s Violin Master Pro as a method of how to play the violin is the lovely relaxed technique he teaches.  I actually sat watching the videos on ‘getting started’ thinking ‘Why didn’t my teacher explain it like that?’  I’ve always believed that the same learning can either take forever or happen in an instance, depending on the quality of the explanation and teaching.  You can sense the many years of experience in Eric Lewis’s teaching style.  Quite frankly, you wouldn’t survive as a professional violinist if you didn’t have a good technique as your muscles would ache and your sound wouldn’t be good enough.  So to learn to play the violin from such an accomplished violinist as Eric Lewis means you have access to a wonderfully relaxed and effective technique (believe me, not every teacher teaches good technique).

What are the pros and cons of Violin Master Pro?

The good things are:

  • You are being taught an excellent relaxed technique.
  • You get to watch the videos whenever you practice, not just during a lesson.
  • The explanations on Violin Master Pro are from a master who you would not normally get access to.
  • The difference in price between physical lessons and being able to learn violin online is massive.  This product, which covers dozens of lessons in 11 sections taking you to an advanced level, is cheaper than one lesson with a quality violin teacher in person.
  • Violin Master Pro provides videos, books, a whole variety of music to play (another big cost saving)
  • There is a big section on music theory, so that you understand what you are playing. (Normally that would involve additional lessons with a teacher.)
  • You get free access to a website that plays backing tracks you can jam along to – always good fun and a great way to practice technique.
  • You learn to play by ear and how to improvise, as well as from music.
  • You learn how to play the violin in a whole range of music styles from Classical, Jazz, Pop, Hip Hop, Folk, Country, Fusion, Latin, European, Rock etc.

The drawbacks:

  • I think a young child would struggle to access this style of teaching through a computer.  I would have thought that they would need to be physically shown what to do and some personal encouragement through their relationship with a teacher. (Though I may be wrong here – children and computers are an extraordinary combination!).
  • Motivation!  Knowing you are spending precious money on an expensive lesson at the end of the week is a good motivator to practice.  You will need to be really disciplined if you are going to learn how to play the violin online this way.  Maybe arrange with a friend that you will show them how far you’ve got once a month so that you have some sort of goal to get to.  Look at the previous post on this site or the top 10 tips on motivation.
  • Some of the sales pitch says you can master the violin immediately.  I don’t think anyone can really do that because it requires skill and practice (wouldn’t be half the fun without those two!), but I think you’ll be able to move a lot quicker and at your own chosen pace with these music lessons online.

Are violin lessons online for beginners a good idea?

I would say a resounding yes, which is a surprise, even to myself, as I felt a bit cynical about the idea that you could learn to play violin online, before I looked at Violin Master Pro.

Click Here to find out more about the Violin Lessons Online For Beginners on Eric Lewis’s offical website

This beginner violin lessons online product has been put together thoughtfully and expertly.  I think it would suit anyone who is at the beginner or intermediate stage, or maybe played as a child and wants to pick up their violin again.  There is a money back guarantee so you could try it out and see what you think anyway.

Good luck and I hope you found my webpage useful.

Melanie

10 Tips to keep you motivated when learning violin online

Posted by violin on March 23, 2011 None comments

After the initial excitement of getting started with learning to play violin, keeping the motivation and discipline up can be hard. Here are 10 top tips for things you can do to help you stick at your goal of learning to play the violin. There are more ideas in Eric Lewis’s Violin Master Pro – Violin Lessons online for Beginners.

The Top 10 Motivation Tips

1. Once you have mastered the basics, see if there is a local music group you can join.  Find one that welcomes all levels of playing and you won’t feel too self-conscious.  There is so much fun to be had making music with other people.  It’s a wonderfully sociable way to meet others as well.

2. If you can’t find a group, or don’t fancy playing with others, how about finding a friend who you can play a tune to say every month, or if you have kids or a partner, ask them to help you out by listening to you.  It will give you a goal to aim for.  You won’t just be learning the violin, you’ll also be doing a mini performance aswell.

3. If you just want to learn how to play violin for yourself, make a recording of yourself every month so you can hear the progress you are making.

4. Go back and see where you have come from.  It is always pleasing to look at your first sheet of music or at the first or Eric Lewis’s Violin Master Pro videos and realise that you are way better than that now.

5. Watch and listen to the great violinists play.  They are an inspiration and will remind you of what a beautiful instrument the violin is (even if it isn’t always sounding quite like that yet!).

6. Keep a practice diary.  It will help you develop the habit of practice.

7. Use a timer.  I always find that when I know how long something is going to last, I fill the time much more efficiently.

8. If you have somewhere safe to store it, keep your violin out so you don’t have to keep getting it in and out of its case every time you want to play.

9. Reward yourself for your progress.  Once you can read music and have mastered the basics from your online violin lessons, treat yourself to your favourite music.  Playing something you love is a real motivator.  It will also remind you why you wanted to take beginner violin lessons in the first place

10. Find somewhere quiet to practice and turn off all possible interruptions, so that you can really focus on your practice.  Nowadays, many of us are so busy we have become used to doing more than one thing at once.  Having something in your life like learning to play the violin can become real quality time for you, when you feel like you are achieving something great.

Good luck and stay motivated.

How can I make a success of learning to play the violin?

Posted by violin on March 12, 2011 None comments

Here are my tips on how to make learning the violin online work for you:

Practice Tips

In order to make the most of your violin lessons online for beginners, you will need to practice.  You can’t learn an instrument as magnificent as the violin without practising.  Here are a few of my tips to get into good practice habits from day one.

1. Before you start your practice, drink water and have a healthy snack so you are in the most alert state you can be in.

2. Try to find a regular time in the day to practice so that you remember to practice!

3. Make sure you warm up by doing the exercises that Violin Master Pro teaches you to do.  Remember, you are training your body to do something entirely new and different.  No-one ever managed to play a sport without warming up and practising different moves separately from the whole game.  It’s the same with musical instruments.  You need to train your muscles.

4. Get into a good habit of frequent, short bursts of practice.  I call it SMART practice, where you really focus on a skill or a section of music you want to master.  If you just play pieces from start to finish, without actually working on the bits which are difficult, they can actually get worse.  Your muscles develop memory very quickly.  Undoing mistakes takes far more effort than getting it right in the first place.  So play steadily and sort out the sticky bits by breaking them down into the smallest pattern of notes you need to do in order to get it right.  Then build up by joining that section to another section etc.

5. Don’t play for hours at a time when you are just starting out.  Watch an online violin lesson, have a go at what you are being shown and then watch the video again to check you are following the instructions for how to play the violin correctly. Then have a rest.  Come back to it later or the next day and try again.  It’s hard to maintain concentration at such a level for very long at first and you are likely to start to stray from what you’ve been shown after a while which is worse than keeping it short and sweet and accurate.  Short sessions mean your muscles won’t be learning mistakes.

6. Finish your practice by playing something you already know, so that you keep those pieces alive in your repertoire and also end on a high.

These tips will help you get the most out of the online violin lessons.    It is important to create personal discipline in your practice.  The next post will focus on your motivation for learning online.

Who is Eric Lewis?

Posted by violin on March 12, 2011 None comments

I’m going to tell you a little bit about Eric Lewis, who is the violin teacher who has created the Violin Master Pro – the learn to play violin lessons online for beginners program.  It is really one of the wonders of the internet that we can now have lessons direct from a world class professional violinist!  So if you want to have a go at using his online violin lessons, this is who you’ll be learning with.

Eric Lewis was born in New York City and is the violinist of the Manhattan String Quartet – one of the leading classical music groups in the world.

As a child, he had violin lessons at the Manhattan School of Music where he received Bachelor and master performance degrees, studying with Rachmael Weinstock, the first violinist of the 1930’s version of the Manhattan String Quartet. Since 1968, he has performed as first violinist with the Manhattan String Quartet, which has become well-known as a premier touring and recording ensemble to classical music lovers all over the world – in North and South America, Europe, Russia and China.

In recent years, Eric Lewis has expanded his performing repertoire as a chamber music artist, soloist, and conductor with the formation of several innovative ensembles, such as PVP, a contemporary music trio with Percussion, Violin, and Piano; Prometheus, a piano quartet; Delphi, a soprano and violin duo; and the Camerata Chamber Orchestra, which he conducts and performs as violin soloist.

He is the Professor of Music and Director of Chamber Music and Orchestral Studies at Western Connecticut State University, where he also teaches violin, coaches young professional chamber ensembles and training young violinists for performing careers. He believes passionately in young people discovering music and has given over 1,000 concerts especially for children.

After more than 40 years of playing the violin, he decided to channel his talents and expertise into finding a method to teach violin online, from beginner to advanced playing levels.

I found this post by one of Eric Lewis’s college pupils, Katie Marsan.

“Eric Lewis is my violin teacher and I think he’s great. He definitely knows what he’s talking about. He’s not only an amazing violinist, but he also really knows how to teach. He’s had lots of experience trying out different methods on his students. Most of the time the things he says really click and make sense immediately. He gets you to think about things so that you really know why he has you playing the way he does.”

What she says about him really comes through on the videos you get with the online lessons.  You do feel like his years of experience have been refined into how to make sure you develop a sound technique and make a good noise from day one.

Shattodaun!! Violin !!