they're as cheap as guitars.

yamaha recently raised their fees, beginner was RM120, and increased about 10%. that applies for retail branches, franchises can follow or set their own fees (due to better renovation, rental due to location etc etc).

for RM150...wangsa walk?

reasonable.

RM133 of beginner violin lesson in retail yamaha branch (not franchise) is only 30mins per lesson and no theory.

put it this way - teacher doesn't want to take any responsbility, then the teacher let the student tune, but the student dunno how to tune, and broke 4 or 5 strings before the student get the job done.

breaking the string can be caused by different reasons - bad maintenance for the string grooves on bridge/nut, bad nut shaping, strings jamming at the pegbox wall etc. it's difficult to break a string if one is careful and tune the string slowly.


it's hard to solve your problem without looking at how you hold the violin. usually, it's the posture that's causing the problem, rather than shoulder rest.

yes, comfortable shoulder rest is essential, but you can't be sure if certain shoulder rest is suitable for which individual. without seeing the problem in person, it's hard to tell.

i never use a KUN before, but as far as i can see, KUN has better quality material. FOM is obviously an imitation, and it's like 1/4 of the price of KUN. but what i don't like FOM is that the platic flex a little so sometimes the shoulder rest is easy to come off, even no pressure between shoulder/chin.

i definitely recommend FOM simply because it's dirt cheap and i had one that lasted me 5 years, still can use but the foam and rubber need to change cause they're worn smooth and no grip already. it's so cheap to replace it anyway...

when you feel the bow is floating on the string and you need to dig into the string to make good sound, then you need to rosin your bow.

if you see rosin dusts collecting on the violin surface under the strings, or fingerboard, it's a little too much but still ok. but if you bow and you see "smokes" coming out from the bow hair, it's way too much...

PS: to answer your PM, sorry i really don't know when i'm ok.


usually, the distance between bowhair/stick at the middle is about the same width of the bow stick.

i the bow bounce too much on normal bowing, tighten it more. as a general rule of thumb, never tighten to the extent that the bow stick looks straight, it should leave at least some inward curve on it.


you mean G string?

vibrato is highly personal. you'll have to figure it out yourself no matter how much the teacher help you.

basically, you need imagination, and imagination of the whole picture, not just focus on small area e.g. your wrist/finger/arm only.

watch these to get some tips:

---

Added on October 25, 2010, 7:55 pmyou can try phone euro music and chamber music. i think chamber music offer the EZ payment or something, and they have a few fine violins there for not too much of money.

yes it's a common issue, more like for any instruments/beginner.

basically, you'll have to listen to the sound, and react to the sound you hear. you don't concentrate to what you do, just concentrate on what you hear.

it's like, you play L4D, counter strike, or any other action games. you stare at the screen, and your fingers will react to what you see, subconciously, as if the keyboard is part of your hand.

in short, listen to what you play, not what you do. don't worry, your teacher will point out the error on posture or other problems.

This post has been edited by little ice: Oct 25 2010, 07:55 PM

stiff finger is considered wrong by majority of violinists. it's simple, your finger's knuckle need to be moving to achieve a big and beautiful vibrato swing.

there might be violinists with stiff finger vibrato but it's a very rare case.

bow that came with RM1000 violin usually slightly better but probably about RM200, so it's not really worth to repair if you compare like that. but i can't be sure what kind of bow you have, especially if it's worth your time and money to buy a new (better) bow or just rehair, for the reason karen mentioned.

good rehair running about RM100~RM120 in KL. RM60 sounds too low for rehair. good horse hair doesn't come cheap anyway. but then, RM60 sounds about right to get your (most likely) cheap bow to rehair.

i'd say, it's a good reason to upgrade your bow right now. better bow make your learning progress faster, and most likely will sound better.

good wooden bow that offer significant difference is about RM800 and up. carbon fiber is a better choice in the lower price range. i always recommend a carbon fiber bow selling for RM230 at euro music KL that plays very well and comparable to wooden bow that cost RM800 or even RM1000'ish...

just that the sound might not be as warm but for RM230, it's definitely well worth the price.

no brand, but it's the only carbon fiber bow in euro music i think. just ask for carbon fiber bow and they'll show you that RM230 priced bow...

carbon fiber bow usually strong with lots of spring to the stick, and they're inexpensive compared to wooden bow that offer the same playability. carbon fiber bow usually have faster respond too, you'll find it'll stick to the string or make the string vibrate easier. CF bow by nature also much more durable than wooden bows.

however, CF bows usually draw a little thinner sound, or brighter than most wooden bow, and usually not as warm as wooden bow. brighter here doesn't mean harsh though, just more treble. for lower price range, CF bow almost always better than wooden bow of the same price range.

you'll know when you start to play on a better bow...

cheap bows are like dead horse, you try to input something to it and it won't respond. heck, you'd even struggle just to get a good and stable tone out of a bad bow.

my favourite place to order strings online.

http://concordmusic.com/

some are priced cheaper than malaysia, some not. but they don't charge insane shipping price, and you can buy some strings that're not available in malaysia.

Cirno
vibrato on cello is easier. but there're so many violinists with beautiful vibrato.

i saw the hofner electric violin selling at chamber music, and my friend bought it, the same that's pictured below:
http://en.woodbrass.com/electric+violin+ho...160ev+as+160e+v

it's decent sounding and certainly quality isn't much difference than yamaha silent violin (i actually prefer hofner to yamaha in tone character) that's selling for RM4000+ versus the hofner selling for RM1200+- even at chamber music.

not sure whether they still bring in that model, give them a call first.

nope, but i wasn't into coda bows right from the start so i never try them. lot of people love them, but you can't judge opinions from the public because you'll never know in what way they appreciate the bow. their newer Joule model is interesting, that's designed to drive the C string on 5 string violin.

CF bow usually has superior response, power and being able to draw very clean tone with very little noise, but they always have a colder sound compared to wooden bow. if you don't mind the sound, in the price range of RM2000 and below, it's hard to beat CF bow especially in playability. if you want my opinion what to get as advancing bow, i'd recommend to go the wooden bow route, but that's just me.

if you insist on buying CF bows, be careful that CF bows can vary in quality more than you'd imagine, try before buy if you can.


PS: i once owned an Arcus Cadenza Gold. very nice bow, love it until i bought an old wooden bow for under RM3k (i was being lucky actually) that beat the hell out of that Arcus bow that cost 4 times more. sold it, and never look back since then. never trust anyone who claim CF bow is superior to even the best wooden bow.

This post has been edited by little ice: Nov 16 2010, 09:13 PM

i have a professional teacher to recommend, staying in vista commonwealth, right next to the IMU @ bukit jalil.

RM100 per 1 hour lesson, so RM400 per week. his 1 month teaching can be a much as 3~6 months on regular teacher, depends how fast and hardworking you are.

he's my teacher. i got my grade 8 trinity with distinction grade (from totally dunno how to play violin) within 3 years (took exam november of 3rd year, so i actually prepared grade 8 exam pieces during earlier of 3rd year).

and i'm not the only one, quite a few of his other students are doing as good.

not that he's offering short course, he never waste time teaching unnecessary things. but if you don't follow each lesson tightly, you're the one wasting time, not the teacher.

however, that's if you have at least some musical background, can read music and decent theory knowledge about grade 3 or best, grade 5. if starting as a totally beginner without any musical background, not that it's impossible, you have to be very very hard working to prepare for each lesson and taking theory lessons with other teacher along with the regular violin lessons.

if you can buy time with money, why not?

sorry, i don't have anything under my sleeve too...

what are you trying to ask?

there, corrected for you...

you get what you pay for...

This post has been edited by little ice: Dec 3 2010, 11:51 PM

depends on the passage, see which finger works better.

if it's a single note, for C#, i normally use 3, and if Db, i use 4.