thanks for your explaination.

the boss of the violin shop keep playing a few violins for me and he said will help me choose the more mellow one. i can only notice 1 which has a too sharp tone.

i will bringing it to let my piano teacher to ask for her opinion coz she teach violin too.

maybe in future will ask you for opinion on a better bow.

well yes, a mellow violin is basically essential for a beginner, it's easier to the ear

just let your teacher test the violin and ask for her opinion since we can't possibly hear your violin. you may also ask about the opinions from your teacher about the bow too.

any idea wer can i find a violin teacher in subang area?? seems so hard for me coz i'm from malacca studyin in subang..still very blurr..would appreciate the help..i really wanna start learning violin!

pm me if you wanna know about finding teacher in subang area...

im thinking of getting a class either on violin or viola. however i didnt know which one to choose yet.
hopfully all the pro's in here could give me some guidance.
n a violin/viola for a starter, how much will it cost???
TQ

the problem with viola is that the size is quite big and heavy to put on your sholder, and if you have short finger you might run into problem stretching your fingers.

cheapest viola is around rm400 or rm500, equal to a rm300 violin. take note that even a full size viola has various size too, ranging from 15" to 17". usually 15.5"~16" is pretty common and is what people usually prefer, more than that is quite heavy, less than that will have lesser deep sound quality due to smaller body.

it depends on what you like. listen to viola and violin songs on youtube. viola has more soulful deeper sound, like an alto/tenor, as opposed to a violin which is sparkling and brilliant, like a soprano.

for a more materialistic point of view, if you really want to cari makan, there's a great demand for viola player in orchestra. however, playing in wedding gigs, viola players normally not as demanding as only string quartet need viola ALTHOUGH it's still very demanding compare to other instruments. of course, if you can imagine how demanding violin teachers are, viola teachers are even more rare.

This post has been edited by little ice: Feb 28 2009, 03:49 AM

thankz for the xplaination.
yup, the truth is im kinda like the way of a viola sound.
bring me goosebumps each time i hear the sorrowful sound of a certain song.

so viola teacher is even more rare??400-500 for the cheapest viola??
heeeee
think i have to consider a lot of things

Violin teachers teacher Viola too. It's actually eay to play Violin once you can play Viola...but not otherwise.

viola needs more effort to play as it's a big bigger, the bow is longer and stiffer too. For me, I like viola more as its tone has more depth... not as shrill and 'thin' like violin.

Little ice ir right. There are so many violinists...but very few violists. If you wanna think about long term, learn viola as there's ALWAYS not enough violists.

I started learning violin for 9-10 months already, if I'm not mistaken. I feel I'm not making much progress with my current tutor, please recommend me a good teacher?

mskvenn, where do you stay?

hahahah
thinking of getting a viola lesson.
its now not bcoz of the long term period, but bcoz i finally realized im such a addict of those sorrowful+deep sound.

another info, i play guitar a bit.does this help me with stretching my finger for viola?
TQ

I stay in KL, OUG.

I think it should be okay since you play guitar and you're male. You finger should be longer than mine at least. Mine's short..

glad to hear that mskvenn.
thankz
nway my finger also normal size.lol

now next question, is there any good viola teacher in ipoh?

Oops, you're asking about viola? I thought it's violin. Sorry! I'm playing violin. But I still think it should be fine. You just need to stretch and practice. My teacher said with the correct technique, like lowering your thumb so that your other fingers can reach further, it's not a problem.

Let's wait for the pros to answer you.

nowadays trinity exam consist of 3 songs, 2 accompanied by piano and 1 solo. Is trinity or ABRSM harder now? i mean oni grade 8 and below

hello just passing-by here (usually lurks around Audiophile forum).
Cello is my fav instrument after piano, love the deep penetrating voice.

here's a nice vid from Yanni featuring cello solo and cool violin duet.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbuXwphrHT8

Don't know trinity , but ABRSM 1-4 grade still quite easy. So far my student did not fail exam pass 10 yrs.

nowdays ABRSM exam book with CD (full songs and piano accompaniment) , easier student practise


I also teaching violin in Melaka PayFong HighShool.

This post has been edited by yangxi: Mar 1 2009, 11:08 AM

if you're able to play guitar, you'll be more comfortable with cello as the length and fingering (within 1 string) is about the same, but since viola is smaller, so shouldn't be a problem.

by comparing the songs, ABRSM is generally harder, but not sure about recent years. i think recently the ABRSM C section got a song called czardas, which is imo quite easy among general grade 8 pieces, although it sound quite difficult when you hear people play.

hehehe.
thankz guys/gals.
viola!!!!!!
anyone teach in ipoh??

sorry, dunno about teachers in ipoh, although my teacher is from ipoh but i think he no longer teach in ipoh anymore.