Boy wants to learn to play violin. I’ve made sure he realizes that he’s in it for the long haul (at least this year) and figure he either learns music appreciation (good) or that his decisions have repercussions and he is obligated to follow through with them (good).
I’ve seen online prices for beginner violins in the $100-$200 range, I’ve also heard anecdotes where one mom’s $25 a month rental ballooned to over $600 and a collections agency when her son stopped after 4 months.
So…land mines to look out for? Experiences from the SDMB?
I was in the school band, not the orchestra, but the principle is the same.
If you can afford it, usually someone comes by early in the school year to show off cheap, beginner instruments that can be had for a couple hundred bucks. That’s good enough to carry you all the way through middle school. Once you get to high school, you can decide if your son is going to stick with it, and upgrade to an intermediate violin for a few hundred more bucks (AFAICT, most beginner instruments in middle school were in the $100-$200 range, and most intermediate ones in high school were in the $400-$600 range. But that info is a couple of decades old).
I would not rent, then you don’t have to worry about the condition it’s in when you return the instrument, plus if everything goes down the tube in a year you can sell the instrument on craigslist. You won’t get much for it, but better than nothing.
Only land mine I would really warn about is not forcing him to stick with it if he hates it after a year. He won’t like it, you won’t like it, the band director won’t like it, and the rest of the band will be pissed. Middle school band is terrible, and not because the students are just learning, it’s because their parents require half the students to be there. High School was better, because a lot of the parents didn’t want to deal with marching band practice, so the ratio of “really want to be here” to “parents are making me” was better. College was best, because it was 100% “really want to be here”, so we had a lot more fun with it.
I hope some music teachers and musicians will chime in (hehe). Don’t make this a sentence with no hope of parole. And don’t make it all about the money. The money is a consideration, but cut the kid some slack. He may want to change instruments. The violin is very difficult, and it takes a while to sound good. Don’t deal in ultimatums. Be thrilled he has any interest, and give him space and support while he finds his place in music.
It’s good that he volunteers. On top of musical appreciate and responsibility, he’ll also learn technical details about music (reading music, rests, beats, scales, etc.) as well as a fair bit of how to work in a group.
As for pricing goes, the $100-200 is standard for a mediocre starting violin. Mine was $250. My sister’s was $400. There are rentals but they tend to be of a significantly lower quality, but at this stage of the game, it doesn’t really matter. Well, it might be disheartening that his music doesn’t ring as true as it would on a stradavarius but overall, a rental is fine for a 1st year player. And there’s also size, from a quarter, half, 3/4, full but the instrument dealers are very flexible about trading in and upgrading size.
The boy is 10. While we won’t give him a life sentence, he DOES HAVE a tendency to flit from interest to interest, we’d be broke if we equipped him for every thing he had a passing fancy for. As it is, Goodwill has been great for seeing how into something he is.
He’s been shot down from playing a lot of sports (hockey) because his brother and parents don’t want to give up their lives to support that lifestyle. This seems like a worthy alternative, and we’ll at least make him stick with it through this school year.
I think the concern I had there was the terms of the rental (see the $600 example in the OP) googling some music sites is settin off my Bullshit meter, and I don’t know enough about this industry to make an educated guess on good and bad deals.
I think middle school is a great time to try something like this. In my observation, band is kind of an “all in” high school activity. It eats up a ton of time and most kids who are in band don’t really do other extracurriculars (especially if they’re in the marching band). They’re too busy practicing and performing for not only their own events or competitions, but also to perform for the school plays, the drama productions, to accompany the choral classes, etc. It’s a lot of work and if you start now he’ll know whether he wants to continue by the time high school rolls around.
He’s in 5th grade now and looked like he was REALLY aching for something to get involved in…we’re pretty heavily into Cubscouts and there’s a strong family motivation to keep them in scouting long term. I’m not sure what I’m hoping for, but it is a good way to expose him to stuff he normally isn’t exposed to.
They had a pretty good experience in the talent show last year, I really think he enjoyed performing, so there’s that.
Yes, lets relegate Mom and Dad to 4am morning weekends and events in 4 states. And no additional events for his Brother.:rolleyes: right back atcha.
ETA: We’re not nailing his foot to the Violin, either. Music night is tonight. He’ll have an opportunity to pick and choose and he’ll get support. But I’ve seen Hockey Famlies (and baseball famlies and football famlies, and heck, GoKart famlies) and want no part of it.
I don’t have kids and besides that, I’m old, and, besides that, when I was in high school I wanted to be in Glee Club, but my SAHM mother didn’t want to pick me (her only child) up from practice. But I’m not bitter. :dubious:
My question: WHY does a child’s involvement in school sports DEMAND* that much *of a commitment from parents?? I absolutely do not understand this. I don’t think mom and dad should be relegated to ANYTHING short of occasionally picking the kid up from somewhere. A kid should be able to be in some activities without the rest of the family having to disrupt their lives. This just seems WRONG to me.
I added the ETA above because you DO have good points and I didn’t want to dismiss them out of hand. What I’ve seen is: Hockey Practice is 2-4 days a week at the asscrack of dawn, You’ll spend $300, easily, in gear…not including the stuff they grow out of (skates) or wear out (sticks). You’ll then have competitions every weekend for four months, they’ll be anywhere from local to 250 miles away, not including the ‘opportunity’ to compete in regionals that could be Plane fare away (for multiple people)
We’re not a particularly sports oriented family, and it wouldn’t be fair to his twin brother (or his parents) if we did that.
That has nothing at all to do with my observations of his attention span. Over-caffeinated Hummingbird is pretty analogous.
I observed the demands of extra-curricular activities with my esBF’s (twin) daughters, one in band and one in theater. I felt like those girls were going to have to graduate and get jobs so they could rest! They were busy from pre-dawn to past midnight most days. (BTW, the drama teacher was especially demanding of students’ time. Then he was fired for being caught with his hand down a student’s-- a male student’s-- pants. The replacement teacher relaxed the schedule a bit.)
Sorry for the rant… I hope your son has a good experience in music. It can sustain him for the rest of his life if he comes to love it.
Okay, I am a middle school band director in Texas, so I may have some expertise in this area. Orchestra is not my thing, but there are some important similarities in all instrumental music classes. (We do not have orchestra at my school and it is not likely ever to happen. Small towns in Texas have band, but rarely have orchestra.)
First, getting the instrument and finding a way to pay for it: I hope your orchestra director can be a resource for this. Are there music stores that call on him regularly? If so, use them, even if it costs a bit more. The convenience of having them right there if there is a problem will be worth it. STAY AWAY FROM INSTRUMENTS YOU FIND ON THE INTERNET!!! There are good deals out there, but you have to know what you are looking for. There is a LOT of junk out there. Amazon knows I am a music teacher, so it keeps pushing this stupid $100 trumpet on me. It is crap. Don’t buy that stuff unless you really know what you’re looking at. Besides, if there is a problem, you can’t just stuff it back into the computer. It is worth having someone nearby to work with.
Cost does matter. You don’t need to spend thousands of dollars, but don’t get the cheapest thing in the world, either. Musical instruments are not like other things. If it isn’t made well, it won’t play. It isn’t a matter of “good enough” for a middle school kid. It won’t be “good enough” for anything. On a violin, if the pegs slip or the tone post is too short, it won’t be good enough for anything but kindling. I urge you to find something you can afford, but don’t go cheap. If you go too cheap, you might as well tell the kid he can’t be in orchestra. He’ll have an instrument that doesn’t work no matter how hard he practices, and he’ll hate it and quit. You’re better off not wasting the money.
When comes to renting, READ THE CONTRACT. I refuse to do business with a store that does not apply rent to ownership. We’re not renting a car from Avis, here. Eventually, you want to own the thing. Also, this allows you to build up equity. When it comes time, your music dealer may be willing to offer a step-up instrument and apply the payments you made on the beginner violin to the nicer instrument. Or, perhaps your child starts on violin, but ends up playing viola or cello. My music stores will allow students to return one instrument and move the payments over to another one.
I’ve got to run. My band is coming into the room. I’ll check back. Feel free to ask any questions.
Both of my kids, ages 16 and 14 now, are multi-instrumentalists. They started at school with recorders, my dau picked up the flute and still plays it to this day in the marching band (along with picolo, saxophone, and she just bought an electric bass). They both had piano lessons early in the process. My boy plays sax in the marching band, drums in the jazz band. Dau’s last boyfriend was a hulking, football-playing violinist in the orchestra.
I have loved loved the marching band experience. I’m sure the violin/orchestra experience will be good, also, just different. I’m kinda glad the kids gravitated to instruments other than violin, but that is mostly personal preference. The money I spent buying my daughter a flute is the best money I ever spent.
I’d rent because he will likely need to change instruments as time goes by. My daughter needed a larger bass, and my son a better violin. Also, things like cases and bows are covered by the rental- if lost or damaged, the will be replaced, often at the school (so no driving across town). Lost or damaged instruments happen mostly when there is a performance. The kids get all their stuff mixed up. My daughter’s bass rental actually included two instruments- one for school and one for home as it is too biig to lug back and forth every day. The rental company has been very kind and generous. They applied some portion of the rental toward purchase, so we wound up buying the bass.
My mom got my violin from a local music store. I started in the sixth grade. She bought it instead of renting.
I struggled because other kids had started in the 3rd and 4th grades. They were always better than me and had the first chairs in the orchestra. I played until my senior year.
Our teacher used to bring in a guy to make minor repairs on our instruments once year.