Teaching my first violin lesson! Any tips?

Cafe Society
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My friend has a son, R, who is about 6 and is really interested in the violin. In a fit of madness, I offered to teach him. First lesson today. I’m very excited and also rather worried. I’m a fairly good player (could have been quite good but decided I didn’t want to put in the time and energy) but I started very young and so I don’t always remember what my teacher did, although I do remember some things from watching my younger sister learn. I totally love teaching and tutoring, which is why I’m excited about this, but all the teaching I’ve done is in academic subjects; I’ve never tried teaching a musical instrument before.

R, while he seems really excited about the violin, is the sort of kid who has a short attention span and has a hard time sticking to things. On one hand, that’s why his mom is going with me – we’ve agreed that if he looks like he’s really going to stick with it, and I feel I’m out of my depth, she’ll transfer him to a more experienced teacher. On the other hand, I worry that this will get me in trouble as a teacher, as I tend to assume (at least, when I teach/tutor academic subjects) that my students will have a fairly long attention span.

One nice thing is that the mom is a good pianist (it was while I was playing with her that R got obsessed with the idea of learning violin) so that she understands music and practicing and will practice with him every day, so I don’t have to worry about tutoring her.

I learned Suzuki, so that’s what R is going to learn. I drew up a plan for today’s lesson that involves a) talking about patience and sticking to what you commit to, b) learning to take the violin in and out of the case, c) proper bow hold, d) proper posture, and e) properly playing Mississipi Hot Dog on the E string. I am pretty sure that my first violin lesson(s) didn’t involve actually playing anything, but I’m equally sure that I have to let R play something during the lesson or he will be sad.

How does that sound? Any suggestions? Tips? Anecdotes?

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Whatever you do, get right to the lesson. No fiddling around.

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LOL --thanks kayaker!

Raspberry Hunter – it sounds like you are off to a good start.
Remember that the two most important thing you can establish
in this first year of study for R is a daily practice/listening habit and as careful attention to basic technique and you can while building a beginning repertoire.

Best Wishes!

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Thanks RKViolin!

Gave the lesson and boy, the basic technique thing is going to be tough. My big fear as a teacher was that since I do it kind of naturally after so many years, it would be hard for me to tell when he was making a mistake. Well, that was not a problem. He wants to grab the bow and the violin (like, make a fist) and it’s a constant battle (every two seconds, more or less) to remind him not to do that.

On the other hand, he was joyous about being able to play “Mississipi Hot Dog” so that made me feel really good, and I have hope he’ll stick with it.

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Well done! I only teach a few younger students, in addition to older students of keyboards (in their twenties and early thirties, which is my age) who just want to learn to transcribe some Rolling Stones or snatch up some of my licks (which is fine with me – some guys are a little jealous, but I don’t care too much if they want to learn how to play what they want to).

My best student is my nephew, who is 2.5 – I babysit him once per week, and wait until he comes to one of my pianos, but then again, I’m not getting paid for music lessons, just enjoying waiting to see what key strikes repeatedly and start a groove in that key. He seems to love the Rhodes, and hates it when I reach over him to play some bass or grab my Hammond clone on top of the Rhodes. “No…no!” All the while gathering all the range with his two little hands.