From classical to music to country and even metal, the violin is one of the most loved and versatile string instruments available. But, is the violin the right instrument for you? We’re going to take a look at some of the reasons why you should play the violin.
1) You LOVE the sound of the violin
The violin is a difficult instrument to learn, and an even more difficult instrument to master. If you want to play the violin, you need to first make sure that you love the way it sounds. Since if you only half like the instrument, you will more than likely give it up before too long.
We asked one of our in-house music teachers what he tells new students who aren’t sure what instrument to play:
"If someone isn't sure what instrument to start on, or if a specific instrument is right for them, they need to spend some time on YouTube. Search for the instrument you're interested in, and find solo performances of that instrument. Check out a variety of styles and genres.
Then do the same for a few other instruments. I always suggest guitar, piano, bass, flute, clarinet, saxophone, violin, drums, and cello. After going through that exercise, you will know which instrument you love the most."
2) You want to play a versatile instrument
Most musicians tend to focus on one or two core music styles and dabble in a few more. If you want to explore various music styles or want to play in a few different bands, the versatility of the violin will allow you to easily move from one style and genre to another.
3) You want to train your ear
If you look at the difference between a guitar and violin, you will notice some distinct differences. Other than the size difference, you will see that the violin has no frets or fret markers.
In order the play the violin, the violinist needs to listen to the note they are playing. A fretted instrument like a guitar or bass is much easier to play since anyone can see where the individual pitches are. On a piano, each note (or pitch) is one of the keys.
For violin, your listening ability will have to take over to tell you if the sound you’re making is right or not. This will challenge you to recognise notes, so that someday you may be able to “play by ear”.
4) You want something portable and small
The violin is one of the smallest string instruments in an orchestra. Thanks to its size, the violin is easy to carry around and one of the most universally accessible instruments. If you have a small frame or want an instrument that’s easy to transport, a violin is a great choice.
This means that children can carry the instrument around at school without any difficulty. Are you an adult thinking about learning the violin? Thanks to the size of the instrument, you can take it with you to the office, and go for lessons during your lunch break or after work, without needing a roadie.
5)Challenge yourself and gain bragging rights
The violin is a challenging instrument to play. This might sound scary at first, but it’s actually a good thing to challenge yourself to learn a difficult instrument like the violin.
A guitar has frets to help show where your fingers go, a keyboard has keys, but a violin requires precision in order to sound great. So while at first, you might not sound great, once you can play a few songs, you will know that you’ve achieved something special.
