First of all, thanks to the folks here. This is a great place to find professionals who dedicate their precious time to giving feedback, tips, and insights that are often worth gold.

When I wrote about my violin addiction — I've been studying for 5 years now — I noticed a lot of people didn't get one thing I shared: at 2–3 years of study I felt intermediate, and today, at 5 years, I'm sure I'm a beginner. Sometimes beginner+... lol. Let me explain.
When you're learning the violin, it takes a long time before you can play even simple songs. The intonation challenge is intense, and then there's coordinating everything at once: rhythm, bow pressure, left-hand fingers landing in the right spots, keeping the bow perpendicular to the violin, relaxing dozens of points in your body, breathing... and plenty of other things I've forgotten — or haven't even realized I need to improve yet.

In my case, about 2 years in, I managed to minimally coordinate all of that, to the point of playing popular melodies that sounded pleasant — to my own ears, of course, but I'm an easy audience. So I thought: I've made it, I'm intermediate. I remember mentioning this to my teacher. He elegantly changed the subject.
It was only a year and a half ago that we started shifting, a bowing book, and vibrato. That's when the map of the territory opened up, and I understood the size of what's still ahead.

For those who like more objective milestones, my teacher works through these books in parallel, weekly:

Sitt – 100 Violin Etudes Op. 32 (complete edition): I'm on etude 6
Sevcik Op. 8 (shifting): still grinding on page 1
Sevcik Op. 3 (bowing strokes): I'm on lesson 13
We finished a duet book, and now we pick individual pieces

The journey is incredible and really engaging. My only regret is not having more time: I play about 1 hour a day, always sticking to the practice program my teacher assigns.

What about you? Have you been through this cycle of thinking you're intermediate and then "going back" to beginner? At what point did you feel you truly leveled up?

i have listened alot to violin plays inside the classical music composing and i want something different like standalone violin player who is making music by himself outside the classical music

This is just a short clip of the beginning, but basically the whole thing sounds like this.
I literally dont know what im doing i haven’t had a real lesson in like 5 months and haven’t had any help at all on this piece (started this 2-3 months ago and didn’t get to work on it much bc I was at a summer camp)

Any feedback is appreciated bc i need it for college auditions. I just don’t know how to approach this sonata…

Sorry I know this sucks but keep in mind I haven’t had a teacher listen to this yet

His new bride has been reposting some pics and vids from their wedding and it’s looking beautiful.

Her IG handle is areen_chen

edit: day after wedding and Ray has posted pics and vids. The most notable moment was Ray playing a violin piece during vows that is a transcription of the slow movement of Rachmaninoff’s 2nd symphony, which is his wife’s favorite work. The title of the transcription is called “Forever Starts Today”

Je me suis lancée dans l’apprentissage du violon… et ce n’est clairement pas une mince affaire 😭🎻
Pour l’instant, le plus difficile pour moi, c’est de réussir à tout gérer en même temps : la tenue de l’archet, la justesse et le placement des doigts.
Évidemment, je joue encore assez faux sur la vidéo, mais j’espère réussir à développer mon oreille petit à petit et à gagner en précision avec le temps.
Si vous jouez du violon, je suis preneuse de tous vos conseils pour progresser ! 🎶

All ornamentation is my own addition; I’m trying to learn how to add effective ornamentation to Irish style songs (I think this one is Scottish actually.)

Hey all,

I chose the part of my Spohr I feel like I’m struggling the most in for this recording and used my first take as to show all the flaws I have right now. As far as I can see my biggest problem seems to be sound quality as well as some easily fixable intonation problems.

If you could provide any advice on where to improve and practice, and whatnot I’d really appreciate it!

The section is from letter P to letter T in the edition edited by Eugenia Umińska.

Thanks~

I heard a girl play a piece that starts of with the opening of paginini caprice 24 then goes through some variations that aren't in the original

It has piano accompaniment and wasn't to difficult

Around grade 8 level I can't find it can someone please help me?

*I meant 24 in the title sorry

Does anyone have suggestions for measures 22-25 in No. 9 (the Allegro con brio) from Egmont? I’ve figured out some fingerings that work for me before and after this spot, but these few measures always seem to get me. I’m open to suggestions on other sections too, if anyone has something better than what I’ve got written in.

Thanks in advance!

Recently, I’ve noticed that after playing for a while, my right jaw will start to hurt. Oftentimes, even when I haven’t not been playing, it feels like it needs to pop and sometimes does pop, but it only begins to actually hurt when I’m playing. Sometimes I make weird facial expressions when I play, but I haven’t noticed anything too unusual when practicing in front of a mirror.

The feeling is about halfway up my face, somewhere between my right cheekbone and my jaw.
Most of the time, it’s bearable and does not prevent me from playing. But occasionally, it does get quite uncomfortable and I have to stop practicing, which is a bit alarming in my opinion. I want to figure it out before it gets worse. Maybe I should see a doctor, but I don’t have health insurance (perks of being a private teacher, lol).

It would make more sense if the left side of my jaw was hurting, since that is where I’m gripping the violin, but I actually have no pain or tension on the left side—only the right. I’ve been playing for about 17 years (I’m 25), and this just started recently. I haven’t changed anything with my setup, and have used the same instrument, shoulder rest, chin rest, etc. for years too. Only other change is that I’ve been practicing viola more often too, but my viola is quite small (“14), and weighs about the same as my violin.

I’m curious if any other violinists have experienced similar tension/pain on the right side, instead of the left? And if so, what did you do? Any insight or advice would be greatly appreciated.

I’m a 34 year old male. Looking to pick it up again after
Playing for 3 years in middle school. Would it be a terrible idea to just go straight into a 5 string I just love the idea of the range. Any recommendations on instruments? Thanks. I want to keep it under 1k.

I am an intermediate violinist. I am on the market for a nice violin mic for live performance

Budget between £20-£50

Does anyone have good recommendations

We were playing around and decided to try a snippet of the Mendelssohn with the organ

I'm going to engineering school so expecting to put violin on the backburner. I'll still play just have to prioritize my studies. How much do I keep on playing to avoid losing the skill? Also is it possible to improve with a tight schedule?

Thanks for the input.

Hi, I've found this song a few minutes ago. Is the instrument at 06:09 a violin? (sorry about the post title mistake) That part has a "flowing" vibe I don't know how to explain it. What's happening there? 🫨

Hey ! I'm pretty new to violin, i'm close to reaching the first year. It started pretty good for the first 6-8 months but I've reached a plateau and it's just exhausting.

I'm currently learning riedings concerto in B minor.

How do you deal with constantly sounding like shit ?

I haven't found any joy, pride, content or anything good from m'y last months of playing and it's just depressing, I geniunely end every session by quitting after 45min-1hr of pure hatred cuz I sound so bad, and when the fingering is good the bow is shit and then it's the otherway and when both are right there is no emotions in my phrasing.

Sorry it's a bit of a vent but how do you deal with the frustration of being constantly terrible

I feel there's something wrong but I don't know what; I just started so I'm looking for tips sooner than later.

Hi all! I am a fairly new violinist, and i would appreciate some feedback! I started some years ago, and taught myself for a year. After that, the violin i was using had to be returned to its owner, and since I had hit a plateau in my learning without a teacher that was that for a while. I recently came into possesion of a violin, and have now had lessons with a teacher for +/- 3 months.

Ashokan farewell is a piece i'm practising since the beginning (which makes me cringe a bit at the intonation, i can do better), and Rags and Robes (in the comment is one i just started playing. Any and all feedback is appreciated!

Thank you all in advance

Excuse the fingertapes please !

Wanted to share a bit of something I’m currently working with :) The name translates to ’A Happy Musician’ and it’s composed in 1924-26.