Playing In Groups

Pros And Cons Of Playing In Groups

Once your child has been playing the violin for a while it's likely that he/she will be invited to join a school string group or orchestra.

Playing with others can be very rewarding. However it can also be soul destroying! Especially when the music is all a little bit too challenging.

Music teachers have a hard task putting on end of year or end of term concerts. They have children at various levels of musical ability and finding an orchestral piece to cater for everyone is almost impossible. 

So for those children who are competent and ready to take on such a challenge the rewards will be great. Those who are struggling to keep up will find it less pleasurable and can easily lose confidence and become demotivated.

So my advice is if your child is playing in a group make sure he/she is confident with the notes and rhythm. Ask the music teacher for a copy of your child's music and bring it home to practice or take to a lesson to give your child a boost.

As you will have come to learn over the course of this program, the essentials of how to hold the violin and bow correctly take time and patience to achieve. 

I have observed during my teaching years that a good technique can often be lost when a child plays regularly in a group. It's easy to get lazy and the conductor/music teacher isn't going to notice a poor or lazy violin/bow hold and try to correct it. It goes unnoticed. 

So observe your child closely if he/she starts playing with groups or orchestras and don't let all your child's hard work in practice on this program go to waste.
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