Interview with Parent of Elementary Violinist

Since vacation time is approaching, I thought I'd interview a parent of a young violinist to see what special musical activities happen outside of regular schooling. Welcome Mr. M. Williams!

Hello, Mr. Williams. Does your child continue lessons after school is out for the summer?

He takes guitar lessons in place of the violin lessons. This way he still practices reading music & working with a stringed instrument, but gets some variety. He loves guitar, too, but chooses his own pieces - usually modern pieces, instead of teacher selected items that often don't hold his interest.

If he wanted to continue with violin lessons, though, or if you wanted him to, is that an option? Oh, yes. His elementary teacher handed out lists of referrals in the area - including some high school students who could teach our son. This summer we may work with one of the students once every other week, just to keep up for 6th grade. He's been playing tops in his violin class in 5thgrade, so we don't want all that hard work to go to waste.

Do you rent your instrument? If so, is that working out ok?

Yes, we rent. He uses the 3/4 size, so it was in our best interest to rent right now. It won't be until another year, probably, that he'll be ready for the full size violin. Then we'll buy.

Renting works out great. We started out with a ½ size instrument, and as you can tell, are working our way up. When a string breaks, the violin shop repairs it for free - with a minimal string charge. If we need a string, new song book, next size violin, etc., we only need to place a call and the item will be waiting for us to pick up. Very convenient & friendly.

Do you think your son will continue with the violin on into high school? Hopefully. He enjoys watching the Disney concerts on cable television, and talks about trying out for one of the violin spots some day. We watch with him & encourage him. His teacher says many children receive college scholarships, too, if they've had instrument lessons for many years. We're hoping..

What other things do you do to encourage your musician?

We let him select popular musical pieces to play outside of class. Special versions of Disney theme songs for children are pretty hot right now - like the Lion King. Also we pick up pencils at the violin shop that have little violins on them - also one for the teacher! It's nice to have the kids show appreciation to their teachers, too. Another item is an inexpensive tablet with violins printed in the background of each sheet. My son & his teacher both like this gift item. Check around music stores. There are socks with music notes on them, book bags, t-shirts, pens and all kinds of stuff.

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