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Hi everyone,
First post here! I posted a video of myself practicing on another site and just wanted to get a second opinion.
I've been playing for around 7 months now and my violin teacher recently assigned me Mozart No. 3, just the first movement though. I'm not sure if this is appropriate for how long I've been playing, but others indicated that this is a major red flag, and that I should probably switch teachers. Any advice would be appreciated! 
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Hi, @liliths. Welcome to the forum. I just sent you a welcome email.
I am not able to answer your question. But, I would like to suggest that you introduce yourself and tell everyone a little more about your playing experience, teachers, what you have already played, etc. Members will be able to help you better that way. We can link your intro to this post when you are done, if you like. That will lead them here to discuss your question, which is very good, by the way.
It is great to have you here.
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The Bumblebee Flies!
Please ignore any typos. My typing ability on a real typewriter did not transfer to these device key pads.
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Thanks for the response and sending over the e-mail, Mouse! I'll be sure to head over to the intro forums to provide more info!
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You are very welcome. I will link your intro to this post for you after you post your intro.
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The Bumblebee Flies!
Please ignore any typos. My typing ability on a real typewriter did not transfer to these device key pads.
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Awesome, I appreciate it! @Mouse I just created my intro post! Feel free to let me know if you think any additional info should be provided!
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You are good, Liliths. Thanks.
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The Bumblebee Flies!
Please ignore any typos. My typing ability on a real typewriter did not transfer to these device key pads.
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@liliths -
Love your enthusiasm!
I'm not sure if this is appropriate for how long I've been playing, but others indicated that this is a major red flag, and that I should probably switch teachers.
'Appropriate' is different for everyone - adults especially need challenges. If you can't keep up & feel overly stressed, then you should discuss your progress & agenda with your teacher, so your lessons can be adjusted.
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liliths said
Hi everyone,
First post here! I posted a video of myself practicing on another site and just wanted to get a second opinion.
I've been playing for around 7 months now and my violin teacher recently assigned me Mozart No. 3, just the first movement though. I'm not sure if this is appropriate for how long I've been playing, but others indicated that this is a major red flag, and that I should probably switch teachers. Any advice would be appreciated!
@liliths
If you are in or are finishing Suzuki Bk2, Mozart #3 might be a bit early. I’ve seen Mozart #3 listed at ASTA level 4, which equates approximately somewhere in Suzuki books 4-6.
Did you talk to your teacher about it? I’m 54, and started with in-person weekly lessons with a teacher 8 years ago (started on my own 2 years prior to that). I would not hesitate to ask my teacher about anything she wanted me to work on. As an adult student, the student-teacher interaction works differently than it does when you are a child (or at least it should).
You should be able to express your reservations—and your teacher should be able to address your concerns. There may be something within the piece that correlates specifically to the other work he/she has you doing. Regardless, your teacher should be able to explain it to you. As adult students, we look for the “why” as well as the “how”.
Characterize people by their actions and you will never be fooled by their words.
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Thanks for the comments, @ELCBK , @SharonC !
So, I’ll be speaking to my teacher about it tomorrow during my next lesson. Currently, I’m pretty confident that I’ll be able to play the first movement adequately with a few months of practice. After that, we plan moving on to another piece of music and saving the rest of the movements for later down the road, which was the plan when she assigned me the piece.
I feel pretty good about that current plan, but I wanted to make a post here beforehand since I guess I was a bit shocked by how much pushback I got when I posted a practice video elsewhere. So, I posted on Violinist Reddit yesterday, just wanting to post a #100daypractice challenge video, and since I just recently started Mozart No. 3 in the past couple of weeks, and I haven’t gotten much practice in with it yet, I figured it would be neat to see how much improvement I can do within that time frame. Within a couple of hours of posting, I got about a dozen comments telling me how inappropriate it was, and how much of a red flag it was that my teacher assigned this piece and that it was incredibly unorthodox, even though I stated that it was just the first movement.
I’m usually really good with receiving feedback from other players, but the tone of many comments felt a bit harsh and unhelpful. I ended up deleting the post after that, and figured it might be good to get a second opinion elsewhere, to get a wider range of opinions than just Reddit.
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liliths said
...Within a couple of hours of posting, I got about a dozen comments telling me how inappropriate it was, and how much of a red flag it was that my teacher assigned this piece and that it was incredibly unorthodox. . .
I don't think we'd have any adult violin learners if the "rules of orthodoxy" were followed. . .
When I was at an adult string camp a few years ago, a newer student (1 year playing) indicated that when she decided to take up the violin, she called around her local area to find an instructor. A few indicated that they were not interested in teaching adult students. I think that's okay. Teaching adults is not the same as teaching children (think of the difference between a kindergarten teacher and a high school physics teacher--not one better than the other, just different), so if a teacher isn't comfortable teaching adults and doesn't want to, that's their prerogative.
However, she indicated that one teacher she contacted not only told her that he would not take on an adult student, but that she, as an adult, she should not start learning the violin. So, orthodoxy or pomposity?. . .
Anyway, it's your journey, not for anyone else to define--you decide the course.
Characterize people by their actions and you will never be fooled by their words.
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@SharonC Haha, I appreciate the sentiment!
I'm very glad I have the opportunity as an adult to learn the violin, but it has been a challenge to find teachers who are willing and have experience teaching adults. With my first teacher, she was great, but I was her first adult student so there were definitely challenges there, especially because, while I'm new to the violin I have been playing music for quite a while so it was a bit of weird situation. My current violin teacher teaches a lot of children, but she does have a handful of adult students that she teaches.
And adult string camp sound like so much fun! I had no idea that something like that was even available. That's crazy though that a potential teacher would even say that someone!
I’m so happy I was able to find this forum, I purchased my violin from fiddlerman shop a few months back and was pleasantly surprised to find a discussion forum. So far, everyone seems incredibly lovely!
As for my journey, I want to strive to always be challenged and always want to improve. Overall, though I just want to enjoy making music, eventually join a local symphony, play for friends play in parks, things like that.
Thanks also for the recommendation in the intro post I made, I maayyyyyyy just make a blog post later and attempt to continue the 100days challenge on this platform! 😊
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@liliths -
I feel pretty good about that current plan...
Glad to hear this!
Being happy with your teacher & what you are learning - it's ALL that matters... period. 😊
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@stringy the videos should be in my blog post now!
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Late to the party, but I have some thoughts.
There's no avoiding it: Mozart Violin Concerto No. 3 is a huge leap from what you've been working on before. The one concern that I would have is that trying to make that big of a jump can be a recipe for frustration, because a lot of new technique needs to be learned for one piece and it may be hard to tell what the next step is at times. Traditionally, for someone using the Suzuki series, it would not be taught until after completing Book 7 or 8.
But the reason it's usually taught that late is mainly that Mozart is very unforgiving in terms of both intonation and musical phrasing; it can sound bad very easily. That's something you probably already know from past experience with other instruments. The notes are not all that difficult (probably Suzuki Book 5 level); it's a big stretch but I don't think it's an insurmountable one, especially for someone who already plays other instruments.
It could be frustrating to learn at this point, it may take a longer time than you expect, and this first pass might not bring the piece to the point where you'd want to perform it, but at the same time there's something to be said for learning technique through a big stretch piece that puts it all in context. As long as you're aware of the potential for frustration and have a high enough tolerance for it, I don't think it hurts to first learn it well enough to get through the movement, and then revisit it later as your technique improves.
For many years I learned from taking on even bigger stretches than this, and just being able to accept that it would take time to work up to being able to play things. I was self-taught and playing in whatever community orchestras would accept me, and had to fake a lot because the music was so far beyond me, but I tried to play a little more and fake a little less in each set and the progress added up over years.
As to the story that @SharonC brought up: the reason I self-taught for so long was that I couldn't find a teacher at all, even as a teenager! I was rejected because of my age by multiple teachers when I was in high school, and was told by most of them that it was already too late to learn a string instrument. One said it would be almost impossible for someone starting at that age to ever sound like anything but a tortured cat. Fortunately, those ideas seem to be far less prevalent among teachers today than 25 years ago when I was trying to start.
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@AndrewH No problem, I'm just getting back from vacation, so catching up on any replies I missed. I really appreciate your comment.
A lot of what you mentioned has definitely been a concern of mine with learning the piece. It feels doable eventually at my level with enough time and effort; however, it is super unforgiving when I’ve been practicing it. I’m at the point where I'm just getting started learning 3rd position and if the shifting isn’t perfect, I can definitely hear it. Which I don’t necessarily mind sounding perfect, but now that I’m a few weeks into this piece I’ve been more of having issues with more of how my teacher has been guiding me through it.
Some additional info may be helpful as well, so in my intro I mentioned recently switching teachers. Honestly, I’m a bit nervous with this new one, now that I’m a month into lessons with her, that I’m maybe not being taught certain techniques or pieces that may be important in my learning. So, she mostly teaches Cello; however, it was nice starting lessons with her because it’s in-person and she’s taught adults. When I go to lessons though I’ve been starting to get the sense that she’s a bit inexperienced with teaching violin students who may be late beginner/intermediate-ish. It’s a bit unfortunate since she is nice and I have recently started lessons with her, but based on a few comments and some thoughts I’ve had myself, it might just be better to move on and find another teacher with a more solid pedagogy.
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