How I did it: I have always loved the violin; I don't actually know why. I started having lessons around year 4 or 5 and now I'm in year 10 and still going.
I'm currently working towards my grade 4 exam (:

Lessons & tips:

• Be patient.
  This is the most important thing I have learned through my years playing it. It's really hard and some pieces or even just some phrases will take you a long time to learn. But just keep going and you'll get there.
• Don't give up.
  Adding to the above point, it will take you a long time before you're making a really good sound (it took me ages before I was really happy with how I sounded and even now I still get irritated and jealous of others.)
• Take lessons.
  I can imagine it would be incredibly hard to teach yourself the violin as it's so easy to think you're doing something right when actually it's really wrong; it's happened to me a lot!

Resources: Some sites on the internet are good for some lessons and tips but lessons are really the best way to learn, in my opinion.
Also, joining a school band or orchestra is always good as it gets you used to playing a lot of different things and playing with other people.

Feb 20, 2009, 10:45AM PST | 0 comments | 1 cheer