Is Violin Easy To Learn?

Is it difficult to learn to play the violin?

I want all adults to know how difficult it is to learn to play the violin or a musical instrument from scratch. Even though this is considered difficult as is the case with the violin.

For a long time we have had the idea that violinists must be graceful or privileged people for having the physical and mental capacity to play this instrument . And of course I do not detract at any time from the great work involved in reaching these levels. However, I am convinced that this thought also creates a huge barrier that makes us believe that we are incapable of achieving something equal.

A very common question that is asked to people who master their instrument very well is When did you start playing the violin? The common response varies between 2 and 8 years in many cases. And receiving these kinds of answers, it seems obvious that the result we see today derives directly from the lucky childhood of this person. This makes us think that it is difficult to learn to play the violin . However, there are many other children who start playing an instrument at the same ages and do not achieve results as recognized as others.

I will refrain from mentioning in this article this noxious word called talent to describe that I don’t know what made one child go further than another. An idea that has also been demolished for several years, because I think it is a good time to know that neither of the two conclusions is definitive for a person to achieve great results in any activity that is proposed.

In my article I intend to make all adults aware of all the advantages we have and that can help us fulfill this dream. Not only children can learn and go far in developing our skills. That on many occasions and for very different reasons they were not developed.

Adults have great advantages, which curiously become disadvantages when learning

I will talk about each topic to understand how our body and mind look for a goal and at the same time they get in the way and hinder us to achieve it. The first drawback I have recognized is

It is difficult to learn to play the violin if we do not tolerate our mistakes

When we were children, we all went through a difficult stage in which we made many mistakes. It was very difficult for us to carry out activities and many times the adults did not stop scolding us for it. Perhaps on more than one occasion we broke things trying to fix something or we ended up spoiling our toys or some household appliance. Receiving scolding from our parents was not pleasant. The simple fact of keeping our clothes clean was something that more than one of us had a hard time learning. Thus, as we grew older, we became people who no longer made mistakes and were able to do all activities well and even had academic and personal achievements.

It is for this reason that we think that the stage of learning corresponds only to childhood. Only children make mistakes but this is a big lie . As adults we also make a lot of mistakes, only we try to minimize our faults and even not recognize them, or put the responsibility on others.

As well. This is the first thought that we must change in order to learn. We don’t have to change our whole world just to admit that yes, if we’re wrong. But when this happens we must also know that we will be 100% capable of correcting it. Perhaps as children it was more tolerable to make mistakes because our age justifies it, we even took years to learn to read and write and that we were children, right? but there is no reason to fear error. We will always be able to correct ourselves thanks to them.

This is where the advantage of this disadvantage arises. As children, we forgot all the things our parents told us. Sometimes we forget homework, take the material to school, we forget that we have pets and all because we have not developed our own sense of responsibility. But look! You are already an adult! Nobody will be behind you saying everything you do wrong, you are able to remember all the instructions of the class and you can even design your own study rhythm. Only you will be there and as a patient and tolerant person you will be able to give yourself all the time you need to achieve your own goals.

Just thinking about this should be a wonderful way to approach new knowledge!

And as if that were not enough, we currently have a lot of technology to rely on. You can record your classes on your cell phone, class exercises and thus make sure you do them correctly at home. And the truth is that this ensures a much more effective advance than that of children. why? Because children still do not know what it means to make mistakes, they do not know where the errors are that are obvious or easy for adults to remember and this makes children’s learning more exhausting, that is why many children abandon activities that they do not understand. or they do it reluctantly.

We have to realize that as adults we can take a big step forward.

Our body learns in a different way and rhythm than our mind

This is an extremely important point to keep in mind when learning to play a musical instrument. In this reading, you will realize that all ideas are spun with each other. Returning a little to the previous topic, we will see that as adults, we all know how to open and close a door, for example. There is no science in opening a lock with a key and it is because of these kinds of examples that we take for granted that everything we think we can do: eat, bathe or walk, it is enough to think about it to do it and do it well. But make no mistake, it takes us a long time to learn to eat with a spoon or drink from a glass without spilling it. Today you can do all of this, but at no time in your life was it easier for you to do what you planned to do, you had to have practiced it hundreds of times.

Now you still think that children have advantages? Well, I’ll tell you that you have more advantages over children than you think. Let’s take a practical example. An adult person already knows how to eat using a fork and knife. How long will it take you to learn to eat using chopsticks for example? Well, to begin with, I will tell you that you already have more than 90% of the way covered. You already know the distance from your plate to your mouth, you can now calculate your strength and you can now spatially locate everything. A child does not know all this, does not know anything. The child has to start from scratch absolutely and he only knows what he wants to eat so he will make a lot of messes before he gets to the point of learning table etiquette.

When you face your first music class, don’t be scared. There will be hundreds of things you don’t know how to do and you may feel as you did as a child. But you have to know that you already have 90% of the way traveled because you already know how to use your body, you know where your hands are, and calculate your strength. Many times this fear of the new paralyzes us from many things that we could actually do if you had more confidence in us that we are already adults. But does this mean you’ll get it right the first time? Absolutely not, but I assure you that it will take only 10% of the time it would take for a child to learn the same thing as you.

Recognize our achievements and efforts

This phrase may seem childish, but if you think so, therein lies the problem. As children we were applauded and recognized for achieving some goal. We all like to win a game and have the fans cheer us on. Even our graduation ceremonies are quite an event in life. But what happens when you are learning something new as an adult? , because most of the time we will be embarrassed to show our little progress or we want to see great results in a short time. You have to be realistic and honest. The road is not as long as you think but it is not as short either. It is the path and the time you need to learn. That is why in our classes the space is yours. And we must congratulate ourselves every day for the achievements we have obtained. Few or many are achievements after all and this attitude greatly reinforces all the knowledge learned.

Mind Personality and Body Personality

As adults, we have come a long way in which we adapt in different ways to act on a daily basis. This means that we have a personality, our own way of facing the world. But not only do we have a mental personality, we have also formed a bodily personality. Can you make your own assessment of these two senses of personality?

Mental personality means knowing if you are an introvert, extrovert, happy, funny, friendly, lonely person, you concentrate more when you are alone, or perhaps when you are with someone. Who you are? And how are you? That is very important to know. You don’t have to change any of this if you’re happy like this, it’s enough to know who you are to know where to walk when you want to learn something. On many occasions this aspect is easier to define for many people.

But what about our bodily personality?

Throughout life we have also developed skills with our body and our body is used to certain activities. Shall we play any sport? How much do we use our feet on a daily basis? The simple fact of walking already means a part of this personality. So let’s ask ourselves what other activities do I do with my hands? Perhaps you tend to type giddily on cell phone or computer keyboards. And many of us find ourselves very good at this, others perhaps not, but does anyone care? Well, no, perhaps because contests or competitions have not yet been invented for this or it is not something so popular.

But let’s not leave aside other skills such as listening, there are people who simply pay more attention to sounds than others and, for example, when they listen to music they identify more than one instrument. Or more easily identify the voice to someone’s phone. There are also skills such as tasting, there are many people who prefer to eat only in certain places because they like that food and there are other people who find any place good for them. Well, all this corresponds to this bodily personality, because all these functions are intimately related to a part of our body.

Well, what good would it do us to know this? Well, on the way to learning to play a musical instrument we will realize how adapted our body is to receive new orders. I make the clarification that in no part of our life is any part of our body or any of our senses blocked, except of course if we suffer from an accident or illness. And even then this would not be an insurmountable obstacle either. All adults who have an average body and an average ear can learn to use it to play a musical instrument even if we have never done it before.

Do you remember how long it took you to learn to jump on one foot? Or learn to ride a bike? Much or little? These activities are very simple because they only require the use of feet and balance. Well, this is the same time it will take to learn to play a musical instrument. But how long did it take you to learn to write without spelling mistakes? Probably much more, because even if you know how to read and write there will still be words that you don’t know and maybe it took you a while to remember to put the accents or the h correctly. Well, that is the same time it will take to play your musical instrument well or very well.

This is because learning our language also means learning spelling rules and it is the same thing. Anyone can pick up a violin and touch the strings, you should never be afraid of that. You just have to know that there are rules that will help us to play very well as if they were spelling rules that help us to write very well.

This is my favorite part of my writing, because it is the biggest advantage you have over any child. You already have a formed life story and you already freely decide what you want to be part of your life and what not. Your desire to learn is more authentic than the desire of a child. Young children are eager to learn new things. And it is good for them to learn music, piano, guitar, drums, karate, swimming, ballet or chess. Their brain has a need to learn and does this mean they will be successful at everything? Of course not. But it does mean that you have a wonderful world to explore and maybe one of those activities you like best. But they are still children and they don’t know it, because the story of their lives is not yet written and we don’t know what good or bad experiences will end up defining their tastes. But you probably all your life wanted to learn to play the violin or the piano and never had the opportunity to do so. And after all these years you still remember that you want to do it and you get excited to think about trying it. Who do you think deserves to be given that opportunity to learn?

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