Learning musical instruments later in life

[KeithTalent]

Russell Crowe learned to play the the violin for his role in Master and Commander. Sounded good to me.

KT

 

[Madwand1]

a good bow and strings can make a mediocre instrument sound great, but cheap strings and a synthetic bow will make them sound shoddy. Horse hair + wood bow will always be better than fibreglass and synthetic hair.

A good setup, including decent strings and final adjustments, is something that generally comes from buying or renting an instrument from a string instrument specialist with luthiers on staff.

But nobody with experience will mistake the sound of a student instrument with those in from a higher level of performance and price, and some instruments and bows cannot be rescued even with the best components or hair. The core matters, and is the basis of the pricing, sound quality and responsiveness, not the components, which are much cheaper and can be changed.

At the entry-level, IMO carbon-fiber bows are good to try out, as even though they might not have a comparable "wood" sound, they often handle much better than the wet noodles which pass for bows included at no cost with instruments, and for students, playability is more important than fine points of sound quality.

 

[Madwand1]

Russell Crowe learned to play the the violin for his role in Master and Commander. Sounded good to me.

Crowe:

"Well, the violin was definitely the hardest thing I’ve ever done for films. You can take your helicopter stunts and your tiger fights and your mathematics, it’s got nothing to do with how difficult an instrument the violin is. The way I put it is, 'She’s a harsh mistress but there’s a grand reward if you keep your focus.'"

He reported practiced for 2-3 hours a day for 4 months, with 3 different presumably capable violin teachers. That's a good start.

 

[SillyOReilly]

Says the guy who posted in the thread he doesn't care about twice...:whiste:

This is 3x, so it's 3x the caring according to your idiotic version of reality.

 

[gorcorps]

You probably picked the most difficult instrument to learn as an adult. Most accomplished violinists, or even good violinists started learning as young children. But good luck and keep us updated. I would love to learn violin as well. I play saxaphone and guitar. Learned was I was young.

That's just what the bow monkeys say... don't let them fool you

:awe:

 

[digiram]

I think I will try to learn to play the piano. Will probably make my music production even better. Trying to find the right combination of keys for sounds in my head can take some time, but that's what I've been doing pretty much.

 

[KeithTalent]

Crowe:

"Well, the violin was definitely the hardest thing I’ve ever done for films. You can take your helicopter stunts and your tiger fights and your mathematics, it’s got nothing to do with how difficult an instrument the violin is. The way I put it is, 'She’s a harsh mistress but there’s a grand reward if you keep your focus.'"

He reported practiced for 2-3 hours a day for 4 months, with 3 different presumably capable violin teachers. That's a good start.

Yep. It would be nice to be able to completely throw yourself into something like that.

KT

 

[OCNewbie]

I think the most difficult part for me will be coming up with the funds to buy my own violin, which I'm assuming is generally the way it goes, rather than an instructor providing one for you? I guess if I don't have my own I can't practice on my own either... duh.

My first lesson I was already using the bow, and not making the typical "dying cat" noises that I had been lead to believe was what I likely would be making the first time I tried. I even played Mary Had a Little Lamb, and a little bit of London Bridge. It felt pretty good =)

Unfortunately the lesson came from this girl I was hanging out with, and I don't think we're going to be seeing each other any more =(

Edit: Anybody know how much a basic violin would be, that has at least some similarities in sound to the "real" ones?

 

[MayorOfAmerica]

You could try the upright organ, the rusty trombone or the hairy bagpipes. I hear they're pretty easy.

 

[Kaido]

I'm 34 years-old and I want to learn to play the violin. I had one lesson recently, and felt like I did pretty good considering I had never before held a violin, much less played one.

So, I'd like to hear from anybody that has picked up an instrument for the very first time much later than is typical, and how successful you were.

Kids tend to have an easier time picking up new instruments because (1) they have more free time, and (2) they don't suffer from adult anxiety and feeling judged and having to be careful about doing everything. Most kids I see that pick up instruments just start tinkering in their free time and do it because they want to do it. And wanting to do it is a HUGE boost for learning an instrument. I took piano when I was a kid and eventually quit because I didn't want to do it, but I picked up guitar recently and made 10x as much progress in the same amount of time simply because I wanted to do it.

So find a good teacher, put together a good program, and get to work. Mess with it in your spare time. Leave your violin out so that you can walk by, pick it up, and mess with it - don't leave it in the closet where it's a chore to get out.

 

[Madwand1]

Anybody know how much a basic violin would be, that has at least some similarities in sound to the "real" ones?

I don't know the store, but Altantic Strings in Orlando has rent-to-own student violin kits for around $22/month inclusive.

Decent stores have options for trying out different violins and changing / upgrading them if you find issues or change tastes.

Even basic student violins are "real" violins -- just not ones with the best craftsmanship, wood, and sound. Most budget ones, regardless of label, are made in China these days, and as knowledge has globalized, the quality has improved.

The cost of a decent teacher would be much higher, so more effort spent on selecting a good one would be worthwhile. They can also advise on the specific violin and help you avoid problematic ones.

The sound of the violin doesn't matter much for a beginner. It takes months or years to develop skills for tone production, and as each violin is different and tastes are personal, as long a time to know enough to be able to choose a good one which suits you personally. In other words, you should focus on ability before instrument.

 

[Madwand1]

Yep. It would be nice to be able to completely throw yourself into something like that.

Crowe was facing a deadline and had the time and motivation, etc., to put into it. But I don't think most beginners should put in that sort of time or pressure at the onset -- even 30 minutes could be the limit until some muscular adjustments have formed, and it's probably better to go for a sustainable pace over a longer period of time than a make it or break it type of effort for a short term which would probably fail.

Crowe:

"It was a very long process and very strange things happened. I used to put my violin down after 45 minutes of rehearsing and I'd feel very lightheaded and euphoric and I thought that's amazing that it makes you feel like this."

http://www.contactmusic.com/news-article/crowe-masters-the-violin

I think he seriously overdid it at this point, though probably just the rosin -- that stuff can be very bad to breathe, and is often over-applied by beginners.

 

[Fritzo]

Crowe was facing a deadline and had the time and motivation, etc., to put into it. But I don't think most beginners should put in that sort of time or pressure at the onset -- even 30 minutes could be the limit until some muscular adjustments have formed, and it's probably better to go for a sustainable pace over a longer period of time than a make it or break it type of effort for a short term which would probably fail.

Crowe:

"It was a very long process and very strange things happened. I used to put my violin down after 45 minutes of rehearsing and I'd feel very lightheaded and euphoric and I thought that's amazing that it makes you feel like this."

http://www.contactmusic.com/news-article/crowe-masters-the-violin

I think he seriously overdid it at this point, though probably just the rosin -- that stuff can be very bad to breathe, and is often over-applied by beginners.

He also probably had a $20 million paycheck as incentive as well.

 

[OCNewbie]

He also probably had a $20 million paycheck as incentive as well.

Just FTR, if anybody wants to pay me $20 million, I will make Russel Crowe look like an 8th grade drop out (or whatever is worse than that).

 

[Madwand1]

He also probably had a $20 million paycheck as incentive as well.

Disagree -- he could have dropped the violin or faked it with a real violinist performing and cutting into his hands, etc., as everyone else does, without affecting the movie or paycheck significantly. I think he did it because he really wanted to, just like most adults who pick up the violin or any other instrument.

Edit: I agree though that it was a good excuse and opportunity for putting in the time and effort. The incentive / opportunity I found was to study it along with and to guide my child, which is entirely true and worthwhile, I think, but it's not just that, and wouldn't have been enough had I not been latently motivated beforehand.

 

[Via]

you think Russell Crowe was actually playing?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVSm_3IYyP4

 

[Via]

Anybody know how much a basic violin would be, that has at least some similarities in sound to the "real" ones?

Don't event think about picking a violin out yourself. The quality of a violin is hugely important for a beginner; have an experienced professional do it for you.

If you get a bad instrument during the critical early stages of learning you'll be sunk.

 

[Madwand1]

you think Russell Crowe was actually playing?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVSm_3IYyP4

I'd read that he played some of it, but hadn't seen it until now. My mistake.. he clearly doesn't play past the initial tuning part, if that.

Too bad.., but I think he tried to learn it for real -- more than would have been necessary for just faking it, and had they just focused on faking it, perhaps the faking would have been better.

 

[Kaido]

I'd read that he played some of it, but hadn't seen it until now. My mistake.. he clearly doesn't play past the initial tuning part, if that.

Too bad.., but I think he tried to learn it for real -- more than would have been necessary for just faking it, and had they just focused on faking it, perhaps the faking would have been better.

There's a great movie by Tom Hanks called "That Thing You Do" where the boys actually learned how to play the instruments & could perform as a real band. And it's a great song :awe:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzllVlzzeuo

PS - still looks like the Oneders

 

[JEDIYoda]

yeah learn to play the bass drum.....

 

[thejunglegod]

Its all about getting past that phase when you think this is going nowhere. I went through it when i started learning the guitar through a series of videos. This was when i was learning to move from the Em chord to D. My mind just wouldn't allow moving from one chord progression to the next.

 

[Bee4945]

my dream is to learn piano and keyboard , my first instrument was flute . learn it by myself hahaha

 

[stargazr]

Its all about getting past that phase when you think this is going nowhere. I went through it when i started learning the guitar through a series of videos. This was when i was learning to move from the Em chord to D. My mind just wouldn't allow moving from one chord progression to the next.

Excellent advice. I say go for it. I picked up the drums at 21 after quitting lessons as a kid years before and I thought I was too old (yeah I know you're older but from where I'm standing you are still young). But it worked out and I was in a band for over 16 years. The next five years will go by whether you do it or not. It can be immensely rewarding to be able to pick up an instrument and play music.

As for the violin being one of the harder instruments, I don't doubt it but also realize if you have music in you, maybe you were drawn to the violin for a reason. All instruments are 'hard' to learn and require practice, practice, practice for most people. I tried guitar first and soon realized I would never be a guitar player.

 

[dwell]

I picked up the guitar after 30. Was not so bad. The problem with older people learning instruments is usually that they don't have the time to practice.

 

[Madwand1]

I think I will try to learn to play the piano. Will probably make my music production even better. Trying to find the right combination of keys for sounds in my head can take some time, but that's what I've been doing pretty much.

Do or do not, there is no try.

There are many piano teachers who like teaching theory in addition to technique. Some also have some composition / improvisation knowledge. A teacher and a lesson + practice routine can help you advance significantly if you're willing to put in the effort and money..