How I Became My Best Violin Teacher Ever

Are you searching for the best violin teacher ever for you? In this post, discover how I became my best violin teacher ever for you to learn how to do the same.

I’m going to share with you 15 ways that influenced me to become my best violin teacher ever.

1. Study with the best

Number one study with the best. I always searched out the best violin teachers for me. I didn’t come from a family with a connected musical background that put me in the best music schools or even had that as the number one priority for me to study from the best.

I started violin in the public school system and studied privately very soon after that but I was not connected to incredible violin teachers when I was young.

I started at the age of nine, not at the age of three. I was guided by my very first violin teacher to audition for the violin teacher at the University of Colorado Boulder and when I did so, he offered me a string scholarship to attend CU Boulder where I ended up getting my Bachelor of Music in violin performance and Bachelor of Arts in English literature.

After I finished with University, that wasn’t the end of my education. I searched violin teachers specifically for what I knew I needed.

2. Know what you need to learn

You know very well that something is missing in your violin journey of technique and tone. Search out a teacher that specializes in that specific technique.

At the University of Colorado Boulder, my teacher who I was studying with, my professor, really was great with musicality. He himself was a child prodigy and he specialized in teaching musicality to his students; however, I knew I was missing technique.

I knew I needed more training in violin technique so I searched for a teacher that specialized in Violin technique in Colorado and studied with him to give me what I knew I needed at the time.

Then after the university when I went to Wisconsin and I was performing with orchestras, I knew I needed some help with playing relaxed and ergonomically because I had suffered from tennis elbow and tendonitis in both wrists while I was at the University due to practicing incorrectly and improperly and with a lot of tension.

So I went to Milwaukee Symphony and watched the violinists, how they played and searched for the teacher that I knew I needed.

There were recommendations for me to study with specific people but I watched and chose the teacher I wanted to study with based on how they played.

Now this teacher specifically did not work with me on how to play like him but I watched him in the lessons and I followed and I mimicked him and I thought I love how he holds the violin. I love how relaxed he is and so I personally decided to make that what I wanted to learn from him even though he wasn’t teaching it. I was learning by observing.

This led me to study with another violinist, a world-renowned violinist who soloed with the orchestras that I was playing with five or six times within one season.

After watching her I was shaking in my boots but I went and asked her if I could study with her she did say yes and we gave it a go and I studied with her for six years and it was the most amazing six years of violin study in my life.

It was hard.

It was difficult.

I practiced insane amounts and I was performing and I had a violin studio and I had a chamber group.

So it was an insane time of life for me for those six years before I took on a permanent position at the Gabrovo chamber orchestra in Bulgaria.

3. Create a practice strategy

Tip number three is how I became my best violin teacher. I created my own practice strategy. Never did I ever ask my teachers, “Okay tell me what to practice or how much to practice.” I did what they told me to do and I created my own practice strategy. I fought for myself and not had every I didn’t have everything handed on a piece of paper to me of what exactly to do and that was a good thing.

You have to think for yourself. If you constantly have your teacher telling you what to do, when to do, and how much to do, you will never ever become your own best violin teacher because you have to think.

You have to get in your teachers heads and understand why are they telling you these things so you can start to think like them otherwise you’ll always need somebody to tell you what to do.

I had one violin teacher who helped me create a practice road map because I had tons to practice This was the time that I was practicing so much, performing, and teaching students and I was really limited on time.

I was still practicing at the minimum of three hours a day and I wasn’t getting through everything so she did help me with an organization of a practice strategy which I still use to this day and help my own students how to create their practice strategy.

4. Be observant

Tip number four I mentioned this earlier. Observe your teachers. Observe how they play. Watch their left hand. Watch their right hand. If there’s something that you see in your teacher’s hands that you don’t like, then maybe it’s time to search for another teacher.

I know that sounds pretty harsh, but your teacher is teaching you to play like them. So if you’re searching somebody out that has a specific left hand or has a specific right hand, you’re not going to find that from the teacher who doesn’t have it because they don’t have the physical feeling of how to play with the way you are looking for.

They’re not going to be able to express to you how to play if your teacher’s pinky is flying up or is not behaving or they have a weak pinky or they tell you to avoid your fourth finger at all costs, which was my professor at the University.

This is not the answer.

Search out somebody who has the left hand or right hand that you’re looking for.

If you don’t know what that looks like then take yourself to a Symphony concert. Watch YouTube videos of the Berlin Phil. Watch violinists of the top violinists and how they play then search out teachers that are able to teach you how to play that way.

If it’s not that important to you, then you don’t need to find a teacher that has great Foundation or great posture.

If you’re just wanting to play fiddle pieces it doesn’t make that much of a difference but if you truly want to play and be the best violinist that you can be so you can be the best violin teacher for yourself, do search these things out in the teacher that you’re studying with.

5. Go to concerts or watch concerts online

Take yourself to the symphony orchestras or watch YouTube videos of the best orchestras so you can see how those violinists are using themselves physically, so you can emulate that. Even create a playlist of your favorite violinists, how they play, their tone, their interpretations so that you know what you’re aiming for.

6. Learn to think like your teachers

Tip number six, learn how to think like your teachers. If they ask you to do something, ask them why. Learn how they think because if you can learn how they think and copy that intellectual approach to the violin, it’s going to help you become your own teacher.

7. Be aware

Tip number seven, be aware when you play the violin. Don’t allow your brain to be somewhere else thinking about the dishes you have to do, or the kids, or anything else besides what you’re doing in the present moment because it’s maybe a good thing as an escape but as far as progressing on the violin, you’re not going to get much of anywhere if you’re not aware of what you’re doing in the present moment.

In order to be the best violin teacher for you, it is very, very important to be aware at all times while playing the violin. Listen while you’re playing. Don’t be stressed out to start from the very first note and get to the last note and then not even realize what you played in the middle, if it was in tune or what bowings you were using. You have to be aware.

So if it’s difficult for you to be aware, it brings me to tip number eight.

8. Record yourself

When I first started playing the violin there were no smartphones. There were no video cameras for me to record myself while I played the violin. I practiced and played in front of a mirror just so I can see exactly what I was doing.

How I was standing.
How I was holding the violin.
What my vibrato looked like.
Where was my bow. Was it between the fingerboard and the bridge?
Was my bow going straight from the Frog to the tip?

I watched in the mirror every single day practically when I practiced and I would suggest the same for you. Record yourself. Whether it’s a video or recording on your voice memos on your phone.

Perhaps you have a difficult time even hearing what’s coming out as you’re playing it because you’re thinking so much that the ears are turned off and you’re not even able to hear, then record yourself. Play it back.

The longer you put off recording yourself or video recording yourself, the further you are from progressing.

You will progress I would say 10 times faster if you saw the mistakes that you were making. That’s how you can become your own best violin teacher. Even at the time that you are taking lessons with somebody, record yourself. Be your teacher at home. Don’t fall into the lazy trap of not self-correcting.

Allow yourself to self-correct. It’s okay to self-correct. It’s safe right and good to self-correct.

Now, this is a healthy, healthy self-correct. Not being a perfectionist but allowing yourself on a daily basis to really truly listen to what you are producing when you’re playing the violin.

9. Listen on the spot to small bits

Then that brings me to tip number nine. Listen on the spot. If you are playing and you don’t know what you’re playing, if it was correct or if it was in tune, break things down into even smaller, smaller bits to the point that you can really truly listen and be aware of what you’re playing.

If it’s even two beats within one measure that’s okay. If it’s two notes within your scale that’s okay but break it down smaller, smaller, smaller bits so that you’re able to process and understand what you’re playing if:

it’s in tune
your bow is straight
you have good Tone
the string Crossing is Blended
Break it down

10. Be mindful

Tip number 10 is to be mindful. There’s so much to play the violin and we need to be present and mindful. Have a healthy mindset. Think positively and Coach yourself with self-love.

Think if you were a violin teacher and somebody played for you the way that you play, how would you coach them through that?

Now if you’re going to say, “Well, I would slam the door and tell him to get out because they suck.” then good thing you’re not a violin teacher but treating yourself with self-love, mindfulness and meditation are going to help you be more present when you’re playing the violin.

11. Be balanced

Tip number 11. Search out balance. Balance is key. It is so so key for violin playing in every aspect of violin playing.

For the physical aspect of violin playing, search out the balance in your right hand. Search out the balance in your left hand. Search out the balance in your body as you’re playing that you are centered. That your shoulders are square. That you have this nice axis and balance when you’re playing. That you feel solid and grounded.

Search out the balance in your practice session. Search out a balance that you’re not practicing too much. Search out the balance in your diet because you are the athlete that’s coming to this violin. If you could search out the balance within yourself this is how things will be nourished and Blossom.

12. Think Energy

For tip number 12, energetic flow. Think about Chi. Think about the energy that’s coming through you transferring to the violin and going out into the ethers like music and vibrational frequency.

Start to think of energy as a violinist.

13. Use your intellect

Tip number 13, know that everything’s figure-outable. Avoid freakout moments. When you see something that is looking pretty hard, just figure it out.

Ask the right questions if you’re not able to figure it out yourself and ask your teacher that you’re working with, how or what is the process or the formula to figure that out so when you come across it again, you’re going to have a strategy of how to figure it out.

Everything’s figure-outable.

Approach it intellectually.

14. Be your own self critic

Tip number 14, be a good self-critic but leave perfectionism at the door.

15. Be the teacher

Finally, tip 15, teach. If you’re able to teach a five-year-old how to do it you know that you really truly know how to do it.

I have learned so much from teaching hundreds and thousands of violinists globally how to achieve what they are searching for.

Just by doing that, I have become a better violinist and it’s helped me become the best violin teacher ever for me.

Hope you enjoyed this post. Let me know in the comments below, out of these 15 tips what are you choosing to focus on? Just take one and focus on that one to help you progress in your violin Journey.

The violin is more than just the violin. It’s more than just music. The violin really can show you your inner self. You can learn so much about yourself, about your daily habits, about how you can become a better person. If you allow the violin to do that, it can take you places that you never imagined.

Enjoy. Happy practicing. Ciao.

Happy Magical Practices,

Heather is a classically trained concert violinist residing in Bulgaria. She received her BM violin performance degree from CU-Boulder, studied with top teachers including Rachel Barton Pine. Heather has held leadership positions with multiple orchestras in the Greater Chicago-Milwaukee area. She has instructed millions of violinists globally via Youtube videos, online academies, group coaching and one on one sessions. Heather’s students have won multiple awards, concerto competitions, held concertmaster positions in orchestras and even performed in Carnegie Hall. Heather is an advocate of a holistic violin lifestyle – putting one’s mind, body and spirit as a violin journey priority.

Please share in the comments which above tips you will be implementing into your daily practices sessions.

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