This is a simple idea, but it really really works. If you're practising a piece of music but you're not sure how to make it better, then just ask yourself these questions: The reason this works so well is that the absolute most crucial elements of the music - timing, frequency and sound, are prioritised. […]

If you’ve ever found your fingers have drifted out of tune without you realising it, then you’re falling into the same trap as the boiling frog! Do you know the apocryphal story? It’s not very nice, so if you’re a frog lover, brace yourself… A scientist places a frog in a pan of boiling water, […]

One of the things you’ll always hear us say as we start people off on the violin for the first time – especially in our Violin Fundamentals classes - is "check your checklists"! This is because checklists are superb tools for remembering complex sequences of tasks. And there are few things that require more complex […]

To use time efficiently within your practice, you need to know *what* to do. Which types of exercises and activities are guaranteed to get you results? This checklist of Practice Techniques will help you to make a great start!

One of the most important skills any violinist can have is knowing how to practise! This one single skill can transform your progress, because if you always know how to improve then you'll always be getting better and better!

What is a Practice Journal? I like to think of a Violin Practice Journal as less of a physical thing, and more as an approach to keeping a record of your practice. However you choose to keep your journal - notebook, app, word document... or my favourite, old scraps of paper stored in a cardboard […]

Here's Setareh's most recent video, explaining how to warm up the hands and fingers before starting to play. I've found these exercises a really useful way to begin my own violin practice, and I hope you find them useful too! Here's an earlier video with similar exercises for posture and breathing. It's soooo important to get your body […]

Many of our learners have told us that they've now made their way through all thirty of our 5 Minute Workouts and, so, we are delighted to present the next ten, nos. 31-40 (and, oo-er, they're starting to get a bit trickier!) 🙂 ViolinSchool Members - click here to download ALL the 5 Minute Workouts! […]

These exercises are brilliant for practising double-stopped sixths! Great for intonation work and for developing a really solid left hand. Who doesn’t want a solid left hand?! 🙂

G, D, and A are the most common keys in violin music, so it's worth getting to know them so well that they feel like old friends! 🙂

Our awesome Two-Finger Scales provide a serious workout for your left hand! Each of these super-shifting-scales will help you get your left hand moving smoothly between different positions - in the key of your choice. The 3rd and 4th fingers of the left hand benefit particularly strongly ... once you get the muscles moving, you'll feel […]

We're pleased to introduce an all-new feature on ViolinSchool.com - Five Minute Workouts! These great little exercises came about when one of our London learners kept running out of practice time each week because his crazy-busy job in the City of London meant that he barely had any time to practice each day! He tried to […]

When you're learning violin for the first time, it can be difficult to remember which finger goes where. It also takes a long time to think about where to put each finger - especially if you're playing a new piece of music. A good way around this is to get used to playing scales before […]

The learning process never stops because there are so many layers of complexity in violin-playing. Each layer reveals more, and richer possibilities for musical expression. At the same time, you don't want to get so wrapped up in the detail of one particular technique or that you lose sight of your overall music-making! Make sure you […]

All about sight-reading, why it's important, and a checklist to help you get things right first time! From Sight to Sound ... 'Sight-reading' is the term used to describe the reading and performing of music without any previous preparation; to sight-read is to play, or sing, or 'hear in our heads' (audiation) the notated music […]