Violin with a young child

The Kid fell in love with the violin shortly before she turned three. We bought her a very inexpensive violin to play with. At the time, our only goal was that she learn how to treat an instrument with respect and maybe learn how to hold the bow. I have no background in music and my husband's music background does not include strings.

When she was 3.5, she asked for real lessons. Even living in a fairly musical town, it turned out to be a bit challenging to find an instructor for a 3 year old. We did find a lovely teacher trained in Suzuki. Next step was to get her a violin that could actually hold a tune. This turned out to be more difficult than expected as well. She is small for her age and still needed a 1/32 size violin, which is an uncommon size.

We're now 10 months into lessons. Progress is incredibly slow, which is to be expected with a 3-4 year old. Attention span is low. When she started the 30 minute lessons, she could only actually focus for maybe the first 10 minutes of class. Now, she can focus for 20-25 minutes of lesson most weeks. Her practice times need to be kept short, with 10-15 minutes usually being her limit. Even with nearly daily practice, that only adds up to 50-60 hours of practice over an entire year.

When we started, my primary goal was for The Kid to learn how to play the violin. Over the last year, I have changed my goal. At this time, my primary goal is for The Kid to continue to love music and to enjoy her violin enough to tolerate practices. Let's face it, practice isn't always fun for older kids. A four year old is unlikely to see how sustained practice will benefit her int he long run. We went through a period of stricter practice times and it all became a fight, and she was ready to stop playing the violin even though I do believe she still liked the instrument. I backed off, we dropped most practice time for a while, and she regained her love of the violin. At this time, we're constantly trying to find the balance - enough practice to make some form of progress and little enough to not become a battle.