Violins for Little People


This is Jay holding his cardboard box violin.
A lot of our projects have to do with music and I thought I would share this one with you.  I graduated in Piano Performance and Pedagogy and I also played the violin growing up.  At our house we believe that little people can do big, wonderful things.  We love music around here and the fact that there are students coming for lessons everyday at our house means my kids think that music lessons are something that everyone does; so normal.

While I have been teaching music and piano lessons to Jay since he was 2, we decided that it is time for him to start violin lessons.  He tries to play the violin with any 2 sticks he can find.  The photo above is of him with his box violin that I made from a Rice-a-Roni box (it was the perfect size) and a ruler, covered with orange paper.  

The foot positions he is standing on are crayon traced on a brown paper bag.  He loves it!  He feels so big holding it and practicing the things he knows.  He really loves making music and is so excited....

Because this past weekend we picked up his 1/16 size violin.  That's the size our little 3-year-old-boy fits.  It seriously looks like a toy (to me) because it's so tiny.  After we picked it up he told me, "Mom, the violin is my favorite."  I'm sure I will remind him that he said that one of these days when he would rather not practice :)  But for now, he is mesmerized by the idea of learning to play!  

We drove 2 hours to go pick it up.  Jay wouldn't put it down.  He had to hold his violin all the way home. It's only 2 hours...
Do you have any tiny musicians in your family or circle of friends?  I would love any tips :)  I am excited to start this journey with Jay.  He is already telling Kay that when she is bigger he will share his violin with her.  Such a nice big brother he is!

I just ordered this book: 


And this book:
   
to get us started, since I will be his teacher for now.
They came highly recommended to me and I will review it on my other blog, in case you would like the details.  I'm never sure who all stops by, so if you would be interested in learning about what we are doing with music on a basic level so you can do more with your kids at home do a shout-out and leave a comment below.  I would be happy to share more of our music project fun with you!

Wish me luck-this tiny violin stuff is all new to me!

4 comments:

Gina said...

Oh, this is taking me back!!! My whole family started on shoe-box violins around the ages of 3 and 4, Suzuki-style. I moved to cello (and did a degree in music performance, played with orchestras for a bit). I was wondering if starting my first boy on violin at age 3 would be too early, but this just encourages me. Love the 1/16!!!!

Andrea said...

How exciting! I'm eager to hear how the progress goes. I'm sure J will do great because got an amazing mama to learn from.

Karmeleon said...

Haha - I saw this page when i was searching the net for what "box violins" look like, bc I thot I'd seen something in my elder boy's previous violin teacher's house.

Ooh, i didn't know 3yr olds use 1/16 violins. I thought it'd be smaller. Like 1/32 or 1/64.

My 22month-old just discovered a chocolate-box violin today instead. and he looked real cute with it. haha.

Karmeleon said...

How's your boy progressing with his violin, by the way?? I'm very interested to know how 3year olds take to this.

My elder boy started only at a rather "old" age of 8years. He's now 13, so I have no experience to fall back on for those starting at young ages like 3.

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