# Do violin players deserve special sympathies because their instrument is hard?



## jonatan

I (in my 34 years) have tried to learn and play violin but I stopped because this instrument is really, really hard. The joints are required to be in extreme positions, it is hard to hold instrument more than 10 minutes, it is hard or even impossible to get high notes or to play on G string, fifth finger is not working as required and I have lost my hopes to learn vibrato. I have learned piano in my childhood and I have never experienced such struggles with piano.

So, now whenever I am watching violin play or orchestra with violins (or even more dreadfull - with violas) I remember my struggle with instrument and I wonder what binds musicians to this instrument? Yes, the sound is beautiful, but everything other is so unnatural.

*Do professional violin players enoy their play and do they avoid hardships and unnaturaleness (e.g. because of long fingers and lot of training)? *Just wanted to know to listen violin without bad thoughts and keep my heart calm. I would be glad to know that my passion for listening to classical music is not hurting anyone.


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## senza sordino

View attachment 88988


Where do I begin? The violin is hard, and the reward is great. No one just picked up the violin and made sweet beautiful music on their first try. Everyone practices and everyone finds it difficult. Every instrument has its challenges. You can make a piano sound great immediately but there are two hands and ten fingers that can play simultaneously. There is a lot of work to be done to play music. The violin usually has only one note at a time, but it's way more difficult to make a nice sound out of that one note. I just spent one half hour practicing the open phrase of the Bruch concerto, and I got it right only a couple of times.

Of course professionals enjoy their playing. I'm not a professional. I have played in amateur orchestras and there is no greater feeling than being in an orchestra or quartet and it all going well. Making music with someone else is fantastic, the feeling is so great. Making music with 100 other people is thrilling, making music with three others is equally thrilling when it goes well.

BTW. I don't understand what you mean by fifth finger, unless you are referring to the extension of the fourth finger, such as being in first position and playing the C in the e string, or f on the A string, or B on the d string, and E on the g string.


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## Pugg

Oh dear,if you did give it your best shot and it didn't work out, keep playing for your own sake.
I had the same with the piano, want to be the next Van Cliburn, alas no luck.


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## Guest

You don't choose the violin; it chooses you.


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## Ingélou

jonatan said:


> I (in my 34 years) have tried to learn and play violin but I stopped because this instrument is really, really hard. The joints are required to be in extreme positions, it is hard to hold instrument more than 10 minutes, it is hard or even impossible to get high notes or to play on G string, fifth finger is not working as required and I have lost my hopes to learn vibrato. I have learned piano in my childhood and I have never experienced such struggles with piano.
> 
> So, now whenever I am watching violin play or orchestra with violins (or even more dreadfull - with violas) I remember my struggle with instrument and I wonder what binds musicians to this instrument? Yes, the sound is beautiful, but everything other is so unnatural.
> 
> *Do professional violin players enoy their play and do they avoid hardships and unnaturaleness (e.g. because of long fingers and lot of training)? *Just wanted to know to listen violin without bad thoughts and keep my heart calm. I would be glad to know that my passion for listening to classical music is not hurting anyone.


There are all sorts of problems that you can get with the violin - neck, shoulder, wrist, hearing loss - but there are also problems for players of other instruments. I have just been on a course where I was part of an ensemble taught by a cellist and by the end of the week she had to spend a lot of time before the class lying on the floor because of her back problems.

However, violinists find ways to deal with the pain and they certainly enjoy playing.

I am not a violinist but a 'fiddler'. I learned at school but was never very good because I didn't practise properly once school exams got going. Then I came back at the age of thirty for six months or so and at first it was absolute agony - that's probably what you've been going through. I gave up, though, because of career demands, not the pain, which wore off after a few weeks. This time round I was playing the folk fiddle music that I love and I adored practising but didn't have time once I got a demanding job.

Then, when I retired, I took up the fiddle again and now practise one to two hours every day and I love every minute. Oddly, this time round I had no pain at all, I think because I'd done so much typing in the thirty years that had passed since I last played.

So -
a) Yes, professional violin players love playing & just find ways to deal with strains and injuries.

b) Your passion for listening to classical music is helping these players, not hurting - where would they be & what would they live on without their audience.

and finally:
c) Give the violin another shot, unless you have an insufferable medical problem. Maybe find another teacher or other people to play with. Going back to the fiddle has transformed my life.

Just look at my signature!


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## Manxfeeder

I appreciate this thread. Personally, when I see an orchestra, I look at all those string players having to all those complicated runs in unison with other string players, and at times I have to avert my eyes so I'm not distracted from the music. I don't know how they do it.


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