Violin lessons: the phrase conjures up dreary black-and-white images of young boys, violin cases in hand, dressed in thick wool suits. They’re being bundled off to visit a stern maestro who might as well be a doctor!  And isn’t that what violin lessons are? A series of check-ups? If you’re pronounced healthy after enough of these sessions, you emerge as a better violinist!

I haven’t known very many violinists who kept playing after lessons like that.  A great violin teacher should be like a personal trainer, and the lessons should be like sessions at the best-equipped health club. There are shiny machines filling every corner of the main room, with smaller rooms adjoining. Each of these smaller rooms has specialty equipment to work various parts of the body. And the trainer knows the ins and outs of all this equipment.

Violin lessons: the phrase conjures up dreary black-and-white images of young boys, violin cases in hand, dressed in thick wool suits. They’re being bundled off to visit a stern maestro who might as well be a doctor!  And isn’t that what violin lessons are? A series of check-ups? If you’re pronounced healthy after enough of these sessions, you emerge as a better violinist!

I haven’t known very many violinists who kept playing after lessons like that.  A great violin teacher should be like a personal trainer, and the lessons should be like sessions at the best-equipped health club. There are shiny machines filling every corner of the main room, with smaller rooms adjoining. Each of these smaller rooms has specialty equipment to work various parts of the body. And the trainer knows the ins and outs of all this equipment.