Violin

[Gambatte]

I know absolutely nothing about music.
My 8yr old will start violin lessons soon. Bloody expensive. We must buy a violin.
Question: how much is it reasonable to pay???? 10? 100? 1000?
Please don't tell me to ask the teacher, already done that, just I'd like other opinions. Never mind it's hard to speak with the teacher, she's from Uzbekistand and we speak (bad, very bad, very very bad) German.

Bear in mind she will use it only a short time, she is growing fast, soon it will be too small for her.

Thanks,

[DrPatrickBarry]

I reckon less that £30, she will sound like a broken chain saw, so it does not matter how bad the thing is. You will be able to pick one up second hand on ebay dead easy. At that age I reckon it will be 1/4 size.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_f...&_sacat=180016

[ba-ba]

I was taught fiddle from age 4 - 16. Thankfully a family friend collected violins so I had a steady stream of decent quality instruments lent to me as I progressed through the sizes.

She will grow out of them pretty quickly until getting to 3/4 size and above. As Pat says I imagine Ebay is the best bet. My dad has picked up violins off there in the past - some have been OK some have been proper rum - just make sure it's wooden (I recall a fibreglass one sounding horrible!) A bright orange Chinese batch job will do the job early on, though some of the ones on Pat's search look more promising. Better strings and a bow can be added later to improve sound (or search ebay for ear muffs!)

My first violin teacher was a Hungarian Knight who lived in a very esoteric house. I didn't touch bow to violin for ~6 months - fingering practise (fnarr fnarr) and bow arm practise were done separately. Probably a bit easier on the parents' ears as well.

[felltrumpet]

My 6 y/o is starting on a 1/2 size. Doing a reciprocal arrangement as I teach trumpet and the violin teacher’s son wants trumpet lessons. Sentetor are a reputable Male for beginners, we’re borrowing from her teacher.
Not looking forward to the early noises - Mrs FT and I both went to Music college and played brass and are a bit snobbish about these things.
Enjoy, a skill for life!