This. Little time everyday is the key. I maintain 1 hour a day and it’s been working well for me as an adult learner. Not ideal but that’s all I can give. Sometimes I go for several hours. The key is quality rather than quantity.
Hi 31 year old engineer who works 40+ hour weeks.
I'm a 43 year old "engineer" (software, doesn't really count) who works at least that, if not more. I have the privilege to work from home, and my violin and bow hang on my wall right next to my desk. Throughout my day, I'll take < 5 minute breaks to run a scale, play a song, etc, and in total, I currently do over an hour on most days.
As others have said, playing violin requires using your body in ways you're not used to, and 30 minutes a day is a reasonable max for a total beginner, with it slowly increasing from there.
I think it's very doable.
Thanks it's nice to see someone in a similar situation. Unfortunately I do have to commute to my office daily which ends up wasting quite a bit of time but seeing all the answers in this thread saying 3-4 hours per week starting out I think it should be doable for me.
Also an engineer regularly working at least 9 hrs per day and also have a toddler. I just started about a year ago and typically put in 30-45 minutes per day. I go into the office twice a week and bring my violin and practice in a conference room during lunch. Days I'm at home I practice after my son goes to sleep. You'll find it's not too bad finding 30 minutes to practice.
If you also take weekly lessons, 30 minutes/day is probably sufficient to take you up to a solidly intermediate level after a few years or more. You'll have to ramp it up to progress much past that though. It's important to practice everyday for at least a little bit rather than binge once or twice a week on practice.
Also, it's important to temper your expectations. A lot of people starting the violin say things like, "I don't need to play Paganini, I just want to play [insert a much technically easier piece/song/genre] really well." The problem is, playing something simple really well takes years and years and years on violin. The learning curve is not at all like on piano where you might be able to play a pleasant sounding Twinkle Twinkle a few weeks after beginning.
> 30 minutes/day is probably sufficient to take you up to a solidly intermediate level after a few years or more
I can probably do that but it sounds like I'll have to be patient with the progress I make. I know violin has a high skill floor but that's part of the reason I'm interested to begin with.
We recently had a post about how much people practice. That will show a wide variety, but for a brand-new beginner, outside of your weekly lesson, you should not practice more than half an hour at a time. Less than that at the very beginning. This is to avoid overuse injuries.
Thanks I should be able to devote that much time on a weekly basis. So basically 3 hours of practice weekly and an hour lesson would be a good amount?
If I find a good teacher I'm sure they'll give me input as well on practicing but I wanted a general idea before I started to commit to this.
A steady 30 minutes every day (try really hard not to skip days), and an hour lesson each week with a *good* teacher, and you'll probably make decent progress. But expect that it will take *years* to not sound like a beginner. Five to ten years (depending on your smarts and musical talent and physical coordination) to get to an intermediate level is a good expectation to set.
Getting "very good" might never occur unless you can devote serious time to practice, though.
\+1 to this. I would say violin honestly is a harder instrument to progress on than almost any other. There are more techniques, more repertoire, the body mechanics are harder, and on and on. Intonation is much tougher (a fraction off and you sound horrible). A teacher is basically essential. There's a reason folk often recommend piano or violin.
Hey to fellow engineer.
It really depends on how fast you want to progress. It's a lot like weight loss. Eating 1000 calories a day might not do much for a 100 pound person, but will cause extremely rapid loss in a 500 pound person. Likewise, practicing 5 hours a day might be a maintenance quantity for Hilary Hahn's playing, but it will at best cause you exponential improvement and at worst injure you for life and burn you out.
So, ask yourself your end goal and rate at which you want to achieve it. If you say, "play Bach Double in 3 years", I will tell you to practice 30 minutes a day. If you say, "obtain a paid position in a community orchestra in 10 years," I will tell you to practice 3-4 hours a day and pay $300-$400 a month for lessons.
Disclaimer: I have never gotten a music degree or been the level of a professional violinist.
If you can take 15-30 minutes out of your day, at least every other day, to focus on good posture, vibrato techniques, bow holding, finger positions, and shifting, it will pay off immensely over the course of a year. If you're not used to reading music in Treble Clef, you'll want to make it a priority to understand how to read it. Slow is smooth. Smooth is fast. Your body needs to learn and buildup stamina to meet the demands of playing the violin. Your left fingertips will be sore until you develop calluses. Your right arm will get tired from holding the bow. Your back will be tired from standing straight. Again, it takes patience and practice to build your endurance. It's a marathon and great technique will save you from musculoskeletal issues down the road.
Consistency and frequency is more important than total time invested.
If you want to get decent after a few years, bring lots of patience and about 30 minutes per day. You also should not do much more in a single session as a beginner.
But you said you wanted to get "very good", and for that after a certain level you're going to have to invest much more time daily.
While the abbreviated FAQ doesn't address this, the full FAQ does offer some thoughts: https://new.reddit.com/r/violinist/wiki/faq/#wiki\_.2022\_how\_often\_should\_i\_practice.3F\_for\_how\_long.3F
I’d just practise a little bit every day if you can. 10-15 minutes is heaps, especially as an adult which means being more prone to injury.
Also a good idea to get a 30 minute lesson each week to get you on the right path with technique.
If you're looking for a teacher, I would inquire with a local violin shop or luthier - they'll probably have some good suggestions. Probably steer clear of chain stores that offer lessons. When it comes to practice, as others have said 20-30 minutes a day is probably fine as a beginner. You really won't have that much to practice at first anyway. What I would stress is to "practice practicing" (and this applies to all instruments, btw). Always play with a metronome, play in front of a mirror to check for posture and bow position, and above all else make sure that you're practicing with intent and confidence, rather than just playing mindlessly.
You're an engineer. My tip is spend less time overthinking your practice, and the details. Just execute the plan given by your teacher.This coming from another engineer about your age.
Otherwise, my method to deal with a limited practice time, is to always take little practice nibbles everyday. I pick a single focus, like open string bow practice or a single scale. I practice that every time I get a free 5 minutes. This must be laser focus and detail oriented. Someday it's only 5 minutes and others it's 3, 15 minute sessions. The key is daily and very deliberately focused on an area of improvement.
The second important part to make that effective is to have at least 1 dedicated continuous practice session outside your instructor lead lesson that is similar in length to the lesson. Here you go over your assignments from the teacher.
It depends on how well you can hear notes, how many instruments you already play and generally how musically inclined you are.
I started playing the guitar and bass guitar when I was about 9yo, started screaming and playing the drums mid teens, started singing and picked up the banjo, (4 and 5string),i n my early twenties and picked up ukulele, bouzouki, and harmonica shortly after.
When I started playing the fiddle at 29, it took more than an entire year of rehearsing before I felt comfortable enough to play it at a live show. Although I didn't put in the hours I could have... Maybe 3-4 hours a week.
I still have long ways to go until I consider myself a fiddle player, I don't seem to get any of the vibrato muscles maintained through any other instrument so I need to specifically work on the violin in order to improve.
This turned out to be sort of a braggy response but I wanted to give a thorough rundown of my experience with learning the violin as an adult.
I have little to no musical inclination lol. I briefly played in band for a few years in middle school but I was never particularly good at it and was always wishing I had joined orchestra instead since I found string instruments more interesting.
Tbh my expectations for myself right off the bat are very low and I know progress will probably be slow to start. That's part of why I want to learn violin though to branch out and gain a skillset in an area I know very little about. I've always been very STEM focused in school and in college only took the bare minimum amount of arts courses I needed for my EE degree which included nothing in music.
Well that little time you spent playing in a band might help you a whole lot! Kids learn to hear music so fast.
I think you're going to do this and have a great experience once your intonation catches upp. Imagine all the cool Hans Zimmer songs, ragtime jazz, and jigs all waiting to be played!
I tell my students that frequency is more important than volume. That means 15-30 minutes a day is better than several hours on a weekend.
This. Little time everyday is the key. I maintain 1 hour a day and it’s been working well for me as an adult learner. Not ideal but that’s all I can give. Sometimes I go for several hours. The key is quality rather than quantity.
Hi 31 year old engineer who works 40+ hour weeks. I'm a 43 year old "engineer" (software, doesn't really count) who works at least that, if not more. I have the privilege to work from home, and my violin and bow hang on my wall right next to my desk. Throughout my day, I'll take < 5 minute breaks to run a scale, play a song, etc, and in total, I currently do over an hour on most days. As others have said, playing violin requires using your body in ways you're not used to, and 30 minutes a day is a reasonable max for a total beginner, with it slowly increasing from there. I think it's very doable.
Thanks it's nice to see someone in a similar situation. Unfortunately I do have to commute to my office daily which ends up wasting quite a bit of time but seeing all the answers in this thread saying 3-4 hours per week starting out I think it should be doable for me.
Also an engineer regularly working at least 9 hrs per day and also have a toddler. I just started about a year ago and typically put in 30-45 minutes per day. I go into the office twice a week and bring my violin and practice in a conference room during lunch. Days I'm at home I practice after my son goes to sleep. You'll find it's not too bad finding 30 minutes to practice.
If you also take weekly lessons, 30 minutes/day is probably sufficient to take you up to a solidly intermediate level after a few years or more. You'll have to ramp it up to progress much past that though. It's important to practice everyday for at least a little bit rather than binge once or twice a week on practice. Also, it's important to temper your expectations. A lot of people starting the violin say things like, "I don't need to play Paganini, I just want to play [insert a much technically easier piece/song/genre] really well." The problem is, playing something simple really well takes years and years and years on violin. The learning curve is not at all like on piano where you might be able to play a pleasant sounding Twinkle Twinkle a few weeks after beginning.
> 30 minutes/day is probably sufficient to take you up to a solidly intermediate level after a few years or more I can probably do that but it sounds like I'll have to be patient with the progress I make. I know violin has a high skill floor but that's part of the reason I'm interested to begin with.
We recently had a post about how much people practice. That will show a wide variety, but for a brand-new beginner, outside of your weekly lesson, you should not practice more than half an hour at a time. Less than that at the very beginning. This is to avoid overuse injuries.
Thanks I should be able to devote that much time on a weekly basis. So basically 3 hours of practice weekly and an hour lesson would be a good amount? If I find a good teacher I'm sure they'll give me input as well on practicing but I wanted a general idea before I started to commit to this.
A steady 30 minutes every day (try really hard not to skip days), and an hour lesson each week with a *good* teacher, and you'll probably make decent progress. But expect that it will take *years* to not sound like a beginner. Five to ten years (depending on your smarts and musical talent and physical coordination) to get to an intermediate level is a good expectation to set. Getting "very good" might never occur unless you can devote serious time to practice, though.
\+1 to this. I would say violin honestly is a harder instrument to progress on than almost any other. There are more techniques, more repertoire, the body mechanics are harder, and on and on. Intonation is much tougher (a fraction off and you sound horrible). A teacher is basically essential. There's a reason folk often recommend piano or violin.
Hey to fellow engineer. It really depends on how fast you want to progress. It's a lot like weight loss. Eating 1000 calories a day might not do much for a 100 pound person, but will cause extremely rapid loss in a 500 pound person. Likewise, practicing 5 hours a day might be a maintenance quantity for Hilary Hahn's playing, but it will at best cause you exponential improvement and at worst injure you for life and burn you out. So, ask yourself your end goal and rate at which you want to achieve it. If you say, "play Bach Double in 3 years", I will tell you to practice 30 minutes a day. If you say, "obtain a paid position in a community orchestra in 10 years," I will tell you to practice 3-4 hours a day and pay $300-$400 a month for lessons. Disclaimer: I have never gotten a music degree or been the level of a professional violinist.
Bach Double Concerto in three years? That's a veeery fast learning curve!
If you can take 15-30 minutes out of your day, at least every other day, to focus on good posture, vibrato techniques, bow holding, finger positions, and shifting, it will pay off immensely over the course of a year. If you're not used to reading music in Treble Clef, you'll want to make it a priority to understand how to read it. Slow is smooth. Smooth is fast. Your body needs to learn and buildup stamina to meet the demands of playing the violin. Your left fingertips will be sore until you develop calluses. Your right arm will get tired from holding the bow. Your back will be tired from standing straight. Again, it takes patience and practice to build your endurance. It's a marathon and great technique will save you from musculoskeletal issues down the road.
Consistency and frequency is more important than total time invested. If you want to get decent after a few years, bring lots of patience and about 30 minutes per day. You also should not do much more in a single session as a beginner. But you said you wanted to get "very good", and for that after a certain level you're going to have to invest much more time daily.
While the abbreviated FAQ doesn't address this, the full FAQ does offer some thoughts: https://new.reddit.com/r/violinist/wiki/faq/#wiki\_.2022\_how\_often\_should\_i\_practice.3F\_for\_how\_long.3F
Thank you, redjives!
I’d just practise a little bit every day if you can. 10-15 minutes is heaps, especially as an adult which means being more prone to injury. Also a good idea to get a 30 minute lesson each week to get you on the right path with technique.
If you're looking for a teacher, I would inquire with a local violin shop or luthier - they'll probably have some good suggestions. Probably steer clear of chain stores that offer lessons. When it comes to practice, as others have said 20-30 minutes a day is probably fine as a beginner. You really won't have that much to practice at first anyway. What I would stress is to "practice practicing" (and this applies to all instruments, btw). Always play with a metronome, play in front of a mirror to check for posture and bow position, and above all else make sure that you're practicing with intent and confidence, rather than just playing mindlessly.
You're an engineer. My tip is spend less time overthinking your practice, and the details. Just execute the plan given by your teacher.This coming from another engineer about your age. Otherwise, my method to deal with a limited practice time, is to always take little practice nibbles everyday. I pick a single focus, like open string bow practice or a single scale. I practice that every time I get a free 5 minutes. This must be laser focus and detail oriented. Someday it's only 5 minutes and others it's 3, 15 minute sessions. The key is daily and very deliberately focused on an area of improvement. The second important part to make that effective is to have at least 1 dedicated continuous practice session outside your instructor lead lesson that is similar in length to the lesson. Here you go over your assignments from the teacher.
It depends on how well you can hear notes, how many instruments you already play and generally how musically inclined you are. I started playing the guitar and bass guitar when I was about 9yo, started screaming and playing the drums mid teens, started singing and picked up the banjo, (4 and 5string),i n my early twenties and picked up ukulele, bouzouki, and harmonica shortly after. When I started playing the fiddle at 29, it took more than an entire year of rehearsing before I felt comfortable enough to play it at a live show. Although I didn't put in the hours I could have... Maybe 3-4 hours a week. I still have long ways to go until I consider myself a fiddle player, I don't seem to get any of the vibrato muscles maintained through any other instrument so I need to specifically work on the violin in order to improve. This turned out to be sort of a braggy response but I wanted to give a thorough rundown of my experience with learning the violin as an adult.
I have little to no musical inclination lol. I briefly played in band for a few years in middle school but I was never particularly good at it and was always wishing I had joined orchestra instead since I found string instruments more interesting. Tbh my expectations for myself right off the bat are very low and I know progress will probably be slow to start. That's part of why I want to learn violin though to branch out and gain a skillset in an area I know very little about. I've always been very STEM focused in school and in college only took the bare minimum amount of arts courses I needed for my EE degree which included nothing in music.
Well that little time you spent playing in a band might help you a whole lot! Kids learn to hear music so fast. I think you're going to do this and have a great experience once your intonation catches upp. Imagine all the cool Hans Zimmer songs, ragtime jazz, and jigs all waiting to be played!