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Personal improvement with a violin

By jjohnson

One key to personal improvement is to challenge ourselves. Learning to play a violin is considered an endeavor that brings great additional benefit to concentration and focus. This is a great idea for children but also an excellent idea for improving ourselves. Even if we did not study violin as a child, we can still take up this training as an adult.

Making a good choice in a violin requires that we understand a little bit about how they are sized. There are eight different sizes, with the full size stated as 4/4. They decrease in size down to the smallest at 1/32. Most adults typically use the 4/4, but for the best fit, we should measure the length between our neck and the middle of our left hand palm. To do this, we should raise our hand in the position like playing a violin. The full size (4/4) will want a measurement of 23 inches, for the 3/4 it is 22 inches, and 20 inches is for 1/2. The sizes continue to reduce until the 1/32, which is 13 inches.

This Cecilio violin comes in 1/4, 1/2, and 3/4, sizes, which will be the right size for many children. These all have spruce wood for the tops and maple for the sides, back, and neck. These are strung with D’Addario Prelude strings. These kits include a chromatic tuner, hardwood case and lesson book. There are two Brazilwood bows with Mongolian horsehair. The kits also include a rosin cake, an adjustable shoulder rest, and an extra bridge.
$100 from Amazon

Violins are made for either right or left hand play. This Cecilio is for left handed players. It is a 4/4 size. It has solid spruce for its top, and the back, neck, and sides are maple. The purfling is in antique varnish. There is ebony for the fingerboard, pegs, chinrest, and tailpiece. In this kit are a chromatic tuner and a lesson book. There is also a hardwood case, two Brazilwood bows with Mongolian horsehair, a rosin cake, an adjustable shoulder rest and an extra bridge.
$0 from Amazon $168 from Walmart

There are electric violins, and this Cecilio 4/4 full sized has the best of both worlds. This is styled as an acoustic violin but with an electric option. The top is solid spruce wood and the back, sides and neck are solid maple. For electric use, there is a volume and tone control on the side. There are ebony pegs, chin rest, finger boards, and tailpiece. There are four nickel plated tuners. The bow is Brazilwood that has unbleached genuine Mongolian horsehair. In this kit there is a hard case with foam insert, and also an adjustable shoulder rest with soft foam padding and rubber feet. Additionally, there is a violin bridge, rosin and an aux cable.
$147 from Amazon $94 from Walmart

The sounds of a violin can be disturbing others, but this Cecilio electric violin offers silent play. It is a 4/4 size, style 3. It has a yellow maple wood body with ebony for the fingerboard, chin rest, pegs, and tailpiece. The four tuners are nickel plated. A 9V battery powers this. The kit includes a hard case, Brazilwood bow with Mongolian horsehair, rosin, a bridge, aux cable and headphones.
$0 from Amazon

A sheet music stand is the perfect accessory to our violin. This Hola! Music stand has a 13.5 by 18.75 inch bookplate with a two inch lip. It can adjust from 25 to 43 inches. To tilt the bookplate there is a tension knob. This knob, the screw head, leg housing and leg end cups are all made of reinforced nylon.
$46 from Amazon $51 from Walmart

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Any of these violins are a great choice to enhance personal improvement for our children or for us. With violin lessons and practice as part of the learning experience, if we have a child that will be taking up the violin, it might be a great thing for us to do as well.

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