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How Many Hours a Day should you Practice the Violin?

What progress and level of violin playing can you expect at 10 mins, 1 hour or 5 hours a day?

Read all about it and discover how much YOU should practice

After teaching hundreds of students offline and online, it’s easy to see that students who practiced most got the fastest progress.

These days talent is overestimated and practice is underestimated

Yup, that nine year old virtuoso you see on YouTube, probably practiced for thousands of hours already.

When you practice enough, you get good progress, get motivated, join fun ensembles and orchestra’s, enjoy your own playing and you just can’t stop playing anymore.

If you’re practicing starts to slack, you feel frustrated when playing, you don’t see the progress you want, you can’t get in that orchestra you like and you feel like giving up.

Practicing daily is more important than practicing a marathon

The students who get good results in the long run are consistent. For your brain and hands to remember what you learn, daily repetition is very important.

It’s way better to have a short practice session every day when you’re fresh and focussed than that you leave your violin in it’s case for days and have practice marathon. You’ll lose your skill in between those marathons and will not build up your technique.

Whatever practice length you choose, pick something that you can manage to do daily. Yes, you can always practice longer, but this daily routine is most important.

Here’s the violin progress you can expect related to your daily practice time

10 to 20 minutes

Not so fast progress… 20 minute daily practice time would be suitable to very young (5-8 years) beginning students or adults in the very beginning.

When 10 to 20 minutes feels like ‘enough’ to you, consider carving out time in your schedule for a second practice session in each day.

Of course there are days that you’re busy or tired. If you don’t have time, just put the violin under your chin for 10 minutes and at least you keep up with the so important daily routine.

20 to 40 minutes

Great for young or beginning students. You can split up the 40 minutes in two 20 minute sessions with a break in between or at the beginning and end of each day.

In my violin studio I’ve noticed that ‘over 30 minutes’ makes a big difference

Here you can already make a practice schedule like the one Itzhak Perlman recommends: 10 minutes of scales, 10 minutes of etude or exercise and 10 minutes of pieces.

1 hour a day

This is really the minimum you need when you want to maintain your current level and want to improve in the long run.

Very young children or adults with some physical challenges should practice less or divide up the hour into two or three chunks divided over the day.

1,5 to 2 hours a day

Great to get good progress on your instrument. You can do scales, exercises and etudes and have enough time to work on your repertoire and orchestra scores.

Serious teenagers who prepare for a professional career, but are still in school, can practice something like this.

Lots of great concert violinists, like Janine Jansen don’t practice more than 2 hours a day, but please note that they probably don’t count concert and rehearsals as ‘practice time’. Their ‘play time’ is probably longer.

“Practice with your fingers and you need all day. Practice with your mind and you will do as much in 1 1/2 hours.” – Leopold Auer

Auer was the teacher of Milstein, Heifetz and more great violin soloists. Yup, that’s a big disclaimer that practice time only ‘counts’ when it’s quality focussed practice and your brain is fresh enough to correct yourself and learn.

Mindless practice can even make your playing worse

Don’t just count hours and don’t feel guilty if you had a short, but super intense, practice session.

How many hours a day should you practice the violin? Here's how it relates to your progress: #violinist #violin Share on X

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3 to 4 hours a day

Heifetz, probably the best violinist who ever lived, practiced no more than 3 hours a day and said excessive practice is just as bad as practicing too little.

Perlman, one of the best violinists of our time, advices a 3 hour practice schedule and advices against practicing more than 5 hours.

Average conservatory students practice 2 to 4 hours a day. Often they say they practice more of course ;).

When you’re practicing as long as this, it’s even more important to:

  • Take breaks so you refresh your brain and body to learn faster
  • Have a good practice schedule, where your scales, etudes and repertoire are related to each other
  • You’re fresh enough to analyze your mistakes, correct yourself and be creative in the ways you practice something. Not only endless mindless repetitions that will just make your mistakes more permanent. Be your own teacher!
  • You’re not hurting your body! In conservatory I sometimes practiced so long that things just got worse, because my brain and body were exhausted.

As soon as you notice you’re not improving things, but getting stuck or worse, just stop. Maybe it’s enough for the day or maybe you can continue after some stretching and a cup of cofffee.

Over 5 hours a day

Just let the quotes from Auer, Heifetz and Perlman above sink in and probably you’ll see you’ll have to work on the quality of your practice over the quantity.

Practicing longer doesn’t mean you’re working harder

You can do an extremely intense two hours session, where you thoroughly analyse your problems, make specific exercises for yourself and are super focussed on what you’re doing. You might be completely tired after those two hours.

You can also mindlessly repeat stuff you know without a clear purpose for five hours, post a picture of your horribly looking finger tips on Instagram and celebrate how ‘productive’ you’ve been.

Is your practice really focussed? Are you really stopping and correcting yourself while practicing?

When you have more time to spend, you can also listen to recordings with the sheet music at hand and work on your interpretation without your violin at hand.

What do you count as practice time?

Sometimes I have a day where I do my practice routine in the morning of two hours, have a three hour orchestra rehearsal in the afternoon and a two hour concert in the evening. Have I practiced for seven hours that day? No, I just count the two hours.

Of course you gain important experience in orchestra rehearsals and concerts, but you’re not really improving your own technique. You’re actually applying what you’ve learned in your practice sessions.

How much do YOU practice?

Share in the comments below how much you currently practice every day! Is something going to change after reading this article?

Wood vs Carbon Fiber Violin Bow: What’s the Best to Buy?

For centuries wood was the ONLY material available for making violin bows

Only in the last decades we discovered the possibilities of carbon fiber

Buying a bow is something very personal and just as important as buying a good violin

A bow can improve your sound quality, make developing your bowing technique easier and is an important tool of expression.

Your personal preference is very important. Some like a very jumpy and lively bow, because it’s more agile. Others like a ‘calmer’ bow that easily plays long even notes and doesn’t play you. Read my article about what to play when you’re selecting a bow for yourself. You might also like my other article with 19 (general!) checks to buy a violin bow.

There’s not ONE carbon bows feeling or sound vs ONE wood bow feeling or sound

When reading the following keep in mind that wood as well as carbon fiber bows are available in a variety of characters, feelings, makers, types and price classes. I’ll dive deeper into that below.

Now let’s dive into the differences between wood and carbon fiber, so you can find out what’s best to buy for you:

You might think violin bows are made of wood, because it was the best material

Nope! It was simply the ONLY available material for centuries

Mainly pernambuco wood was very popular, because it’s light, stiff and flexible. 

Currently pernambuco is an endangered tree

Pernambuco is not allowed to be chopped down anymore! Wood bows become lower and lower in quality and higher in price.

Besides the prices going up and up, there are some downsides to pernambuco and wood in general:

  • Wood reacts to changes in temperature and humidity by expanding, contracting and/or warping
  • Over time the shape of the bow can lose it’s camber, making lots of bowing techniques very hard to impossible
  • Wood bows are fragile and can break more easily than carbon fiber (for example a snap at the tip when it accidentally falls, which recently happened to the concert master of the orchestra I play in. Yup, in the dressing room right before a concert… ouch!)
  • Decent resonance, but not as good as high density carbon fiber (more on that below)

The other wood used for bows is called ‘brazil’ which doesn’t mean much and can be any kind of wood used in cheaper bows. The price is lower, but the downsides of wood are even more applicable to this lower quality wood.

However since 1900 there’s an entirely different problem with wood bows…

 

 

The REAL reason why wood bows are becoming less and less popular

A short history of violin bows

The wood bows that are still widely used today stem from a time when pure gut strings with NO windings were played. The first steel strings were made at the end of the 19th Century, when metal windings became available which allowed to play much more powerful. They became necessary because concerts were no longer played in the small halls of the nobility but in the new large public halls that were being built in the western world at the time. Steel strings became possible only with the technological advances at the end of the 19th Century high tensile steel wires became available.

These new strings were much heavier than gut strings and allowed a much stronger technique. While pure gut violin strings can stand a force of only 2 Newton (200 grams), metal wound strings can take about 3 Newton. But that was not what the Tourte bows were designed for.

When gut strings were replaced by metal winded strings around 1900, violinists had to make up all kinds of work arounds to perform the bowing techniques they want

Soft bows with hard strings… very difficult!

All through the 19th and 20th centuries great efforts were made to develop a stronger bow. Vuillaume developed a metal tube bow of wich his workshop made and sold several thousand pieces and was also the preferred bow of Nicolo Paganini. This and later metal bows proved to be too fragile because the walls were only paper-thin.

Read more about the history of the violin bow in this article.

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Luckily in the last decades there’ve been some very interesting developments in carbon fiber

We can make bows that are lighter, stiffer and better resonating than was ever possible with wood

A tube made from high-density carbon fiber could provide significant improvements over pernambuco.

Not ALL carbon fiber bows are better than wood bows!

Some carbon bows are made for 25% out of carbon fiber. The other materials are mainly epoxy. That doesn’t resonate well and causes a dull sound lacking badly in overtones.

Good quality carbon fiber bows are made for around 60% of carbon fiber and offer much better resonance. They offer better quality bows for a lot less money than wood bows. Think of brands like CodaBow, JonPaul and Müsing.

Only high-density carbon fiber bows, with 80% carbon fiber like Arcus bows, offer better sound and playability than pernambuco. They offer something extra and special above wood bows.

Ideal weight of a violin bow

A violin bow with a clip in frog like those used until the early 19th Century weighs only about 40 grams. Its agility allows Bach and Mozart to be played with the appropriate delicacy. The heavy romantic Tourte bows ended up with a weight of about 60 grams. The ideal weight that allows a violinist to play the entire repertoire is half way between the two extremes, at around 50 grams.

We think a light bow is weak and wobbly. With wood bows we are used to compromise between light and wobbly or stiff and heavy. With carbon fiber we can make bows that are light AND stiff, making it easy to perform all bowing techniques and all repertoire.

General characteristics of carbon fiber violin bows:

  • Great value for money compared to wood bows. Below $ 100 you can have a decent bow like this one and for around $ 1,000 you can get an all round performance bow, like this one. This is unthinkable with wood bows.
  • They won’t expand, contract, warp or break as easily as wood bows. They are much stronger and less influenced by temperature and humidity.
  • You don’t lack character or feeling. Carbon fiber bows come in just as much types and classes as wood bows.
  • Higher range carbon bows like Arcus offer a combination of resonance, weight and stiffness you can’t find in wood bows. This makes jumping bowing techniques, arpeggio’s and fast string crossings much easier.

Yeah, Zlata, this theory all sounds nice, but I want to hear it before I believe it!

As a curious classically trained violinist I wanted to put all this to the test

I’ve tested and reviewed carbon fiber violin bows from $ 29 up to $ 8,000 and everything in between by the brands Fiddlerman, CodaBow, Müsing, JonPaul and Arcus. Yup, all the big makers and innovators! (and a random eBay bow)

I hired a cameraman and found the amazing concert violinist Giedrė Mundinaitė-Leenhouwers (who has an exquisite bowing technique and a great nose for good bows) available to demonstrate and discuss all of these bows.

The result is a beautiful e-book with tons of information, reviews and demonstration videos. It

Get my FREE Guide to Buying a Violin Bow

Top 3 Violin Practice Mutes to Study Silently

A lot of violin players struggle that they can’t find the right time to practice and are afraid they bother others

A practice mute is the perfect solution!

By placing the mute on the bridge of your violin, you add some weight and block the resonance. You can reduce the sound quite a bit.

There are two types of mutes: practice mutes and orchestra mutes

Practice mutes are heavier and made to study without bothering your neighbours with your playing. Orchestra mutes are made for gentle muting when playing ‘con sordino’ in an orchestra. This article is about practice mutes. Check out my review video on orchestra mutes right here.

How about a silent violin?

Silent violins are electric violins that aren’t silent at all ;). You’ll always hear the sound of the bow over the strings and the instrument will always have some sort of resonance. A normal (acoustic) violin with a heavy mute is just as ‘silent’ as a silent violin. A mute costs around $ 5 to $ 15, while a decent electric violin starts at around $ 500.

Don’t buy a silent violin to practice as it’s an unnecesarily expensive solution. Of course if you’d like to use effects and amplify yourself in a band, knock yourself out with an electric violin.

Disclaimer: Don’t practice with a mute all the time!

Your ‘situation normal’ on the violin should be to play without mute. Your bowing and tone creation skills should be based on the normal sound of the violin. A mute muffles away little mistakes and you might start playing too rough or too loud.

When the sound of your violin without mute starts to surprise you, it’s time to practice more without mute

Some beginners aren’t used to the loud sound of the violin right under your ear. They start muting from the beginning and in this way you don’t learn to play well. Yup, you need to get used to some decibels right under your ear when you’re violin player. And yes, you need to learn to color your sound so it pleases your ears.

Don’t use a mute when you just don’t like how your violin sounds

This is not a good solution. How will you perform? When your violin is too loud or shrill, consider experimenting with warm sounding strings, getting yourself another bow or perhaps even getting a different violin.

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Classical violinist helping you overcome technical struggles and play with feeling by improving your bow technique.

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No 1 Fiddlerman Iron Violin Practice Mute

fiddlerman violin practice muteDon’t be scared by the iron, because it’s covered in a layer of rubber. However, always adjust the mute to the thickness of your bridge and make sure that it’s placed firmly (not too firm). The mute can shake off of your violin because of the vibrations and it can damage your instrument when falling. Be a bit careful.

This is a heavy mute, but you’ll still have a realistic sound from your violin, so you can use it very well to practice. It’s not as muffled as a rubber mute (see below) or as shrill sounding as a brass or metal mute.

Buy the Fiddlerman Mute

No 2 Ultra Violin Practice Mute

ultra violin practice muteIt gives your violin a nice warm and mellow sound and it mutes quite well. Considering the low price of around $ 5, this is one of the most popular violin practice mutes. As it’s made completely out of rubber, it can’t damage your instrument.

It’s great if you just want to try out playing with a mute and it doesn’t mute too heavy.

A bit of a warning here: it makes the sound of your violin quite different, so don’t get used to this sound by practicing enough without the mute.

If you notice you need more heavy muting, go for the Fiddlerman mute or a full metal mute.

Buy the Ultra Mute

No 3 Brass Violin Practice Mute

brass metal violin practice muteIf you need the highest level of muting, go for a full metal or brass mute.

Please note that metal can easily slide off of your bridge and damage your instrument. It doesn’t ‘stick’ like rubber. Be careful when using this type of mute.

Personally I don’t like the sound of these mutes, because it can sound very soft, but shrill. It’s isn’t that much softer than the Fiddlerman mute, which gives a very natural sound, so please think if you really need this high level of muting.

Because it makes the sound of your violin different and mutes heavily, don’t practice too much with a mute like this. It can really mess up your bowing and tone creation.

However, if you really need to practice some scales for intonation purposes, you can use this one.

Buy a Brass Mute
Top 3 Violin Practice Mutes to Study Silently #violinist #violin Share on X

Do you use a practice mute?

I’d love to read all about what mute you chose and your experiences in the comments below!

You don’t have to Bow Straight, says Itzhak Perlman

Every violin teacher hammers on bowing straight, but you see concert violinists doing otherwise

I decided to dive in this topic and end the confusion…

Recently I followed the wonderful course by Itzhak Perlman at Masterclass.com. In it the maestro explains a lot about his technique, practicing and interpretation. Also you see him working with students. Very inspiring!

When talking about the basics of bowing, he explains that you don’t have to bow straight

Instead he recommends bowing in an eight (seen from above).

This means at the downbow your frog is a bit in the direction of the scroll and on the upbow you move the tip a bit in the direction of the scroll. I already applied the last to smoothen bow changes at the tip. Also it can be useful for those with shorter arms to be able to use the whole bow.

You can assume that what violin soloists do is not ‘by accident’

When I was in conservatory, one of my teachers explain that some soloists have a ‘bad basic technique’, meaning not by the book. He mentioned Milstein as an example. But…

How can it be ‘bad technique’ if it works better than everyone else?

I went out to research the straight bowing thing

First I tried it out on my violin in front of the mirror

Bowing absolutely straight gave the best response and resonance in my instrument. Slightly off didn’t mean a big difference, but it wasn’t as good as absolutely striaght. Quite a bit off meant a vague bad tone. Hmm, the ‘book’ seemed to be right.

I asked my bow maker about the ‘technical’ side of things

He agreed that in theory bowing straight should produce the best sound. However, in bows that are not as stiff as my Arcus bow, you might need some sideways pressure to compensate for the instability of the bow. Have a better stability can compensate for the loss of tone when bowing a bit crooked.

Ah, there it is, with my Arcus S9 bow I don’t need bowing a bit ‘off’ as a work around and I can ‘simply’ bow straight to get the best sound as the bow is stable.

3 Reasons why you learn to bow straight

1 Learning this skill gains control over your bow and awerness where it goes

From there you can make consious decision about what your doing in the broader sense of tone production.

2 Better tone

See above, all other factors ignored (just for this paragraph), bowing absolutely striaght simply gives you the best sound. However…

3 Consistent contact point

Besides learning to bow straight, in the beginning you also learn to stay right between the bridge and the fingerboard. This produces a ‘standard’ tone on the violin. Depending on the dynamics and position you play in,  you can change this to near the bridge or near the fingerboard. If this concept is new to you, read my article about coloring your sound by changing contact points.

You don't have to bow straight, says Itzhak Perlman. I went out to research... #violinist #violin @perlmanofficial @masterclass Share on X

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As soon you’ve learned to bow straight, forget about it!

There’s more to sound quality, tone production and musical expression in general than bowing straight.

Just what scales are to music, bowing straight is to bowing

You use it to have a tool in your toolbox. With that tool you can create different things. Also you can use it whenever you see fit.

To smoothen your bow change at the tip, you can move your tip a bit towards to scroll.

You have to move your frog or tip to the scroll to be able to change contact point in one bow stroke.

However, if you don’t master the skill, you can’t use it consiously

When you are in no control over your bow or contact point and you don’t want to folllow your teacher’s advice, because ‘Perlman said…’ you’re making a mistake!

Conclusion: Yes, you need to be ABLE of bowing straight. Yes, you can do something different when music asks.

You might find my article about learning to bow straight without looking interesting.

Also read my article about Ithzak Perlman’s practice schedule and watch my video about the 3 violin hacks I learned from Perlman’s masterclass course.

Are you interested in the online course by Itzhak Perlman at Masterclass.com?

I bought and followed the course myself and I’m happy to refer you. When you join the course through this link, you pay exactly the same as that you find the masterclass yourself. However, using the above link Violin Lounge gets a small commission. This income is used to finance this website, the free articles and violin video lessons we put out there. Isn’t that a win-win-win deal for all of us?

What are your thoughts about ‘to bow straight or not to bow straight’? Leave a comment below. I’d love to read it.

5 Best Violin Brands for Beginner Violinists

What’s the price of a good beginner violin?

In this article I recommend 5 brands of beginner violins and explain the differences

It can be really hard to buy your first violin, as you might not be familiar with the violin and what to look out for.

After owning a violin shop for twelve years and reviewing violins for Violin Lounge TV, I’d like to give you my top 5 and I’ll explain what you can expect for what price.

As a violin teacher I will discuss beginner violins from $ 50 up to $ 500 and will help you make the right decision for you!

Fiddlerman Violins

fiddlerman concert violinAfter I made the switch from running a violin studio and violin shop in Holland to teaching the violin online, it took a while before I found a reliable address to refer students to.

Fiddlershop.com offers good quality instruments, but what really separates them is that they adjust the violin so they are ready to play. You’ll be surprised how many webshops sell instruments that can hardly be tuned or played.

The violin is difficult enough already to learn to play, so make sure that your violin isn’t holding you back.

The Fiddlerman Concert Violin is below $ 500, made of good quality aged tone wood, ebony parts and comes with a complete set including a strong carbon fiber bow. You really can’t go wrong with this one!

Click here to watch my extensive review video and listen to it’s sound.

Buy a Fiddlerman Violin

Tower Strings Violins

tower strings violin outfitWhen I reviewed this violin set below $ 200 I was surprised about the good quality and playability

The set is really complete with a violin, bow, case, shoulder rest, rosin, digital tuner, mute and polishing cloth.

The playability and tuning stability on this violin is very good, as long as you buy it at Fiddlershop.com. They are a really unique webshop with professional luthiers adjusting all the instrument that leave their door.

Of course the sound is not comparable to a beginner violin of around $ 500 and you must keep in mind that this is a type of violin that you might want to upgrade when you play for a couple of years. However, that’s ok!

Watch my review video here, in which I demonstrate this violin.

Buy a Tower Strings Violin

Glarry Violins

Complete violin outfits below $ 50!

glarry violin outfitIf you really tight on budget, but you desire to play violin, Glarry is the place to go! Starting below $ 50 they offer complete sets with a violin, bow, case, shoulder rest, digital tuner, rosin and even a spare set of strings. You’ll be ready to play!

However, please note that you can’t expect good quality wood or a high level of craftmanship. You might struggle with the bridge that doesn’t fit, strings that snap quickly or a bow that is not entirely straight.

Click here for my extensive review video!

As long as you keep your expectations not too high and can accept that some work needs to be done on this instrument, it’s of course great for value for money.

However, if it’s in any way possible to spend more, I would really recommend doing this. You can enjoy a better violin longer, it motivates you to play more and your progress will be better.

But… if you just want to dip your toe in the violin water and really don’t have more to spend, this is the best bang for your buck!

Buy a Glarry Violin

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Hi! I'm Zlata

Classical violinist helping you overcome technical struggles and play with feeling by improving your bow technique.

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Scott Cao Violins

scott cao violin outfit reviewGreat sound, craftsmanship and playability made affordable

Scott Cao’s are one of the best student violins you can get for the price. They offer a beautiful tone quality, flamed maple and spruce and are varnished by hand.

In my violin shop days I’ve sold them very often and I always liked playing on them. As they offer a rich tone, it’s possible to play them for many years as you make progress on the violin. You’ll really have a unique hand made instrument.

Because of the oil finish, this instrument will look beautiful for many years and the varnish won’t chip or splinter as quickly as a high gloss spray finish. 

The pegs and fingerboard are made of strong wood, ensuring a good tuning stability and general reliability of your instrument. You can enjoy this investment for a very long time without worries!

Buy a Scott Cao Violin

ARS Music Violins

bohemian violin setThese are the violins that I’ve been renting out for years in my violin shop. They offer amazing good quality, European craftmanship and materials for a surprisingly low price.

Currently they aren’t being sold online, but I’ll keep you up to date as soon they are!

5 Best Violin Brands for Beginner Violinists #learnviolin #violinist #violin Share on X

Let me know in the comments below which violin you like best!

You might also find my article ’32 Checks to Buy a Violin’ interesting :).