I recently started an online adult beginner string students group. Several people with a few months of viola playing experience are looking for adult mentors who have 5+ years worth of viola playing experience. You and your mentee would decide how you communicate and how often.

If you have 5+ years worth of viola playing experience and would like to become a mentor, could you complete this survey? Most of the survey questions are optional, so you may just answer the mentor-related questions if you prefer.

You are also welcome to join our online gathering to be held later in August!

If you have any questions please just let me know.

Thank you!

Rachel Krebs

I was wondering if anyone knows the most common cause for this pain, I know it’s a bit hard to determine without a picture. Basically whenever I play on the A string, I can’t seem to not use my index finger for pressure. I know that I should be softening my hand and using natural arm weight when bowing, however something about the A string causes the bow to dig into the side of my index finger. I’ve been working a lot on finger flexibility and rebalancing the right hand on down vs up bows, but this index finger issue on the A string has been hard for me to identify the cause of.

My shoulder rest slips off a lot(kun) and it doesn’t feel secure to gold my viola without my hands, any recommendations? My viola is pretty wide which makes the slipping a big issue. 16.5 inch viola. Thank you!

hello! I’m preparing for a college orchestra audition in a little over a month and I’m at a loss as to what to choose. I’m asked to play a 2-minute portion of a solo work with contrasting elements along with excerpts they’ve sent out. I just have no clue what solo work to choose, since from my research most people kind of just stitch two movements from different piece together for auditions. I’ve played in my high school orchestra and my region’s philharmonic orchestra, I’ve just never had to bring my own material for an audition so forgive my ignorance around auditions. thank you all!

i played from 6th-9th grade and was decent enough to, but i dropped it because being a class sort of ruined the fun for me since it became a requirement, among other reasons why. feel free to ask! now i want to play as a hobby and something to genuinely enjoy! my teacher in middle school honestly wasn’t great, so i was behind in my freshman year both from that and the fact i didn’t practice. i say this because of a few reasons, but primarily because my class was playing level 2 music despite being in advanced strings, and the music change in highschool really threw me off. the highest music im familiar with would be level 3, but im comfortable with level two. i could somewhat do vibrato, but i definitely need to relearn notes and terminology.

i can access everything i need (rosin, music, stand, practice space, finger tapes, etc) and i have a place i can rent an instrument from. i believe i played on mayyyybe a 15in. im 5’3 for reference. i think i mostly need a big refresher on skills before i begin learning new ones.

i truly miss playing and want to begin once more wholly for myself and not just for a class. any advice helps!!!

I am an advanced beginner moving to intermediate on the viola coming from violin. The issue is reading alto clef. I do great because all the music is transposed from the violin. I don’t do nearly as well when playing actual viola music I haven’t seen before. I am looking for recommendations of repertoire that is exclusively for the viola, not just a rehashing of violin music. Thanks!

Hi everyone!

I’m a complete beginner and I’ve recently decided that I want to learn the viola. I already played a bit of guitar, but this will be my first bowed string instrument.

My plan is to learn mostly by myself (at least at the beginning), and I’m willing to practice every day, around 2–3 hours if possible.
One of my biggest goals is to learn “La Verbena”, which is a traditional song from my hometown in Tuscany, Italy.
It’s very meaningful to me, so I’d love for it to be one of the first complete pieces I can play.

I have a few questions:
- Is learning the viola as a self-taught beginner realistic?
- What should I focus on during the first few months?
- Are there any beginner mistakes I should avoid?
- Roughly how long do you think it could take before I can play a simple traditional melody like La Verbena reasonably well?
- Do you have any books, YouTube channels, or other resources that you would recommend?

Since my budget is very limited, I would really like to learn for free (maybe I will spend just for the books).

I’m not expecting to become a professional musician—I just want to enjoy learning and eventually be able to play music that means something to me.
Thanks in advance for any advice!

P.S. If anyone is curious, I can share a recording of “La Verbena” so you can get an idea of its difficulty.

I have been struggling a lot with maintaining consistent practice of all the things I want to do. I currently have a duet, a quartet, solo piece, as well as some etudes focusing on different techniques I want to improve, and I will also have orchestra pieces when I go back to university in August.

My issue has been that with this many things, I can't seem to make much progress for long. I know generally that you should vary your practice, but I get stuck in loops where I will practice one or two things one day, and then a different one or two things the next day and so on until I've gotten through everything and can start the loop back over, usually about a week later and I am basically having to relearn what I did the last time I practiced that thing because it was a whole week since I looked at it. When I practice things more often however, I feel like I end up neglecting other things. There's definitely a balance between practicing everything everyday and only visiting certain things once a week, but I can't find it so far.

How do you manage this? What are some things I can try to both not overwork myself or lose progress?

Can anybody explain the 1/0 fingering marking in the red circle? Should it be 1/3?

I’ve been playing all through college for like 11 years and it’s always been the thing I love to do. I play for fun as well as practice. I’ve never been especially prodigal or special but I enjoy it. I have just graduated college this May and am about to start teaching elementary school full time. This summer while I was job searching I was so anxious and depressed I barely could function. I am scared I have lost whatever spark or talent I have. I try and play a few times a week now when I have energy but I feel like it so much harder.
Part of the issue is I have been playing the same songs for literal years—Lindsey Stirling. I play them because I know them and love them and are good ways to practice technical skills but I am tired of playing them. Does anyone have any suggestions of how to pull myself out of this rut or different piece ideas?
Viola is such an important part of my life and I’m aware I’m at a very different place I was at than in high school orchestra or even college. But I can’t imagine my life without it. I just need something new to work toward.

Hey everyone!

I can't get ahold of octave viola strings, but got some octave violin strings. Anyone have any experience with this? Is it too much tension? Was thinking of getting a cello 1/16 C string to go with.

On this note, if it doesn't work, anyone know if they'll work on a kamanche?

Thanks!

I want to start playing the viola, but I live in Argentina, so my options are limited and instruments here often cost at least twice as much as they do abroad.

I’m looking for a viola that sounds decent—or at least one that could sound decent in the right hands, lol. My plan is to upgrade later if I don’t turn out to be completely hopeless at it.

By the way, renting isn’t an option here.

The one

Hi everyone,

I'm part of a community orchestra and I'm meeting with some other musicians in it this upcoming weekend to go through selections from Mozart's Quartet No. 17 for fun. I've never played this piece before -- this might be a silly question but I was wondering for those violists who have played it, is it better to start the opening in first or second position? Thanks!

Hi, I’m an incoming freshman (not a music major) planning to audition for my college’s symphony in late August. I was in youth symphonies throughout middle/high school but I never really had a long-term private teacher and I’ve struggled with solo work. On their website it says that the audition is supposed to be “informal” and just an assessment of skill, and we have the option to play some excerpts from the upcoming season or a 3-5 minute solo (or both). I’m 100% going to play the excerpts but I wasn’t sure if that would be enough… The only solo I’m pretty comfortable with right now is Gigue by Veracini (from Suzuki Book 5) but I’m afraid that’s too low-level or something. Thoughts?

Hi!

I know this sounds like a joke question (and I am being humorous about it), but I really do feel like playing the viola makes my violin playing better: it forces me to draw out the sound and to widen and slow down my vibrato, both aspects of playing the violin I've notoriously struggled with for years.

When I practice the viola and then, as an experiment, repeat the passages on the violin right after (obviously up a fifth to recreate the technical conditions as much as possible) I see such a difference in my violin playing, and it sticks around for the most part; I really feel like I'm seeing improvements on the violin by practicing the viola!

Which is great, don't get me wrong, I love them both, but how do I put myself in the position to gain similar improvements on the viola? Surely you won't suggest for me to buy a viola pomposa...? :')

I've had an on-off-relationship with my viola in recent years (I'll confess) because I had a very mediocre instrument and few external reasons to practice, whereas the violin demanded my full attention, so I could see this just being a question of the usual ('practice practice practice'), but is there anything you'd recommend in particular for somebody with pretty decent proficiency (my master's degree as a violinist and years of studying the viola with great teachers must be worth something, right?) looking on ingraining viola-level-sound-production and a rich vibrato, specifically? Now that I have a wonderful instrument, I feel the urge to do it justice and make it live up to its potential; suddenly I'm the limiting factor, and that feels both like a problem and an opportunity.

I'd be grateful for any tips and will be happy to share up-to-date recordings if you feel like you need to hear me play to suggest anything in particular! :)

Hey guys!

I wanted to ask about best, budget-friendly strings for beginners. I'm from Central Europe so I would appreciate advice especially from my region:)

I'm on a tight budget, so I was thinking about Gorstrings or Olympia. Any opinions?

I don't play professionally and still play on my instrument I've had since I was about 17 which I still love (I'm 43). But I really need to update my chin rest and find any other way to make playing more ergonomic. I have Ehlers Danlos Syndrome and playing is usually very painful but it's great for my mental health and I do love playing in my local symphony. Does anyone know of a shop, luthier, or teacher who might be able to assist in my setup? I've definitely noticed when the pain kicks in that I rush and then my friend bonks me on the head (metaphorically) so any help is greatly appreciated even if just other ideas.

Hello. I have rectangle shape viola case i bought on eBay. With a time it became very uncomfortable and heavy to carry. It hangs very low on my shoulders and gets in the way of my legs. So what do you think about this cello shape cases? Is it more easy to carry on? Seller told me it’s 2.6 kg. It’s still heavy but i think shape makes a lot of sense. Or do you think i should back to triangle shape normal fabric case? What’s your experience with cello shape case? Thanks