What are they? What did you who studied alone do wrong before you got to your teacher? Like, specifically? Was it bowing wrong, or what? Be detailed if you can.
I have until May 5th for my first lesson. I practice Mary had a Little Lamb for a half an hour at least everyday. Or sometimes I just play open string songs I make up.
Is it simply learning bad habits that makes it a bad idea to study on your own for a few weeks? Suppose I form no habits at all, do I even have time to?
I can’t speak for violin specifically, but most instruments have potential pitfalls which, once they become established as habits, can be hard to eradicate, and can lead to poor sound production or difficulty playing complicated passages at best, and to injury at worst (overuse injuries such as tendonitis from playing with poor technique are common complaints among musicians). That isn’t to say that all technique has to follow a set pattern or style, or that some people with idiosyncratic technique don’t do just fine, but in general, especially when you’re just starting, it’s best to have a teacher to guide you.
As I said, I can’t speak for violin technique, but with harp, such things as poor hand position, using a “claw” technique to pluck the strings, hunching shoulders, stiff/unrelaxed hands and arms and tensing before difficult parts are some of the more common technical problems that can come back to haunt the person who lets them become established habits
If you’re just talking about a few weeks, and you’re just noodling around, there’s probably no harm because you’re not likely to get firmly established in any bad habits, but I wouldn’t go much longer than that, personally.
Redwolf
I agree that a few weeks won’t hurt you. Don’t be afraid to put a lot of time into it. At this stage you’ll just be getting used to holding the instrument. 3 or more months definitely will ingrain a habit. In my case, it was 3-4 months before I had my first lesson. When I started lessons, I had two lessons before my teacher traveled to Ireland and other places for over a month. Then another few lessons before I had to quit because of my work schedule. A few more months before that ironed itself out. Basically off, on, off, on. Every time I was off, including the beginning, it took weeks to feel back on track. About two years in, I finally felt like I was making progress instead of treading water.
Here’s a summary of the things I was doing, or not doing as the case may be:
Body posture/positioning
Bow hold
Bow pressure(weight, actually)
Bow speed
Letting the neck of the fiddle sink into the web of the thumb.
Not working on the 4th finger at all
Not accenting notes, or even knowing how to do so
Bowing the wrong spot between bridge and fingerboard.(Bow position)
And worst of all: Not getting a feel for the music I wanted to play. That slowed my progress down more than actual “how to” stuff.
I got posture, feet spread, I put a little more pressure on my right foot. ]
I’ve examined real violinists and videos/pictures/writings enough to know that I am holding the bow correctly. I have very large hands, so it’s not difficult to spread them awkwardly or anything.
Should bow speed be even? Even lengths of speed? I’m good at that. Like Note-Note-Note-Note-Not-Not-Not-Not-No-No-No-No-N-N-N-N (slower to faster)
The last few you listed, especially not using the forth finger are my problems. My pinky is too weak to reach over and try for anything.
Probably the biggest “bad habit” I can imagine has to do with the left (fiddle playing) hand.
Some fiddlers rest the violin neck in their hand while they play it (over extending the wrist instead of a straight or slightly curled wrist).
One of my fiddle teachers once comment that it can be done but he’s never seen anyone get good on the fiddle doing that who hadn’t been playing the fiddle all their life.
He’d never seen an adult beginning fiddler get proficient at playing the fiddle that way if they support it with their wrist.
Your left hand bares no weight. Holding the violin is all about a relationship between your resting chin and your rested upon collarbone. Without the support there your fingers are pretty much locked into first position and probably at close to a snail’s pace.
Its been suggested to me by one fiddler who has hands as small as mine to always play as if I was using my pinky finger, even when I wasn’t going to. To “just keep those fingers curled over the strings”. They shouldn’t stretch to reach a note as much as they just come down on it.
Posture: not lower body so much as upper body: arms, neck, shoulder, etc. Keeping everything relaxed.
Bow hold: this is so much more than just grabbing the bow in the correct manner. Using the thumb as a fulcrum, 4th finger to take weight off the bow, etc.
Bow speed: Bow speed should vary based on the sound you want. Different combinations of weight and speed will give you different sounds.
The thing a teacher can do that we cannot is observe you, determine your weakest point, and have you work on it. As a beginner, one tends not to notice things and their skills become unbalanced. A teacher helps keep things on an even keel. Hence, your whole “game” raises its level, rather than just a few specific aspects.
Very well said.
I agree with every word there.
Keep the left wrist straight.
Slan,
D. 
Wrist positioning is a problem for me. Relaxing it and keeping it curled with the thumb in the right place is hard.
Is this something that takes practice to feel comfortable with? I wouldn’t mind doing exercises like walking around holding it properly if that would decrease the strain I feel. Bad idea?
The thumb should be curled, correct? The side of the thumb placed against the neck?
Another thing, I have a beard, and it affects the way I can feel the chinrest. I’m unable to hold my violin with my chin alone. Not sure if this is because of it. Or if I just need someone to show me how personally.
Holding the fiddle is not a really natural thing to do. Especially with the left arm/hand/wrist. It takes lots of getting used to. Not letting the neck sink into the web of the thumb especially takes time to get used to. Thumb should be bent, but relaxed. There’s a bony ‘shelf’ at the first finger joint, and the neck should rest on that. You should take some weight out of your left hand with your chin, but you don’t need to hold it up entirely with your chin.
The most important thing is to stay relaxed. Get as comfortable as you can, relatively speaking, and hold the fiddle while relaxed. Start playing. If you feel yourself tensing up, force yourself to relax. Take a break if necessary.
My hands are small, so I tend to over (i think…) compensate with my wrist and bend it out rather than in to reach over the neck of the fiddle. It’s something I work on every time I practise though. So maybe at some point I’ll actually do it correctly 
I also tend to bend my right wrist down rather than have it more up when I bow. That might be one of my problems in bowing…another thing I work on constantly. My poor teacher, LOL!
It certainly can be frustrating to get it all right. It will be nice to get to the point where I don’t have to think about it anymore…like remembering not to use your left foot to stop the car (which is on my mind because of the driving lessons my daughter is doing these days )
I don’t let it fall into the web, I curl my thumb(I have an awkward thumb, it’s called a ‘hitchhiker’s’ thumb, I believe. And I rest the neck of the violin half against the side and back of my thumb.
Bent how? Bent as in curled? Or bent as in right angle?
Bent as in curled, relaxed, just enough pressure to keep the neck from slipping in too deep.
It never really slips in. I can do this with my thumb, I usually rest the neck on the arch it makes when I pull my thumb backwards.
It never really slips in. I can do this with my thumb, I usually rest the neck on the arch it makes when I pull my thumb backwards.
I was playing that way periodically. I didn’t think it mattered until I realized I was unnecessarily tensing up a part of my hand to do that.
I was asking my palm and fingers to be loose and at the same time leaving the muscles of my thumb in a mindless constriction.
Lightly shake your hands out and then place them palms up on your lap or table.
Your thumb isn’t still doing that is it?
No mentions how to tune the fiddle- took me a bit to understand you really don’t need a tuner except for the A string, and even then, if there is another fiddle player around, how to have them sound the A string and then tune from there.
I’ve sat in classes where beginning fiddlers either had no idea their fiddle was out of tune in comparison to the other fiddles in the class
or they could tell something was wrong but they couldn’t hear if it was sharp or flat wrong compared to the other fiddles.
In one class the teacher would listen and then thumbs up or thumbs down until they got it in tune.
Sometimes the students were so clueless that the teacher just started tuning everybody’s fiddle to save time.
Yeah, being able to tune to a tuning fork or other fiddle is a valuable skill but I wouldn’t waste sleep over it.
The ability will eventually happen.
In the mean time save time by getting a clip on tuner.
That’s not to say you can trust the tuner to be absolutely accurate, but it will get you into the ball park.
The only bad habit I can recall is not practicing
every day.
That’s why I get up at 6 am and practice
every day. If you can face the fiddle at that
hour you can play anywhere.
And I also carry it wherever I go.
-dogma