All About Violin Classes and Teachers

[metz]

phankao:

I think the father who started the business has a few children. But the 2 men that you usually see in the shop are definitely his sons (as in, brothers- they have rather similar looks altho' one looks older than the other, lah). At the Katong place, i remember seeing their children practising around, even the preschoolers). That day at marina, i also saw one of their daughters.

Ah, I see. Actually I have met only one son in the Marina Shop (maybe the younger one at Katong). The other man I met is the father. He happened to be there when I visited the shop (the son was off duty on Monday, if I'm not wrong). While chatting, I realised he knew Mr kang too (Mr Kang was his junior). It's really a small world.

[sylpha]

chamonix:

phankao:

I think the father who started the business has a few children. But the 2 men that you usually see in the shop are definitely his sons (as in, brothers- they have rather similar looks altho' one looks older than the other, lah). At the Katong place, i remember seeing their children practising around, even the preschoolers). That day at marina, i also saw one of their daughters.

Ah, I see. Actually I have met only one son in the Marina Shop (maybe the younger one at Katong). The other man I met is the father. He happened to be there when I visited the shop (the son was off duty on Monday, if I'm not wrong). While chatting, I realised he knew Mr kang too (Mr Kang was his junior). It's really a small world.

So sad... the Katong one will be closed and relocated elsewhere. Tats what I heard from the MS staff 2 months back.

[HyperKiasu]

sorry for late response...


and thank you for all the great tips from great mummies...
:salute:

i bought one synwin violin for my son.
1/4 is too small
1/2 is a bit too big
finally chose 1/2

hope he can develop fondness for violin....

[airex]

The strings do make a difference in the tone quality, even for the factory manufactured models. It would not sound as good as the hand made ones but definitely not as scratchy as the original strings. I had positive feedbacks from my students’ parents after changing the strings.


Sometimes, it is a huge commitment to spend a few hundreds on a hand-made violin, esp for a beginner. Therefore I always suggest changing the strings for basic beginner model to improve the tone to a certain extent which benefit the students when learning.

[metz]

Oh yes, the original strings are pretty scratchy. My friend couldn't stand it, that's why she loaned my son her kids' old Synwin violins. Once my son played on it, he could no longer stand the factory made violins. Kept commenting my girl's violin sounded horrible.


But really strange, I did ask the violin teacher if I should change the strings on my girl's violin. He didn't encourage it. Even when one of her strings broke, he merely replaced it with a $1/$2 string. Then at Synwin, the staff (could be one of the brothers) also advised me not to. Weird :? . Maybe it was because I asked for the Dominant strings? What kind of strings do you usually get for your students?

[phankao]

chamonix:

Oh yes, the original strings are pretty scratchy. My friend couldn't stand it, that's why she loaned my son her kids' old Synwin violins. Once my son played on it, he could no longer stand the factory made violins. Kept commenting my girl's violin sounded horrible.


But really strange, I did ask the violin teacher if I should change the strings on my girl's violin. He didn't encourage it. Even when one of her strings broke, he merely replaced it with a $1/$2 string. Then at Synwin, the staff (could be one of the brothers) also advised me not to. Weird :? . Maybe it was because I asked for the Dominant strings? What kind of strings do you usually get for your students?

We personally used Pirastro Piranito strings with a special version E-string. Until he changed his violin and used Vision Titanium strings as advised by his teacher. Seems that Pirastro strings not so popular with students here? Even though they are around the same price range (maybe slightly cheaper if you buy in bulk from overseas). I personally prefer them over Dominant bc there is very little adjustment time needed for the strings.

http://www.wwbw.com/Pirastro.wwbw

You may like to read these 2 articles which do a review on various strings:

http://www.stringsmagazine.com/issues/Strings95/coverstory.shtml

http://www.violinist.com/wiki/violin-strings/

[dasalo]

chamonix:

Kept commenting my girl's violin sounded horrible.


Even when one of her strings broke, he merely replaced it with a $1/$2 string. Then at Synwin, the staff (could be one of the brothers) also advised me not to. Weird :? . Maybe it was because I asked for the Dominant strings? What kind of strings do you usually get for your students?

Hi charmonix, where to find $1/$2 strings these days? Synwin has 2 brothers? I thought Mr Yap have only a son and a daughter?

Dominant is generally good for all violins IMO.

[fristrom]

dasalo:

Hi charmonix, where to find $1/$2 strings these days?
Dominant is generally good for all violins IMO.

I replaced one violin string in synwin few weeks ago, and the string was $2.16. Soon, the replaced string had problems, and we ended up replacing the whole set with Dominant. If I know the strings make so much difference to the sound, I would have replaced the strings much earlier

[metz]

fristrom:

dasalo:

Hi charmonix, where to find $1/$2 strings these days?
Dominant is generally good for all violins IMO.

I replaced one violin string in synwin few weeks ago, and the string was $2.16. Soon, the replaced string had problems, and we ended up replacing the whole set with Dominant. If I know the strings make so much difference to the sound, I would have replaced the strings much earlier

From my kids' violin teacher. Was quite surprised that the string was that affordable (first time changing string).

Dominant strings are good but I think the violins also play a very important part. Both my kids are using Dominant Strings now but my girl's violin still sounds rather scratchy when I compared hers to my son's. I suppose I'll have to bear with it since it's still a beginner's violin.

[buds]

Hi all. Hubs finally bought a new violin for our DD.

She received it for her birthday present.

Thing is... now we have to return the violin that
our friend loaned to us. While his violin is still in
good condition, the violin case is worn out from
lugging the thing around rainy days and all. The
straps also came off. Hubs checked it & said it
really cannot be fixed.

Am hoping someone knows where i can get just
the case? Planning to return him before
we move... :xedfingers: