Why string instrument doesn't sound 'beautiful'?

[twilight]

sacredmusicals:

I play the violin leisurely and I have to say I hate my own sound on the violin. Sounds like chicken being slaughtered, haha. But according to my teacher it depends on the instrument and your ability to hear that nice tone inside your head.

I play erhu, but generally agree with you lol. I always feel that the performers' can play a thousand times better than me, although I've been learning erhu for nearly 4 years now. The quality of sound does improve with experience though. When a person just started learning the instrument, all they can play is the individual notes. Slowly, the notes become cohesive, and then become music. I think time is needed to develop the richness of the sound because the ability to coordinate the left and right hand, and also certain techniques require time to learn. All these will ultimately contribute to better sound.

[sleepy]

phankao:

Generally the tone sounds more beautiful with experience. Not sure how to explain. They grow into it. Can't say it sounds unpleasant before that, but just that it sounds more \"immature\" - like a little kid playing, altho' notes not inaccurate. Is that what you are trying to say? Did you ask her teacher about it?

No le, sounds more like slaughtering chicken to me :faint:
Teacher said won't sound delightful so soon, need more time. Yet teacher asked dd to sign up for exam! Huh? This kind of standard can go for exam :nailbite:

[Dreamaurora]

sleepy:

phankao:

Generally the tone sounds more beautiful with experience. Not sure how to explain. They grow into it. Can't say it sounds unpleasant before that, but just that it sounds more \"immature\" - like a little kid playing, altho' notes not inaccurate. Is that what you are trying to say? Did you ask her teacher about it?

No le, sounds more like slaughtering chicken to me :faint:
Teacher said won't sound delightful so soon, need more time. Yet teacher asked dd to sign up for exam! Huh? This kind of standard can go for exam :nailbite:

I think in today's age we have been so highly spoiled by extremely high standard of playing among youngsters that anything less we think it's not good. But fret not, I think we have to emphasize to students that it is the journey that is more important and not the result. Too often we see a great performance and we assume the performer is very gifted and talented, not knowing the amount of hardwork and diligent practice that goes into it.

Exam boards have marking criterias for each grade and examiners have to follow them. Examiners cannot award a fail just because he/she does not like the performance. So technically speaking even if your dd's playing sounds like 'slaughtering chickens' but satisfy their marking criterias e.g. up to speed, secure bowings, etc he will still get the pass.

[sleepy]

Dreamaurora:

Exam boards have marking criterias for each grade and examiners have to follow them. Examiners cannot award a fail just because he/she does not like the performance. So technically speaking even if your dd's playing sounds like 'slaughtering chickens' but satisfy their marking criterias e.g. up to speed, secure bowings, etc he will still get the pass.

So it's dd's problem or teacher's problem if still sounds like 'slaughtering chicken' despites regular practice? Should change teacher?
Any advice what attributes to look out for in a good strings teacher?


My dd is aiming for distinction as her younger sister got a distinction, although different instrument. I feel that the first exam experience is very important. If she can do well, she will gain confidence to continue learning. Hence, I do not want to sign her up for exam hastily & demoralise her if she achieve less than satisfying result

[phankao]

sleepy:

My dd is aiming for distinction as her younger sister got a distinction, although different instrument. I feel that the first exam experience is very important. If she can do well, she will gain confidence to continue learning. Hence, I do not want to sign her up for exam hastily & demoralise her if she achieve less than satisfying result

For grade 3, to get a distinction, just make sure to perfect the areas you can control - namely, the 3 pieces and the scales.

1) scales: accurate intonation and even rhythm to get full marks or near full-marks.

2) 3 pieces: accurate intonation and rhythm will at most get you a merit. You need to add in a wide range of dynamics to get a distinction. Loud/soft, fast/slow plus phrasing. It's not as difficult for Grade 3 pieces, I'd think.

I suppose the teacher and accompanist will train her well on the other sections which are sight-reading and aural.

[phankao]

Dreamaurora:

sleepy:

No le, sounds more like slaughtering chicken to me :faint:
Teacher said won't sound delightful so soon, need more time. Yet teacher asked dd to sign up for exam! Huh? This kind of standard can go for exam :nailbite:

Exam boards have marking criterias for each grade and examiners have to follow them. Examiners cannot award a fail just because he/she does not like the performance. So technically speaking even if your dd's playing sounds like 'slaughtering chickens' but satisfy their marking criterias e.g. up to speed, secure bowings, etc he will still get the pass.

Exaggerating or not??? Can't sound like \"slaughtering chickens\" if not a total beginner anymore, right? I can't imagine lor. I have 2 boys doing string instruments, altho' one is doing violin & viola while another is doing erhu. The only \"slaughtering chickens\" I'd hear is when the younger boy plays the jinghu. But for jinghu it IS supposed to sound like slaughtering chickens leh. HAHAHA!!!!!!!!! Some more that technique to get the slaughtering chickens effect is not easy to master! *hehe* .

[sleepy]

phankao:

For grade 3, to get a distinction, just make sure to perfect the areas you can control - namely, the 3 pieces and the scales.


1) scales: accurate intonation and even rhythm to get full marks or near full-marks.

2) 3 pieces: accurate intonation and rhythm will at most get you a merit. You need to add in a wide range of dynamics to get a distinction. Loud/soft, fast/slow plus phrasing. It's not as difficult for Grade 3 pieces, I'd think.

:thankyou:

[Dreamaurora]

sleepy:

Dreamaurora:

Exam boards have marking criterias for each grade and examiners have to follow them. Examiners cannot award a fail just because he/she does not like the performance. So technically speaking even if your dd's playing sounds like 'slaughtering chickens' but satisfy their marking criterias e.g. up to speed, secure bowings, etc he will still get the pass.

So it's dd's problem or teacher's problem if still sounds like 'slaughtering chicken' despites regular practice? Should change teacher?
Any advice what attributes to look out for in a good strings teacher?


My dd is aiming for distinction as her younger sister got a distinction, although different instrument. I feel that the first exam experience is very important. If she can do well, she will gain confidence to continue learning. Hence, I do not want to sign her up for exam hastily & demoralise her if she achieve less than satisfying result

Hi, I will try my best to answer this question. I accompanied string instruments for exams and performances before. And for lower grades violinists seldom will have that warm nice tone that good violinists have. So don't despair if your dd's sound is still squeaky. It is only from grade 5 onwards that the quality of tone and vibrato is taken into account towards marking.

As for whether your dd can get distinction. Honestly, no teacher in Singapore can guarantee a distinction. Exam is afterall still a performance and no students can produce a 100% perfect performance. As a teacher, we try to give our students as much performance oppurtunities as possible to get them used to playing in front of people so they get more comfortable and can produce as close to optimal performance for exam or competition. But even the best musicians have off days, and as such distinctions cannot be guaranteed, although a good teacher can maximize the chances of securing one.

However, from my experience and from the few examiners I spoke to. As long all sections are prepared well and the performance is reasonably secure, a merit is usually a given. To get that distinction, you do need to impress the examiner with that something extra. And another thing, as the grades get higher, the requirements for exam get exponentially harder and as such distinctions are much harder to acquire. So that means if a student say scores distinction for grade 3, it does not mean for grade 4 he/she will automatically score a distinction.

And remember what I said that the journey itself is more important than the result itself. Even if your dd does not get the result she expects, but as long she put in her best effort, it is something to be very proud of. As for whether the teacher is good, I always believe the best way to test this is to see the performances of the other students. If the teacher's other students play well and enjoy music, then I see no reason for your dd to change teacher.

Remember that any teacher that promises result is a lousy teacher. A music teacher's goal is afterall imparting lifelong appreciation of musical art and a skill that enrich a student's life. Good exam results is just an icing on the cake.

[sleepy]

Dreamaurora:

As for whether your dd can get distinction. Honestly, no teacher in Singapore can guarantee a distinction. Exam is afterall still a performance and no students can produce a 100% perfect performance.


Remember that any teacher that promises result is a lousy teacher.

:scratchhead: I did not say I'm looking for teacher to guarantee distinction. Even nafa teachers cannot guarantee.
But at the very least, teacher needs to ensure reasonable standard of teaching & sufficiently prepared students to improve probability of distinction.

I'm glad that my dd sets herself a goal & is working towards her goal. She practises consistently. However, I'm not seeing expected improvements. Honestly, slaughtering chicken is not acceptable. At this rate, I would say absolutely zero chance in obtaining distinction.

Hence, the purpose of starting this thread to seek advice, trying to pin point underyling problem so that I can come to a decision whether to let dd continue with current teacher or start shopping for a new teacher

[Dreamaurora]

sleepy:

Dreamaurora:

As for whether your dd can get distinction. Honestly, no teacher in Singapore can guarantee a distinction. Exam is afterall still a performance and no students can produce a 100% perfect performance.


Remember that any teacher that promises result is a lousy teacher.

:scratchhead: I did not say I'm looking for teacher to guarantee distinction. Even nafa teachers cannot guarantee.
But at the very least, teacher needs to ensure reasonable standard of teaching & sufficiently prepared students to improve probability of distinction.

I'm glad that my dd sets herself a goal & is working towards her goal. She practises consistently. However, I'm not seeing expected improvements. Honestly, slaughtering chicken is not acceptable. At this rate, I would say absolutely zero chance in obtaining distinction.

Hence, the purpose of starting this thread to seek advice, trying to pin point underyling problem so that I can come to a decision whether to let dd continue with current teacher or start shopping for a new teacher

It is great that your dd has the ambition to try to achieve ambition. This is very commendable. What you can do now is to convey to her teacher her expectation and discuss with the teacher the plan towards acing the exam. Some teachers take exams more leisurely so the students can enjoy learning more. But I do believe if students are highly motivated and ambitious, then maybe the student should be paired up with a more capable teacher.

In any case, do discuss with the teacher first. Preparing for exam requires very careful planning. If the teacher cannot come up with a concrete plan or schedule and still insist on entering your dd for exam, only then you should look for another string teacher.