Beginner Violas

We recommend looking at our Prelude, Arioso and Virtuoso range of viola as these are all excellent choices for the novice or continuing student. Each instrument has its own unique sound, but all are professionally finished and set up by our expert team of instrument makers.

A lot of schools these days have an orchestral strings immersion program in grades 2 or 3 where all the students are involved and able to try orchestral string instruments. This is also the age that most schools allow students to start taking lessons and joining school ensembles. This is a great opportunity for your child to try out different instruments and find the right one for them. If your child is showing enthusiasm for wanting to learn an instrument, they can start at any age. Even from 3 - 6 months old there are a variety of entry-level music classes that will introduce them to the basics of music and getting them involved in creating music. There are a variety of teaching methods designed for teaching children from a very young age such as the extremely well-known Suzuki method which was how some famous players learnt, such as Ray Chen who started the Suzuki method at age 4.

Our viola outfits come with a case and a bow included and to be able to play you will also need to purchase a shoulder rest and rosin. These two items are necessary to be able to play your violin. We also recommend a music stand, a cleaning cloth and a tuner. These items will make learning and maintaining the violin a lot easier.

There are a vast number of benefits to learning the viola and music as a whole. There have been noted mental, emotional and physical benefits to learning to viola. From improved fine motor skills, learning discipline and improving memory to improved social skills from being involved in ensembles just to name a few.

A full-size violin is about 36 cm (14 inches), but a full-size viola is normally somewhere between 39 and 41 cm (15.5-16.5 inches). Violinists usually read their music from the treble clef, while violists, generally speaking, have to learn the slightly less familiar alto clef. The pitch is lower than that of a violin by a 5th. As well as being slightly thicker, the viola string order from lowest to highest is C, G, D, A. Violin strings, on the other hand, go from G, D, A to E.

We recommend purchasing a real viola where possible as the shape and tone of the viola is slightly different to the violin. However, we understand that a violin re-strung as a viola (removing the E string and adding the C string) can leave you with options in the future to play either as a violin or a viola.

Many!

• How can you tell when a violist is playing out of tune? You can see the bow moving.
• What's the difference between a viola player and a vacuum cleaner? You have to plug in a vacuum cleaner before it sucks
• What do you call someone who hangs around with musicians? A viola player
• What’s the difference between a violist and a pizza? A pizza can feed a family of four