The Three Qualities You Should Look For in a Violin Teacher

This post was originally posted on the Plucky Violin Teacher Blog on September 7, 2015 so links and resources may not be current.


Picking a violin teacher is no easy task. You want to find someone that you work well with, and that explains things in a way that you can understand. Not to mention, you need to find someone who knows what they are doing!

I’ve had some fantastic teachers. Really lovely, wonderful, talented, and skilled teachers. But I had one. One really bad teacher. One very mean teacher. I left every single lesson in tears, with no idea how to do better the next week. They sent me through the wringer, broke my spirit and spat me out the other side. Seriously, my next teacher was more like a therapist. I was so scared of playing badly, I just couldn’t play at all.

Let’s assume for the moment, that the teacher you are considering is in your price range, a reasonable distance away, and is a generally good human being. What else do you need to know before you commit to lessons with this person?

Before you make a commitment you want to be really sure of your decision. Bouncing around from teacher to teacher makes it really hard to get any momentum. If you are spending a lot of time switching teachers, you usually just get frustrated and quit!

So let’s avoid that, ok?

After polling parents, students, violinists, and violin teachers, I found that everyone’s answers boiled down to the same three qualities. You should be looking for a violin teacher who is experienced, engaging and organized.

Experienced
Your teacher should be a good performer. You need to hear and see fantastic violin playing. You need to model your playing after someone skilled. (Yes, you want to be an individual and be creative, but you have to have the basics first! Imitation is how all great artists start out.)
You also need to find someone who has a passion for teaching and a strong background and education in violin performance and/or pedagogy (study of teaching.) The last thing you want is a teacher who is only teaching because their playing career hasn’t taken off yet. Nothing wrong with dual careers but if your teacher hates teaching, chances are you’ll hate your lessons.

Engaging
Your teacher should be able to connect with you, and communicate effectively. Some teachers might work well with one student, and really poorly with another. Have a trial lesson or an interview to make sure that this is a person you would actually like to see each week. Remember that really terrible teacher I had? A lot of people love that person, and they are quite successful. I just didn’t fit well with them.
You also want your teacher to be flexible and creative. Every student is different, so find a teacher who tailors their teaching to meet different learning styles. Find someone who is willing to experiment and try things until they find the magic solution to help you succeed.
If you are looking for a teacher for your child, this is especially important. Some teachers work best with small children, others with teens. Find someone who your child will like, and practicing will be slightly less like a chore.

Organized
Find a teacher who is running their studio like a business. It’s hard to take a teacher seriously if they don’t take themselves seriously! The last thing you want to hear is that someone can’t find your payment, or forgot your lesson time.
Your teacher should also have a long-term plan for your progress and a logical lesson structure. Even if you can’t see the road ahead clearly, your teacher is guiding the way and they should see that road.


I’ll be honest with you. Sometimes I struggle to meet all of these requirements. Sometimes I’m disorganized, or I don’t tailor a lesson to meet my student’s needs well enough. Nobody is perfect, so look for someone who is working their way there. Observe lessons, have trial lessons, speak to other students and parents, and take this decision seriously. Your teacher can make or break you.
Above all, look for someone who loves teaching, loves their students, and loves teaching people that they CAN do hard things. In the end, if they have those things, they’ll eventually get the others.

​What do you look for in a violin teacher? Share in the comments.