Soundpost Studio

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For Current Students

Here are some practice materials and guides. Please let me know what else would be helpful to put up here, and ask for any explanations that you need!

For those in need of a music stand, here’s a decent one I found on Amazon

Step #1: Listen to the first piece, (there are many on Youtube, but here are a couple to get you started..)

You should be able to find a professional audio recording on itunes, or other music apps, (the official Suzuki recordings of the Book 1 pieces), or you can find many people playing it on youtube, like this guy:

Shoulder rest info:


See Amazon links below for shoulder rests (or just use 1-2 kitchen sponges with a rubber band for now!) This photo is of an extra long sponge that gets thicker on the end opposite the chin rest. This one works for some kids: you could make a custom one that works for you by gluing sponges together!

Black Everest 1/10-1/4

Wood style shoulder rest 1/4-1/2

Black one that looks decent

Next Steps

Checklist #1: First week or two of practice – check the boxes for demo videos!
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Date / Time
Selected Value: 0
Check the box of what you would like to do, and get a helpful reminder just below!
Now on to the violin
Bow on the violin exercises
Mississippi Hot Dog Practice
Click or drag a file to this area to upload.
Checklist #2: Beginners Skills List
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Basic Violin Skills
Select all the skills you worked on today!
Which skills do you need to spend more time on? Which come easily? Do you have any questions or ideas on how to improve some skills?
Checklist #3: Big Picture Practice Form (to get you thinking!)
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What do you imagine doing with music in 5, 10 or 15 years? What role do you think music might have in your life? Would you like to be playing in orchestras? Getting together with friends to make music? Using your skills to compose pieces?
Are you focused on beautiful tone, ease with your left hand, being able to read music better, etc?
Basically, make your own practice checklist right here. Then, go and do it! And come back to finish the rest of the questions…. See you soon!!
In what sections or aspects of playing feel easy to you?
What areas still feel difficult? Do you have ideas about how you could turn these into “easy” sections? What can you learn from yourself in the sections you do well? Can you break down the harder parts into smaller sections or play them more slowly so that they feel easy?
If so, how did it go?

Improvise your own piece

Using everything you have learned so far. Even just open strings, pizzicato, or bowing on the bridge can be part of your piece. You can also sing while you play, (my kids liked to do this, and it is a great way to develop a natural relationship with playing the violin.)

Use a phone or another recording device, and record your improvisation. You can start with 30 seconds and then increase the amount of time. If you’re having trouble getting your child to practice in the beginning, starting with just five minutes a day is fine! I recommend keeping the violin out of its case and ready to play and finding a routine time to pick it up, like just before reading a book before bed. Or another good time is right before some kind of treat or reward like a dessert or screen time.

Encouragement for practicing

Parents, if you need other ideas to help get your kids practicing, try weekly charts with boxes they can check off, along with some type of long-term reward system. I also encourage parents to ask their children to help teach either a sibling or the parent what they’ve learned so far. Be sure to make it fun and silly and try to get them to laugh in the process! Some kids enjoy making a pretend YouTube instructional video, to explain what they’ve just started learning, and show their process to an imaginary other.