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November 20, 2005 at 7:07 AM

Well, I finally got myself and my family up to Ifshin Violins in Berkeley today. It's a great place. We were going to rent a violin for my almost-three-year-old daughter, but they only have sizes down to a 1/16, which was still actually a bit big for her. Apparently 1/32 sizes are quite hard to come by. In the end my husband and I decided to go with it anyway, since she hasn't started lessons yet and when she does, she'll probably be doing bow and posture work for a while. I am thinking about buying an instrument from Shar or something, though. The rental rate at Ifshin is pretty reasonable, but if my daughter and her younger sister end up playing, I'd get more value from buying.

I'm still looking at various Suzuki teachers in the area. At one point I was wondering if I ought to just teach her on my own, but I'm afraid of teaching her badly, since I myself learned the fundamentals poorly. But I think it's better to have someone else teach her; there can be a weird dynamic if one's parent is also one's teacher, and I realized today that it takes tremendous time and patience to get even the basics right. We'll still get to work together during practice time, but she'll do better with a teacher who's trained on how to teach these things to young children.

I also got myself a new violin case, finally (the Bobelock 1017). I've had my old one for almost twenty years and it's completely falling apart. The cushioned area is still good, though; I hate to throw the whole thing away. Maybe one of my cats would like it for a bed. I also got a big practice mute so I can practice after the girls go to sleep. Not my favorite time of day to work since I'm usually pretty tired by then, but at least now I have the option.

P.S. 1/16 size violins are SO CUTE!

Here's a link to a local company (local for me;)) that sells 1/32 violins. They are made in Transylvania, Romania, which has a great ring to it to me. I bought a Gama 4/4 from them and love it. Anyway, food for thought, maybe this is cheap enough to offset the idea of renting.

http://www.violinslover.com/violins1_32.php

Barry

After you get that 1/32 violin, all you have to do is teach your daughter the "world's saddest song" and she'll always have an answer to everything. (saddest song, smallest violin...haha...ok, i admit it, this was a sad attempt at humour).
Danielle? I don't get it. (I'm pretty dense when it comes to jokes...)
Hehe, it had me laughing. It usually starts with somebody whining or crying, then somebody next to them holds up their hand, rubbing their thumb and index finger together. They say, "You see this? This is the world's smallest violin, and it's playing a song just for you."

It's kind of a childish kids game, but yeah, I did it and had it done to me as a kid all the time;)

Oh! Thanks, Barry; I guess I have heard that joke, but it's been a while. Been a while since I was a child... ;)
I saw a 1/32 size violin recently in Potter's Violin Store in Bethesda, MD. It would just fit in my outstretched hand, about 7 1/2" or 19 cm. (I have long hands.) I said that it looked like a toy, and one of the people on the staff there said that it sounds like a toy.