How to Tell if You Are the Best Violin Student
"Who is your best student?"
One of my young violin students asked me this question recently, when going over a recital program and looking at all the pieces people were playing.
"To me that doesn't matter," I told her, and I meant it very sincerely. "It's how you play whatever piece you are playing. Are you playing your best? That is my concern, for each of you."
Ah, what a frustrating answer, though. To her, it did matter. Her real question seemed to be: Who is playing the most "advanced" piece currently? Who is farthest along? And by extension: How do I measure up? Where do I stand?
Music students can't help but notice that their learning has its basis in progression, and their placement in various realms has a certain hierarchy: the Suzuki books, the chairs in orchestra, the order in a recital, the ABRSM grades, the RCM or ASTACAP levels... A teacher can try to mix it up or hide it, but its presence is undeniable.
At best, this can work as a motivating force. It can urge a student to strive to play a piece with more difficult technique, to get to the next piece, the next Suzuki book, the next level. A student may want to learn their music so well that they get "first chair" in orchestra or earn high marks on an exam or jury. A student may feel motivated to emulate a fellow student who plays with great technique or musicality, or to play that cool piece someone else is playing.
At worst, though, it can get pretty ugly. When comparisons turn into jealousy, this can ruin relationships. Feelings of inadequacy can lead to discouragement. Frustration with one's pace of learning can cause a student to lose patience - and how can one learn anything without patience? We are all human - such feelings can arise in students, parents, and teachers.
How do I measure up? Where do I stand?
It can be helpful to remember that if you keep moving, you are no longer standing - for better or for worse. We can celebrate milestones and "wins," but it's important not to get too carried away in feeling great or superior. And we can take note of what went wrong when we fall short, but it's important not to get too carried away in feeling terrible or inferior.
Remember: we are making music. Music itself has no "levels." It can communicate - or fail to - at any level, whether simple or complex.
Last week I took my students to play for residents at an assisted-care home for senior citizens, many with Alzheimer's. The students ranged in ability from pre-Twinkle through Bach Sonatas and Partitas. We played all kinds of music: Christmas and Hanukah songs, classical repertoire, rounds. We played in large groups, smaller groups, with a few solos sprinkled in.
What did the residents enjoy best? It was clear: our finale, the "Twinkle Variations." Of all things! Why? All of us were playing together, and we were having fun with it - adding a little bit of spontaneous choreography. And while I expected that the residents might sing for the Christmas songs, I not expect they also would sing "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star." To my astonishment, they did!
When a roomful of memory-care patients spontaneously start singing together, you know you've reached something special. In that moment, none of our listeners was asking "Who is best?" They were just responding to music, at the most basic level that humans do.
Clearly, we were all "best" when we forgot our egos and just made music together!
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Replies
Although I'm completely unqualified to talk from the perspective of a pre-teen music teacher, I think one of the most important things I learned from mine (from the age of 11) was humility about my own skills. At university I encountered quite a few violinists who must have missed that lesson.
It more than amuses me that kids get such big egos so early in life. It dismays me. Putting a teacher on the spot like that is a big control issue.
Lisa, you seem to have a handle on this.
Kids learn this poor behavior from their parents. Or non-parents.
Q: did you know that violins and violas are actually the same size?
A: yes, violin players heads are bigger.
Music is usually a social activity, played with others, or for others. It would be ideal if people would simply cooperate. However, this is almost never the way the world works.
Many aspects of our society are goverened by economics, specifically capitalism. Can i compete to get into school? Can i compete to get a job, etc. Can i afford lessons? If a person knows where they stand, they will have insights into the answer to these important questions.
Now, not everything is goverened by economics. However, frequently such things have other social barriers. In many localities one cannot play music in public without a permit. Amateur groups audition members. People want to play with others of equal or higher skill. Again, knowing where you stand gives you insight into such situations.
Sometimes activities are supported by schools or other social institutions. When students graduate they suddenly find themselves without that support, and cannot find an equivalent activity in the commercial sphere. This happens frequently in music and in atheletics. If you know where you stand you gain insight into these situations, and may realise if you are being supported and not in a position to function without it.
It is very important to know where you stand.
Back to teaching myself right now, and I'm definitely my best student.
Of course progress encourages. But the OP thinks the downside might outweigh that? I was close to responding "whatever" last night, as the OP seemed to tackle too many issues to be coherent. Control, Nickie? Maybe sometimes, but if you're a good enough teacher you should know each student well enough individually to know where they are coming from when they ask such a question.
In the case of ABRSM, you choose the pieces for the next grade that will develop the student's technical weaknesses, then as the exam approaches, you finalise the pieces that will be submitted, refining technique and expressivity all the time - that is the real progress - and if the student wants to take the grade's number as a symbol of progress, then let them.
Suzuki books cover at least two ABRSM grades, so that I fear covering one in a year may risk being a case of biting off more than you can chew.
I've been reflecting as a result of Laurie's blog and the recent discussion on lesson planning. I have never taught violin nor music except for absence cover lessons, but I used to notice that among my colleagues there was a group that planned everything together, rather rigidly I felt, and then stuck to it with minimal adaptation. Then there was a faction that maintained that the best approach was spontaneity and how the teacher felt in the moment, about where things should go. A third party stuck rigidly to textbooks and marches through them in a sequence that probably became grindingly predictable to their students.
I am certain that teachers should have an overall as well as a short-term plan, but that there should be room for students to put forward ideas and suggestions of their own. I would quickly note how the lesson went, where we'd got to, things that needed to be reinforced later, etc. Are these observations from English classroom teaching relevant to instrumental learning?
I think it's a very natural question for a child to ask. They may not know the most appropriate time for it, but it's completely normal - it's a new endeavour for them, and they want to work out what the rules are and indeed, where they stand right now and what they need to do to get better (which involves comparing yourself to others).
From my experience, kids are very good at seeing through the "you all get a medal because you all did your best" - they can see that X made three goals in football while Y had none, and that M plays a Bach partita and N - Suzuki Minuet one, and decide that the teacher simply refuses to tell them.
I would be honest while telling them that "best" is not a simple concept. "X is the most advanced, but he is older and has been playing the longest. Listen to what he plays, if you keep at it and work hard, you'll be able to do it in a few years' time. And Y is perhaps the best at studying. It doesn't come as naturally to him as it does to you, but he always comes prepared and with his own ideas and questions. I really enjoy seeing people work hard. And even though he still plays beginner pieces, listen how clean and precise they are. You can how much he cares." If you have the time for it, I don't think it's wrong to say it. Especially if it comes with pointers on what would the biggest thing for that particular student to do to become "better".
At school we learn with our peers, and having no peers worried me for a few years, but I just have to assume that my teacher's criteria are more professional than those of a 16-year-old's examiner, and I'm in orchestras with people who have been playing the violin for 40 years, so all I can do is aim to be in the top half and then the top third and so on. It's useful to be in a symphony orchestra, as blunders by the brass or woodwind give you confidence.
School-age students are being funnelled into college. Teaching very young kids needs psych qualifications.
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December 19, 2025 at 07:14 AM · I am coming at this from the view of lower elementary teacher, as well as a fiddler, because I get this question in the classroom. When asked, "Who is your best student?" I might ask for clarification, "You're asking who my best student is?" or "Tell me what do you mean by best" or something along those lines. And then I answer the question truthfully by sharing particular talents that different students have. In violinese it would sound like, "Oh my goodness, well Matteo has such a beautiful tone, and Ava plays so cleanly, and you ________, and Emma shifts so smoothly...". Make sure you highlight their talent in the middle of the list, like it's just a given. They come away feeling good about something they can do, and may strive to imitate another student who has a talent they themself don't yet have.