I joined my high school orchestra and I can now play with them and not feel like I am inferior. Most of them started when they were 3rd grade or earlier (like 5 years is pretty common) but some in 4th or 5th. My orchestra teacher says I am doing very well and my private teacher says I play with good intonation and tone.
I do have areas I’m not so good at but I’ve been working on that and it has improved a lot- sometimes I do get a bit tense and that affects my playing. I can shift and play reliably in 1st to 5th position in tune. I’ve explored 7th position a bit but I don’t want to go too fast and develop bad habits. I recently got 2nd chair in our orchestra and I’ve been working on some of the simpler Mazas etudes which I found have been really helpful for solidifying shifting and rhythms.
I’ve had to learn a lot in a short span of time but I don’t think it’s been too terrible. It’s been a lot of work definitely. In some ways, I (and my teachers) feel like I could do better if I was more confident and willing to take risks. I’ve been trying that out the past few days. It’s been good so far.
Anyways, I wondering if I have a chance to get into our city youth orchestra next year which is a bit more advanced than our high school orchestra. I know some people in that orchestra and one of them, she says she’s been working on stuff like Sevcik and some Kreutzer. She’s a violinist.
I was also wondering what future progress can I expect?
I hope I gave enough info, but if not I can always add more.
Thanks in advance!
"All the good musicians started early. Because I started late, I cannot be as good."
So in addition to questions like raw talent (motivation, ear, finger dexterity, concentration, memory, trainability, etc), there is the question of whether you can defeat this mentality.
If you start in your late teens or twenties, I don't think that you're bewitched and won't be able to play like a master. Not at all. What normally happens is not age's fault, but college or work. That's what happens. If you take it very seriously you will be able to practice "a lot" during high school, but then in college people normally drop it sooner or later. So you had 4-6 years of serious practice, while a kid that started at 7 years old can play for almost 11 years straight very intensively and regularly. If you want to compare to these kids, you "must" do the same from 14 to 25, which is totally possible but normally external factors (college or work) kill it.
Also, for an unknown reason to me, conservatoires and important music schools value the age of the player a lot, specially in violin, piano... So you won't have the same opportunities. If a kid starts at 4, you at 16, and then 5 years later you both apply for the same conservatoire, the kid will enter almost for sure, doesn't matter if you're noticeable better. I think it's sad because music is an art where age doesn't matter at all. If you're 20 and decide to become a violinist, you won't be able to do it because it's planned for kids.
Anything's possible if you have the work ethic and that tiny spark of raw talent.
Later however, they started DEcomposing.
Sorry, couldn't resist.
So there's no reason why you couldn't get into a better orchestra, as long as you don't expect a professional caree, 'cause there the stakes are much higher.
Steve Doman, violist in London Symphony Orchestra: started playing violin at 14 and viola at 16 with no prior musical training.
Benedetto Pollani, violist in London Philharmonic Orchestra: started playing violin at 14 and viola at 17, having played only rock guitar before.
Terje Moe Hansen, violin professor at Norwegian Academy of Music and regional-level soloist: started learning violin at 19, having previously only played keyboard in a rock band without formal piano lessons.
Admittedly it's not common for teenage starters to become professional string players, but a few have reached the world's major orchestras or equivalent status.
I started at 16. I'm 35 now, working on the Walton concerto, and playing in an elite/semi-pro community orchestra. I'm also principal violist in a mid-level community orchestra, and last month played as a last-minute ringer in a community orchestra (sight-reading the dress rehearsal) for the first time. I'm not aiming to become a pro, but even doing it strictly as a hobby for the entire time, rarely having time to practice for more than an hour a day, and progressing more slowly than most, I'm playing at the highest amateur levels now.
If you're second chair in your high school orchestra, you're already not only "not inferior" but better than average in that ensemble. Playing 1st through 5th position in tune after 1 year is extraordinarily good, especially on viola where the higher positions are physically harder to play than on violin.
Admittedly that is not a huge issue for orchestra players. However, one still has to play solo literature at a very high level to win auditions.
I have not tried for the Highest Virtuosity, as I fear my reflexes are not of the fastest, but folks seem to ask me back, as a semi-pro (usually on violin!), or in retirement as an Ardent Amateur.
Yes, the biggest problem is the lack of those hundreds of hours of Constructive Practice.
As you were!
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An 18 year old young woman in the USC Heifetz Master Class in the early 1970s had started violin at age 13 and played like professional soloist. I met her in a masterclass I participated in; in addition to her mastery of all three-octave scales, fingered octaves, and everything else in the "Heiftz warmup" she played a complete Bruch violin concerto "performance" that was recording worthy. All this after 5 years of violin.
I can't predict your future progression on violin, but if you have sufficient motivation, and guidance, and work on it you can go far.