A few questions from a noob
Hello everyone! I will begin my first violin lessons next week, after several delays that kept me from starting last year. I don't really want to do a self-intro (I know, you're all so disappointed), but I do have some questions.
Firstly, has anyone learned violin when there was a language barrier between student and teacher? I'm living in Japan, and while I can get by in day-to-day conversations, I'm a little worried about the first few lesson and, later on, more technical stuff that might come up that I don't even understand in English. The class is one-on-one which should make it a bit easier, but if anyone has been in this situation and has any advice... I'd love it! Or, if anyone else has input on what I should research beforehand to make things a bit less painful, that would help, too.
Secondly, after I bought my violin back in October, I took it upon myself to try and teach myself after being told that all classes were full. Horrible idea. I broke the fine-tuner on my G-string almost immediately. I brought it to a Yamaha dealer, and they just placed the string in the tailpiece for free. They said they didn't carry any extra fine-tuners and that that would be the best way to fix it. Since then, I've had a hell of a time tuning it in a decent amount of time. I'm going to ask my teacher once we meet if there's anywhere I could bring it, but if not, would a teacher be able to replace the tuner if I ordered one online?
Lastly, any advice for playing in apartments with thin walls? My apartment building is set up horribly, everything on my side of the building echoes through everyone else's apartment, not to mention the super thin walls. I don't want to run out and buy a silent violin just yet, so that's not really an option. I figure I'll only play at hours when people would be awake, but I'd rather annoy as few people as possible.
Thanks for your help!
Firstly, has anyone learned violin when there was a language barrier between student and teacher? I'm living in Japan, and while I can get by in day-to-day conversations, I'm a little worried about the first few lesson and, later on, more technical stuff that might come up that I don't even understand in English. The class is one-on-one which should make it a bit easier, but if anyone has been in this situation and has any advice... I'd love it! Or, if anyone else has input on what I should research beforehand to make things a bit less painful, that would help, too.
Secondly, after I bought my violin back in October, I took it upon myself to try and teach myself after being told that all classes were full. Horrible idea. I broke the fine-tuner on my G-string almost immediately. I brought it to a Yamaha dealer, and they just placed the string in the tailpiece for free. They said they didn't carry any extra fine-tuners and that that would be the best way to fix it. Since then, I've had a hell of a time tuning it in a decent amount of time. I'm going to ask my teacher once we meet if there's anywhere I could bring it, but if not, would a teacher be able to replace the tuner if I ordered one online?
Lastly, any advice for playing in apartments with thin walls? My apartment building is set up horribly, everything on my side of the building echoes through everyone else's apartment, not to mention the super thin walls. I don't want to run out and buy a silent violin just yet, so that's not really an option. I figure I'll only play at hours when people would be awake, but I'd rather annoy as few people as possible.
Thanks for your help!