I had my very first official violin lesson today!!! It was alot of fun! I've played the piano and its grade 6-7ish, but really really wanted to learn the violin. My friend gave his crappy violin to me and I wanted to learn on my own, but figured out that it's quite impossible with a string instrument.

So, my first lesson is 45 minutes. She briefly taught me how to tune the violin, named parts of violin to me. Taught me how to hold the violin and the bow etc.

She also went over how to bow open string and to concentrate on getting even tone doing down and up bow (which is really hard for me).

I like this teacher that she's going over the basic. I have another teacher that responded to me, I met with her last week ( not lesson, just check out the place and her schedule), she made a copy of twinkle twinkle and told me to try it out at home!!! In all fairness, i still want to take a lesson from her to see how it is.

Anyways, she have me practice the twinkle twinkle thing pizacatto, and bow open string to concentrate on even tone.

One question, for example, if i have to play a D#, I would just put my 3rd finger on the A string, but she made me put my 1st and 2nd finger down as well.... is this correct?

quick reply as I am off to work...
D sharp on an A string you need a 'high' 3rd finger, otherwise it will be a simple D. Yes, it's correct to teach you to put down the 1st and 2nd finger as well.
Good to hear you are off to a head start with lessons, keep us informed on your progress.
Jo

To second what Jo said, it's generally easier to keep the first and second fingers down to begin with - will help you find the note more easily and more in tune - especially if you're learning without markers,

Glad you enjoyed your lesson. It's best to train your ears from the start and not use markers (plastic strips).. .....therefore putting all fingers down serves as a guide, as others have said. It's later on that you'll learn to use independent fingers.

I see... it's a bit weird for me because when I first try to learn on my own (granted it's only for a week), i never used block fingers, and when I try to even do even do pizacatto , block fingers is very difficult, it's alot easier to just place one finger. isn't this weird...

It's easier to place one finger, yes; but, if you do, that one finger is more likely to be in the wrong place!

I hope you enjoy learning violin, fayewolf! It sounds like you already have the most important thing - enthusiasm!

This IS hard, and it takes some time to get it smooth. I haven't managed it yet, sad to say, but I just call it 'natural vibrato'!! My teacher tells me that it happens at the point where the upper arm stops moving. When you're in the upper half of the bow, you're moving your upper arm, when in the lower half, you're just moving from your elbow. That transition causes the wobble in the ealry stages, but practise will stop it - in time!! Don't be put off by my lack of success thus far though, I wasn't taught well to start with and have had a LOT of illness whilst I've been learning, so am relatively weak.

Have fun!

I was wondering why that wobbling sound came from, i kept thinking, perhaps my bow was too tight that cause the bouncing.

This is so hard, my teacher said that when i bow down, gravity helps, so i'll have to bow slightly harder when going up. Also, bow less hard on the E string, this is giving me a headache already.

Yes, my teacher taught the same thing to me when I first started out, and it's actually quite helpful. When you start shifting, especially into rather high positions, you'll probably use the same thing to keep your notes in tune.
Glad to hear that you picked up a string instrument, fayewolf!

Sydney