As you progress through the first few private violin lessons, you will need to rent or purchase a violin. For in-person lessons, plan to bring your violin to your lesson so that you and your instructor will each have your own. With virtual violin lessons, you will also need to have your own violin during your lesson, and for your practice time in between lessons. While Music Junction does not provide students with music equipment, we can help you with a rental or purchase. Call our music professionals today and find help with an instrument rental/purchase before your first private violin lesson.

Time and dedication are the two most essential factors when learning to play an instrument. Anyone can learn to play when they spend adequate time and energy practicing. With that said, students may have a more fluid learning experience if they are already proficient in another instrument. Many musicians start on piano from a young age and then learn another instrument later. The piano is an excellent instrument for developing a well-rounded foundation in music, because it is easy to see music concepts laid out on the keyboard. Also, musicians who have learned a string instrument will have an easier time learning other string instruments. That’s because most string instruments use similar finger techniques, so a lot of the technical skills learned on one instrument could transfer to another. Naturally, good finger dexterity, quick memorization of music, and previous exposure to music are other traits that can positively influence musical study. But even when a student has none of these advantages, all it really takes to learn an instrument is time and dedication - and enjoyment - for success!

Music Junction encourages all of our students to pursue on-stage performances. Whether it's from home or in person, we feel that an audience is a great way to encourage growth. By letting students perform whenever they can, we see tremendous improvement and confidence gain. They also get a well-rounded music experience, complete with live performances! Music Junction offers four recitals per year to our students, with plenty of other opportunities in between. Whenever you are ready, your music instructor will help you prepare, getting you ready with a song and plenty of practice. We recommend students always have a recital song choice to work on in their lessons, to polish for each upcoming recital. These recital choices can be used to create a song list of pieces to perform for other live performances, so you always have something on hand to perform whenever the opportunity arises!

The piano is one of the easiest instruments to get started on, due to the visual layout of the keys, and how easy it is to push down the keys. For this reason, we recommend piano lessons even as early as 4 years of age. Adult students can also benefit from the ease of getting started on piano. It is easy to play melody lines on the piano with little or no training, which is often how beginner students use the instrument. Playing chords and more elaborate multi-note arrangements come later on piano. Guitar and ukulele could also be considered easy in a different way because it’s easy to play chords on these instruments. The nice thing about playing chords is that many songs use only a few repeated chords for an entire section, while the melody note is constantly changing. So learning four chords on the ukulele could give you the capability to perform a complete song. To play the song with only the chords, you would need to add the melody line by singing it. We recommend that students wait until they are at least seven or eight years old to try guitar lessons because the strings will require more finger strength. The ukulele requires less endurance, and students can start learning earlier. Adults can also consider the ukulele as an easier string instrument to start on than guitar, since it’s easier to press down the strings, and there are only 4 strings instead of 6.

Yes, definitely! Learning more than one instrument together can help you learn both of them faster because what you learn on one will help you with the other. One great approach could be to pair singing with piano, guitar, or ukulele, so you can play and sing together. If you like to sing, learning a second instrument can be extra fun if you get to sing with it.

Your teacher will have a plan for your first lesson, including new student orientation, and an instrument introduction or review to get you started. You will need your instrument of course, but if you don’t have one yet, that’s ok, just make sure to let us know in advance so your teacher can be prepared. If you are taking virtual lessons, it would be good to have a notebook handy to take notes. For in-person lessons, we will provide you with one. If you have already taken lessons before, please bring any lesson books you have worked with in the past, so you and your teacher can review them and see what would be best for going forward. You could also prepare a song that you have worked on in the past, for your teacher to review with you, to use as a jumping-off point for your first lesson. For total beginner students, we have our favorite lesson books we recommend, and we will arrange for them to be ordered for you. You will normally receive them in your first or second lesson. Your first Music Junction lesson is an exciting time, where you get to enjoy the anticipation of everything you will learn, and how far you will go, so enjoy it!

Yes, lessons at Music Junction are tailored to each student’s age and skill level. For our youngest students, ages 4 & 5, we primarily recommend piano or violin lessons, and we have special lesson books for that age. The next age category is 6-9 years old, and we provide lesson materials for children that are designated for that age range as well. For older children, we use materials appropriate for either preteens or teenagers, and adult students are given adult lesson materials. If students have some type of knowledge already, the instructor will assess their level during the first lesson. Some students who already have experience in their instrument, choose to do a review of the lesson material from the beginning to have a reminder of all they have learned, and reinforce the basics, before moving forward. Either way, Music Junction lessons are a private one-on-one experience, so your teacher’s priority is to make sure your lesson plans are working for you. If you have any suggestions or ideas, always share them with your teacher so that they can make sure to incorporate them into your lesson plan.

Every private violin lesson with Music Junction compounds on the last, so you see a constant progression through the weeks of practice. Throughout the weeks, months, and years, you will continuously improve. Taking a look at your progress after one year, you'll see monumental advancements in your skill level. But you will also notice improvements every month. Another good point to stop and enjoy your progress is when you perform at our Music Junction recitals, which are scheduled 4 times each year. At each recital, you will always notice victories over the past; things that were challenges before that are now easy. Overall, we encourage our students to enjoy the journey, because allowing yourself to make music every week is a beautiful gift to have in your life!