i am currently 14 and ive been playing the violin since 5th grade dont really know what age that is and i have been taught by the school only which isnt a great deal if you think about it, so yeah i was wondering if i were to take private lessons would it be possible for me to become a professional violinist, i love playing the violin

btw how much money do the professional violinists usually make (an average violinist)
thank you for all your comments =)

i am currently 14 and ive been playing the violin since 5th grade dont really know what age that is and i have been taught by the school only which isnt a great deal if you think about it, so yeah i was wondering if i were to take private lessons would it be possible for me to become a professional violinist, i love playing the violin

btw how much money do the professional violinists usually make (an average violinist)
thank you for all your comments =)

I am 14 too and I have been playing the violin since 4th grade. 4th to the begining of 7th grade I wasn't taking private lessons and was one of the worst violinsts in my class. Then my mom got me into private lessons and I have been first chair of my orchestra ever since! Private lessons would help a lot. Trust me.

(I'm not sure how much a professional makes...)

I'm so jealous... You play the violin... I won't do that until this autumn and by then I'm 17... Gosh, am I old or what? :eek: I feel like an old lady trying to do all the things she hadn't time with when she was young...

This might be a bit of a off-topic question, but still directed to violinists.
Is it really that hard to learn how to play, as people say? I mean, is it nearly impossible for a 17-year old flutist to play the violin, just because I didn't start earlier?

i am currently 14 and ive been playing the violin since 5th grade dont really know what age that is and i have been taught by the school only which isnt a great deal if you think about it, so yeah i was wondering if i were to take private lessons would it be possible for me to become a professional violinist, i love playing the violin
How would we know? We don't know how talented or devoted you are. I have a friend who plays her violin 5 hours a day and even she isn't good enough to get into a good orchestra. Do you practice five hours a day? Do you love the violin enough to even consider practicing that much?


btw how much money do the professional violinists usually make (an average violinist)
thank you for all your comments =)
I don't really know. Probably not that much.

Megaten92,

Yeah I have often wondered the same thing. I started in 3rd grade.
but I figure that if I can't be a professional violinist I could always good enough to be a violin teacher. A violin teacher could probably make pretty good money if you think about it - if you figure out an average number of students per day then week then month and by the time you charge 25+ $ per lesson I'm sure it wouldn't be a bad job. (My teacher has a waiting list for students and I live in a very small town).


Michi-Chan,

it definatly is not immposible to start at 17, I have a friend learning the viola right now who started at 16. Also there is this lady that I know who is taking lessons from the same teacher as me she is 40 maybe- she had been playing for not even a year and I thought she had been playing for 4-5 years. but she is very dedicated to practicing. (my mom is also learning to play). So I hope this inspires you in some way. With determination you can do almost anything. You will just have to learn to stick with it no matter how screechy it sounds. lol .....and practice lots!

Lightning Gem

i am currently 14 and ive been playing the violin since 5th grade dont really know what age that is and i have been taught by the school only which isnt a great deal if you think about it, so yeah i was wondering if i were to take private lessons would it be possible for me to become a professional violinist, i love playing the violin


If you think you're not learning as much as you could, you should switch, right? But then again, it might be how you think too. I'm sure you can be a professional violinist even if you playing in school. As long as you practise alot. 3-5 hours in total a day is very good for someone devoted.
I'm a perfect example that you can't be a professional if you don't practise alot even though you have private lessons. I've been playing the flute for 11 years and I love the flute so much I could pracise until my lungs break, but school is taking more time from my practise hours than I imagine it would. (If I known I would have worked harder in ninth grade and gotten accepted into the music-school)
Just practise as much as you can and try to improve and if if you can't improve as much as you think you could, take private lessons. That's my advice, as a girl who can't make it as a proffesional flutist 'cause she hasn't practised enough (and if I got asthma that's also somthing that's stopping me from making it as a pro <_< )
I hope that helps.^_^

Since I'm a flutist I wouldn't know how much a pro violinist earns, but as a pro flutist (at least what I know) you don't earn that much if you're average, so maybe it's the same with violinists?
And lightning gem got damn right. Just think how much a teacher would earn if s/he is a teacher for a while. Since the more experience you got, the more you earn... @_@ My teacher must be rich (compared to my poor family that need to stop paying the phone bill, so we can't use the phone, to be sure we have money to pay for violin-lessons from this autumn... x_x)


Megaten92,
Michi-Chan,

it definatly is not immposible to start at 17, I have a friend learning the viola right now who started at 16. Also there is this lady that I know who is taking lessons from the same teacher as me she is 40 maybe- she had been playing for not even a year and I thought she had been playing for 4-5 years. but she is very dedicated to practicing. (my mom is also learning to play). So I hope this inspires you in some way. With determination you can do almost anything. You will just have to learn to stick with it no matter how screechy it sounds. lol .....and practice lots!

That sound relieving. In fact I love music, have no talent, but alot of determination. And I'm prepared to use the pretty much everything or at least very much (depends how my shedule will look like next year...) of the few hours that I can practise every week to practise the violin until the screechy period is over, after that I need to be sure to practise flute more han the violin. I'm sure my teacher in flute will understand, 'cause she knows how sensitive my ears are after 11 years of fluteplaying. :heh:

I think there are three types of professional violists out there.

1) Professional concert orchestras
Think New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony Orchestra, etc. You make 90K to 100K. Of course by the time you get there, you already have a ton of international solo awards in your house tiny apartment. XD You practice 8 hours a day.

2) Professors
A PHD at a university, teaching classes. I am guessing 50K to 60K for public school and 70K to 80K for private. Of course you will usually play in an orchestra, so income will be more. Your time is spent in the office grading papers and listening to student performances.

3) Teacher
Usually a Master in music education. Involved in primary education (junior high, high school, etc). Also gives private lessons on the side. They probably make 40K to 50K. You spend *a lot* of time listening to really bad recordings. You become slightly insane after a few years of teaching. ^_^;

Take my comment with a large grain of salt. :D

I think there are three types of professional violists out there.

1) Professional concert orchestras
Think New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony Orchestra, etc. You make 90K to 100K. Of course by the time you get there, you already have a ton of international solo awards in your house tiny apartment. XD You practice 8 hours a day.

2) Professors
A PHD at a university, teaching classes. I am guessing 50K to 60K for public school and 70K to 80K for private. Of course you will usually play in an orchestra, so income will be more. Your time is spent in the office grading papers and listening to student performances.

3) Teacher
Usually a Master in music education. Involved in primary education (junior high, high school, etc). Also gives private lessons on the side. They probably make 40K to 50K. You spend *a lot* of time listening to really bad recordings. You become slightly insane after a few years of teaching. ^_^;

Take my comment with a large grain of salt. :D


i am currently 14 and ive been playing the violin since 5th grade dont really know what age that is and i have been taught by the school only which isnt a great deal if you think about it, so yeah i was wondering if i were to take private lessons would it be possible for me to become a professional violinist, i love playing the violin

btw how much money do the professional violinists usually make (an average violinist)
thank you for all your comments =)

ummm..... you forgot pro violinists who do solos lol!!! As far as I know, if you started at age 5 or age 16, it doesn't matter. It's all about dedication. Not just how long you practice but how hard you concentrate as well.