Late Starter Violin Weekend

Join like-minded music-makers together in a supportive setting. This course is about the joy in your playing and getting comfortable with playing in a group. 

Led by violinist Ros Woodin, you'll be guided through a range music from around the world that will help develop skills to support your playing. From listening and responding to intonation. Whether you're new to ensemble playing or regularly play in groups, the course will help you develop your ensemble playing skills and awareness. 

You'll work on violin ensemble music in up to three parts. The focus will be on collaborative awareness in rehearsal and performance. You’ll be gently guided through how to listen and respond to other instruments and musical lines. You’ll also learn how to work with your peripheral vision and listening whilst playing, and intonation awareness in ensembles. There will also be sessions on improving violin specific techniques.

Throughout, Ros and your tutors will help you improve your note accuracy, counting, intonation, tone quality and interpretation. 

You’ll play in small groups and a large ensemble. Parts in ensembles will be differentiated in difficulty level to give everyone an appropriate challenge. 

Your smaller groups will cover skills such as an introduction to duets and trios, targeted exercises exploring beginner ensemble skills and developing technique. 

At the end of the course you'll celebrate everything you've achieved in a play through with your fellow learners. 

The course is designed for beginners and players at the Learner or Improver levels, up to around Grade 5. Please see our Ability Levels Explained for further details. 

You should be able to read open string notation and simple musical notation as a minimum level. 

Music will be shared in advance of the course so you can familiarise yourself with the pieces. 

In addition to your instruments, please bring a spare set of strings, and pencil with rubber. We also recommend bringing a notebook to record and notes during the course.