How to improve on violin?

Question

I'm a grade three and have been playing the violin since i was 10, i'm now 14 which is not good, i just passed my exams by about 2 marks, after all this time i still squeak loads, can't do vibrato (have never been told to try) and generally suck :P this is partly down to me my past teachers havent been too good but i never felt inspired to practise but now i am, i really want to get better and make beautiful music, i've been practising loads and loads is there anything else i can do to catch up quick? thanks

Answer 1

practice everyday and remember to make it fun not a hassle....happy violining...................btw imma violinist 2 and also 14

Answer 2

The quality of your violin is not so important as the teacher;  if you're serious about the violin, your number one priority should be to find a good private teacher.

Answer 3

Get a really good teacher....a strict one.....one that will demand that you do your scales, and practice at least two hours a day......AM and PM.....an hour before school and an hour after.....if you read the bio's on great musicians you see that they got that way from lots of practice.....and by this I mean practicing correctly.....do what your teacher tells you to do !!!!!! I have lots of guitar students who come here and want lessons, they tell me that they have played for years.....well none of them can play a complete scale or song, all they know is the introduction  to lots of rock songs.....I have a student now who's doing the same thing......he was really doing well , when he started I thought wow this kids going to do well, he picked up the chords and scales very well for some but for some reason he wanted to read those darn tabs instead of reading music notation.....he just keeps wanting to play tab !!!!!! So listen to your teacher, don't do what you think is best you'll never be a good musician if you do !!!!!!!!!! As for catching up just keep playing scales and pieces that you know, in other words practice, practice, practice !!!!!!! Good luck to you !!!!!!!!