The best age to start (Horses in the Canebreak)

Our topic for today is the best age for learning to fiddle or learning violin , since I teach both and I don't mean for this podcast to imply that there's a wrong age to learn , because I really would have to say I don't think there is one .

I think if you want to play the fiddle and it's not causing you too much pain to your hands or your ears or your emotional sensibilities , that you should go ahead and play , no matter what age you are , there's not really a reason not to learn .

I think , especially if you focus on the point of fiddle playing as learning the fiddle and not as trying to master the fiddle .

If you're trying to master the fiddle , yeah , there are ages to start that will have their advantages over other ages , but if you're just trying to learn the fiddle , well , whenever you start , wherever you start , however old you are , you'll always be learning , so there's definitely not a time when you would learn more or less If you're four or if you're 40 ,

you're still going to be learning . But I will go ahead and talk about some different ages , because I have taught a lot of different ages . When you're just starting out as a teacher , you have to kind of take everyone so you even teach the students that a lot of folks shy away from , which are the students under the age of five .

There are parents I have been one of them who want to get their three or four-year-old violin lessons . My dad did this for me and it worked out pretty well . I have taught three and four-year-olds . A few of them stuck with it . A lot of them didn't . It's not necessarily the best age to really tackle a complicated physical skill .

To really tackle a complicated physical skill , you know kind of still learning about jumping , running , rubbing their belly and patting their head at the same time stuff like that .

The beautiful thing about starting before the age of five or six is that you get this amazing brain wiring effect where most kids who start a string instrument early like that , basically learn perfect pitch Whatever's going on in their brain .

That helps them find the notes and know whether they're right or wrong , kind of cements in what that note is , and once they get a name for that note , they just know it . You know , like you know your colors . That color is blue , the name of that color is blue , there's light blue and there's dark blue , sort of the same thing .

That sound is a D and whether it's a high D or a low D , it's a D . So you get that from starting early . That is a nice reason to start at a young age . Starting early , that is a nice reason to start at a young age . Starting in elementary school is great .

Probably my favorite thing to teach , you know second , third , fourth graders , violin or fiddle . They're learning so many different movements that they pick up the movement part of playing the fiddle very easily and they have a lot of enthusiasm . Love elementary school enthusiasm .

When you get into middle school , kids are getting used to picking up more complicated things . So in terms of trying to teach them theory , trying to teach them the details of technique or how music is organized or how it works on the page , they're going to pick that up quickly and be more interested and open to learning that stuff .

And open to learning that stuff One thing that goes along with middle school is just being a little bit more aware of yourself , which can make people self-conscious or shy , but it also will help a fiddle student be more aware of what they're doing , whereas you can't always get an eight-year-old to sort of self-monitor . Is my bow straight ?

You know what's my arm doing ? But a middle schooler who's 12 or 13 or 14 is going to be much more adept at that kind of self-monitoring behavior . Like am I doing this ? Did it work ? Should I try something else ? Stuff like that . In terms of high school , I love teaching high schoolers too . They're usually making the choice themselves .

I haven't really taught someone starting out in high school whose parent has decided they should do this .

They're the youngest adult learners for whom it's their choice to start , so it really makes them own the learning process in a different way , usually compared to , say , a high schooler who's been playing since they were five , maybe much more parent and teacher focused what should I do next ? What should I do now ?

Whereas a high schooler who's choosing it for themselves is on their own journey and their own exploration of it . They're just going to approach things differently . You can learn in your 20s . I've taught folks in their 20s . They learn quick . They don't usually have a lot of responsibilities so they can really dive in .

They're not distracted with other things in life . A lot of times they're learning because I've got my first job , I've got an income and I can finally do what I want with my money and my time . So that has been what I have found with young adult learners . I've taught folks in middle age .

You know it can be tricky to fit in learning and practicing things around other responsibilities that you have with family , maybe with aging parents , with kids or with jobs that are more responsibility , and a lot of times fiddle can be something of an escape . You know something different from what you do with the rest of your life .

And , of course , do not discount starting fiddle in retirement . Lots and lots of folks start fiddle in their 50s , 60s , even 70s because they are looking for something fun to fill up their time , something good for their brain , something enjoyable . A lot of times it might be something they've always loved .

They might have played other instruments and been curious about fiddle , or maybe have never played an instrument and just say you know what ? I don't want to go through my whole life and not try this out . So no bad age to start the fiddle , go for it , it's going to be great .

Our tune today is Horses in the Canebrake , another G major tune out of Kentucky . Are you getting tired of them yet ? I'm not . I think if you're an old time fiddler you got to have a high tolerance for G major tunes out of Kentucky . A cane break is a naturally occurring tall growing plant used by farmers as an enclosure for livestock .

Okay , well , it's kind of a local tune and not related to Cattle in

the Cane . That's another tune I play . So I guess there's a version by William Lee , jake Phelps and Street Butler that was recorded in Todd County , kentucky . You can look around for that . There's a field recording by Bruce Green , of course , of Phelps playing it in 1973 .

But most folks use the 1965 recording and you can find it in the Old Time Kentucky Fiddle Tunes book if you're looking for a printed source . But this is Horses and the Canebrake . Thank you .