Children's Violins
Guide to Buying the Best Violins for Children and Beginners
Starting to study music from an early age is an advantage both in terms of certain cognitive development and in developing musical skills. Certainly, the violin is one of the instruments considered for early learning, but you might wonder: how can a child (who has small arms) play a violin with larger proportions?
The choice of size of the violin for a young student is very important because it will determine the comfort and ease with which they approach the study of the instrument, avoiding frustrations and possible dropouts due to choosing the wrong size, which would be uncomfortable. In this regard, the market offers a wide range of sizes for violins.
The instrument we are used to seeing played by adults is the 4/4 violin (standard size), but to meet all needs, violins start from a size of 1/32 (for children between two and three years old), and then go to 1/16, 1/8, etc., up to the 3/4 size (before the largest size). Furthermore, if you want to delve deeper into the topic of violins, bows, and their accessories, you can read the post titled: Best Priced Studio Violins.
How to Choose the Right Violin?
The choice depends on the length of the arm, which is typically measured stretched from the center of the neck to the center of the palm (thus obtaining the maximum measure), or from the base of the neck to the wrist. The suggestion for choosing the size is to seek advice from a teacher. In any case, below we offer an indicative list of violin sizes based on age:
- between 2 and 3 years old, consider a 1/32 or 1/16 violin size
- at 4 years old, consider 1/10 size
- at 5 years old, consider 1/8 size
- between 6 and 7 years old, consider 1/4 size
- between 8 and 9 years old, consider 1/2 size
- between 10 and 11 years old, consider 3/4 size
- from 11 years old onwards, consider 4/4 size
Moreover, depending on the size of the violin, which affects the size of the soundbox and strings, the sound will be different. Below we will write about some violins for children and therefore also for beginners (since often the two characteristics go hand in hand) with reduced sizes that you can also find for sale on the Musical Store 2005 online shop.
The Sizes of Violins
The 1/16 violin size is one of the smallest and can be suitable for a child of about 3 years. However, the most important factor to consider is the arm length, which from neck to palm of the hand, for a 1/16 violin, should be around 35 cm. The indicative arm length for a 1/8 violin size is between 40 and 43 cm. Moving to the 1/4 violin, the indicative arm length is around 45 cm, while for the 1/2 size it's around 50 cm. For the 3/4 violin, the arm length should be under 58 cm, and beyond this last arm measure, one can consider using the standard size of the violin (4/4).