One of the most common things I’ve seen in my career is the number of adults who want to learn to play an instrument. Some wish to learn an instrument well into adulthood after having abandoned it years ago, while others are learning for the first time and have never had the time or money until recently. These are all completely understandable things, and I’m here to tell you that no, just because you might not be as young as you used to be, that doesn’t make it any less possible!
I’ve seen a lot of adults fall into a digital research loop, which is probably how you found this post! Unfortunately, this loop isn’t always helpful and can sometimes just lead us to having more questions than answers, or (worst case scenario) just wanting to give up and buy the first cheap $100 dollar violin, bow, and case you found on ebay(trust me, this happens more than you’d think)! Not to worry though, with these tips, I aim to help make your experience far more pleasurable and easier to navigate while also aiming to help answer some of those harder-hitting questions you may have. Let’s get started!
- Keep in mind the space you have available.
This both applies to the physical size of the instrument, as well as your general living space situation. I’d always suggest to people looking for a piano or other larger instrument to take measurements of your doorways and spaces for where you want to put an instrument before you go shopping around. This way you can make sure it all fits into a cohesive space. If you have a limit for size, consider getting something portable or easy to put away (like a collapsible keyboard in the case of a piano). For smaller/more portable instruments like violins or guitars, this tends to be less of an issue, but think about where and how you want to store it before going ahead with your purchase- if you want to keep it out of its case, make sure you have a safe stand and spot it won’t get knocked over by accident. If you’d rather keep it in its case, where is that going to be? We’ll elaborate a bit more on this in the next point. - Temperature and Humidity is important!
This is arguably the biggest thing on this list. For any instrument that is predominantly wood (violins, cellos, upright or grand pianos, etc.), they will all contain some amount of moisture. Wood used in instrument making isn’t actually as dead as some might have you believe- it is very much still alive, and it’s constantly reacting to it’s environment. The glues they use on some of these instruments like violin and guitar are very weak. This is intentional and vital to ensuring an instrument has good sound and can be repaired easily, but the downsides of this result in them being very frail. If an instrument is too humid, the wood expands, and if it’s too dry, it contracts. Both of these will result in open seams, or at worst, a crack- and when your instrument can cost around $50-$100 dollars for each individual repair at minimum, things start to add up fast. Invest in a humidity gauge and an instrument humidifier that works with your room (the ones built into your boilers don’t always work!), consider getting an in case humidifier if you travel often or live somewhere very dry, and make sure your instrument isn’t left anywhere that gets extremely cold or hot. - Invest in quality
This is something I had to learn early on in my own career. While it’s important to set a budget (especially in this kind of hobby or career), we have to keep in mind that there’s a reason the price curb exists, and that’s because they’re priced based on the time spent to make them and how good they’ll sound. A decent or otherwise good lower end or student violin on average can cost around $550 to $650 dollars for just an instrument, but keep in mind that instrument will not only be far kinder to YOUR ears as you’re learning, but will often feel much more comfortable, have a nicer feel under the fingers (which is in fact a real thing), and can be surprisingly easy to care for assuming you’re doing the basics. Additionally, instruments (at least in the case of stringed bowed ones) don’t decrease in value. Your $150 dollar violin you got appraised from your garage in 99% of cases will never be worth more than $150 dollars, and there’s usually reasons for this being set there- wrong glues used, using paint for varnish or painted boxwood for fingerboards, even things like damage that simply aren’t worth the cost of the instrument to repair can all play a part. Instead, find and locate professionals or good businesses in your area and ask around, or inquire with friends and family or a local teacher about where to start looking for your price range. I’m sure something is out there for you! - Look into what service and care looks like for your instrument
Every instrument will have different needs for care and being serviced, and knowing what services you can do yourself versus ones that need a professional can make all the difference! What cleaners and polishers are okay? What aren’t? What instruments shouldn’t ever be touched by water? Can I use a Lysol wipe on my child’s violin after he got sticky fingers on it? (I’ll give this one to you: Absolutely not!)
I assure you, nothing is worse than thinking you can DIY a crack repair with wood glue, only to realize it’s now worse for wear and will cost you far more money to fix properly. Often this is how we end up with duds- ie. instruments which cannot be afforded to be repaired, because they were fixed in a bad manner that would result in a higher cost for the repairer than the instrument is worth. This is always the worst case scenario, and can be easily avoided if you maintain your instrument well and knowing who to call if you need a big fix taken care of but there’s always things you as an individual can do. You can learn to properly clean, change strings (in the cases of smaller instruments), or how to properly identify things that are wrong. - Trust your gut
So often people try to justify things with logic and reason, and I get that. We want to use our brains when making big decisions. Here though, many times our gut instinct is right on what we like and what we don’t like. Many times I see people go with their rational thoughts for deciding what they get and then returning it weeks later because they couldn’t bring themselves to love it as much as another option. Don’t ignore this feeling. It’s worth falling in love with something, and sure- maybe it’s a bit more or less expensive than you wanted, or maybe it’s not even the original instrument you had in mind, but if you find yourself drawn to it you’ll find it’s that much easier to commit to. We love to spend time with things we enjoy, and your instrument should be no exception 🙂
Nykita Hambly 