The year end of November and December brings excitement for many. For one, this is the end of the year and most would review what you have achieved for the year and plan out the objectives for the new year. Secondly, there are the festivities which many celebrate. These include Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day. Many would be planning to travel either to visit relatives during this festive season so as to catch up, or to relax with a well-deserved holiday abroad.
If you are a violin student planning to go on holiday for more than a week, you may be thinking if you should bring your violin along so as to maximize your progress for the time you have invested in violin lessons so far.
Rita Yeo of Stradivari Strings, who has been in the music education niche since 2010 and has a team of experienced music teachers who coach violin lessons Singapore, highly encourages budding violin students to bring their violin along. This is especially true if one will be travelling for an extended time period. Packing your violin along for the trip will allow you to keep your fingers nimble and retain your muscle memory so that you pick up where you left off when you return to restart your violin classes. Whether you are a child or an adult, this is especially important as you would not like to slack off and forget your repertoire pieces when you resume violin violin classes Singapore.
With this in mind, Rita Yeo of Stradivari Strings shares here, four important tips in relation to bringing your violin along for your trip:
First Tip: Insure your violin and violin bow
If your violin and violin bow is hand crafted by a master luthier and is very valuable, you should think about buying insurance from a reputable insurance company. This is so you have peace of mind during your holiday trip and return to your weekly violin lessons Singapore with your beloved violin and violin bow.
What does insurance cover? This usually covers against theft of the musical instrument, damage in transit and so forth. The coverage usually extends at the start and the end of the holiday trip and you will be asked to fill in the country or places which you will be visiting with the violin. So after you finish your violin lessons, you should do some research on which insurance companies offer short term insurance for holiday trips and get your violin insures. If you are a super motivated student, you can finish your violin class and immediately go on your trip, practice on your violin every day on holiday and when you return from your trip you can immediately re start your violin class Singapore.
Second Tip: Use A Hard Violin Case
The next tip is a no brainer — use a sturdy, hard violin case during your trip. There are so many varieties of hard violin cases around. These can be made from carbon fibre which is light weight but so sturdy that if you stand on the violin case if will not collapse. Try it in front of your violin teacher the next time you have violin lessons, you will be amazed. The other option is fibre glass violin case but this is usually very heavy and not so recommended. At the end of the day you really want the violin case to be light weight and protect your violin to and from your violin lessons Singapore as well.
An additional point to note is that the violin case should seal up one hundred percent so that in the event of heavy downpour during your holiday trip and your violin is in transit somewhere, no moisture gets to your precious violin and that it will perform optimally during your violin class Singapore when you return from your holiday. Moisture in the form or humidity is also very detrimental to the performance level of your violin. It may affect the structure or your violin, mould may grow on the surface of your violin and so on. If you have an old violin which is more than one hundred years old and have been having great violin lessons Singapore, you want the violin to continue to perform optimally in future violin lessons. In between your weekly violin classes you should try to keep you violin in a dry environment to preserve it.
Third Tip: Use A Tool Tracker
In this digital age, we have the luxury of using tool tracker to keep tabs on anything we want. There are so many choices available in the market. After one of your violin class Singapore, you can search around for an inexpensive on. You can buy one and place it in your violin case. That way, even though your violin is separated from you, you can still find out where it is.
Fourth Tip: Keep Your Violin In Sight
Always keep your violin next to you when you are travelling with it, before or after your violin lessons. All the more, during your holiday trips no matter which mode of transport you choose to take, you should always have it by your side. If you plan to travel to your holiday destination by plane, you should measure the dimensions of your violin case and call up the relevant airline to ascertain that your violin case can be stored in the cabin’s over head compartment. If you have not already done so you should call immediately after your violin class.
If you travel by train then it should be no problem for you to store the violin in the compartment above your seat.
In conclusion:
Travelling with your violin can be quite stressful. However with proper planning and care, you should be able to make the journey well and enjoy practicing on your violin so that when you return for your violin lesson Singapore, you will be in optimal shape. Enjoy your trip!
