Bought my first violin

So, after the first lesson on Sunday, I went out to search for a violin on Monday, the public holiday.

The teacher has taught us some basic knowledge of how to choose a violin:

- The violin body must be all glued intact, the bridge must be straight, the strings must be smooth, and the violin must not be too heavy.

- The bow must be straight when viewed from the tip. The end screw must be functioning, and the hair must be smooth and flat.

- For beginners, just get a common China machine made violin, with price range between RM250 - RM500. Adults are recommended to use full size (4/4) violin.

Three shops were visited, and I found one in the least likely music shop which sells mainly guitars, in MidValley. Compare to the second shop, the first shop was pretty good actually, but I wasn't satisfied with the bow hair, cause it has some lumpy feel on it, and it was the last one they have in stock. It is the cheapest deal of all three shops, they offer RM200 ++.

The second shop was trying to sell me the more expensive one, which costs about RM800. Their cheaper ones are nearly RM300, which was worse than the first shop -- a large portion of the bow hair was glued together, and the bows they have in stock weren't straight.

The third shop was a guitar shop, I thought they wouldn't have one, but to my surprise, they do keep some stocks. Their violins are in pretty good condition, the bow was straight, the hair was reasonably smooth and straight. The sales person was friendly. It costs me RM450 for the violin with a tuner cum metrometer.

I tried to hold the violin with my chin and shoulder last night... ended up having bruises on my jaw and collarbone today. The teacher said we must at least be able to hold the violin with just the shoulder and chin for up to 3 minutes, while still being able to talk and do things with both hands, before we can start playing it.

I can hardly make it more than 30 seconds, that's with my teeth grinding and neck stiffening...

I think my passion may not be enough to carry me down the road, so I must have more determination...