Anonymous wrote:Op here. He says that he will continue to take violin in 5th grade, so we will keep on to rent it. He does not practice at all & he is the only boy picking violin, so I am a bit surprised that he would want to continue to take violin in 5th grade. Other boys pick wind instruments or drum.

I will force him to practice violin a bit in the summer. Is there any free or cheap resource available online?

I bet you can find a middle/high school violin player in the neighborhood who might like to make a little extra money over the summer.

They probably still have their old beginner books lying around, and could walk him through a few pieces. You wouldn't necessarily expect them to teach him any new skills, just listen to him play and reinforce his existing skills so he doesn't lose them.

I know my kid always grumbled about being nagged to practice over the summer, but didn't mind lessons because there was some structure.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op here. He says that he will continue to take violin in 5th grade, so we will keep on to rent it. He does not practice at all & he is the only boy picking violin, so I am a bit surprised that he would want to continue to take violin in 5th grade. Other boys pick wind instruments or drum.

I will force him to practice violin a bit in the summer. Is there any free or cheap resource available online?

He could just practice from the music book he got from school.

Op here. The school has collected his music book. Is there one you recommend for us to buy? We have piano music book for beginners at home, can I use them for violin?

Anonymous wrote:Op here. He says that he will continue to take violin in 5th grade, so we will keep on to rent it. He does not practice at all & he is the only boy picking violin, so I am a bit surprised that he would want to continue to take violin in 5th grade. Other boys pick wind instruments or drum.

I will force him to practice violin a bit in the summer. Is there any free or cheap resource available online?

Maybe he wants to sit with another violinist friend? In older grades, there will be other boy violinists.
Youtube has plenty of videos for beginner violin, some showing correct posture, some explaining simple pieces. I highly recommend finding a Suzuki Book 1 video tutorial.

Anonymous wrote:Op here. He says that he will continue to take violin in 5th grade, so we will keep on to rent it. He does not practice at all & he is the only boy picking violin, so I am a bit surprised that he would want to continue to take violin in 5th grade. Other boys pick wind instruments or drum.

I will force him to practice violin a bit in the summer. Is there any free or cheap resource available online?

He could just practice from the music book he got from school.

Op here. He says that he will continue to take violin in 5th grade, so we will keep on to rent it. He does not practice at all & he is the only boy picking violin, so I am a bit surprised that he would want to continue to take violin in 5th grade. Other boys pick wind instruments or drum.

I will force him to practice violin a bit in the summer. Is there any free or cheap resource available online?

If you are saving credits to buy, don't take it back. If you are only going to rent, take it back.

Doesn't Potter's rent by the month? At least that's the rental terms we've always had with them.

My teen lucked into a really nice-sounding rental at Potter's, and has never wanted to relinquish it during the summer for fear it might be given to someone else, even though we could, because she has her own instrument that she practices on daily and uses for concerts, recitals and auditions. The rental is mostly for school use.

If this is the only instrument your kid has, OP, and you can afford to keep it year round, I would encourage your kid to practice during the summer. Please bring it to Potter's for a restring and rehair at some point this summer.

Call them!

PP here again, sorry, I meant rent to buy like the other PP said; you're not purchasing the rental. The violins for sale are generally of higher quality but there is a huge variety of price points!

I think you've answered your own question, OP - check the terms of your contract. And figure out now if your kid wants to keep playing in 5th grade. We had a band instrument and we kept it during the summer between 4th and 5th because kid wanted to play the same instrument the next year and it was just easier. Also, yes, they could play a bit over the summer too.

Regarding the Potter's rent to own, that makes the most sense if your kid starts well before 4th grade and plans to keep playing through high school, since it will be probably middle school when they will graduate to full-size at which point you've accumulated a decent amount of credit (no point in buying less than full-size, at least IMHO). Of course that depends on the size of your kid. For a kid who only does IM and may not want to keep playing beyond ES the rent to own credit it's really not much of a factor, and the quality of a rental is just fine.

I would check to see how the credits work. We did Rent to Buy, and if you turned it in, you would lose the credits.

My 4th grader rents a violin with Potter for the school year, and they are done with it this school year. Do people normally return instrument and go back to rent again next school year in Oct if kid is still interested? Or keep renting till the end of 5th grade because kid is expected to practice in summer months? I forgot what term I sign on the contract.