The world of musical tutor apps is vast. We’ve been looking through them to find some of the most useful violin apps out there. These apps run the gamut from being strictly focused on beginners to providing hours of online lessons for students up to the intermediate level. Whatever your level, these apps can improve your practice sessions and provide opportunities to get in some practice even when you don’t have your violin with you!
Check them out…
Learn Violin
As you can imagine, this unimaginative name is used twice. There’s one app from Softonic for under $2. There’s another version from Music Lifeboat, which has 25 video lessons lead by Vijay Gupta, violinist in The Los Angeles Philharmonic. Both apps are geared towards the beginner, but useful for any violinist who wants excellent, short exercises to do when they have an extra minute or two. Exercises focus on finger position exercises, basic techniques, and how to string your violin and bow.
Violin School
This is another Softonic app that bills itself as a complete digital learning platform. It offers online courses for a variety of skill levels, sheet music, and exercises. It also functions as a community of violinists to support and learn from each other. It’s on the more expensive end of the app pay scale at $19 a month.
Trala
This app has lessons for all skill levels and includes a practice journal. Each short practice follows the same format: tuning, scales, an etude, then a song. The app plays how the piece is supposed to sound, then “listens” to what you play and provides instant feedback. The app also offers rewards for people who practice regularly!
Violin Notes for Beginners
This app makes it clear in the title, yeah? It approaches teaching music notation and sound like learning a new language. According to its description, it uses a visual feedback method that’s more effective than flashcards. This is a free app with no in-app ads, so a perfect starting point for any beginner who wants to learn some basics in 5 to 10 minutes a day.
Violin: Magical Bow
Alright, this one you need to see. Best used on a tablet, you can practice both your bowing and fingering directly in the app. You can practice playing chords with a virtual bow or press notes on a virtual fingerboard. The fingerboard can either guide you where to place your fingers or you can “free style.” One of the virtual bow features is a game that will automatically score you. You can compete with friends by using it logged into Facebook.
MyOngaku
This app is geared towards students learning via the Suzuki method. It provides practice assistance for those working through Suzuki® Violin School, Volumes 1 and 2. The app includes over 1000 demonstrations (500+ demos per volume) by three violinists to guide students through the lessons. From close-ups on the violinist’s fingering to super slo-mo measures students can play along with, it covers everything from posture to rhythm.
Violin Scales
This app hopes to make your practice of scales more entertaining, and therefore more likely to happen! Users select a key signature and learn the major and minor scale notes on a virtual keyboard. Its current library includes the most commons scales used in classical music but continues to add new ones. This app does double duty as a tuner too.
We’ve been combing through violin tutor apps for a few years now (here’s our first violin app round up from 2015). We would love your feedback on which violin apps you use, which you’ve stopped using and why. Share with us your app wisdom in the comment section below.
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