The new year is a great time to take stock of our habits; the little things we do day in and day out that help us achieve our goals (or not!) If you are serious about your violin journey, then you need to make sure that your habits align with your goals. As someone who has created a thriving career in music and taught hundreds of students, these are the top 8 habits I've noticed about successful violin students.

#1: Successful violin students practice consistently

You had to know that one was coming right?! Consistent practice is key to making progress. When you practice, you're building up your muscle memory and the unfortunate thing with that is, if you don't use it, you lose it! So every day you don't practice, you're actually getting a tiny bit worse 😅 It's better to practice for shorter amounts of time more frequently, than longer amounts of time less frequently. Obviously the goal is always to practice every day, but I'd say 5 days a week is the minimum for making consistent progress.

#2: Successful violin students practice effectively

There are several things that go into an effective practice routine. First, each session should be planned out and have clearly defined goals. Second, the problems must be accurately diagnosed and then worked on with the correct practice techniques. Finally, each session must be evaluated-how did it go? What went well? What didn't go well? Students also must stay mentally focused in order to make the most progress. If you'd like to learn more about creating an effective practice routine, check out this blog post.

#3: Successful violin students don't neglect the basics

Posture, positioning, intonation, tone, straight bowing...the list goes on. These are all things that we are constantly aware of and trying to improve as violinists. There is absolutely no way you're going to be able to play your dream pieces like The Four Seasons, Czardas, Lindsey Stirling, whatever it may be, if you don't have good posture and technique. Successful violin students practice the boring stuff. Open strings. Scales. Etudes. Because they know these will get them closer to their goals.

#4: Successful violin students seek guidance

One on one private lessons are without a doubt the quickest way to make progress. Private lessons give you specific, targeted feedback geared towards you, your goals, and your learning style. We are also very lucky to live in a day and age where so many online programs exist. These are great, but again, specific feedback is key, so when choosing a program, make sure it comes with some amount of direct feedback, like LVO. Inside of Learn Violin Online, all students get unlimited feedback from me. Social media is also a great way to learn; how cool is it that we can see the greats like Itzhak Perlman and Ray Chen teach?! However, social media is only general advice, so it's not the quickest or easiest way to improve.

#5: Successful violin students are open to criticism

Any teacher or mentor worth their snuff has the students best interest at heart. As such, when they give advice in a respectful manner, it should be seen as helpful, not hurtful. They are not trying to put you down or make you feel bac in any way. They are simply offering advice that they feel would help make your playing better. Successful violin students are open to constructive criticism. They also take their teachers advice, because they trust that the teacher knows better than them.

#6: Successful violin students ask questions

If you don't understand something, ask! Another huge benefit of living in today's world is that we don't just have to have one contact with our teacher each week. I encourage my students to message or email me any time with questions and/or practice videos. I know what its like-everything makes sense the in lesson, but once you get home, nothing works! In order to avoid developing any bad habits, asking questions to ensure full understanding is key.

#7: Successful violin students put themselves out there

Is there something you've been wanting to do but avoiding because you're scared? That could be something like trying a private lesson, auditioning for a local orchestra, or going to a jam session. Trust me, I know that it can be scary to try something new, but successful violin students aren't afraid of putting themselves into situations where they don't feel totally prepared.

#8: Successful violin students celebrate themselves

Learning the violin is a long and difficult journey, but if you're constantly wrapped up in all of your shortcomings or things you want to improve, you are much more likely to give up. Why would you want to keep doing something if you feel like your efforts aren't yielding results? Successful violin students celebrate the small wins. They recognize the baby steps forward and know those will lead to big steps along the way. They look back at their journey so far and think: "Wow! Look how far I've come!"