Norma Sudy
After posts at music schools in Berlin and Leipzig, she has taught violin at Cuxhaven Music School since 1999 – to students young and old alike.
View Norma Sudy’s profile →String instrument
Violin Lessons in Cuxhaven
In violin lessons you learn bowing, clean intonation and a fine ear – step by step from the first stroke of the bow to expressive playing. Cuxhaven Music School is a public, non-profit music school in Cuxhaven-Ritzebüttel, run by FeMiC e.V. Lessons are open to children, teenagers and adults – whether you are starting out or coming back to music.
Your violin teacher
How lessons work
You can begin the violin very early – often from around four or five years old. Instruments are made in smaller fractional sizes (from 1/16 up to the full 4/4 violin) to suit the length of a child’s arm. We choose the right size together in the lessons, and rental instruments make starting easier.
Norma Sudy teaches students young and old alike.
- Individual lessons: 30 or 45 minutes, weekly – or as a block of 5 lessons that you arrange with your teacher.
Whether violin lessons are also possible in pairs or in a group is something we are happy to discuss when you get in touch.
Fees
Individual lessons cost from 69 € a month (children and teenagers) or from 83 € (adults). You will find all fees – including 45-minute lessons and lesson blocks – on our fees page.
Trial lesson and registration
The easiest way to request a free trial lesson is our contact form – choose “Violin” as the subject. You can reach the office by phone on 04721 666868 on Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 12 noon; the office is closed during the school holidays. You can also contact the teachers directly – their details are in the profiles on our teachers page.
You will find us in the historic Ritzebüttler Schule building:
Cuxhaven Music School · FeMiC e.V., Grodener Chaussee 11, 27472 Cuxhaven
The violin in brief
The violin is the smallest and highest voice of the string family – agile, songlike and expressive. It stands at the heart of the orchestra, of chamber music and of folk music.
At a glance
The violin is a bowed string instrument with four strings, which are either drawn with a bow or plucked with the fingers. It is the smallest and highest member of the string family and, thanks to a fullness of tone close to that of the human voice, counts as one of the most expressive instruments of all.
History & origins
Its present form took shape in northern Italy during the sixteenth century. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, violin makers such as Amati, Stradivari and Guarneri in Cremona created instruments that are still regarded as unsurpassed. Ever since, the violin has been the principal melodic instrument of the classical orchestra and of chamber music – and equally at home in folk, jazz and pop.
Construction & how it works
The hollow body usually has a spruce top and a maple back; the sound emerges through the f-shaped soundholes. Inside, the soundpost and bass bar transmit the vibrations. The neck carries a fretless fingerboard; the strings run over the bridge to the tailpiece and are tuned at the pegs. The bow is a lightly tensioned stick strung with horsehair, made grippy with rosin – only then will it set the strings sounding.
Sound & tuning
The four strings are tuned in fifths: g, d′, a′ and e″. Because the fingerboard has no frets, pitch depends entirely on the exact position of the finger – clean intonation therefore comes from the ear. Vibrato, a gentle rocking of the finger, gives the note warmth and life. The sound ranges from the softest whisper to a radiant fortissimo.
Playing & technique
The violin is held between chin and shoulder and supported by the left hand. The left hand stops the strings and shifts between positions, while the right guides the bow (arco) or plucks (pizzicato). A wealth of bowing techniques – smooth (legato), crisply detached (staccato) or bouncing (spiccato) – shapes the expression. Good posture and a relaxed bow arm are the foundation of everything.
Role & repertoire
In classical music the violin is everywhere – as a solo, orchestral and chamber instrument, from the baroque to the present day. Beyond that it lives on as the “fiddle” of Irish and American folk music, in tango, in jazz and in countless pop productions. Hardly any instrument is so adaptable across styles.
Related instruments
The violin’s closest relative is the slightly larger viola, with a deeper, darker sound; below it come the cello and the double bass. For baroque music, the baroque violin and baroque bow are also used, coming closer to the historical ideal of sound. Anyone who plays the violin will find their way around the viola quickly.
Care & accessories
Before playing, the bow is rubbed with rosin so that the hair grips at all, and afterwards it is slackened again. A shoulder rest makes for a comfortable, healthy posture. Wood reacts sensitively to temperature and humidity, so the violin should not be left in direct sunlight or in damp rooms. After playing, wipe the rosin dust from the strings and the top.
For beginners: what makes the violin special?
The violin trains the ear like hardly any other instrument, because without frets every note has to be found by the player. That may sound demanding at first, but it leads to a very fine sense of pitch and to a particularly songlike way of playing. Being small and light, the violin can be taken anywhere, and ensemble playing is possible early on. Regular, calm practice in short sessions achieves more here than rare, long ones.