WWWalker's Music and Multimedia

Dwight Walker teaching violin in a student's home in Orange in 2012

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See Music Theory; Music Technique and Instruments: Violin Technique, Violin Instruments, Piano Technique, Piano Performance, Piano Instruments | Violin Sizes | Getting Violin

Face to Face Music Lessons

I teach violin and piano face to face. Let me teach you violin or piano face to face. Payment is by cash or EFTPOS (credit card or debit card) via Square Reader.

Online lessons are not available. Face to face is still only method of teaching that actually works at present.

Disabled Students

As of 21 July 2021, Dwight no longer teaches disabled students due to lack of resources.

Violin Lessons and Repairs | Piano Lessons

Our director Dwight Walker teaches private child and adult violin students face to face or online via Skype, Zoom or Facebook Messenger and Webcam or smart phone.

Dwight will assist student with sourcing and fitting violins, strings, bows, shoulder rests and bridges. This also includes picking suitable sheet music for tuition.

To remain viable as a current music teacher, Dwight will keep up to date by researching and testing new instruments found via Google search or student suggestions e.g. new brand violins.

Dwight has a depth of music experience as seen in his music resume - orchestra, folk bands, church groups, solo over 40 years.

He teaches classical, folk and pop music on violin or piano.

He has had 3 adult violin students in Orange since 2009 and 1 adult violin student in Canberra briefly in 2010. There were rewarding signs of the students picking up technique and improving in their skills and expression over the 3 or months I have been teaching each of them.

Since December 2015 in Caboolture area, he has briefly had 3 child violin students. He has had 1 adult violin student for over 18 months to which music is a therapy for their mental disability.

In July 2016, with disabled student, Dwight played track from Essential Elements for Strings Violin Book 2 from publisher Website on his Android phone using Optus 3G in student's room so they could play along and improve the intonation. It is easier to view the online MIDI recordings via laptop or PC on normal internet connection.

In October-December 2017, we taught 2 violin students a child and an adult in Caboolture and Bellmere.

In July-August 2019, we taught 2 violin students a child and an adult all in Caboolture area.

Dwight has a great love for music and his enthusiasm helps him to match the difficulty of teaching the violin with good results despite students being older than school age and taking longer to pick up skills.

Contact him to arrange a face to face or online audition via Skype, Zoom or Facebook Messenger and Webcam or smart phone and for him to give advice on how best to learn the violin.

Currently he teaches children (Blue Card) and adults and where he is authorised to teach disabled people under authority of holder of Yellow Card.

Piano Lessons

Dwight is also an accomplished pianist and teaches piano to child and adult students face to face or online via Skype and Webcam. He will help pick music and instrument for student.

In December 2015 in Ningi QLD, he had 1 child piano student briefly.

In October-December 2017 in Bellmere QLD, we had 1 teenager piano student who finished Progressive Piano book.

In March 2018 in Caboolture, we had a child piano student start on Alfreds piano book.

In July-August 2019, we had a child piano student in Caboolture start on Alfreds piano book.

In March 2020, we had 2 child piano students in Caboolture start on John Thompson piano book as it was easier than Alfreds piano book.

In November 2020, we had 1 child piano student in Caboolture start on Alfreds piano book with COVID Safe Plan.

Private Teacher vs School Teacher

As a private teacher we give more care and individual attention than a school teacher who has many students to teach. This leads to a much better outcome re training. We are worth choosing over just using local schools to teach the child music. We can link to a school teacher's curriculum to enable the student to be accredited through their local school.

Background

Dwight is a simple but effective violin and piano teacher.

Dwight Walker has done Grade 5 Violin, Grade 6 (HSC) Piano, Theory and Harmony and won the Eileen Stainkamph Award for Grade 5 Piano and Theory in 1976 in Bendigo Victoria. He has played for over 20 years in orchestras, bush bands, chamber groups and church groups giving him a wide diversity of talent and good listening skills and team effort in ensemble work.

In 1993, he did Basic Methods of Instruction at TAFE NSW as a part-time teacher, so he knows how to hold a class and assess progress of a student.

Educational Standards

Dwight Walker's school is OK without his NSW teaching qualifications being given Queensland College of Teachers approval as the school (his home) is exempt as it is too small. NSW teachers must be reassessed in Queensland. Private teachers can get their curriculum checked with Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority so their students are qualified to government curriculum standards. Dwight's Victorian HSC music teacher was a private teacher and his music marks were submitted to HSC examiners and were added to his HSC score which got him into medicine (MB, BS) at Melbourne Medical School.

Music Performance

Music Gigs

Our business director Dwight Walker is a skilled violinist and performs in Orange, Dubbo, Moree, Cootamundra, Canberra, Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne and Castlemaine in churches, shopping centres and community group social functions.

Flying Pieman fiddle tune by Dwight Walker, 2018 - people say I am good

Violin Sizes

Violin and Viola Sizing & Instrument Sizes Charts!

The following violin sizes based on measuring student and instrument are used to make sure violin and person size match.

A 3/4 violin is for a small adult or a 10 year old child.
A teenager or normal adult gets a 4/4 violin.
A child will outgrow a 3/4 violin and will need to get a 4/4 violin when they become a teenager or normal adult.
There are smaller violins (1/4 and 2/4) for smaller or younger children.
A small adult, e.g. Indian, will only ever get a 3/4 violin no bigger or they can't reach the notes on a 4/4 violin (too big).
A small child for their age will get a 2/4 not a 3/4 violin due to shorter arm.

The size has nothing to do with the price; it is not a fraction of the price.

Shoulder rest size must match size of violin or it won't fit.

If adult student or parent or guardian is buying the right violin on their own, below are correct measurements. We will check they get the right one. Sometimes people get the wrong one for their age or arm length (shoulder to wrist) and they have to be changed for the right one if possible or no more lessons.

Some people are smaller than normal so they need to use their arm length not their age to pick the right instrument size.

4/4 Violin:
- 14" or 35.5cm body (from tail to where neck joins body)
- 23"-23.5" or 60cm from scroll to tail
- 29.5" or 75cm bow
- arm length >= 23" or 58cm (shoulder to wrist)
- age >= 11 years to adult
3/4 Violin:
- 13" or 33cm body (from tail to where neck joins body)
- 21" or 53.3cm from scroll to tail
- 27" or 68.6cm bow
- arm length = 21.5"-22" or 54.6-56cm (shoulder to wrist)
- age 9-12 years or small adult
2/4 Violin:
- 12.5" or 31.75cm body (from tail to where neck joins body)
- 20.5" or 52cm from scroll to tail
- 24.5" or 62.2cm bow
- arm length = 20" or 50.8cm (shoulder to wrist)
- age 7-9 years

Getting Violin

Person needs a violin all day every day to learn not one every so often by borrowing.

Person must save up and buy their own violin:

A reasonable new student violin is $300 AUD
It is possible to buy a good secondhand student violin for $150 to $200 if careful

It is possible to rent a violin from a violin shop like Simply for Strings in Brisbane for $35/mth.

Borrowing, e.g. from a school, is too risky as availability is not clear and they may want it back.

Instrument Stores and Support

price
- $ cheap
- $$ medium
- $$$ expensive
strings
- Animato Strings, Eagle Farm QLD $
- Simply for Strings, Red Hill QLD $$
- Ilja Grawert Violin Maker, Woolloongabba QLD $$$
- A R Irwin Violins, Sydney $$
- The Sydney String Centre $$
keyboards, strings, winds and brass
- Tempest Music, Como WA - sheet music $$
- Better Music, Canberra $$
- Landers Music, Orange NSW $$
- Guitar Exchange, Morayfield QLD $$
- Whitehorse Music, Melbourne VIC - top end violins and keyboards etc $$$
secondhand instruments
- Facebook Marketplace $
- Gumtree $
- eBay $
- tips
  - anything under $100 is dubious quality
  - check brands and quality with teacher before purchasing
  - purchase may require repairs before instrument is playable
  - teacher performs repairs e.g. replace strings, bridge, tuning

Music Links

online streaming tools and apps
instruments
- violin
  - The Violin Channel
  - The Strad Magazine
  - Strings Magazine
  - Clavicle - shoulder rest adjustment
- piano and keyboard
  - KAWAI Australia
    - KAWAI CA701 electric grand piano
  - Yamaha
    - Yamaha Baby Grand Piano GC1
    - Yamaha Keyboard Buyer's Guide
      - List of Yamaha products - piano, strings, winds, percussion
      - Yamaha Apps - iPhone/iPad/Android for digital pianos
  - CASIO Electronic Musical Instruments
    - CASIO Portable Keyboards - MIDI, USB, SD card, software, firmware, data samples (audio), score PDFs, Windows, MacOSX, device drivers
    - Manuals
    - Manuals
    - CASIO Music - list of keyboards, features and manuals
  - Roland
  - KORG (Australia)
  - repairs
    - Watson Electronics, Brisbane QLD electronic keyboard repairs
    - G&H Electronic Services, Maroochydore QLD keyboard and amp repairs
tutoring software
- Simply Piano iOS and Android app for iPad or tablet
pedagogy
- Teaching styles by Walter Bleakley - levels of teaching from didactic to self-taught
medicine
- Hand fracture - aftercare US National Library of Medicine
- Overexertion - caused by student having 2 lessons back to back for different instruments on same day
- Delving into memory to understand schizophrenia Uni of Melbourne 8/19 podcast - psychiatry - affects teaching violin due to short-term memory loss of student
- Tone Deaf Test - very important to pass or I cannot teach you - do not use tuner to avoid using ear to test pitch
music scores and recordings
- music score editing and MIDI playback software (Digital Audio Workstation - DAW)
  - NoteWorthy Composer Windows
  - Steinberg Cubase
- sheet music all instruments
- recordings and sheet music
  - Accompaniments - violin, piano, orchestra and ensemble MP3 recordings of classical music accompaniments for sale for rehearsal
  - IMSLP public domain classical music MP3 recordings and sheet music database
performances
- ClassikON classical music concerts in Australia via 4MBS
- Dwight Walker
  - Tilt Busking Festival, Canberra
  - Street musician in a musical town, Orange Photo News, 3 Feb 2011 p.15 - Dwight Walker as busker in Orange
customers
- Top 10 ways to fire client from hell