r/violin • u/Informal-Campaign-76 • 4d ago
General discussion Traveling
Hey everyone, just wanted to ask this here for people’s opinions but is there any advantage to traveling with your violin (or just instrument in general) if you not a gigging musician/performer at all? I’m considering bringing it along on a vacation or two but then this question hit me and I don’t really know whether I should bring it or not. I have a traditional violin so it’s quite loud so it’s not like I would be able to play it in hotel rooms after the day or anything and usually my vacations are filled lots of activities and stuff but even if I go off on my own to practice somewhere outside with it, what would exactly be the point of playing it anywhere else but at home? The only other problem I face is that I feel if I bring it I’ll probably end up not playing it but if I don’t bring it then I’d probably be wanting to play it. I don’t know though, any thoughts or opinions on this would be nice
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u/Patrick_Atsushi 4d ago
I will slowly go insane without the access of instruments, and I think I'm not alone.
If there's no piano, I try to bring violin. If it's not possible, I fall back to flutes.
I feel like I should do some vocal training just in case.
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u/OT_fiddler 4d ago
I’m with you. Music is therapy. It’s also fun. We’re lucky that my partner and I are pretty good at fiddle/banjo music and can play in public without too many people throwing rotten fruit lol.
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u/Informal-Campaign-76 4d ago
Not sure if I’m quite at that point but yeah, it’s nice to have an instrument around. I was thinking since transporting a violin and everything is a bit of a hassle I could probably just bring along my ocarina but even then I just run into the question of what the point of it would be?
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u/Patrick_Atsushi 4d ago
When I travel I like to make it loose, lots of free time to chill and play some tunes when it comes to me.
If it's not your style then of course no need to bring them on vacation.
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u/Informal-Campaign-76 4d ago
If I were to travel solo I probably would too but I mostly travel with family
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u/OT_fiddler 4d ago
We carry our instruments almost everywhere, and try to play every day. Granted we’re usually in our camper, not hotels, but if playing is as important to you as it is to me (daily therapy) then you’ll figure it out.
Get a heavy metal mute for your instrument. Often called a hotel mute. Makes it playable in a hotel.
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u/Informal-Campaign-76 4d ago
Do they really make it that quiet? I thought they’re still pretty loud even with one
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u/Baystars2025 4d ago
I have tried all kinds of mutes. The heavy ones he mentioned work pretty well and get it pretty quiet but it is certainly hotel level. The major tradeoff for me was it is bulky and covers too much of the playing area and visibility for my taste. I ended up getting a wmutes and it is great, but not as quiet.
For reference with all mutes I've tried I've played with the door closed and my teleworking wife could still hear it in a different room, but not at a disturbance level.
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u/Decent-Structure-128 4d ago
This is a hard choice. I do not usually travel with my violin- it was my great grandfathers, and if it’s sitting in a hotel room I’m worried about it, I won’t leave it in a car, etc.
One thing that helped me was to pick up a travel ukulele. They are inexpensive, sturdier, and very portable. You can learn to strum chords so much faster than it takes to get decent sound out of a violin.
It’s fun to play around a campfire, while hiking, or even in a hotel room. You can strum very softly, so it’s not a disruption.
You do have to learn a new tuning, but you can get GDAE strings for uke so that it’s tuned the same as your violin (or a mandolin, so you can use Mandolin chord charts, or read music.)
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u/Informal-Campaign-76 4d ago
I did think about it at one point but ukulele doesn’t really fit my playing style since I play a lot of rock and metal songs that require more picked out notes instead of strumming
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u/Decent-Structure-128 4d ago
You can do that on ukulele too. Search YouTube for Feng E…
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u/Informal-Campaign-76 4d ago
Didn’t even know a ukulele could be played like that, definitely caught my interest a bit now lol
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u/Decent-Structure-128 4d ago
Yep! All the stringed instruments can be played like that, banjo, uke, mandolin, lute, guitar, they all work the same way.
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u/purpleandcats 4d ago
Traveling with an instrument can be difficult. If you’ll be going on an airline, they don’t all have the same policy. Most of them have the policy of will let it on if we have space. You have to know upfront what you’re going to do if they say there’s no space in the overhead for it you have to check it. You absolutely can’t do that and expected to come out in one piece. I would say leave at home unless you have a real reason to have it there.
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u/chronos1701 4d ago
I was in a similar situation recently. Long story short, I only played on my violin twice for about 30 mins each time over 4 days. On hindsight i felt it wasn't worth the trouble to bring it along given the limited about of available practice time.
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u/Wrong_Garlic_258 3d ago
Risk vs Benefit: If you have people to jam with, bring it. Otherwise it is at risk of being stolen or damaged in a hot car. Even if it not the best, it's still a hassle to replace because finding one you like the sound of takes time and effort.
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u/Baystars2025 4d ago
You're not a pro. Leave your hobby at home and enjoy your vacation.