Hi Kat--thanks for the advice. I do enjoy music; listening and playing. I've played guitar and sung with friends in highschool and college. I've listened to a lot of celtic music in the past couple of years, so my son was exposed to that style of fiddling and suprised me one day when he said he wanted to play violin. I'd ask him every once in a while during the past year if he still wanted to and he'd say yes. I'm worried about him being overwhelmed with the learning to read music, using his hands in an intricate way (he still has "baby" hands) and not getting good sound from the instrument. Did those things discourage you as a child? I don't want him to give up before he's even started.