Mel Bay First Lessons Violin Book/CD Set
by Craig Duncan
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Book Summary Information
Author: Craig DuncanBrand: MelBay
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2002-01-23
ISBN: 0786618051
Number of pages: 32
Publisher: Mel Bay Publications, Inc.
Product features:
- Uses melodies and pieces to introduce technique and fundamentals
- Includes scales in A, D, G, and C; slurs, accents, and staccato bowing
- 47 melodies, including works by Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Mozart, and more
- Companion CD contains all exercises and piece
- Overall Difficulty: Beginning
Book Reviews of Mel Bay First Lessons Violin Book/CD Set
Book Review: Good for adults!
Summary: 5 Stars
I'm 32 years old, and decided to learn the violin as my son has been playing a few months now. I've been working through this book for almost three weeks without a teacher and I'm in the middle of lesson 8 right now. As other reviewers have mentioned, there is no instruction on how to read music or how to tune the violin.
I played a string instrument (bass violin) many years ago and did not find this a problem, you simply remember Every Good Boy Does Finely to name the lines and F A C E to name the spaces and work from there. This will not slow you down, the bass plays in a different clef and learning to "read" the music in the treble (G) clef that the violin uses took less than a week. As for tuning, buy a chromatic tuner when you purchase your instrument and ask for tuning instructions then.
This book takes an approach much better suited to adults or musicians who play other instruments in that it emphasises melodies to learn to play. You are done with open strings after lesson one and learn the notes and fingering of the A major scale in lesson two. This is a much more satisfying approach than traditional method books. Slurs are introduced in lesson 11. You'll have learned most of the notes in first position by lesson 13 and the rest by lesson 17. Lesson 22 will introduce the 4th finger.
My only complaints about the books are: 1.) the heavy emphasis on the A and E strings. This was dramatic enough to make me search through the book to find any songs that use the G string (I found a couple at lesson 13), and to make me wonder if I should write out the songs an octave or fifth lower just to practice using the D and G strings as well. (The D string is included a little more often that G)
And 2.) the lack of difficult songs. Always one to run before I can walk, I'd have liked to see a "challenge" piece every couple of lessons or so. The pieces included in the lessons here can be conquered somewhere within 1 to 3 hours of practice and, of course, become easier with repetition.
All in all, an interesting book to work through and the CD is a nice bonus.
Summary of Mel Bay First Lessons Violin Book/CD Set
This text presents beginning violin technique and basic music-reading fundamentals, with an emphasis on the use of melodies and classical pieces to teach each new concept. The 28 lessons include basic technique and reading skills, scales in the keys of A, D, G, and C as well as bowing techniques such as dynamic contrast, slurs, accents, and staccato bowing. There are 47 melodies presented including works by Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Handel, Mozart and other classical composers. The companion CD features all of the exercises and pieces recorded with solo violin and piano accompaniment.Instruments & Performers Books
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