Product Description

Take a bow and start playing tunes with this friendly guide!

Whether you′re an aspiring classical musician or you just want to fiddle around, Violin For Dummies will have you making music in not time. This interactive book–and–CD–ROM package makes it easy with step–by–step instruction on everything from simple tunes to show–stopping techniques. With coverage of musical styles including classical, country, and jazz, this is the ultimate guide to the violin.

Discover how to:
∗ Choose the right violin and accessories
∗ Develop correct violin and bow hold
∗ Understand the language of music
∗ Play classical, country, gypsy, and jazz
∗ Tune, change strings, and perform simple maintenance


Get Smart @www.dummies.com
∗ Find listings of all our books
∗ Choose from many different subject categories
∗ Sign up for eTips at etips.dummies.com


MP3 files of every song and exercise from the book.

Video clips demonstrating techniques to help you pick up and play.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #7497 in Books
• Published on: 2008-01-22
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 432 pages

From the Back Cover
Take a bow and start playing tunes with this friendly guide!

Whether you′re an aspiring classical musician or you just want to fiddle around, Violin For Dummies will have you making music in not time. This interactive book–and–CD–ROM package makes it easy with step–by–step instruction on everything from simple tunes to show–stopping techniques. With coverage of musical styles including classical, country, and jazz, this is the ultimate guide to the violin.

Discover how to:

• Choose the right violin and accessories
• Develop correct violin and bow hold
• Understand the language of music
• Play classical, country, gypsy, and jazz
• Tune, change strings, and perform simple maintenance

Get Smart @www.dummies.com

• Find listings of all our books
• Choose from many different subject categories
• Sign up for eTips at etips.dummies.com

  MP3 files of every song and exercise from the book.

  Video clips demonstrating techniques to help you pick up and play.

About the Author
Katharine Rapoport (Toronto, ON) is a violinist and violist who currently lives and works in Toronto. After graduating with a degree in Music from the University of Cambridge, she completed her postgraduate Certificate of Advanced Studies in Violin at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London. She has a very broad range of professional freelance experience including musicals such as Les Miserables, Phantom of the Opera and Showboat. After moving to Canada, Katharine was appointed to the faculty of the Royal Conservatory of Music and the University of Toronto.

Customer Reviews

Amazingly wonderful! Fab book!
I can only repeat what Claudia has already said - this book is fantastic!!

As an adult "returner" to the violin after giving up at age 13, this book has really brought this beautiful instrument back to life for me. It is written in an intelligent, conversational, lively style, and is just like having a close friend humourously lead you through the beginnings of a soon-to-be lifelong passion for the violin.

It includes plenty of interesting technical info about the violin itself, as well as loads of background facts and information for you to research further.

All in all, a wonderful introduction to the violin - you certainly will not be dissapointed with this book!! Fabulous!

Very informative, serious book full of very good advice
To be perfectly honest, I have never wanted to touch any of these books "For Dummies", since their title and style puts me off. I bought this one because there wasn't very much else on the subject, and I now realize how wrong I was in my prejudgment! This book is excellent! Of the 5 or 6 violin self-study guides I have bought this is definitely the best by a very large margin. The author is an accomplished violinist who has also got lots of teaching experience. She gives good practical advice, mentions lots of things that other books simply assume, and writes very well and clearly. The book comes with a CD that contains all the music as MP3 files and some demonstrations as video clips. All the information one needs is there and easy to find. (She claims that you can find things faster than you could say "Paganini".) There are witty comments like that, and some very nice little stories (like the one about the trick that Leopold Mozart had for getting his prodigy son out of bed), but the book is definitely serious. I am an adult beginner who started to play violin in order to help my 5-year old son practice. I work full-time and thus don't have time to take lessons. I have picked up some things from my son's Suzuki book and accompanying materials by the local music school, but I still needed more help. This book has given me exactly that. It tells you several methods of how to get a good bow hold, it explains step by step how to move your fingers for playing a particular passage, it gives an introduction to music theory, it tells you how to handle and care for your instrument, there is information about how to find a teacher, and on how to go on playing beyond the book, (and lots more). Overall, the best things about this book is that very obviously the author plays and teaches violin with a great deal of enthusiasm - and this shines through on every single page. It's like having a good teacher who wants you to succeed! Thoroughly recommended!

I should add that although the book is written for the US market (and the author lives and teaches in Toronto, Canada), it is equally useful here in Europe. The only times one notices that it is a US book is when price ranges are quotes in US $.

Enjoy!

Just what I needed
Being a complete beginner this book has helped be through some of the more intimidating parts of learning the violin.
The conversational tone of the book prevents it from being to dry and it is broken down so you can find the information you need quickly and easily.
A fantastic and usefull book.