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Violin For Dummies: Book + Online Video and Audio Instruction
Take a (violin) bow and let your inner musician shine!
You don’t have to be a genius to start fiddling around! Violin For Dummies helps budding violinists of all ages begin to play. If you’ve never read a note of music, this book will show you how to turn those little black dots into beautiful notes. Start slow as you learn how to hold the instrument, use the bow, finger notes, and play in tune. Watch yourself blossom into a musician with tips on technique and style. When you’re ready to go further, this book will help you find the people and resources that can help you get just a little closer to virtuoso!
Your own private lessons are right inside this book, with the included online video and audio instruction, plus recordings that will help you develop your “ear.” This book takes the guesswork out of learning an instrument, so you’ll be ready to join the band when the time comes!
Choose a violin and learn the basics of holding the instrument and playing notes Start reading music with this fast-and-easy introduction to musical notation Improve your musicianship and start to play in groups Explore different music styles and legendary violin composers The violin is a beautiful thing—adding melody everywhere from orchestras to folk and pop tunes. With Violin For Dummies, you can make the music your own, even if you’re a total music beginner.
You don’t have to be a genius to start fiddling around! Violin For Dummies helps budding violinists of all ages begin to play. If you’ve never read a note of music, this book will show you how to turn those little black dots into beautiful notes. Start slow as you learn how to hold the instrument, use the bow, finger notes, and play in tune. Watch yourself blossom into a musician with tips on technique and style. When you’re ready to go further, this book will help you find the people and resources that can help you get just a little closer to virtuoso!
Your own private lessons are right inside this book, with the included online video and audio instruction, plus recordings that will help you develop your “ear.” This book takes the guesswork out of learning an instrument, so you’ll be ready to join the band when the time comes!
Choose a violin and learn the basics of holding the instrument and playing notes Start reading music with this fast-and-easy introduction to musical notation Improve your musicianship and start to play in groups Explore different music styles and legendary violin composers The violin is a beautiful thing—adding melody everywhere from orchestras to folk and pop tunes. With Violin For Dummies, you can make the music your own, even if you’re a total music beginner.
406 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 29, 2020
169 people are currently reading
492 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
February 23, 2012
I like for dummies books .their clear and helpful and usually an excellent place to start learning any new subject.
Violin for dummies was such a starting point. I am a fairly good violin player .now as well as moving onto other instruments including cello guitar and piano.I have impressed several music students with my ability I on the instrument where most of my education was via YouTubeand this book
Violin for dummies was such a starting point. I am a fairly good violin player .now as well as moving onto other instruments including cello guitar and piano.I have impressed several music students with my ability I on the instrument where most of my education was via YouTubeand this book
December 15, 2016
I have the 3rd edition published in 2015 . It seems all of the previous negative feedbacks have been read , it is mentionned that you should scratch your rosin before the first use , and the up and down symbols are explained ... I haven't finished it or check the videos yet but since I can now play twinkle twinkle and jingle bell after 86 pages i'm quite happy. I had absolutely no music background or knowledge prior to buying this book
April 18, 2008
Like most Dummies books, the helpful information is hit and miss.
For instance it tells you that you'll need to apply rosin, but it fails to mention that the rosin cake needs to scraped so that a powder can be obtained.
I feel pretty stupid for rubbing the rock-like rosin cake up and down the bow but how was I supposed to know?
For instance it tells you that you'll need to apply rosin, but it fails to mention that the rosin cake needs to scraped so that a powder can be obtained.
I feel pretty stupid for rubbing the rock-like rosin cake up and down the bow but how was I supposed to know?
Read
February 28, 2016it's good
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 8, 2024
Not a bad book by any means but suffers from redundancy and lack of precision due to lot of chatter and unnecessary detail here and there.
It is always difficult to write a book teaching how to play an instrument especially something like a violin. The author managed to do it without big flaws. The book is also encyclopedic in that it covers many aspects of violin playing, history and genres. Definitely recommendable but readers shouldn't strictly follow the book. Indeed, some experts on violin playing would disagree with some of the points and techniques outlined in the book.
It is always difficult to write a book teaching how to play an instrument especially something like a violin. The author managed to do it without big flaws. The book is also encyclopedic in that it covers many aspects of violin playing, history and genres. Definitely recommendable but readers shouldn't strictly follow the book. Indeed, some experts on violin playing would disagree with some of the points and techniques outlined in the book.
May 21, 2018
A very useful overview of what is possible on the violin. Most of it is way past what any beginning can deal with, and I imagine I will come back to much of the book well down the road--long after I develop some basic skills.
January 18, 2020
There's a lot of useless chatter but it can be helpful at times. I wish that it included more playable music over mountains of text, but it does have some peices that you could use for practice although there aren't many.
April 18, 2022
Informative and useful, just not quite what I was looking for. I have no complaints whatsoever.
December 1, 2022
:O Love it :)
December 1, 2022
Very good. Highly instructive. Perfect for those interested in learning the violin.
March 13, 2024
Interessante boek met tips voor het vioolspel, het onderhoud en de verschillen.
Zeker boeiend (ik speel zelf wel al negen jaar) en toch nog leerzaam.
Zeker boeiend (ik speel zelf wel al negen jaar) en toch nog leerzaam.
March 18, 2017
Lots of wonderful information! I will definitely keep using this book to practise.
February 25, 2016
I am not a musician, nor an aspiring musician. Instead, I read "Violin for Dummies" as research for a book I'm writing where the main character is a violinist. What I was looking for was a basic history of violins, plus learning some of the lingo, and what it takes to play the violin.
Miss Katharine has an easy-going style throughout the book and she throws in a lot of puns and that help the book move along. It is also clear that she knows a lot about violins and I can imagine that if I ever did decide to try and play a violin I would come back and re-read the book.
Overall though, this book wasn't exactly what I was looking for, although I did learn a lot from it. I gave it three stars because there was nothing that jumped out of the pages and gripped me, no "ah-ha" moments, and I didn't feel the urge to tell other people about the book. I may have felt differently though if I were trying to learn to play the violin.
Miss Katharine has an easy-going style throughout the book and she throws in a lot of puns and that help the book move along. It is also clear that she knows a lot about violins and I can imagine that if I ever did decide to try and play a violin I would come back and re-read the book.
Overall though, this book wasn't exactly what I was looking for, although I did learn a lot from it. I gave it three stars because there was nothing that jumped out of the pages and gripped me, no "ah-ha" moments, and I didn't feel the urge to tell other people about the book. I may have felt differently though if I were trying to learn to play the violin.
September 7, 2013
Despite that i don't actually read this book, because this book contains the basics that could help someone about the violin, i really find this book helpful, i read the parts that i don't know about the violin.
This book is helpful to those who don't know the basics of the violin, the parts of the violin and bow, proper bow hold and violin hold, how to change the violin string, how to tune and of course, how to read and the note placement in the violin.
I think this book is helpful for those who don't know this basics, but of course this book is also helpful but not as much for those who knows this, probably some new information like the trivia in the books but not as helpful for those who don't know the basics.
But of course this book is not the best violin guide book out there, there are the Suzuki Violin guide books that surely could help a beginner.
This book is helpful to those who don't know the basics of the violin, the parts of the violin and bow, proper bow hold and violin hold, how to change the violin string, how to tune and of course, how to read and the note placement in the violin.
I think this book is helpful for those who don't know this basics, but of course this book is also helpful but not as much for those who knows this, probably some new information like the trivia in the books but not as helpful for those who don't know the basics.
But of course this book is not the best violin guide book out there, there are the Suzuki Violin guide books that surely could help a beginner.
July 7, 2012
Read the first few chapters of this and look forward to finishing it. It offered great insight on maintenance as well as history and technique. I also enjoyed the ice skating book by this publisher; I find they're quite comprehensive and always written by true experts (by Yamaguchi, for instance, in the case of the ice skating version).
October 2, 2014
a little bit hard to understand and the CD didn't work so i was kind of struggling and i didn't understand the up bow and down bow symbols when it came to reading an actual piece of music. I don't think this book is for people that expect to learn Violin without a teacher because trust me it's real hard.
August 23, 2015
A well construct book to help in learning violin. You will need a violin methode book with to advence in learning.
April 11, 2016
A good book for self education. Not only it teaches people how to play, it also touch on how to read notes, maintenance and choosing a violin.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews