String Instrument Tutorial and Tune Book Reviews

Trad Strings
1

Just in case it’s of any use, I decided to put my feeble reviews of fiddle/mandolin books and DVDs in a separate thread. I’d be interested to hear of any stuff other people have seen that I may not have tried.

May I suggest that we cover books, CDs, DVDs, software, online courses and videos.

There is a good amount of instruction video at Youtube and on Musicmoose.org.

A quick tip: Video hosted at places like Youtube etc can get removed. If you use the Firefox browser there are a number of plug-ins that enable you to download the videos and store them on your hard drive. I particularly recommend “Download Helper”. The files save as Flash video .flv files. These can be played in RealPlayer or any one of a number of freely downloadable FLV players.

If anyone has problems understanding how to use Firefox plug-ins just give me a shout and I’ll be happy to help.

2

Kevin Burke: Learn to Play Irish Fiddle, Vol 1
Polkas, Jigs and Slides


Reproduced from http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php?t=62164

3

Charlie Lennon: Irish Fiddle - Complete Techniques

Charlie Lennon is a great on-screen teacher. He is relaxed (but not to the near nodding-off extent of Kevin Burke), humorous and attentive to detail.

Lennon does cover the basics, such as holding the fiddle and bow, but the coverage of basic bow and fingering technique is cursory and not adequate for the raw beginner. I would say, therefore, that this is not an absolute newbie’s DVD. Like the Burke DVDs it would benefit someone who has had a few lessons or worked through a more thorough introductory DVD.

The material is good. Lennon covers cuts, rolls and other ornaments in some detail and the camera angles generally show all that needs to be seen of both hands.

There are solo demonstrations of the tunes showing the techniques discussed, and additional demonstrations in session/perfomance context with other musicians. Those other musicians are well-known in their own right. Gerry O’Connor, for example, will be familiar to anyone who has ever knocked a tune out of a tenor banjo!

For me, the most appealing bit of the video was Lennon’s descriptions and demonstrations of the various regional fiddling styles. He modestly acknowledges that the viewer should seek out real regional exponents rather than trust Lennon’s approximations, but they do give some insight into the variations.

I should make it clear that this video does not teach tunes. The viewer will need another sourse from which to add repertoire.

Running time is, IIRC, about 50 mins. Not a long DVD, but instructive, informative and entertaining. I would certainly recommend it to someone who has been shown the basic techniques, learned a few basic tunes and now wants to add authentic techniques.

A good DVD. :slight_smile:

4

Brian Wicklund - American Fiddle Method Vols 1 & 2
DVDs, books, CDs.

This course is available as separate items, or in two combo volumes, each of which contains the book, the CD and the DVD.

I consider the DVDs to be the heart of the course. The books are pretty invaluable as supporting material. The CDs, good as they are, are kind of less than essential if one has the DVDs. [Edit - I just listened to the CDs again, and I take back the comment about them not being essential. They have full versions of all the tunes/songs, including the simple and more advanced fiddle parts. The stuff is all covered in the DVDs, but the context given in the CD recordings is actually very, very helpful. I need to use them more!]

The DVDs are structured like a proper course of lessons. Wicklund covers everything, from the very basics through to advancing techniques, and does so in more detail, and more effectively than any other presenter of any other tutorial I have seen.

The tune choice is excellent, embracing material known to bluegrass, old time and Irish stylists. A particularly effective approach is to teach basic version while skills are still raw, but then to show how to improve and embelish those same tunes with newly learnt techniques later. For example, the basic version of ‘Cripple Creek’ may be developed later with the addition of techniques such as slides, double stops and drones.

The DVD on screen display features an inset box which shows the left hand fingering. A standard, effective device sadly lacking in some other tutor DVDs.

This course is superb. I would struggle to find fault with it. It will not teach everything, and it does not provide much of an introduction to music theory, but as a practical course intended to teach one to play the fiddle - well, it is awesome, and probably the best money I have spent on fiddle stuff.

I cannot overstate what excellent value I consider this course to be.

5

I already had a bit of a headstart when I took up fiddle (which I actually don’t play very much these days): I already read music and played mandolin. I got a copy of this book (no CDs) and liked it a lot:

http://www.amazon.com/Bays-Complete-Irish-Fiddle-Player/dp/0786603291

Check out the readers’ reviews.
I’ve heard people criticize the book as not “authentic”, whatever that means, but I found it tremendously useful. I learned two of my very favorite tunes from this book (Kid On The Mountain, and Cooley’s Reel), although I most often play them on whistle or mando.