The ABCs of Violin for the Absolute Beginner, Book 1: Performance CD [Audio CD]

Janice Tucker Rhoda (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2002

Janice Tucker Rhoda's phenomenally successful series, the ABCs of Strings owes much of its success to the wonderful original material for beginning students and to the sensitive arrangements of familiar classical selections, folk songs and fiddle tunes.

This beautifully recorded performance and play-along CD with violin solo and piano accompaniment has all the pieces and scales from the ABCs of Violin, Book 1.

It is to be used in conjunction with The ABCs of Violin for the Absolute Beginner, Violin Book 1. It will facilitate learning and practicing the pieces and scales in violin book 1 while providing extra fun for beginning violin students of all ages in the privacy of their homes.

The ABCs of Violin for the Absolute Beginner DVD is also helpful!

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Janice Tucker Rhoda's biography is included in Marquis Who's Who in America, Who's Who of American Women and Who's Who in the World. She has designed her path-breaking instruction series, The ABCs of Strings, to encourage students of all ages to play the Violin, Viola, Cello and Bass. She has given clinics and courses at colleges worldwide and has served as an adjudicator for solo competitions. Ms. Rhoda resides in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.

Product Details

• Audio CD
• Publisher: Carl Fischer, LLC (September 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0825849004
• ISBN-13: 978-0825849008
• Product Dimensions: 5.6 x 4.9 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #896,734 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Janice Tucker Rhoda is the author of the popular instruction series The ABCs of Strings published by world-famous Carl Fischer Music. She has designed her path-breaking series to encourage students of all ages to play the Violin, Viola, Cello and Bass. Her method makes learning to play a bowed string instrument easy and enjoyable. She gives string teacher training clinics and courses at colleges worldwide, and teaches an Adult Violin Course at Cambridge Center for Adult Education in Harvard Square, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. She also teaches Viola, Cello and Double Bass, and accompanies students on Piano.

Ms. Rhoda studied in the prep and college division of New England Conservatory beginning at age 16 with pedagogue Eric Rosenblith, protégé of the famous Carl Flesch. Ms. Rhoda played a Brahms Sonata on a popular TV show at age 16, and became concertmistress of Massachusetts All-State Orchestra after auditioning playing Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto. When she was age 19 a car hit her Italian violin out of her hand and it sailed through the air and crashed to the ground! She grew up in a family of 5 children and 35 first cousins on the North Shore of Massachusetts.

Janice Tucker Rhoda's best-selling method series, The ABCs of Strings, encompasses Books, DVDs and CDs for Violin, Viola, Cello, Bass and String Orchestra. The books combine melodies from classical music standards, folk and fiddle tunes, rock 'n roll and jazz, and Ms. Rhoda's original compositions of these various styles along with warm-up exercises, scales and study pieces. There are simple graphs showing left-hand finger placement, worksheets for note identification and practice charts in all of the books. Each absolute beginner book has additional duets and a glossary of music terms and symbols.

Violinist Yuki Beppu began with the ABCs of Violin method series at age 4 with Ms. Rhoda. Ms. Beppu won the New England Conservatory concerto competition at age 10 and performed for the President. She stars in The ABCs of Violin for the Intermediate Player DVD and performs all 69 pieces from the ABCs of Violin Books 1 and 2, and A-Major, D-Major and G-Major Scales.

Ms. Rhoda's father played the steel guitar and harmonica; her mother played piano, acoustic guitar, accordion and sang. They both played by ear their entire lives. At age 60 both of her parents decided to learn to read music, so her father focused on Harmonica, and her mother on Piano. Her father practiced 5 hours or more every day while self-teaching. Her mother's private piano teacher from Russia said she would have been a child prodigy.

Ms. Rhoda has also studied Guitar, Flute, Clarinet, Recorder and Mandolin, and had years of private voice lessons beginning at NEC for college credit. She learned to read music at age 6 in the public schools and sang solos in school plays and graduations before studying Violin at age 9.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

58 of 59 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful, Beautiful, Beautiful!!, May 25, 2004

By 

Sonya H (San Diego, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The ABCs of Violin for the Absolute Beginner, Book 1: Performance CD (Audio CD)

This CD consists of the songs and 3 scales from the book, The ABCs of Violin for the Absolute Beginner-Book 1. The first half is performance of the violin plus piano-they are all so beautiful just to listen to! The 2nd half of the CD begins with an "A" pitch for tuning, then the scales from the book are performed, then a version of all the 34 songs again but with the piano loud and the violin softer so you can play along and feel like you're being accompanied by piano--there are ticking sounds before each song, so you know when to come in. I love it!! I feel like a soloist. The tempos aren't too fast like other CDs I've gotten-I can keep up nicely. This CD has taught me to play in tune-I can hear the pitches of my notes better and am able to fix them.

Just buying this CD for listening would be worthwhile, because it's soothing to listen to. My 3 year old daughter falls asleep with it on--I hope some day she will play the violin!

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars CD helps me play, December 22, 2004

By 

washington - See all my reviews

This review is from: The ABCs of Violin for the Absolute Beginner, Book 1: Performance CD (Audio CD)

I got this CD with the ABCs book. I really enjoy playing along with the CD. It's like being in a recital except I don't have to get nervous performing in front of everybody. The book's great, but it's even more fun when you can play along with something. Add the duets and it's the complete package for starting off violin.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Worth it!, April 16, 2009

By 

John L. Francis - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The ABCs of Violin for the Absolute Beginner, Book 1: Performance CD (Audio CD)

I am an adult who knows very little about music. I am now in the middle of the first book with my instructor. She was not familiar with this series but likes them very much. The cd is very helpful when it comes to knowing how the song is played. I especially like playing along with the songs.