Customer Reviews

Beginning Old-Time Fiddle

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This book has been around since it was first published in the late 1970's and is well worth adding to the beginner's list of books for both repertoire and technique. Having said that, it's not really a beginner's book in the method genre. What it has going for it is every tune is tabbed out along with standard notation giving the advancing beginner interesting and more complex arrangements of a great many of the fiddle tunes they most likely have already played in a more simple style. Additionally, Alan Kaufman has included practical tips and information on instrument selection, muting, a selected discography (unfortunately dated), an excellent section on technique (violin players will hate it!) and wonderful pictures of fiddlers past and present (at least present in 1977) including probably the worst picture of Maria Muldaur ever published.

This is an excellent addition to one's fiddlin' library.

I bought this at a music store, and I selected it becuase I wanted to play fiddle music, and I specifically wanted a fiddle book with a CD so that I could hear the songs. This book does have a lot of good things for absolute beginners: how to hold the violin, how to place your fingers, tabliture as well as regular music for every song. However, the CD does not have every song in the book on it. I don't know all these fiddle tunes, so I don't know how they sound. However, on the CD, he also says you can turn down one speaker and play along with the guitar (on the songs he does have), and also he plays each string individually on one track so that you can tune your violin to the recording. I was hoping to hear every song in the book, so that is my dissappointment.

This book is less of an introduction to old timey fiddle than an introdcution to the violin/fiddle in general. The first 30 pages are devoted to the parts of the violiin, holding the fiddle, the bow, finger postion, scales, and tablature. Moving on to the tunes, the first few tunes are described along with sheet music but the rest of the book seems to be a collection of random sheet music, which would be acceptable if the CD hadn't fallen so short of my expectations.

I was even more disappointed by the CD as it has a total of 18 tracks, 7 of which are devoted to tuning and scales, which would be acceptable had he included 20 or 30 fiddle tunes. But there are a total of 11 tunes all played through once, roughly one minute or so in duration; and "Ida red" is played twice to illustrate different bow patterns, so really there are really only 10 tunes total! How hard I wonder is to turn on the mike and just record a few dozen old timey tunes?

Which leads me to conclude that this book was assembled so as to create the illusion of an instructional guidebook when in fact it is not very helpful at all.

I was hoping for a book with a little more detail. This book is very vague. I am not too sure who this book would help. It isnt detailed enough for a beginner, but it is probably too generic for someone who is advanced.