Customer Reviews

Mel Bay American Fiddle Method, Volume 1-Cello

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From Minneapolis, Brian Wicklund was blown away, as a third grader, when he first heard fiddling. The multi-instrumentalist taught school for awhile but eventually decided to make a career in music instruction, touring, performing, and recording. You may recall that he played with the bluegrass group Stoney Lonesome for seven years from 1987-94 and with The Judith Edelman Band from 1997-2000. In 1999, Wicklund received a Minnesota State Arts Board Fellowship Grant.

He created "The American Fiddle Method" to develop a quality, organized, and comprehensive instructional music program that now includes books for fiddle, viola, cello, piano and mandolin. All of the respective books have the elementary tunes in the same keys, and the page numbers all coincide with the same ones in the fiddle book. In this enchanting cello book, I was also impressed at their inclusion of a separate table which has the same tunes from the table of contents rearranged into an "order of difficulty" sequence.

The classic tunes include Angelia Baker, Arran Boat Song, Boil 'em Cabbage Down, Bonaparte's Retreat, Buffalo Gals, Camptown Races, Cindy, Crawdad Song, Cripple Creek, Girl I Left Behind Me, Grandfather's Clock, Old Joe Clark, Red Haired Boy, Red Wing, Shortnin' Bread, Soldier's Joy, Turkey in the Straw, and a few more. Various fundamental techniques taught include practice tips, positions, fiddle tune parts, introductions, slurs, bowing, staccato, double stops, slides, and beginning backup. For this book, Brian collaborated with cellist Faith Farr who performs with the Minnesota Sinfonia and teaches at MacPhail Center for Music.

I'm certain that classical music teachers will find the user-friendly "American Fiddle Method" to be a great motivational tool for student orchestras that need some fun diversions for their amusement, pleasure and entertainment. The most effective learning is that which is fun and inspirational, and Wicklund's well-paced method relies on a combination of ear training and sight-reading. Tune variations show how they can serve as a basis for improvisation. Ensemble skills are taught with chords and lyrics, basic music theory, and demonstrations of such skills as backup and lead playing. Nicely illustrated by Gary Meader and Brian Barber, the book also includes a word game, a review chart, and information on how to arrange the tunes. The accompanying CD has a band playing and singing the tunes. The cello is in the stereo's right channel, so a student can adjust the balance far left and play along with the band. (Joe Ross, staff writer, Bluegrass Now)

Quote from American Fiddle Method for Cello:

"Brian Wicklund's American Fiddle Method for Cello has it all -tunes, backup, lyrics, history, theory, technique, and most importantly, fun!!! With the help of this book, cellists will never have to hear the question 'Can you fiddle on a cello?' again!"

-Natalie Haas, fiddling cello virtuoso