Customer Reviews

Violin For Dummies

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

Goes from the very basic through fairly advanced in manageable steps. Clear and concise with excellent descriptions. Included CD helps with practice pieces and songs.

For less than the price of one music lesson you have a companion guide and reference to help you navigate from beginner to beyond.

I know I sound like a commercial, but I'm a real person who is amazed that someone put in the effort to craft a manual that really helps self starters.

To show you how basic it can be... it tells you how to take the violin in and out of its case.

The lady who wrote the book knows her stuff and how to communicate it. Actually the quick guide on how to hold the violin and bow will save you grief down the line.

Good luck and have fun with it.

I am an adult who wanted to learn to play the violin without the expense of private lessons. So far, this book has been very easy to follow and the instructions are very clear. The CD is wonderful, it includes short videos and mp3 songs. I can play along with the songs and know that the notes are correct.
My only compaint is that I found alot of the photos in the book hard to see. They are in black and white and the photos are far to dark.

Katharine Rapoport brings a lot of experience to light in this book; designed for the very beginner through advanced. If you are trying to tackle violin pedagogy on your own maybe because you can't afford private lessons or maybe your schedule is not conducive for private lessons, or whatever reason; this book is a good place to start. The instruction is informative, structured, and relaxed in nature.

3 months ago I rented a violin with the idea that at age - well, never mind -I would finally fulfill a childhood passion and learn to play. I bought Violin for Dummies to get started. I am now 3/4's of the way through the book and have found it very easy to follow. I can finally read sheet music, something that always eluded me. I can now play all kinds of music from Bach's G Minor Gavotte to Paul McCartney's Mull of Kintyr (not in this book). This book will not get you into the community orchestra since a lot of technique is only learned from one on one instruction. However, if you are like me and you just want to play but money is tight and you can't afford that instructor right now, then your money will be well spent on this book.

The one complaint that I have is that they will give you a sample piece of music that is supposed to reflect things you have just learned. Sometimes that music includes other notations like "slurs". They introduce a piece of music with slurs in the first part of the book and it's another 100 pages or so before you actually learn what a slur is. Not a big deal. You can still play the piece and ignore the notation (you won't play it right but will be playing a variation of that music which is fine) but you feel like you missed something that you should know.

Others have commented on dark photos - that may have just been that print run of books. The photos in my book were fine and there are not that many photos for it to be an issue. The CD does more for you than the photos do. My only complaint with the CD is that they often group several pieces of music together on one tract so if you are trying to loop one piece of music, the grouping makes it more difficult.

This review is long overdue on my part. I ordered this book before its original publication and it was finally released more tha 6 months past its originally estimated release date. I did receive notifications of revised delivery dates, and it was definitely worth the wait! It really begins at the beginning and progresses to serious techniques like slides, postions changes, vibrato etc. with easy to follow explanations, pictures and CD audio and video exercises. I had had good experience with "Dummies" books in the past (mostly computer technology), and this one has absolutely lived up to my optimistic expectations. The fact that it happened to arrive at my house on Christmas Eve was a nice little surprise too!

I really like this book. It's really funny and I'm already playing songs with it. The only con is that I can't see the videos. I already download a few programs and it didn't work, but they aren't that important. The Mp3 are great, so I will use them instead. The pictures are dark, that's true, but you don't need them that bad, they only show simple guidelines of how to hold the violin and the bow and other simple stuff. I hope this book help you learn to play the violin as it is helping me!!!

It's amazing what you can do with this book and a computer with quick time installed. I did have a little head start as I already knew how to read music, but I'd never even held a violin before. This book has made it easy to learn. How to hold the instrument, the bow and what to do once you've got them ready. I've learned more about music theory here than I did in the six years in junior and senior high band playing (brass instruments). I realize not everyone wants or needs to learn theory, but it really does help. Other reviewers have complained about the darkness of the photos, mine are fine in this latest printing. This book's well organized and I highly recommend it.

This book is amazing and it's easy to follow, the writer writes like she speaks so the material is very animated as you read it. I played the violin when I was younger but for years I haven't touched my violin so now I'm trying to get back into reading the notes and playing again and this manual is absolutely great! Very complete in all of its information ...Highly recommended :)

I have spent the last several years owning and trying to learn how to play a violin (I prefer playing it as a fiddle). I also have asked several music store owners if there was a book on care and maintenance for a fiddle--I was always told "No. You really just kind of learn that kind of stuff as you go..." I never once thought of looking up such a thing on Amazon and boy am I glad that I did! I don't know why more music stores don't carry this item. This book arrived within one week of ordering in brand new condition and I can't wait to get down to the nitty gritty of puttting some of this books suggestions to use. I have briefly glanced over it and it appears to cover all the topics that most beginning or intermediately experienced violinists yearn for! This book is invaluable to fiddlers everywhere!

Lots of good information. Starts out with very basic to some mid level stuff. I'm a new student at 40 something and some of the basic info was a little too basic but I see how it could be useful to someone that has never touched an instrument. I played some non stringed instruments in high school so this was a new venture for me. The music reading was a great refresher, just got to get my brain to match the note to the correct string lol. Overall I am very happy with this book and feel it is money well spent if your are teaching yourself (me) or even as an addition to someone who has a music instructor. I really like the cd, the MP3's let you hear how it should sound and the videos give good clear instruction on how you should look and what you should see while playing or handling your violin. Very useful information, I am really excited to see how this helps me in the next few months and years to come.