Ear Training and Violin Playing was written by two Austrian teachers who pioneered the Suzuki approach in the German-speaking world. This valuable little book was written as a supplementary "aid" to the Suzuki teacher, concentrating on posture, bow grip, instrument selection, the bow itself and a helpful analysis of Book One of the Suzuki Violin School. Many insights are offered throughout the book, all gained from intense study, ten years of experience and successful teaching. Some slight departures from Suzuki's own teaching are discussed: the incorporation of native songs, elementary music theory and ear training, and introduction of ensemble playing. Early childhood musical education, it is emphasized, must always be accomplished with love and understanding, and only when parents, students, and teachers form a unified whole.
The Green Violin; Theory, Ear Training, and Musicianship for Violinists is designed to provide classical and improvising violinists with the foundational theory, ear training, and musicianship basics that they need to study and play the violin. The Green Violin introduces music theory, ear training and musicianship as they apply to the practice of scales, bowings, and to listening assignments specifically designed for violinists. The Green Violin is structured in four sections that can be tackled concurrently: Chapter 1: The TERRAIN lays out the music theory that all violinists must be familiar with. Chapter 2: The DRILL introduces the Major and Minor scales up to three octaves with alternate fingerings for virtuosic practice, in multiple positions for the purpose of ear training; The DRILL is an application of the pitch and harmony theory acquired in The TERRAIN. Chapter 3: The Lost Scrolls features open string exercises, an array of violin sound effects, timbres, dynamics, and rhythms to refine a violinist's bow technique and musicianship skills; The Lost Scrolls illustrate and significantly expand on the rhythm theory discussed in The TERRAIN. Chapter 4: The BRIEFING offers an introduction to the violin repertoire and to the violin world that violinists, parents and friends will appreciate; The BRIEFING also includes further musicianship and ear training in the form of listening exercises, and study recommendations. This fourfold approach addresses several handicaps that modern violinists in training and their teachers are facing: Many are called to learn how to play the violin without having studied music theory or having received any kind of musicianship or ear training specifically designed for violinists. Violinists who have taken classes in these topics often walk away not knowing how to apply what they have learned in class to their practice of the violin. Method books for the violin repeatedly introduce the instrument as if it were a monophonic oddity existing in some vacuum divorced from the western world of harmony, there is virtually no theory included. Music theory, ear training, and musicianship are introduced in The Green Violin as they apply to your learning to play the violin. Another handicap for modern violinists in training is that most are asked to tackle the study of the instrument before they have had an opportunity to listen to the violin repertoire. Popular violin music and method books tend to include a CD, which students are urged to listen to daily, often to the exclusion of other recordings. Unfortunately these CDs are either recorded using synthesizers or they feature a piano accompaniment instead of the full orchestra. This format thwarts the introduction of many young players to a multitude of sounds at an age where brain development that is linked with the acquisition of languages, i.e., with the recognition of tone shading, articulation and rhythm, is at a crucial stage. The Green Violin ratifies the ownership of several devices and apps for the listening of over seven hundred pieces from the violin repertoire as they were meant to be performed. The Green Violin outlines what to listen for in a recording and includes a guide to the free online videos of great violin soloists. Impediments to ear training are compounded by a lack of bowing exercises in most violin method books. The Green Violin introduces students to the practice of bowings at an advanced level, independently of left hand technique (on open strings), to encourage the establishment of an early link between what the violinist hears in good, lush, interesting recordings and what the violinist attempts to play and reproduce of the recordings on the violin.
As a technique builder for improvisation on the violin, this book is comprehensive. It provides: the arpeggios for 7th chords with useful fingerings, a variety of modal, blues and jazz scales, and rhythm exercises to develop technique. Improvisation is often taught with various scales. In addition, this book teaches the 7th arpeggios of many chords in all keys, and in several positions to help navigate the fingerboard and get to chord tones. A short music theory section describes the reasons that the 7th arpeggio is essential to improvisation. You can use these notes in many sequences and rhythms to improvise. The exercises are appropriate for beginners with good shifting skills. Three octaves are provided, but beginners can start with one or two octaves. Since students of fiddling or jazz violin often do not have a teacher for specific improvisation technique, this book provides useful, wide-ranging suggestions to help a developing violin improviser improve their musical techniques.
Dr. Suzuki questioned why all vocalists vocalize every day to improve their voices, but instrumentalists do not do so every day with their instruments. He believes that on any instrument, one needs to practice to make a more beautiful tone. First he talks about playing a beautiful resonant tone with the bow while plucking the string with a finger. When a pizzicato is played, the resonance goes on for a long time. Students should listen to that resonance and play the same kind of clear beautiful sound. He talks about how to make a difference in the tone by using a different bow speed, how to practice to find the resonance point, how to change the weight of the arm on the bow to produce a different kind of tone, and how to change tone color. This book includes all of Dr. Suzuki's basic ideas about tone.
This book is the cornerstone upon which to build any Suzuki-oriented library. In it the author presents the philosophy and principles of Suzuki's teaching methods. Through the examples from his own life and teaching, Suzuki establishes his case for early childhood education and the high potential of every human being, not just those seemingly gifted.
A complete, progressive course that teaches musicians how to notate music from audio examples, held on downloadable resources. Basic melodic dictation is followed by progressively more complex scores, in classical, jazz, and popular styles. Designed for the two year undergraduate sequence, Strategies and Patterns for Ear Training offers valuable strategies to students and teachers alike.
Learning the mandolin should be required for every violinist: it has the same tuning and is a chordal instrument. This book provides violinists with the skills and knowledge needed to master the mandolin; it also teaches ways in which mandolin concepts can open up one's violin playing. the book offers key insights into the similarities and differences between the two instruments so that violinists can quickly learn to play the mandolin. the book and companion CD cover basic fingering and picking techniques and then move through exercises and pieces drawn from the classical, swing and folk genres.
(Berklee Guide). These time-tested exercises will help you to play by ear. This book with online audio recordings introduces the core skills of ear training. Step by step, you will learn to use solfege to help you internalize the music you hear and then easily transpose melodies to different keys. Learn to hear a melody and then write it down. Develop your memory for melodies and rhythms. Transcribe live performances and recordings. Listening is the most important skill in music, and this book will help you to listen better. Gilson Schachnik teaches ear training at Berklee College of Music. He is an active keyboardist, composer, and arranger, and has performed with Claudio Roditti, Mick Goodrick, Bill Pierce, and Antonio Sanchez. The audio is accessed online using the unique code inside each book and can be streamed or downloaded. The audio files include PLAYBACK+, a multi-functional audio player that allows you to slow down audio without changing pitch, set loop points, change keys, and pan left or right.
(Educational Piano Library). Ear Without Fear, Volume 2 continues where Volume 1 left off, introducing the following concepts: letter names and ledger lines; treble and bass clefs; sharps and flats; moveable do; intervals 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, and octaves; and more, with demonstrations, exercises, and dictations covering the topics above.
