Review: Mel Bay’s Easiest Fiddling Book

Last month, guest contributor Michael Henderson shared his review of Clayton Haslop’s Beginner’s Circle DVD Course with the PartTimeMusician.com family. This month, Mike has generously agreed to share his first-hand account of Mel Bay’s Easiest Fiddling Book. Enjoy!

All the best,
Mark

Mel Bay’s Easiest Fiddling Book: A Review

Mel Bay’s Easiest Fiddling Book by Craig Duncan retails for $14.95 with the CD. It contains 23 songs arranged from easiest to hardest, starting with Liza Jane and progressing to Rubber Dolly. Along the way you’ll encounter Oh Susanna, Shortnin’ Bread, Buffalo Gals, and Swing Low, Sweet Chariot. It contains fingering charts for each tune to allow beginners who do not know how to read music to begin playing immediately.

All of the tunes are arranged in 1st position and are in the keys of Amaj, Dmaj, and Gmaj. Most of the songs are in 2/4 time. None of the songs have complicated fingerings. All of them were pretty easy to play with the left hand, partly because the G string isn’t used by any of the tunes.

A couple of paragraphs in the introduction explains the scheme for the fingering charts. The charts use a shorthand notation to indicate the string to play and the finger to place for the note. The notation uses dashes to indicate a longer duration for a note. I found this approach a bit confusing at first. I had to compare the letters and numbers to the score carefully to understand it. Once I did, though, I concluded that it would likely work for a new player to find the notes. The scheme falls short of my expectations, though, because it doesn’t address the rhythm of the pieces. For example, there’s no way to capture the difference between a quarter note and a dotted quarter note.

After playing through the book, I didn’t find the choice of songs very interesting. I had high expectations because when I was looking at the book in the store, I recognized most of the songs in the book. A few of them (Swing Low, Sweet Chariot and Oh, Lord) were in my want list. Additionally, it had Oh, Susanna, Simple Gifts and Shortnin’ Bread. That made it seem like a good choice at the time. As I played through it, though, I found that most of the songs just weren’t that interesting.

My impression is that the book does not live up to the title of “easiest” and that it is not a good value. I was surprised that the author slipped accidentals into the second song in the book (Old Joe Clark). The fingering scheme has some shortcomings. The selection of songs is somewhat stale. There are a couple of songs that might have been interesting to play but overall, they’re kind of boring.

Finally, I should admit that I did not listen to the accompanying CD because I plan to return this book as soon as possible.

Michael Henderson is, in his own words, a “middle-aged adult who lives in Denver and started learning to play the violin in November of 2008″. He’s also a really decent guy. If you’d like to leave him a note, please do so in the comment box below.

This review is provided for informational purposes only; your mileage may vary. For more information on Mel Bay products, please visit the Mel Bay website.

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Review: Clayton Haslop’s Violin Mastery DVD course

I received this excellent review of Clayton Haslop’s Violin Mastery instructional course and knew that any Part-Time Musicians (PTMs) looking to learn the basics (or more!) of playing the violin could benefit from reading it. The author, Michael Henderson, graciously agreed to share it with the rest of the PTM readership (thanks, Mike!). So, without further ado, here’s the review!

Keep playing,
Mark

The Beginner’s Circle DVD Course by Clayton Haslop: A Review

I’m not sure how I first stumbled across Haslop’s web-site. I subscribed to his e-mails and really enjoyed his writing style. When the lessons went on sale in June, I decided to buy the beginner’s lessons. I’ve gone through the first two months (just starting month 3).

First, my background. I started taking violin lessons with an instructor in November, 2008. I go in once a week for 0.5 to 0.75 hours. I try to practice about 5 hours a week, usually end up getting in 1 to 2 hours in 15 to 20 minute chunks.

I put the order in around June 30th. The ordering was hassle free. I received an e-mail:

Welcome to the Violin Mastery Beginners Circle.
Start checking your mailbox for exclusive instructional
DVDs, written music, notes and lessons. You’ll also
receive my “Members Only” e-newsletter of special tips
just for the Beginners Circle.

The web site also says “from time to time I will include additional surprise Bonus DVDs in your monthly package.”

There was some delay getting the DVDs. Haslop sent out a note that he was switching to a new fulfiller. They ended up sending them priority mail, so I had the set in my hand within two weeks of them charging my credit card.

I received a binder with the entire year’s sessions. It contained 13 DVDs, 1 CD, and 12 tabbed sections of printed materials (plus a coversheet). Everything looked like it was put together by a small company. For example, month 7 has the wrong label on the DVD. It is titled “Allegro Players” but that’s marked out with a Sharpie and “Beginners Circle” is written by hand.

In the three months since I purchased this, I’ve never received a “members only” e-newsletter of special tips. The only e-mails that I’ve received are the ones that go to his generic mailing list. Also, no surprise bonus DVDs.

The printed materials aren’t high quality. They look like they’re copies of copies.

The CD contained the accompaniments. There are six songs. The quality is good. I can clearly hear the piano and there’s no distracting background noise. The tempo, though, is way too fast for me to keep up. Maybe that is a good thing since I’ll have something to shoot for. There’s a click track on some of the tracks. I like that since it helps me count.

One of the DVDs is the “bonus” disc. It contains some information on tuning. Most of it I was familiar with since I’ve had lessons. I think that the information was basic enough that if I were just starting out, I would learn something from it.

The remainder is one DVD per month. To verify the quality, I watched the first 4 discs in succession. There’s a problem with the microphone booming. It’s not bad, though. And it doesn’t detract from the sound of the violin. The picture sometimes had the Jell-O effect – if Haslop moved quickly from side to side, he sort of stretched. A little distracting at first but easily ignored.

Haslop starts out in week 1 of the first month with an emphasis on breathing and relaxing and stretching. Then he gets into the bow hold and the bowing motion. He does a good job of remembering that he’s in front of the camera and moving around to show what he’s doing. I did the breathing exercises and tried the stretches. I enjoyed his discussion about the hold, though.

The remaining lessons in Month 1 are pretty basic. The binder has little written material to back up the lessons. There’s a single piece of sheet music with half- and whole-notes on the open strings. I tried to follow through with them but they were boring.

Month 2 focuses on the tone and theory. He discusses note values and demonstrates rhythm. I have to say that I like his method of remaining conscious of breathing and using breathing to help with rhythm.

This month has interesting music. The theme to Ode to Joy is one of my favorites. He also includes a theme from Brahms, Joy to the World and My Country ’tis of Thee. The pieces are in a variety of keys (Gmaj, Dmaj, Cmaj and Fmaj). About what I’ve encountered in 8 months of private lessons.

I think that he did a good job of pacing and setting the tempo. I could follow along easily.

Unfortunately, the sheet music is handwritten. That made it tough to read. I spent a couple of hours putting it into Finale Notepad.

The 3rd month starts with scales and arpeggios. In the first session, he covers the Amaj in two octaves in first position. He starts with A, then slides the finger back to G#, then continues with the rest of the scale. I thought that this exercise was great because I’d been having trouble moving that first finger.

I noticed something as I started the third month. My ear is picking up the differences in pitch between his instrument and mine much better than when I started. As I’ve been playing along on the scales, I’ve actually been able to hear that difference and adjust. I believe that is because he starts out so slowly. I have the time to catch up and correct each note. For a beginner, that’s really important.

I think that this may be one thing that the DVD has over a lesson. When I’m at a lesson, my teacher is giving me hints about the pitch (“you’re sharp, you’re flat”) and I correct. At the lesson, I tend to rely on her to do that. With the DVD, I am forced to listen to my pitch. That may be what’s helping me most.

So, after three months I would give this 3 stars out of 5. The pros are that the content is good, Haslop is a good communicator (his explanations are helpful) and the music choice is interesting and challenging. To me, it’s a plus to be able to throw a disc into the player when I have some time.

The cons are that the production values don’t make a good impression and sometimes Haslop forgets that he’s talking to a camera. Fortunately, neither of these are really serious issues – so far, anyway.

Finally, I should say that I’m happy that I bought this when it was on sale. I can say that, for the first three months at least, some of the stuff is “old hat” and some is new. All in all, I think that I’ve learned good things from it.

Michael Henderson is, in his own words, a “middle-aged adult who lives in Denver and started learning to play the violin in November of 2008″. He’s also a really decent guy. If you’d like to leave him a note, please do so in the comment box below.

For more information on Clayton Haslop’s DVD courses, please visit his site at ViolinMastery.com.

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