Musicals Books

Dover publishes complete works of many composers, and they did pianists a huge favor by compiling the works of Scriabin into several volumes of music. Scriabin, a "bridge" composer between the 19th and 20th Century, composed romantic yet modernistic works sometimes reminiscent of Chopin. His later work was far more dense and individualistic. Unfortunately, he died in his 40's, but, like the short-lived Schubert,he left a considerable volume of works for the piano. The other Dover volumes are the Sonatas and the Preludes and Etudes. Logically, they put other minor works (nocturnes, dances, etc) into this volume.

If you are a skilled pianist, try the Op. 28 Fantasie. This work, sadly, is rarely recorded but is one of the most incredibly gorgeous things ever written for piano. The only other copy of this I own is in a Hungarian edition not available in the US, so rejoice if you play piano.

Dover prints music that is easy to read and the editing is usually blameless. This book is no exception. Highly recommended for serious piano students.

What the above review failed to mention is that the "Muzurkas, Poems, and Impromptues" book contains all of Scriabin's piano music excepting that which is contained in the "Preludes and Etudes" and the "Piano Sonata's" books. All three of these books are published by Dover and are not altered to death buy rotten editors. Comprehensive editions of composer's works are very valuable and often a huge oversight in the unusually chopy realm of sheet music. The book is also made as good as paperbacks get.

The book a joy to read because Steve is a great human being, sharing his experience and tips and know-how generously. It is very well written, well edited for clarity, and Steve will talk you through the instructions as if he is sitting beside you; warning when some foreign finger movement is coming up and encouraging that it just takes patience - so just enjoy the process! I have only had the book for a week, but I am on the fourth exercise, the one just before the main "frailing movement" is introduced. I am very excited because in a couple of days, I will be starting on it. But the sounds of the first rendition of "Shady Grove" are already appealing to the ear.

As frailing is a rather unusual guitar technique, this book/cd gives all you need to get started. It'll take a lot of practice to play somewhat like Steve but without his book you wouldn't even know where to begin

Hugo
Gent, Belgium

In the intro, Steve Baughman says: "The Travis pick revolutionized guitar picking in the 20th century, and frailing stands poised to do so in the 21st." While this is a bold claim, I think it could happen.

I haven't had this much fun learning a new technique in years. It is not only a lot of fun but challenging as well. It is a versatile technique one can employ with just about any genre of music.

Since I am primarily a fingerstylist, I've never liked strumming the guitar. It just didn't seem musically interesting or imaginative. Now with frailing, I can have an uptempo groove going without strumming.

Be warned though that most of the book is in Orkney tuning (CGDGCD)--however, it is not at all hard to learn and it opens your musical horizons further by adding the element of open tuning.

Steve is not only a really nice guy and a great teacher, he's an innovative guitarist with much to contribute.
Highly recommended.

I have academic music background and play violin on high-intermediate level. I'm currently trying to learn bluegrass fiddling, and, ashamed to admit, have almost no improvisational skills. I was hoping that this book would be a good introduction into bluegrass improvisation, but instead I found that bulk of the book contains oversimplified scales and passages that were too lengthy just for illustrating the point and too simple and pointless to serve as exercises. I also found that the instructions were somewhat confusing. I suppose the exercises could be useful for a less experienced player. On the other hand, someone with very little music theory background probably will have a hard time following the instructional material.

Exactly what we needed for my daughters 1st time at the Int'l Music Camp, as she went for "Fiddle Camp"

This is one of the best of it's kind. This goes where other's don't.

I have been looking for a book like this for a long time. It is very good in developing an understanding of what notes go together to make a good fiddle improvisational piece. The exercises are great also and are great for warming up. The only way it could be better is if it inclueded more scales in other keys and if it came with a cd.

I'm an intermediate player just really getting interested in Jazz. This book has been to the point, with good examples.
It would be improved with an accompanying CD, but this is a minor complaint.
I recommend it for beginner or early intermediate players.

This was a gift for my daughter, who is a sax player. She does Jazz and conventional music, and she loved the book. She said the book will definately help her. It was one of three purchased, and she loved them all!

This is a really useful book for teaching yourself, or groups of others as I sometimes do. Don't be put off by the rather pedestrian cover and lack of a playalong cd. Firstly, the nuts and bolts: the typeface and layout are clear and easy to read. (I hate the handwritten effect of some music books.) The topics and laid out in a logical way and it is obvious that the writer loves his topic from the fact that the riffs he chooses are bluesy! And not just dry exercises. It presupposes a reading knowledge of music but otherwise anyone could use this book. It would be useful for anyone playing a single line instrument, such as a trumpet. I commend it to you, it'll prepare you for Jazz and get you playing Blues right away- and it's cheap! (Which is very important for an Englishman!)

I absolutely love this book, it's a fantastic resource if you're looking to get into jazz drumming. Every percussion instructor I've ever had has recommended this book to me, and for good reason.
One of my friends actually learned jazz drumming over the summer just by spending hours and hours with this book.

I recently received this book and I've been working on it for more than a week. It's somehow surprising that this book is not widely known in the drumming community (at least here in Italy).
I find this book excellent. It contains many coordination exercises on 1, 2 and 3 voices (all combinations of snare drum, bass drum and hi-hat), both on swung eighths and triplets, against the jazz ride pattern. The exercises are of gradually increasing difficulty so the book would be perfect both for the beginner or the advanced jazz drummer. The review solos at the end of each chapter are musically pleasant.

An easy to follow progression of fundamentals leading to solos, this is a great book for staring your jazz studies. It does follow the one primary basic ride sound, but by the end I would think one would be able to improvise fairly well around that pattern.

Great solos very simply arranged, some songs are very familiar to every fiddler but yet are very differently arranged...

Excellent book with many good tune selections. A great variety of tunes all in one book.

No CD, no tablature, just 144 heavy duty arrangements of a wide variety of tunes in standard notation only. Craig usually has a basic version of a tune, then takes you through again or even a third time with variations and ornamentations. These are not for the beginner. When you get beyond the violin for dummies, or the Curious George plays the fiddle type books, this book gives lots of examples of how to incorporate a little spice into your playing. Prepare to be challenged. I'm sure I'll be using this one for years to come.

OK, so I have only tried three. But this one fits my style. If you don't have a live instructor available, the best option, then this book can help you understand the real basics: how to hold the whistle, basic fingering options, breathing. Stuff other tutorials tend to assume you already know.

Of course, there is plenty here for more advanced students too. I do suggest you look elsewhere for a supplemental tune book and consider purchasing other tutorials, but this is an excellent place to start.

To the previous reviewer: It's called a "Toolbox" for a reason.

Clearly this book was not intended to be a songbook. There are _plenty_ of songbooks, and they all have one shortcoming; they rarely give the player an adequate indication of "how" to execute the ornaments or address other often asked questions such as whether or not dynamics are possible. Even the better song/method books out there that come with recordings usually aren't organized well enough to follow the curriculum outlined in the book (i.e. they give you an example and then follow it with a song that poorly illustrates the concept put forth, OR the recorded song comes in one speed: blindly fast for you to appreciate by ear but frustrate the heck out of the beginning student).

As one who has been teaching music (and penny whistle specifically) for a while now, I can't tell you how many students I've had that express dismay and confusion over the "how to's" of the expressive part of whistle playing. Yes you can show them in a lesson but between lessons it's helpful to have a good, thorough book to guide you, help you advance quickly, and keep you motivated.

Music (on any instrument, including the voice) is a language. Despite the other reviewers negative attitude toward music theory, many people find it helpful because it explains the concepts and "rules" for that language, which gives you the ability to "intentionally" communicate your ideas AND understand them when you hear them played by someone else so that you can reproduce them yourself . As one who makes their living professionally playing and teaching music, I have found that people that say they don't "like/need" to know music theory have had the misfortune of having it taught in a non-relevant, dry way.


As to the author not providing audio recordings of the tunes cited, there are plenty of sources for one to find them. It is very expensive to gain the rights to use those songs in publications. If you think this book is expensive already, how'd like to pay the added cost that would be passed on to you were they (the songs cited) to be included.

I am thrilled to finally have found a book like this to supplement a grossly neglected area of whistle playing. I would highly recommend this book for teachers and especially self-taught players. Use it as a supplement to the method and songbooks you have that don't (or poorly) cover the aspects of whistle playing that make the difference between you sounding like an perpetual beginner and a more seasoned player.

Hats off to Mr Larsen for such a fine bit of work. If you really want to play with ease and SOUND great, this book is a must have in your collection!

I have to admit im extremely impressed. Their aren't many Tinwhistle learning books out their that teach you everything you need to know, but so far this book has been truly remarkable. He goes through really in-depth lessons slowly so that their easy to follow, and as you progress you meet new challenges within the book.
In conclusion, if you want to learn how to play the tinwhistle GET THIS BOOK!

I haven't played the accordion in fifty years and I was looking for something as a refresher. This book was just what I was looking for, it reviewed what I had forgotten and I even learned things that I had never learned in the first place. Nice selection of songs too, not a bunch of corny tunes that you never heard of. It comes with a CD and you can hear what you are expected to sound like after a little practice. I have several books on the accordion and most of them are useless but this is a real worthwhile purchase.

I always wanted to learn to play a musical instrument- and this book has been a great help in my beginning to play one (having washed out on guitar and piano)...in fact, it makes it very easy to play songs very fast! Thanks for the great book- there is not that much accordian music written for beginners out there...

I bought this book when I bought a new accordion and so far it has been great. I've never played the accordion before, nor do I know anything about it, but this book has been fantastic about explaining everything.
A good buy for beginners.

Its a really enjoyable, well written, comprehensive book.
I did not order the CD...mistake. (I will as soon as I finish this).
My son is also learning the dobro and he has never heard of most of the tunes in the book.
I see it comes with a DVD as well as a CD...?
To put it at the top of the Dobro instructional mountain it needed one change.....
a spiral binding.
It's hard to sit down and open to a page and start playing...
But its' still really great.

Janet starts at the very beginning and covers all of the basic techniques including chords/theory, rolls, bar slants, and blocking.

The presentation is very straightforward - you get virtually nothing in the way of history/photos of the greats/analysis of influential player's styles. (See Stacy Phillips' "The Dobro Book" for that.) However, Janet is a very clear instructor and has the good sense to include tunes you will actually want to play if you are oriented towards bluegrass/old time country rooted playing.

I bought this book with the DVD and, although the production is a little grainy, the instructional value is first rate. It feels like Janet is giving you a private lesson in your living room. She's a very accomplished player, too.

I was almost put off by the cheesy cartoon cover, but it came highly recommended and now I understand why.

If you are a beginning dobro player, I think this is an ideal place to start.

This is an excellent book for the beginning dobro player. The book begins with simple exercises which may be quickly learned, and progresses quickly to more complex arrangements. The music is written in easy to learn tab form. The complete set of exercises and songs are available on cassette and CD, though I'd recommend the CD to make repeated playing of single tracks easy.

I learned from this book so I thought it was a great idea to teach from it. My intermediate guitar students focus on this book in order to take things we have already learned in the open position and move them up the neck. It helps them get a better understanding of the rest of the fretboard.

DELUXE GUITAR POSITION STUDIES BY ROGER FILIBERTO IS A VERY WELL WRITTEN BOOK FOR LEARNING THE FRETBOARD IN THE UPPER POSITIONS. I HAVE USED THIS BOOK WITH MANY OF MY STUDENTS, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT!!!!

The old joke is "How do you stop a guitarist from playing too much? Put a piece of sheet music in front of him."
I bought this book at the urging of my guitar teacher after I had stated my wish to read music more proficiently. He told me that after many years of teaching, this is still the best book he has found for guitar position studies. I've used it daily for a few months and it has greatly increased my fret board knowledge and ability to sight read. Most guitarists (me included) are very fluent before the 5th fret and then it goes downhill from there. "Guitar Position Studies" has a huge section on the fifth position. If a student follows even the first half of the exercises for this position alone, they will see improvement in a matter of weeks. The text handles both notes and rhythm; the latter might be tough, so if you don't have a teacher, have a fellow musician or instructor confirm that what you are playing is what is on the page.
This is a simple and effective text with many familiar melodies, but don't take them for granted. You might think you know "Merrily We Roll Along" but get the note values wrong, so pay attention! It doesn't come with a CD; I think this is actually preferable, since the average guitarist would fall back into the habit of playing by ear and not read what is on the page. You don't need an instructor with this book, but it helps. All the best musicians take lessons anyway!
Complete this book and you will be well on your way to being a pro. But don't plow through it. Treat every piece as you would a new song you were learning. Really study it. I picked up a fairly difficult Philip Houghton piece, "Stele" and was able to negotiate the first movement as a result of 2 months of studying. I also get around jazz standards and even Beatle's sheet music better than I used to, and can see chord elements without having to think of them.
Use this book and you'll be able to laugh at that old joke while disproving it.
Easy melodies
Thorough studies but not difficult.
Very natural. One thing leads to another until you are very familiar with a particular position.
Good sections on 3rd, 4th, 7th and 9th positions
Very extensive section on 5th position.
Can use it on your own, but really, better with an instructor who will keep you on the path.
Good luck!