Schools and Instruction Books

I am so happy I found this book my kids just began a few months ago to take some piano lesson; my daughter plays the violin and this book make them want to play together

All the Suzuki books are great tools for any accompanist as there are many Suzuki groups that need accompanists.

I found this book very good for accompaning my daughter with her violin. However, you must regard the fact that it is not for learning piano.

Suzuki Violin Series is a great series! Especially the fifth book. I've been studying by Suzuki Violin Series for four years. It's really great! There are some really great concertos, if you know how to play. And the exercises, like tonalizations and shifting, are excellent and really helpful. And with the piano accompaniments, it sounds great! Also, the fingering is very cleverly done, so you can practice a lot of shifting and vibrato while playing and practicing the concertos themselves. This book is excellent for intermediate students for violin, and especially essential for shifting practices!

There are four people in my family who play the violin, and we all really like this book. We especially love the Vivaldi peices. There are three of them!

I grew up learning the Suzuki method and believe in it 100%. Depending on your skill level, this may better be learned with an accomplished teacher. Suzuki method is also a philosophy - look for the book by Suzuki himself explaining this. My violin teacher made all her students' parents read this when we started lessons.

This collection of songs not only is a good collection to learn various techniques on the violin, but I still have fun years later playing them over and over. They sound impressive when performed. Take note that the sixth song is a duet, and the second violin part is the one published in this book. The Violin I part is not in this book.

I have been playing the violin for about eleven or so years. When it was time for me to get serious about violin, the Suzuki books really helped me out. My instructor had the other Suzuki books but I feel in love with the 4th volume because I was able to play the Vivaldi piece, my first real piece. The duet at the end (first violin in volume 5) is really good.

This book is the fourth in the Suzuki Violin School and should be accompanied by the Volume Four CD. All in all, a great learning tool and fantastic resource for students and teachers.

I recommend this book to anyone interested in teaching children how to write. I home-school my two "tweens", and this book is terrific; the lessons are fun, easy to follow, and suitable for children at different stages of development. I am finally enjoying reading my kids' essays! Who knew one book could do so much to enhance clarity? If you're serious about teaching your child writing skills, buy this book.

This is a great book! I've been teaching middle school English and Composition for 25 years, and this is the best book I've used. Mr. Hawley's book is reminiscent of the old "Warriner's" texts, but superior in that the writing and grammar instruction is seamless. Each of the lessons contatins multiple exercises (answer key included!) and great examples as it delves into five paragraph compositions, narratives, descriptive paragraphs, letters, etc. Moreover, each new writing asignment adds a new grammar lesson while incorporating the grammar lessons from previous chapters. The result is continuous review, continuous practice, and continuous learning.

I home school my son, and used this book. Wow! It's all here! My son improved so much! Try this and see for yourself!

I got this book to use in my 8th grade classroom and it's been so helpful. I use the exercises as a daily warm-up, but it'd also work well as daily lesson plans.

The order of the book isn't the standard as it jumps around a lot. For instance, semicolons are covered in Ch4, but compound sentences with commas aren't covered until Ch 26. I was thrown off by this, but then realized it helps semester/year long comprehension. If we covered all the types of compound sentences in the first month of the school year, the students will forget what was learned by Christmas. But by occasionally revisiting and building upon previously learned material, the students are more likely to comprehend the information.

I also like the back-to-basics approach because a teacher can never assume that a student will remember even the simpliest of concepts from year to year.

This is a great research tool for concert music. Although the CDs are separate, this book works alone as well. And this is just book one of many!

The book "Teaching Music Through Performance in Band" Has already been a great tool for me. I am only a Sophmore in Music Education school and it has given me numerous ideas of ways to teach and what is appropriate to teach. The book breaks down many pieces to show ways to explain the music to children in band how to perform them musically. It also offers them insight into the composers life and how the piece fit into it. This helps students relate so that emotion and thought can be put into the piece that they are playing.

This book is a wonderful source of information on many band works of different grade levels and styles. I liked the fact that this book has an extensive bibliography, enabling a person to study band music in even more depth. I wish that the author had included some band works that can be played by bands without full instrumentation. (my band has two trombones for a "low" section, and it is hard to play the beautiful pieces to their full perfection. I would recommend this book to college students, and I would also recommend that they try and listen to recordings of some of the pieces discussed.

I bought this book after having taught for 12 years. I really wish that someone would have written a reference such as this for my first years of teaching! This is a comprehensive volume designed to help the band director develop a concise curriculum for the high school (or college) band program. Included are chapters on rehearsal techniques, conducting basics, philosophies of music education, and justification for our music programs!!! The standout feature of this book, however, is its coverage of wind literature. For each piece, there is historical background, instrumental difficulties, suggested listening lists, and various activities related to the piece. This should be required reading for all college music education majors.

Bravo to Walter Liedtke for his sense of humor, see below. The fact that 17 out of 24 did not understand his subtle comments on himself, he did write most of the book, is testimony as to lack of discernment of those who read these reviews. I have heard his lecture on the exhibition and all he says is absolutely true. Actually, his comments on himself are rather modest.

This may not be the book with which to start a Vermeer trek. But it is one to savor mid-way on the journey. And it's a fitting coda for the many books on Vermeer published since the wonderful Washington/The Hague exhibition in 1995-1996. Walter Liedtke comprensivley and colorfully provides context for Vermeer's style, technique, and themes. For all his erudition, however, Liedtke doesn't explain Vermeer's genius, which is sui generis. The combination of painterly skill, scientific observation, poetic insight, and musical/theatrical nuance all seem perfectly coordinated in this Delft Master. That Vermeer made rather extensive use of the camera obscura to inform his work is without doubt (see Philip Steadman's Vermeer's Camera), although Liedtke continues even now to insist he did not. Nonetheless, as Liedtke exhaustively details, Vermeer could not have been Vermeer without the cultural milieu in and around The Netherlands in the seventeenth century.

The quality of the hundreds of illustrations included in the book, especially those which reproduce Vermeer's paintings, is extraodinary; the cover reproduction of Vermeer's Art of Painting is alone worth the price of the volume. Note particularly the pairing of The Girl with a Pearl Earring and the Study of a Young Woman (making a good case for pendant status), as well as perhaps the best reproduction ever of The Girl with a Red Hat (although it is somewhat over-sized).

Liedkte also generously provides a trove of bibliographical citations, more than enough to keep scholars busily productive well into the next generation. No serious study of Vermeer can proceed without reference to this book. Yet, it is a good read for anyone with a reasonably sophisticated knowledge of European history of that era, and will reward amatuer art historians of the Baroque period with its pinball-like associations.

Lovers of Vermeer will make this book a centerpiece in their library, returning to it again and again for information, clarification, and, most of all, aesthetic pleasure. Liedtke's opus is the next best thing to visiting the several handfuls of museums in the USA and Europe that hold Vermeer's 36 known works.

Words cannot describe the impact this weighty volume has had on me. From the moment I held it in my trembling hands, I was hooked. The rich, carefully crafted prose is a delight to the eye and the imagination. Its author is undoubtedly a man of breath-taking vision who has reconstructed the 17th-century past with unique skills of research and analysis. His character shines through in every page and the reader cannot help but conjure up in his or her mind a dazzling image of a dark tall handsome curator with beautifully slick and greased black hair, a whiff of moustache, and sparkling gold-rimmed glasses. Every inch a man of learning. I could go on - and I will.

This is a catalogue published in conjunction with the exhibition "Vermeer and the Delft School" held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, from March 8 to May 27, 2001 and The National Gallery, London, from June 20 to September 16, 2001. It is written by Walter Liedtke, Curator in the Department of European Paintings at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York with contributions from eight other art curators and historians. This is a hefty book reflecting this monumental ehibition which includes 15 of the 35 known works attributed to Johannes Vermeer (1632-1675) who spent his entire life in Delft. Other prominent 17th Century artists include Pieter de Hooch, Gerard Houckgeest and one of my favorites, Carel Fabritius, who was killed in a munitions explosion in 1654 at the age of 32. The catalogue is 640 pages containing 526 illustrations with 225 colorplates. The quality of the colorplates is good. The history of Delft and the development of "The Delft School" is thoroughly researched. In addition to the artists mentioned there are many beautiful paintings by artists who are relatively unknown. This is a catalogue where the interested reader will spend the rest of his life perusing. There is much to be mined here. The exhibition is worth a journey.

I bought my 6 year old grandson three of these books for Christmas. He uses them almost daily. The step by step instructions make drawing so easy. He loves seeing how quickly he can come up with a professional looking drawing!

1-2-3 Draw Cartoon People: A Step-by-Step Guide was created by syndicated comic strip artist Steve Barr as a useful and "user friendly", methodically crafted instructional guide for young people wanting to create their own cartoon figures. Beginning with some expert preparatory advice and a few invaluable cartooning tips, Barr stars with simple, basic shapes and lines which can be quickly copied and expanded upon. The very nicely illustrated instructions continue on for drawing heads, hair, expressions, emotions, hands, arms, boys, girls, grandparents, and characters in motion. Also very highly recommended for budding artists are Steve Barr's two companion instructional books: 1-2-3 draw Cartoon Faces: A Step-by-Step Guide and 1-2-3 Draw Cartoon Animals: A Step-by-Step Guide.

If you are just starting out, or are looking for an easy-to-follow instruction book that gets you to *actually put a pencil and paper in your hand* and start drawing in the next five minutes, you MUST have this book! The art of simplicity is not that of being basic in your explanations. It is the highly evolved skill to present to your recipient (in this case the reader) everything you need them to know WITHOUT them getting overwhelmed, becoming frustrated, or feeling that what you are teaching is beyond their abilities. This book is a masterpiece of highly entertaining education. You will watch your skills develop even as you scoff that this can't possibly be this easy to do.

This is a fun book, and while its surface qualities may give the impression that it was written for the "under 8" crowd, nothing could be further from the truth. This is a book that anyone can learn (quickly) from. You begin drawing the most elementary of shapes, which you connect (step-by-step) to more simple shapes which, when you step back from your labors and look is suddenly a recognizable picture. The author does not limit your style at all, but instead starts you off with the basics of style that you will use in many formats of illustration. This is all done with such non-condescending verbiage and format that you will think to yourself "this is too easy," and before you know it, you can draw very complex cartoons.

Cartoon illustration is a staple in our society. From greeting cards to "how to books" and multi-billion dollar corporate logos, cartoon illustrations have become embedded in all aspects of marketing. You see them everywhere, and they seem easy enough to do, but for most people the moment you pick up a pen, something horrible goes wrong in your hand-eye coordination.

I have read a LOT of books on cartoon illustrations and even after absorbing their collective wisdom, I generally limit myself to stick figures to this day. This is one of those rare books that come along quietly and breaks the teaching mold; allowing ANYONE to be able to create fun cartoon illustrations with minutes, and over time to create increasingly more sophisticated illustrations. A must have, and fine addition to any library for anyone who has, or will, ever pick up a pen and try to illustrate a point to someone else.

These are such great books. I have a few books so far and plan on getting the rest of the series. My kids love these books. They make drawing so easy anybody can do it!

I bought this book for my daughter who is 4. This book is great but would recommend for a 7 or 8 year old instead. For younger kids I would recommend the I Can Draw series.

This book is a great start to teach young artists-- 1 grader and higher-- to draw people. It teaches kids to sketch, i.e. draw lightly first. The step-by-step instruction is very clear.

Not only is it a great book for introducing drawing of knights and castles, the author apparent is also fluent in the vocabulary of this yester-year theme. My first grader and I get to know the names of different weapons, name of different parts of the castles and the names of "things" people wear. A double treat!

The window is the eye of a devoted scholar who rips through the red-tape and pitfalls of dealing with artist's estates, galleries and the art world in general! It takes guts and grit to create a second book of the underknown Abstract Expressionists. This volume centers on the Abstract Expressionists of the 1950's, throughout the USA. It adds 80+ artists to the first tour d'force titled, New York School Abstract Expressionists: Artists Choice by Artists. Fortunately, many of the superb African American painters are represented. Ms. Herskovic mentions in her introduction that there were NO painters of African descent in the 9th Street show or any of the artist's annuals. This shocking revelation shows just how NEW integration really is. Norman Lewis, Hale Woodruff, Alma Thomas, Charles Alston, and Edward Clark are a fine quintet whose work shines through the pages of this fantastically researched volume of exceptional quality. As far as I am concerned, they are American Abstract Expressionists who just happen to be of color. Underknown Abstract Expressionist artists in the 1950's had a tough time getting known. After all, there were the meteors with names like Pollock, Rothko, Still, and de Kooning, to easily overshadow you. Not necessarily in quality, but in fame. Painters of African descent naturally had a very difficult time. America might have been avant-garde about this new art but was backward regarding equality of its people.

The West Coast is also represented by some fine painters. Elmer Bischoff, Budd Dixon, Hans Burkhardt, Richard Diebenkorn, Ernest Briggs, Hassel Smith, Richards Ruben, John Saccaro, and Robert McChesney are just a few from the West Coast!

Curators take note: This, the 2nd volume concerning the Abstract Expressionists in America, is a must have. Both volumes have to be included in your museum's library. These volumes are a researcher's dream! Plus, what great exhibitions are possible!

The size and quality of the reproductions are excellent. The book has the same 12 1/2 x 9 1/2" format as the first volume. This time, the dust jacket is gold, in nice contrast to the first volume's silver cover. There are 88 artists represented, and each has an artist's statement which is so important. The statements back-up their precious works. Listed opposite the artist's two large examples, are biographies, where the artist studied or taught, Solo Exhibitions as well as Group shows. A nice touch are the quasi-tributes to two important Fathers of Modern Art and Abstract Expressionism; There are writings by Kandinsky which are very "today", and there is an homage to Arshile Gorky, possibly the most revered American artist before Pollock(according to painters of the NY School).

This scientifically researched 372 page volume will surely be the barometer that all future studies will use.

American Abstract Expressionism of the 1950s:
An Illustrated Survey.

OUTSTANDING ACADEMIC TITLE ~CHOICE, 2003
"This excellent publication builds on the earlier publication. It has broadened the scope to include artists from throughout the US, rectified...omission of African American artists...and concentrated on 88 artists...Excellent layout and superb photographs. Highly recommended." ~CHOICE August, 2003.

"Researchers will seek out this well designed selection.
Recommended for American art museum, academic, art school and large public libraries." ~Library Journal August 2003.

Ed. by Marika Herskovic, ISBN: 0967799414 New York School Press, 2003. Hardcover, 9 x 12 inches. 372 pages, index. 176 full-page color illustrations.

Herskovic overviews American ab-stract expressionism with this hefty volume of plates. Beyond the names you'll immediately recognize (Pollack, DeKooning, Gorky, etc.) this alphabetically arranged set takes a fair and complete look, including commentary from the artists that helps to illuminate an often moody and pensive style. We like Kline's ideas on size and space and also when DeKooning says, "spiritually I am wherever my spirit allows me to be." American Abstract should be a fixture in libraries and the homes of the lovers of the form.

The item arrived on time and as pictured so I would order from this seller again. But on a side note: Even though the item itself is cheap the shipping will get ya!

I search through what felt like a mountain of "How to Draw" books trying to find one for my 5 year old daughter. They all seemed too complicated. This was one of the few books out there age appropriate for her. When I brought home the book, she immidiately was able to draw the animals on the pages. Its been almost a week and she is still carrying it everywhere so that she can draw in her free time. She is even began to draw scenery for the animals and combine more than one to create more complicated pictures. Excellent book! Please produce more in the same line.

My daughter, who is just learning the idea of drawing, has been intimidated by not being "good enough" in her drawing. I read her this book a few times and then I showed her how to put tracing paper over the step-by-step drawings and trace the lines. The first time, she caught on to the idea and had a cute drawing. She was thrilled! Great for teaching the idea of combining shapes to make very day objects.

As a psychologist I see many busy families in my practice who are looking for simple to read, easy to follow, and impactful parenting tools to use in their homes. This book has it all! Parenting is a full time job in the midst of a hectic life-style. This book brings practicality and lightness to a topic that everyone with children can use. I encourage parents to buy this book and impliment the wonderful loving tools Dr. Melanie offers. A great book for grandparents and step-families as well.

I have a two year old and a 5 month old, and have read alot of parenting books. This is a must to read. This is an easy to read, to the point book, with alot of great tips on all aspects of parenting. I recomend this book to every parent.

This book gives a new understanding to what discipline really means. It helps us take away the yelling and spanking, and guides us back into nurturing our children... because that's what it's really about, helping us to support our childrens spirit!