Ｏｎｌｉｎｅ Ｐｒｅｍｉｕｍ VVIP+++ Essential Elements for Strings - Book 1 with EEi: Violin by Pamela Tellejohn Hayes

Hal Leonard; 2012 edition (July 1, 2002)

Essential Elements for Strings - Book 1 with EEi: Violin by Pamela Tellejohn Hayes

Essential Elements for Strings - Book 1 with EEi: Violin by Pamela Tellejohn Hayes is I am an adult trying to teach myself how to play violin, as it is something I have always wanted to do, but I was never allowed to take lessons as a kid. So I bought this book hoping it would be a good place to start... but it is definitely written for children in a classroom setting. I was hoping for more how-to's, but most of that is relegated to side notes of "have your teacher show you..." but fortunately, there is Youtube, so I can deal with that. And that being said, it seems to have a decent selection of beginner scales and compositions to practice, the only thing disappointing there, is that for the first few pages they label all the notes (ie G, F#, A, etc) which is incredibly helpful for someone who hasn't attempted to read music ever, or at least in a long time, but this stops within the first few pages -- which is frustrating as it would be nice to have more practice getting the hang of the notes before having that little extra bit of aid dropped. It is also a very thin book... in the age of the internet, I kind of expected a bit more to make it worth the money vs simply printing all the information offline, which is absolutely the route I would have gone if I had easy access to a printer. So all things considered, this just gets a solid "okay" from me.

Essential Elements for Strings - Book 1 with EEi: Violin by Pamela Tellejohn Hayes is I've been a big fan of Essential Elements books. I've been studying with Hal Leonard since I was a kid. Aside from the useful information in the book, many of their books had audio CDs. This is nice for me, because I can't always understand music--even though I've learned to read it--unless I hear it. I understand basic notes, but the more complicated music baffles me in written form, so I do better playing by ear.When I decided to take up viola, I looked for Essential Elements. They don't do CDs anymore but online sites. BUT, I encountered something that initially was discouraging. This company assumes most of its users are enrolled in classes. I guess it is primarily used by music teachers. Though I had a student activation code, I needed a teacher to register me on the site first. The problem is, I am self-study...so initially it looked like I wouldn't have access to the web site. I did find another web address in the back of the book that had the lessons for the book but lacked some of the bells and whistles of their main site. The main site has the ability to record and has other helpful features. Their secondary site is just a library.However, I contacted the company, and they set up an account for me--so now I have access to the main site. If you are self-study like me, you will have to contact them--but they are very nice about it. If you are under thirteen, your parents will need to do it. Otherwise, they just need to know what instrument you are playing and that you are over thirteen years of age.

Essential Elements for Strings - Book 1 with EEi: Violin by Pamela Tellejohn Hayes is This has been an excellent product to purchase for an adult beginner violinist. I am really happy with this. I have been practicing for only 2 weeks now and I am learning very quickly and am more than half way through this book. I enjoyed Essential Elements for Strings Book 1 so much that I decided that I need Book 2 and Book 3, and they will be arriving in the next few days. This is an excellent book for learning the violin. It really helps.

Essential Elements for Strings - Book 1 with EEi: Violin by Pamela Tellejohn Hayes is Fantastic book to learn the violin--for those (of us) who've never even touched a violin! This books gets started at the “basics”â€"learning notes by plucking (pizzicato) first and then bowing. I love the fact that the buyers of this book have on-line access to background music to play-along with (beginning violin karaoke!)â€"it feels great to be part of a “band”! The only thing missing is a “how-to” on how each song should “sound” when played (music theory). Problem solvedâ€"I went to YouTube, and Patrick Murphy (PhD) plays each song in this book, which has been a HUGE help in learning the timing and mechanics of each song. I am also taking violin lessons, and my teacher is using this book. This book, access to the background music, and YouTube has helped reinforce the lessons in this bookâ€"and I am really enjoying learning the violin!