Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 18
 Excellent for Adult Beginner! September 19, 2006
Suzanne Langlois (Georgia)
30 out of 32 found this review helpful
Once I got my hands on this book, I discarded all the other "beginner" books I'd purchased. No more having to play juvenile ditties like Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.
I'm an adult beginner violinist and Essential Elements 2000 for Strings with its accompanying CD & DVD has enabled me to teach myself how to play my violin while thoroughly enjoying the effort and without experiencing the boredom and humiliation of having to learn tunes better geared toward much younger students.
I've only been playing since July and I'm already about to graduate to the second book in the series. The curriculum is interesting, playing along with the orchestra on the CD is exciting, and realizing how fast I'm progressing is a dream come true for this 54 year old beginner.
I highly recommend this book as well as Alfred's Essentials of Music Theory Complete to anyone seriously interested in learning violin.
Well thought out series. September 27, 2007
Gene Wie (Irvine, CA USA)
10 out of 11 found this review helpful
"For a real violin study, go with Suzuki." While that might work for a child that is ages 3-4 in a one-on-one or small group setting (which is what the Suzuki Method was intended for), it does not work well in large group learning situation for kids who are twice that age, beginning instruments in fourth and fifth grade. And to be honest, almost everything in the Suzuki method *IS* an arrangement of an original work (like the Bach Bouree from the cello suites set for violin), chosen because even in their simplified form they help teach basic critical and fundamental concepts.
This is my third year using EE2000 in my school program. I usually have between 30-40 students at each grade level in the orchestra. The books and their accompanying CD/DVD work really well and are of the appropriate complexity for the students ages none through eleven. As a private instructor myself, I recommend to all my students to seek outside instruction, but EE2000 provides a good balance of technical development with ensemble skills for the beginners. Students coming into my program who already play don't feel bored because I am able to append more complex tasks in bowing and fingering to them using the existing material, giving them helpful exercises to expand their current abilities, while they help in encouraging their beginning peers.
Lastly, a smart child, if they are so motivated (as some of my kids are), can look at the directives in the EE2000 book and figure out a lot of things on their own ahead of the class, and they are provided with just enough information to accomplish those tasks fairly correctly, without doing awful things to their technique. The included instruction videos are very helpful in this case as well. This is not true with most other methods (and the Suzuki books are entirely useless without a proper instructor!).
Don't get me wrong; I was a Suzuki student myself for my first few years of playing and from time to time use some of their excellent pieces in my own private teaching (although I primarily teach advanced junior high through college age players). However, it has its target audience, which is entirely different from that which EE2000 and others like it are designed for.
excellent violin method March 11, 2005
P. Meyer (Israel)
18 out of 23 found this review helpful
This is an excellent first book for the violin. I have started learning violin again after a 24 year break! This book is aesthetic, has very clear instructions and diagrams and is designed beautifully. The progression of the exercises is completely logical, allowing you to perfect each technique before moving on. Every symbol is explained clearly, no new note or technique is found in exercises that come before their explanation. There are numerous scale and arpeggio exercises that are marked with a different background color, making it easier to find them. There are many orchestra arrangements (mostly duets), and even a duet with piano accompaniment. The accompanying discs are an added attraction. I don't particularly make very much use of them, but they can make practicing more interesting for children who generally have less discipline. This is a much better series than The ABCs of Violin.
A had success with this book April 28, 2009
Anonymous729
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
As an adult beginner, but not a beginner musician, I have found this much more helpful than many of the (fiddle) methods--which seem to be primarily a sequence of tunes. I have the patience for and appreciate the value of "graded" exercises. The salesperson at the store who sold me my fiddle told me this was a "must have" book and he was right--and it was cheap at about $6.99 or so.
As someone interested in old time fiddle, I would have liked to have seen "double-stops" in the book, but I understand that they occur very late in the ordinary (classical) string curriculum. Don't worry, they will no doubt appear in any other fiddle book you buy! :) This is a great book to start with.
A Good Book May 3, 2008
H. LE (Garden Grove, CA, USA)
I bought this book for my son to practice violin. It is very helpful to him.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 18
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