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Looking for song books
I am looking for song books as a change from the “fiddle” songs I have been trying. Love the fiddle and Irish songs. Many I can’t do yet, but also want variety to learn from.
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Mouse
February 10, 2019 - 4:22 pm
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I was wondering if anyone can recommend a good book with songs in first position. Most of what I have done in lessons has been in the key of A, D and G. Key of A is the easiest and I have issues with G because of that C natural. I have never done any songs with flats, everything has been first position and introducing E on the a string with fourth position. This is to try to let you know my level.  I have only taken lessons since Oct 2018, keep in mind that out of the last 4 weeks of lessons, 3 lessons were cancelled, so really only 3 months, not 4 months of lessons. 

The songs I am looking for are more of a medium to slow paced songs. I am not looking for really fast rock songs. I have enough fiddle type and Irish songs and they are helping me get speed and are extremely fun.

I am into 50’s and 60’s. I do not listen to today’s music or songs at all. Too much screeching and sliding up to notes when singing, or it is mainly talking to a beat, IMO.

Some of my many many CD’s are by Gene Pitney, Faith Hill (Breathe and another one from that time frame), Nancy Griffith, Mara O’Connor, Mary Chapin Carpenter, John Berry, Allen Jackson, Cats Soundtrack, Wicked Soundtrack (saw it on Broadway and it was so good. Songs not that inspiring, but has a few good ones), Les Mes soundtrack, I am not adverse to slow simple classical, Belinda Carlisle, Jon Bon Jovi (just the slower songs from his songs appeal), Sugarland, Peter Paul and Mary, Suzy Boggus, Patty Loveless, just a small sample. 

I am interested in songs that are not on the super fast rock side by these people and groups. Their medium to romantic type speeds. I have run the gamut of the online downloads, so that is not an option. I have downloaded all the freebies from there.

I had just purchased a Hal Leonard book of Irish Songs that I thought would be good, but so far, I am not impressed. Will give it a while longer and if I don’t take to it, I will just off it up for free here. Maybe someone else would like it. It might be that it is in keys that are just not familiar to me. So, I want to give it a shot first. I don’t want to buy another book that is not suited to my needs again. 

So, if anyone has any suggestions, please let me know, and links to them, if possible. 

Thanks and sorry for being so long winded, but I wanted to be clear in what I was looking for. 

Medium to slow, not really fast ones yet. The book can have a few faster. First position, someone with 3 months lessons.

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ABitRusty
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February 10, 2019 - 5:53 pm
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Have you looked through musicnotes.com or sheetmusicplus ?  Sometimes they have more basic versions of tunes/songs on piano that work but usually have violin parts as well. You pay a small fee for the right to printout a version you like. Like under $10.00 per song.  Actually maybe more like 5.00. Not really a book as you were asking but they have a good library of tunes and songs.  Maybe something you're looking for.

Greg

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Fiddlerman
Fort Lauderdale
February 10, 2019 - 9:07 pm
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Rather than looking for pieces that are written in 2nd position, why not take the pieces that you have played and worked on and practice playing them in second position? IMAO, this works fine. :)
Of course, they may not be as easy to play in second position but it will give you plenty of practice.

"The richest person is not the one who has the most,
but the one who needs the least."

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Mouse
February 10, 2019 - 9:38 pm
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Fiddlerman said
Rather than looking for pieces that are written in 2nd position, why not take the pieces that you have played and worked on and practice playing them in second position? IMAO, this works fine. :)
Of course, they may not be as easy to play in second position but it will give you plenty of practice.  

Actually, I was looking for 1st position songs. Haven’t ventured into 2nd position in lessons yet. Basically, looking fo songs to do along with the songs in the lesson book, especially with so many cancelled lessons, as of late. Last two lessons in a row were cancelled.

She wanted to do a make up last week two days after the normal day. I had to leave that day open due family medical needs, plus, it would have been too close to the normal one the following week (this week). Then, who was to say it would not have been cancelled.

So, I am trying to give myself new site reading, counting beats, trying to smooth out my bowing without getting too far ahead of the lessons. I have been tempted to venture into 2nd position on my own because things thrown in as if they are completely separate tend to send me into a tail spin. So i would be better to work into it now. Might have to ask about it if I get my lesson this week.

Not sure where 2nd position even starts. Will have to look it up. Is it where, on the A string you use the 4th finger to play E? You move your first finger to that place your 4th finger is playing E? I have no idea.

I wish lessons would not be constantly cancelled. Sure, I only have to pay for one lesson in February because three of the lessons previously were cancelled, but I also did not get lessons. No other instructors are available here. Maybe, that will be it for cancelled lessons for a while. Funny thing was that last week, I had a feeling it was going to be cancelled. I mentioned it to my husband.

Got to be 1 1/2 hrs before the lesson, I decided it was not going to be cancelled. Packed everything into my bag, tuned the instrument and cleaned it. Half hour later she called and cancelled. When she told me why, which really isn’t necessary, but she did and I was a little miffed. She should have known if was not going to happen the day before. There was no way she was going to be able to do what she had to do and be back in time. 

Fingers crossed for a lesson this week. Off to look up where 2nd position is on a violin. Good idea, Fiddlerman. thumbs-up

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bocaholly
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February 11, 2019 - 8:09 am
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Cid, I think Fiddlerman thought you were specifically asking about pieces in 2nd position, not necessarily recommending you start your adventure in positions with 2nd.

I gather most everybody starts with 3rd position, "I gather" being the operative term here :-) Stand ready to be corrected, as per usual, LOL.

Whistler has a broadly accepted book that introduces 3rd and 5th for starters.
Elements Book 3 introduces 3rd for starters too (and gets to shifting more quickly than Whistler)

I figure there's gotta be a reason in there somewhere for Whistler's approach. I'm just going with the flow.

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Gordon Shumway
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February 11, 2019 - 8:28 am
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Whistler's two books are pretty rigorous, and perhaps not very interesting either.

There's a guy called Mackay who did two easier and more interesting books on 3rd position in the 1960s.

(Whistler vol 1 is about positions 3, 5, 7 and higher; Whistler vol 2 is about positions 2, 4, 6 and higher)

Andrew

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bocaholly
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February 11, 2019 - 8:57 am
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Thanks for the Mackay recommendation, Gordon. Looks like it would be a good complement to the Whistler because of the selection of familiar pieces.

Whistler has a very few pieces... just mostly intro exercises and lots of etudes (which I enjoy, so it's OK by me.) There may be another Whistler vol. 1 that includes 7th pos. and higher. My beginner version (ISBN 978-1-4234-4487-9) only covers 3rd and 5th.

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Gordon Shumway
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February 11, 2019 - 9:40 am
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bocaholly said
There may be another Whistler vol. 1 that includes 7th pos. and higher. My beginner version (ISBN 978-1-4234-4487-9) only covers 3rd and 5th.  

Interesting.

Ah, I got it wrong. Vol. 2 deals with positions 2, 4, 6 and 7!

The Mackay books have the ISBNs

9780193576537 (there are some used ones for a reasonable price on amazon dot com)

9790220210709 (not worth it at the current amazon dot com price - it's not as good a book as the one above and it doesn't contain any position shifting)

Andrew

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bocaholly
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February 11, 2019 - 10:15 am
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Thx... will look those up :-)

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February 11, 2019 - 10:32 am
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I was looking for first position pieces in my original post. I have only done first position. Never second, third, etc. I have just started using 4th finger on a string before an open string that does not have a note on that string following the open string note, ie fourth in the D string to get an E, when E is not followed by a fingered note on the E string, rather than use the open E. I started this because a song we were doing in lessons actually was introducing that and had that as an optional fingering. I read that and did it and pointed it out to my instructor at the next lesson. She did not notice it was introduced then. So, now we are doing that. But we are still in first position. 

I think my problem is that there have been so many non-weather related cancellations. I am getting concerned about having to find another instructor, which will be hard. I just did a reply to GregW, I think, about a “reverse lookup” type way that I will look for an instructor, if I need one. But in the meantime, I am just trying to get really good at first position, play a variety of rhythms, counting beats in a measure, site read, etc, while not working against what lessons I am getting. The fiddle and Irish tunes I have are great, but I am also looking for those mentioned above in my original post.

I have have looked through online sources. I am really not an online person. Not a fan of giving strange websites my info. Enough trouble with ID theft. blurry_drunk-2127 I have done the online freebie music route. I am very picky about online shopping. I think I am just getting concerned about another violin instructor search. Three out of the last 4 lessons cancelled, does not look good, but maybe that will be it. 

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Fiddlerman
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February 11, 2019 - 3:25 pm
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Sorry cid, I don't know where I got that from. As BocaHolly wrote, I thought you had asked for that. I was not, nor do I recommend that you start learning 2nd position. LOL

I need to read slower. Did someone even ask that question?

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February 11, 2019 - 3:34 pm
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@Fiddlerman   I think it was mentioned in another post. Maybe by GregW or Moonshine,  but not sure. No biggy. I just have myself questioning whether my instructor is going to consider or get more reliable with lessons and am trying to cover myself, I think. Panic mode because of all the instruments I have tried, the violin/viola/cello really have me hooked, especially thw violin. I really enjoy it.

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Fiddlerman
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February 11, 2019 - 3:42 pm
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He will probably not push you too fast. Don't worry. 😉
be HAPPY!!!

"The richest person is not the one who has the most,
but the one who needs the least."

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February 11, 2019 - 4:03 pm
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@Fiddlerman  I meant to say, questioning whether my instructor is considering “no longer giving lessons”, or if my lessons will start to get more reliable. 3 of the last 4 were cancelled for non-weather related reasons. Roads were fine. Just trying to figure out how to proceed if she quits. Supposed to have a lesson tomorrow. We will see if it is cancelled again. Has me a little concerned. I really love this instrument, and really don’t want to lose my instructor. She is good, when we have them, and in spite of the late notice cancellations, I really do like her. Trying to get some helpful books lined up that will be interesting enough to motivate me to do them on my own in case I lose her, scheduled lessons tend to get a student moving better, than self-learning.

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Fiddlerman
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February 12, 2019 - 10:36 am
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I hope that she gets stuff together for you but if she doesn't, consider contacting local music schools, maybe a nearby university that has music/strings, to see if some of their students are looking for new students for extra income. They almost always need the income plus it's super beneficial for their learning process to teach. One learns so much when teaching.

"The richest person is not the one who has the most,
but the one who needs the least."

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February 12, 2019 - 11:50 am
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I hope she gets things straightened out. Maybe it as just a bad hectic time. Other than the cancelled classes, I do like her.

The local college is a community college and no orchestra. But, before I found my instructor, I had thought to put an ad on their bulletin boards requesting an instructor. That was my next try. Never know. I took night class banjo lessons there a couple years ago.

Also, I mentioned in Moonshadows’ post about looking for online instructors about using “reverse lookup” in the local paper’s classified. Rather than look for an ad from an instructor, put in an ad looking for an instructor. Might find someone capable of teaching you. I am not looking to be a performer or classical violinist. So, I will go that route, too, if the need arises.

When I purchased my violin, the violin shop checked their database of instructors. None out my way. They are already 1 1/2 hours northwest of us. The instructors were west of them, closer to the larger city near them, a lot of their customers are from that city. They checked each time we went in just in case they forgot about a new one registering with them. 

I am pretty positive that if I do need another, that by putting an ad in the classifieds and on the college bulletin board, I will find one. 

Ran the gamut of all the ones the two music stores have listed. They either only do children or they are associated with a school and only do their students. There were only three instructors.

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