Where do I go after Essential Techniques Book 3 for violin?

November 21, 2011 at 01:26 PM · The EE method books put a lot of emphasis on left-hand and somewhat less on the right. So I'd point you towards etudes that are more about bow use. That could Wohlfarht, Dont, Mazas, etc.,etc. The Whistler books have lots of relatively-obsessive short exercises mostly about finding & reading pitches in the various positions. If you love that sort of thing, go for it, but otherwise it might not be the best use of your time towards overall improvement. If you want a book similar to EE3, you could look at Frost's "Superior Technique". Sue

November 21, 2011 at 02:30 PM · Thank you, Sue.

November 22, 2011 at 02:53 AM · I'm in a similar boat to you in that I decided to take up the violin for my 46th birthday in Sep 2010, and I started with EE2000 as well. I did, however, find a wonderful teacher right out of the gate, and am now on Suzuki book 4 at 14 months of playing. I don't say that to sound stuck up, just to illustrate that dedication combined with proper guidance from a qualified teacher can really help you cover alot of space in a short period of time. So you may want to consider resuming your search for a teacher that you can hit it off with and has a teaching style that you can respond to, as I've been lucky enough to do.

November 24, 2011 at 04:14 AM · Thanks, James. I do manage to get in a "tune-up" lesson about once a month to check my form and help me with my orchestra parts. I'm still looking for something more regular, but in the mean time I'm sort of plotting a course through the etude books. There's just so many, I'm not sure where to start and which ones to do.

November 24, 2011 at 12:42 PM · Well, I stumbled onto a book just yesterday that I bought as soon as I saw it (just to supplement the Suzuki books). It's a brand new reprinted version of Wohlfahrt's foundation studies for violin book 1 60 first position studies. It also includes a dvd of Rachel Barton Pine performing each of the 60 examples. That might be something to look into.

Additionally, the Sevcik school of violin technics books 1 thru 4 have recently been compiled into one complete book. Same with Schradieck school of violin tecnics. Also , the Carl Flesch Scale system is very comprehensive as well.

November 27, 2011 at 01:50 AM · Thanks! Actually, having the DVD is appealing since a lot of my studies are without a teacher. I kind of like having the play along CD with the Essential Elements books because I can check my intonation with it.

Hey do you know if book three has an additional CD? I had to order one for book two but it seems like the there's nothing available for the exercises after number 76.

November 27, 2011 at 10:31 PM · Yeah, you have to purchase a separate cd to be able to have ALL audio examples. I've never found the additional cds in a music store, so you might have to go amazon or something.