Essential Elements 2000

So, for my training on the violin, I have been primarily using the method book, "Essential Elements 2000 for Strings, Violin Book One."  I have to say that knowing what I now know, I made an excellent choice.  Between the method book itself and all the help I have been getting from forum members at fiddlerman.com, my playing is coming along at a pace that is beyond even what my narcissism thought possible.  Of course, I'd still like to be playing much better, and I still have a LONG way to go, but I'm certainly getting there.

One of the things I've really enjoyed so far about the book, is the accompanying software, specifically the Smart Music program that is included with the method book.  This software has proved crucial because it includes the first 100 exercises in the book so you can play along with the accompaniment.  This is an outstanding added tool to the Essential Elements 2000 series!  Most modern method books come with a CD that allows you to play the accompaniment and play along with it, but the Smart Music program included on this CD ROM not only has the sheet music for the exercises, but a cursor that moves along with you as you play.  Additionally, the program allows me to slow or speed up an exercise so I can play each one at varying levels until I have mastered it and I am ready to go on.  The program also uses your computer's built in microphone, or another microphone if you have one, and shows you if you are playing too slow, too fast, flat, or sharp.  At the completion of a n exercise, the program highlights the notes you played correctly in green, and places a note on the sheet in red where you played incorrectly, allowing you to see exactly what mistakes you made, and where you were playing out of tune.

Speaking of playing in tune, the software has a tuner function inclusive, so you can tune your instrument before you start playing your exercises and make sure that you're learning the correct intonation for each place along the fingerboard. 

I am really enjoying this method book.  I'm approaching the end of book one, and I will make sure to do a full review of the entire book when I am complete, but for now, I will post here a couple of my videos so you can see the progress I've been making as I continue to learn the violin.  I'll post the videos in chronological order, starting with the oldest. 





Thanks for watching, your support is motivating!