Marilynn mair book!

[Mandobar]

marilyn's book is first and foremost about technique and learning "the neck". #i am working with todd collins (no stranger to bluegrass there) on parts of the book along with deborah chen's bach inventions along with bill monroe style playing.......marilyn's exercises have helped me improve my finger dexterity immensely over the past 6 weeks.

[JeffD]

I have xeroxed the pages in the section on coordination exercises, and made myself a separate practice notebook.

[Rick Schmidlin]

Just bought mine today

[kudzugypsy]

so how is the method?? how does it differ from the old methods? is it just scales and shifting, etc.. i'd like to know

i've been interested in hearing about it for months and all i see here is 5 pages of how its bound and where to buy a bigger pick

[Jonathan Peck]

I've had the book for several weeks. I've not worked in it, but I've gone through it from cover to cover several times. There isn't alot of dialog in the book. It appears to be alot of scales and exercises as you suspect.

Take this at face value as I personally don't like to work in books from cover to cover, and this one would take months/year. On the whole, it does look like a good resource to have for the classically inclined player. It appears to be very comprehensive in building left and right hand technique through a course of study that also builds up your musical vocabulary - ie. scales, arpeggios, shifting and position playing, and time signatures that you will encounter in master works in the classical repetoire.

for example, she might take a scale, or scale intervals and put it in an odd time signature so that you are also working on building picking technique. The book appears to be progressive in nature getting more challenging on the picking hand as you progress.

As Emiril might say, she takes scales and adds a little POW! BAM!

If my memory serves me correctly, the first part of the book deals with the left hand. The next section with the right hand, and I believe it concludes with numerous duet pieces for which alot are recorded on an included CD. She also does get into more advanced right hand picking patterns and time signatures as you advance through the pages. This book will take a very large commitment by any individual who will try and work through it from cover to cover.

[Don Christy]

I was just on Mel Bay's site and see that this book is now offered with a DVD.

Anyone tried the DVD yet?
Don

[barricwiley]

Is it possible you looked at the the "complete Mandolin Method" and not the "Complete Mandolinist"?
Richard

[Don Christy]

Is it possible you looked at the the "complete Mandolin Method" and not the "Complete Mandolinist"?
Richard

... oops. It would appear that's precisely what I did. AND I have the MM book already.

Thanks for catching that.
Don

[barricwiley]

You're welcome. The CD is nice-but-a DVD would be pretty durn great wouldn't it? Wonder if she ever thought about it.
Enjoy the weekend all.
Richard

[Jonathan Peck]

As to not let this book become 'the best book I'll never use', I've decided to start working through it. While I did not take my copy to Kinko's to have it bound, I was able to safely deploy two clothespins to good effect.

I'll try and post and update after I work through the first section.

[Dragonflyeye]

I've been playing mandolin for a huge total of about 4 months now, and have had the MM book and CD for about a month. Making progress though, and I really look forward to working through the program. I love the way the book is laid out, and how rigorous it is. (Sharpened up my pick - thanks, MM!) I do have an issue though, with the CD - the music starts right as you press play. There's absolutely no count, or wind-up, or whatever you call it, as my other book/CD packages have. I want to play along (especially on the gorgeous duets), but have to start 3-4 notes in, and that makes me feel kinda frantic. When you want to play a particular piece (rather than play the pieces in sequence), you have to hit the play button on either your CD player or a remote control, and there's no way to get your hands on the fretboard at the moment the tune starts. I thought I might be able to back a bit into the previous tune, so I can start at the beginning of the piece I want, but the not-too sophisticated CD player I work with in my practice area doesn't allow this. For the most part, I've just used the CD to hear what something should sound like (or for travel music in the car), but so far, can't use it for play-along, as I was hoping.

Does anyone have any ideas?

I realize this is a little "waawaa" (what did students do before teaching guides came with CDs?), but this is the first time I've run into this. . .

P.S. I had the book re-bound with that plastic "comb binding," and it's already starting to tear a bit. The edges on that kind of binding are sharp. I think the smooth, spiral binding is the way to go. Oh well, that's what I'll do for my NEXT copy!

[dj coffey]

Mandolin Cafe never ceases to be the source of great ideas.

After decades of playing the piano and now taking up the mandolin, I've frequently cursed those books that would never lay flat. #Who knew it would be so inexpensive and so worth it to take those books to Office Depot and have them spiral bound!

I too purchased Ms. Mair's book. I've played a few of the exercises and am thrilled to find that, not only are they challenging, they also are tuneful which makes it a pleasure to play them!

Very nice work.

[August Watters]

Marilynn will be teaching a workshop on her book at Cape Cod Mandolin Camp in September.

Here's the workshop description:

The Complete Mandolinist- An Insider's Guide
Marilynn Mair will give a hands-on tour through her
new 224-page method book, published by Mel Bay in
December 2007. Bring your own copy, or buy or borrow
one at the workshop. Technique for the right & left
hand-- including tremolo, shifting, duo-style;
coordination exercises to develop speed and dexterity;
and advice on developing musicianship will all be
included, as they fit the interests of students. It's
your opportunity to ask the author questions directly.