BALALAIKA

COMPLETE BALALAIKA BOOK. METHOD SHEET MUSIC BOOK WITH CD & TABLATURE.

LIBRO METODO DI MUSICA PER BALALAIKA, CON CD.

SPARTITI CON ACCORDI, PENTAGRAMMA, TABLATURE. 

TECNICA, FOTOGRAFIE, 

180 PAGINE

La Balalaika è molto spesso associata al Folklore Russo. In questo metodo completo, l'artista che si esibisce nei concerti e ha registrato molti dischi, Bibs Ekkel svela a noi la sua vasta conoscenza di balalaika come viene insegnata in Russia oggigiorno. Questo libro di 160 pagine è diviso in quattro parti: ampia Prefazione, Tutore, A Breve Storia di Balalaika, e parte del Repertorio. Diversamente dagli altri libri di Mel Bay, Metodo Completo di Balalaika non inizia dai rudimenti delle nozioni musicali. La prefazione di 20 pagine offre un panorama generale sulle accordature di tutta la famiglia della balalaika, posizioni delle mani, risorse delle accordature, aggiustamento dello strumento, settaggio della distanza tra le corde e le corde e la tastiera, ottimizzazzione, la forma degli accordi. L'autore descrive anche come fare il pletro per la balalaika bass con il cuoio da scarpe. Tutore o parte delle istruzioni è scritta  per la balalaika 'prima' che correttamente si suona solo con le mani senza usare il pletro. Gli esercizi ed intonazioni variano tra minime, semiminime, crome, biscrome, semi-biscrome, le note puntate occasionali e ritmo sincopato. Probabilmente metà di brani di questa parte è trascritta  con notazioni e tablature. Incluso un glossario dei caratteri musicali e terminologia russo. Una storia breve di Balalaika è ben scritto e illustrato. Rari libri di Mel Bay hanno cosi completo quadro generale dello strumento in questione. La sezione del Repertorio offre dei pezzi preziosi della musica folk dell'Est Europa. Tutti, tranne due selezioni di questa sezione sono scritte con notazioni, e tablature con i suggeriti accordi per la chitarra, ad eccezione di arragiamenti per balalaika e pianoforte e spartito per orchestra di balalaike.   Più che semplice spartiti di accordi melodiche, sono degli arrangiamenti d'autore dei accordi per balalaika solo e orchestra di balalaike. Il CD che contiene dei brani selezionati e eseguiti dal autore, completa questo altamente istruttivo pacchetto.

La Balalaika ha solo 3 corde, e le due più basse sono uguali, Mi, Mi, La. Ma fare le cose fatte bene e suonare meglio degli altri non è mai facile. Si suona con il plettro o con le dita. Questo libro molto completo con tutti i consigli e riferimenti precisi sulle dimensioni e distanze tra i vari modelli e la "sorella" Domra, anche lei a 3 corde, però con 3 note diverse Mi, La, Re. Non mancheranno certo i pezzi della tradizione Russa e quelli di repertorio, come "Slovyev Sedoi", dvie gitary, la csardas di Monti, il volo del calabrone,  tra le tecniche: il vibrato, il tremolo, pizzicato, per finire con la partitura di un pezzo completo per 5 Balalaike e 4 Domre. Molte le fotografie per aiutare meglio a conoscere il mondo di questo strumento.

Like some poor relative, the balalaika is all too often left out of encyclopedias and musical dictionaries and, when included, often dismissed as a "primitive, guitar-like instrument of limited range found in Eastern Europe". Such descriptions do no justice to this unique and very beautiful instrument that can, in the hands of a master, produce a range of sound and wealth of expression unrivalled by any other instrument.

One ofthe greatest problems directly affecting the balalaika's popularity is its almost total confinement to Russia and the non-availability in the West of literature, music, and teachers for the instrument. The purpose of this book is not only to provide the student with a precise description of all the various techniques available to the balalaika player, but also to contradict misconceptions about the instrument and how it is played. (Unfortunately, the lack of balalaika playing traditions and material in the West has led to the publication of some scurrilously inaccurate teaching methods. One widely available book, notwithstanding its superlative-sounding title, has, to the author's personal knowledge, caused more than one budding student to give up learning the instrument altogether. )

The playing methods described and illustrated here conform to standards as taught in Russia today and include minor additions and innovations stemming from the author's own practical experience. As with other instruments, disagreement exists as to certain playing techniques on the balalaika. Russia being the vast country it is, there are geographical differences in accepted playing norms. Passages can usually be played in more than one way and in different styles. Many players, becoming adept at certain styles over the years, find it difficult to accept alternatives to their own preferred style of playing: recognizing their own as being the only correct one. As every hand is slightly different both in shape and size, it is only natural that variations will occur between each hand's comfortable playing position.

One should always remember the immortal guitarist, Django Rheinhardt, who, with two fingers of his left hand missing, necessarily broke countless rules. He not only proved that devotion and determination come first on the list of requirements for becoming an able musician, but showed up many other musicians in the process. The author has endeavoured wherever possible to indicate where acceptable variations in method and style may occur. However, certain contentious issues should be cleared up straight away.

Product Description:

The balalaika is most often associated with Russian folklore. In this comprehensive method book, concert and recording artist Bibs Ekkel shares his extensive knowledge of the balalaika as taught in Russia today. This 160-page book is divided into four sections: an extensive Foreword, the Tutor, A Brief History of the Balalaika, and a Repertoire Section. Unlike many Mel Bay books, the Complete Balalaika Book does not begin with the rudiments of music notation. Rather, the 20-page Foreword offer insights on the tunings of all the instruments in the balalaika family, hand positions, string sources and height adjustment, and chord shapes. The author even describes how to make a bass balalaika pick from shoe leather. The Tutor or instruction segment is written for the 'prima balalaika' which is correctly played with the fingers only rather than with a pick. The Tutor jumps right in with exercises and tunes in quarter, eighth, and sixteenth-note values with occasional dotted notes and syncopation. Perhaps half of the music in this section is shown in both standard notation and tablature. A glossary of musical signs and Russian musical terns is included. A Brief History of the Balalaika is well written and nicely illustrated. Very few Mel Bay books contain such a comprehensive historical overview of the subject instrument. The Repertoire Section offers a valuable resource of Eastern European folk tunes. All but two selections in this section are written in both notation and tab with suggested guitar chords, the exceptions being an arrangement for balalaika and piano, and a balalaika orchestra score. More than simple melody chord leadsheets, these are the author's own arrangements of tunes for solo balalaika and balalaika orchestra. A companion CD with selections performed by the author completes this highly effective instructional package.

Exactly when the balalaika fIrst appeared isn't known. What is certain, however, is that the instrument is

native to Russia and probably stemmed from another, earlier Russian folk instrument - the domra. The round-bodied, two-stringed domra, reputedly the favorite instrument of the "skomorokhi" (the wandering minstrels in the Middle Ages) is believed to have been first brought to Russia from across the steppes in the 13th Century Tartar invasion. The earliest known reference to the balalaika is to be found in a document dated 1688 – an official report on the punishing of two men caught playing the instrument in flagrant defiance of the 1648 edict of Czar Alexei Mikhailovich, which banned the playing of all 'devilish' musical instruments. All instruments were to be confiscated and burned, and transgressors faced a public flogging and banishment to outlying regions of Russia (which is, in fact, where folk instrumental art eventually survived, far from official control). Back then, the instrument had a semi-spherical, oval, or triangular body and a long neck with 5 - 7 movable tied gut frets. Almost all instruments were home-made and their shape, number of strings and tuning tended to vary. However, two or three strings and a triangular body with a back made of four triangular wooden slats seems to have been most common. Balalaikas were played in rural communities, enjoying wide popularity until being superceded by foreign newcomers: first the accordion and then the 7-string guitar in the 19th Century. The balalaika had all but fallen into oblivion when it was "rediscovered" by a nobleman and amateur violinist, Vasili Vasilievich Andreyev, who chanced to hear the playing of a peasant (a certain Antip) on his family estate. Andreyev was eventually to be responsible for repopularizing the instrument, helping it gain respectability and placing it permanently on the concert platform. This tireless champion not only learned to play the balalaika well, but also initiated a number of changes and improvements to the instrument. Apart from permanent chromatically-arranged metal frets and changes in design to improve its acoustic qualities, he had different sizes made, so that when the balalaika reemerged, it was not only as a solo instrument, but as an orchestral one too - gaining immediate popularity for collective playing. Andreyev's first solo public performance in 1886 in St. Petersburg caused a sensation. Soon afterwards he formed a small circle of balalaika enthusiasts, playing the full range of newly improved instruments. Their fIrst public performance was in March 1888. Soon this group was expanded to form a larger ensemble called the Great Russian Imperial Balalaika Orchestra, incorporating the domra and gusli, which by then Andreyev had also redesigned and improved. He also composed several pieces for the balalaika. Of the luthiers Andreyev commissioned to make his redesigned models: Ivanov, Pasyerbsky, and Nalimov, it was with the latter that he formed the most permanent and productive relationship. Nalimov made and repaired instruments in the workshop on Andreyev's estate, producing instruments which were later emulated by all the best makers. At one stage, while money was short, Nalimov and Andreyev removed all the doors and window-sills at ... (continue)

Formato: Libro/CD Set
162 PAGINE

Contenuto:
Foreword
Finding the Right Strings
Tuning & Bridge Position
Bridge
Adjustment of Strings
Tuning of Orchestral Instruments
Strings for the Balalaika Orchestra
Picks for orchestral Instruments
Chord Shapes for Prima (and Alto) Balalaika
Balalaika Diagram

Tutor
Strings
Tuning
Holding The Balalaika
The Balalaika Fingerboard
The Left Hand
Strumming With The Thumb
Left Hand: Using The Thumb
Right Hand: Plucking With The Thumb
Strumming With The Index Finger
Annotation of Strokes
Tremolo
Tremolo on 2nd and 3rd Strings Only
Double Pizzicato
Single Pizzicato
Pizzicato & the Left Hand
Tremolo on One String
Vibrato
Tremolo With Vibrato
Rolls
Syncopation
Left Hand Pizzicato
Glissando
Harmonics
False Harmonics
Triads
"Guitar" Techniques
Guitar Tremolo
Guitar Pizzicato
Forward Guitar Pizzicato
Straight-Fingered Guitar Pizzicato
Guitar Picking
Tricks and Special Effects
Some Extra Difficult Strokes
General Advice on Practicing
Glossary of Musical Signs
Russian Musical Terms
Short Introduction to Timing 

A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE BALALAIKA