Have you ever wanted to play an instrument? While I waited for Rock Band 2 to arrive with my plastic instruments, I thought of where I have gone to learn to play my real instruments. I have always wanted to play the drums, but whomever I live with refuses my pleas to learn! I have decided the plastic drum will have to suffice.
I have always turned to the Library and the variety of resources they have to learn the basics of every instrument I have ever wanted to play. The picture on the left shows a sampling of some of the musical instruments that I own and have learned to play. Here is a sampling of material that the Library has to help you learn how to play your instrument of choice.
For the Piano, the Library has several books and DVDs/Videos. Here are two commonly asked about items:
Complete Idiots Guide to Playing the Piano
For the Violin, we have a few books:
Principles of Violin Playing and Teaching
For the Guitar, we have several books and Video/DVDS. Here are two items often requested:
Complete Idiot’s Guide to Guitars
For the Harmonica, we have a DVD:
Anyone Can Play the Harmonica: A Beginners Guide
Once you have begun mastering your new instrument, you might be interested in some music to play. The Library has a few songbooks in the collection. Check out these two for starters:
Acoustic Guitar Songs for Dummies
Looking for other instruments? In our catalog, under keyword searching, try Hal Leonard Publishing Corporation. This publishing company produces many instructional DVDs for learning a variety of instruments.
Still can’t find anything? Try a keyword search for the specific instrument and instructional. If we have anything, it should come up. Looking for more music? We are in the process of ordering more song books, so check back in a bit.
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- CD Recommendation – The Crane Wife – The Decemberists
January 3rd, 2009 at 11:02 AM
Actually, a better catalog search would be a keyword search for the specific instrument and the word “instruction”. This will pick up more than the word “instructional”, since that entire word will only appear in the genre headings. The subject headings should have the word “instruction”.