Strum Bowing Etudes for Violin by Tracy Silverman

I bought this book along with "The Strum Bowing Method," because that book also includes, allegedly, videos (indicated with a camera icon throughout the text) to demonstrate the skills covered. There are not, however ANY videos available. When accessing them as instructed in the book, the place holder for the videos on the website given in the book ALL say "video unavailable." I used the "contact" feature on the web page to ask about it, and never heard anything back. I was on the fence about subscribing to the online Strum Bowing Academy, but now I decidedly have an attitude about it and feel that if I subscribe, I will have been suckered in to it. So I won't. I have other directions to go, so will just move on from this.

If you are thinking about a Christmas gift to recommend, this is it. I don't know Tracy personally and he didn't put me up to this. I for one am deeply grateful to the larger fiddle community for getting the word out on what is an amazing work. In fancy academic circles you might call this an "edited" book in that lots of other players have their first hand self-written articles on the singular topic of FINDING and keeping the beat. On the Acknowledgements page, Tracy calls it "Collected Wisdom." Pam Wilely of the Am Music System put me through Mark O'Connor Method certification, and I know 7 of those 24 endorsements he has. Do you know how hard it is to get busy people like that together for a single project?!! I got my copy in the mail yesterday, and I am blown away that Tracy Silverman would take the time and have the editor skills, and musicianship and educator drive for the benefit of the rest of us--for the next generation--to assemble what he has done on so complex a topic, and then deconstruct into the achievable bites for hacks like me. This is not just another "How To" book, it is a reference treasure. Thanks, Tracy, you are the man!