One of the most widely used book of exercises to learn violin is the Wolfharht Op 45 Sixty Studies for the Violin. I was working through the book on my mandolin this morning when it dawned on me that it would work well with accompaniment from Strum Machine. I found that Strummi had already done that with piano. I copied the chords to Strum Machine and it works very very well. My mind is spinning on what else I can do with Strum Machine. See my version of the first etude here: Strum Machine. The reason that Strum Machine works so well is being able to change tempo, focus on sections, repeat forever.
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I can imagine revising the Wolfharht book to be more lined up with bluegrass, old time, and celtic styles. There’s opportunity for a full line of instruction materials and a big jump in skill levels.
Are the lead sheet chords in the book? I don’t recall. I have a few classical pieces in my Strums, too. There is a person playing tunes with piano backup-like Memory, Ballade pour Adeline, My Way, Memory, Tico-Tico, and Canon in D. For Easy violin. They have the sheets so I put them onto Strum. I am not great at making chords from melodies. If you know a place please let me know. I had some theory and harmony.
Another idea is to use rests in the full form and use metronome.
That series was first published around 1906, so definitely would not have chords in it.
I also play guitar. I can hear what chord works for a particular melody line. I didn’t come up with these, though, I found someone on YouTube that was accompanying the same exercise. I could tell what chords were used and transferred them to Strum Machine.
How does that work? Chords, or no chords? I was looking for something more than just a metronome.
This whole exercise reminds me of an earlier request that Notes or References are included with each tune on SM when copied to someone else. In today’s version, neither of those items are included.
No chords. I have my own melody or get one from Canada and want to practice before finding the chords. To can do it with all measures of rest. You have to pick the key of course.
Then when IO get the chords I add them. But at least I am not stopped by not having any chords.
Cool. I’ve messed around with Bach and charted this Minuet in G and started on Intervention #4 but didn’t get very far.
I like it! I’ll mess with it tonight. It would be nice if the Resources tab had a YouTube link. That is not possible on a shared tune yet.
Resources tab does have a YT link but as you say it is not shared. I’m pretty sure is pretty adamant about not letting users links/comments/notes etc clutter the interface for the causal user which I agree could impact the user experience and there’s also copyright, access, security, privacy issues with all that so IMO it’s best keep it clean and in your own sandbox.
Sharing of notes and references is definitely something I’ll be exploring in the future, but there’s lots to consider (both in design and technical implementation) which is why I keep saving it for later.
David, I copied your Wohlfahrt 1 to my library. This is SUPER SUPER COOL! It is like a metronome that keeps violinists in tempo, but it sounds FUN and MUSICAL! I have often thought those Wohlf 45 etudes are just DYING for an accompaniment. And they use the basic 1, 4, 5 chords mostly. Hopefully we can add some more!
Thank you for noticing! Strummi has a few accompaniments for Wolhfahrt and Mazas tunes, but it doesn’t cover most of them. Now that I have a platform, I’ll start adding a few more.
I created another one that you could try, Wohlfahrt Op 45, Etude No 31. Strum Machine
Thanks for sharing the etude David. The Wolfharht Op 45 are a book of etudes (studies) , and are scores of music written for the violin. Etude no. 1 is fantastic for bowing. At the top of the score as it gives 12 different ways to bow the etude. Working through this etude and changing the bowing each time is hard (at first), but the result is making your brain separate your bow arm from your fingering. I spent 6 months working on these studies for one hour a day, and 25 years later I have retained the vast improvement in my bowing, intonation and fingering. As far as not having chords for these little tunes, it does show you the key and there is a benefit to the effort of figuring out what chords will work with them. Experiment with different chords, it is great for your ear. As long as it sounds good to you, it IS good. Strum machine is soooo great for this. It is so intuitive and easy to experiment with, and when you get a handle on selecting chords it is quick and easy. More time to practice!
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