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.

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 instructiona

Translated from Russian by Simeon N. Jurist. An elementary method in one volume consisting of four parts. Part One introduces all the fundamentals including note reading and chordal accompaniment. Each succeeding part advances the player through the positions. Part Four contains supplementary repertoire.

Trubloff the mouse lives with his family in the village inn but dreams of becoming the greatest balalaika player in the whole country and one night he runs away with a band of gypsies who promise to teach him to play. Trubloff's poor family are overcome with worry but in the end it is Trubloff's gift for music which saves them from an awful fate.

On a final assignment for his top-secret British intelligence agency, Quiller infiltrates the mafiya of post-Cold War Russia in order to take out a brilliant crime lord, a mission for which he must also rescue a prisoner from a gulag prison.

Presented here is a rare collection of some of the best Gypsy folk songs popular among the Romanies of Russia and Eastern Europe. All offered in the original Romany tribal dialect, as appropriate to each song, with easy-to-follow pronunciation guide specially formulated for the native English speaker and literal (word-for-word) English translation. the appended short historical and linguistic overview offers a rare insight into the history, traditions, language as well as the music and songs of this unique and mysterious people. Great addition to any pianist's collection!