Berklee Practice Method: Viola: Get Your Band Together

(Berklee Methods). Available for more than a dozen instruments, these coordinated method books teach how to play in a rock band. Learn what all the great musicians seem to know intuitively how to listen, interact and respond, improvise, and become part of the groove. The book and play-along CD will help improve your timing, technique, and reading ability to become the great player that everyone wants to have in their band! Topics in the Viola book include: warming up, practice routines, learning by ear, theory & technique, rhythmic interpretation, reading, improvisation, interpreting lead sheets, and more. The accompanying CD features Berklee players and covers a wide variety of styles.

Teachers are invaluable, practicing by yourself is critical, but performing in a band is the most valuable experience of all. That's what is so special about this series: it gives you the theory you need, but also prepares you to play in a band. This series will help you master the skills you need to become a creative, expressive, and supportive musician that anyone would want to have in their band. --Gary Burton, Executive Vice President, Berklee College of Music, Grammy®-award-winning jazz vibraphonist

The Berklee Practice Method is an effective and impressive combination of music and methodology for beginning-level players, emphasizing the practical aspects of Berklee's approach. This book expands the student's understanding of music theory, improves instrumental skills, and develops an ability to perform and improvise. I highly recommend it to anyone considering a career in contemporary music. --Hal Crook, jazz trombonist

What a great idea a basic book for all the instruments that form a combo. This offers students an opportunity to play together and develop a sense of teamwork, while at the same time, learning technical details about their instruments. I feel it is very correct to insist in training the ear, the ability to compose, and especially to read music. I am pleased how this method combines technical aspects, such as the use of articulation, with concepts that are purely artistic, whether playing as part of the rhythm section or as a soloist. --Paquito D Rivera, three-time Grammy® award-winning saxophonist/ clarinetist/composer