Written as a companion to the wildly popular fiddle book, this method opens up the world of fiddling to the beginning/intermediate violist. Finally fiddlers, violists and cellists can jam together! Unlike many books for violas and cellos which simply transpose the tunes, the authors went to considerable effort arranging the tunes to be both playable and true to the original melody and key. Variations to the tunes are included illustrating how they can serve as a basis for improvisation. Ensemble skills are taught with chords and lyrics, basic music theory, and demonstrations of such skills as backup and lead playing in this playfully- illustrated book. A high quality, multi-instrumental CD for listening and play-along captures the excitement of the music. Like its fiddle counterpart, this method is destined to be a classic. 72pp. Contents are: Introduction- Tuning Tips -Bow and Fiddle Position- Holding the Bow- How Tight to Make the Bow- How to Hold the Fiddle- Left Hand Technique- Bowing Technique- Beginning Bowing Exercises- Volume and Tone -Fingering Technique The A Scale The D Scale- The G Scale- Tips for Playing in Tune- Beginning Tunes- Boil 'em Cabbage Down Shortnin' Bread Cripple Creek Camptown Races Angelina Baker Buffalo Gals The Fourth Finger Cindy Crawdad Song The Low Second Finger Old Joe Clark Soldier's Joy Arran Boat Song Drone Technique Shortnin' Bread Drone Boil 'em Cabbage Drone Cripple Creek Drone Camptown Races Drone Buffalo Gals Drone Angelina Baker Drone Cindy Drone Crawdad Song Drone Soldier's Joy Drone Old Joe Clark Drone Bowing Technique: Slurs Devil's Dream Bonaparte's Retreat Country Waltz Red Haired Boy Girl I Left Behind Southwind Bow Reset Staccato Slurs Red Wing Cairo Turkey in the Straw High Third Finger Grandfather's Clock Wise Old Friend Stinky's Blues Beginning Backup Playing Bonaparte's Retreat Backup Stinky's Blues Backup Girl I Left Behind Backup- Stay in Touch