Description

Does the idea of speaking in front of an audience fill you with dread? Relax! The Standard Deviants will help you overcome your fear of public speaking and help you deliver your message with style and flair! Using proven attention-getters, illustrations and delivery suggestions, Public Speaking will help you organize your thoughts and present them in a clear and persuasive manner.

Standard Deviants: Public Speaking covers: communication apprehension, supporting materials, factual materials, examples, specific instances, illustrations, anecdotes, expert testimony, chronological organization, topical organization, casuse/effect organization, introductions, attention getters, statment of purpose, statement of rationale, the conclusion, informative speeches, persuasive speeches, Monroe's Motivated Sequence, transitions, delivery, clarity, rhythm, imagery, physical aspects, attire, posture, body placement, gestures, facial expressions, vocal aspects, volume, pitch, rate, enunciation, pronunciation.

With our DVDs, you can jump around with the touch of a button and skip over those sections you have already mastered. These highly interactive DVDs also permit you to interact directly with the tutorial through drill-style quizzes and multiple-choice tests. ... Read more

Description

** PARENTING MAGAZINE MOM-TESTED VIDEO OF THE YEAR!!! **

** GOLD AWARD WINNER, 2003 National Parenting Publications Awards (NAPPA).**
** PREFERRED CHOICE AWARD, Creative Child Magazine **

The world’s greatest art comes alive in time to a fully-orchestrated score on this one-of-a-kind educational video. Stunning visual effects, live footage and traditional animation allow children to watch goldfish morph into a Matisse, and their own paintings become masterworks. The onscreen choreography actively involves young viewers in the the rhythms, textures and patterns of the art and the music, stimulating their imagination and jumpstarting their creative learning capabilities.

The smallest viewers benefit from exposure to color, shapes, music and movement, while older kids learn about creativity and composition. Chinese, Japanese and African themes show art as a reflection of our world. And first-class production quality invites adults to make early learning a family affair! ... Read more

Reviews (25)

My kids looovvvee this!
I have a 2 and a 5 year old and they just love this video. They have the other baby video series as well, but this one is their favorite. My 2 year old asks for the "star" movie several times a day. It makes me feel great to know they are watching great art rather than just kiddie stuff.

The Holy Grail of Baby Videos
Finally, someone got it right!!! It's only taken years of poor quality, basement productions for someone to finally step up the the plate. Parents, this video is a lifesaver!

Why It's Great:
It's actually educational. It's void of those ridiculous toy close-ups and cheap puppet shots (how is that supposed to make my kid smarter -- looking at toys???). No more tinkly baby piano music. No annoying sound effects.

This video is gorgeous. Amazing artwork that actually animates on screen, sort of like a connect-the-dots or intricate puzzle. It's not only dazzling for kids, but keeps parents entertained as well. They must have actually tested this on adults too, because for once I actually look forward to watching it with my kids.

The music is a full symphony version of some of the best classical music out there. The tape is worth getting for the soundtrack alone.

My older kids got more out of the art -- at least, they can talk anyway -- but my baby practically jumps out of her skin when Star comes on screen. Great host.

I highly recommend this video.

Equally enjoyable for me too!
I'm thrilled when our two year old goes to the DVD cabinet, pulls this out and says, "I want Star!" Of all the DVDs in our library for our two year old, I prefer this one head and shoulders above the rest. In fact, I enjoy it myself. Unlike other childrens' DVDs, this is wonderful even if it's just playing in the background while the children play with blocks in the next room. The classical soundtrack is refreshing first thing in the morning. And the artwork! I'm glad that my child is being introduced to the beauty of Van Gogh and Picasso at a young age. It's very well done and the artworks chosen are appropriate and enjoyable for children, even including one from "Goodnight Moon", one of her favorite bedtime books. The only flaw might be that this is thirty minutes long. My two year old doesn't object to that, but when this DVD is over I find myself playing it again. I wish there was a 60 or 90 minute version for grown ups!

A family favorite
Simply wonderful and different. A creative approach to learining. It "shows" the viewer how to look at art. Kid friendly but not simpering.

We love it. Bought "World Travel" too. For the Love of art is still our favorite. Can't wait to see what Baby Laureat comes up with next.

The baby, cat and I all enjoy it
This is a DVD my 14 month enjoys, and I actually like to watch it too. We have almost all the Baby Einstein DVDs, which I like, but this is much more abstract. Instead of "silly" - their term - puppet shows and toys moving to music, you experience art broken down to its very basic component shapes, and your child can see how a circle is the foundation of a Van Gogh or a triange the building block of a Matisse. Many great works of art are presented for your child, and a title is provided for Mom and Dad should they not recognize the piece (which is likely at times unless you are really well versed in art). The music is not "specially performed for little ears" on synths, like Baby Einstein, but is a full orchestral performance, much better for my ears. There are also live segments with children, which my little one enjoys as much as the animated segments.

The only downside is the lack of additional features. You pretty much get the main feature or a version with just art or just animation. There is also a music section, but it simply shows the title while playing and is not very stimulating. Baby Einstein's earlier productions have "flash cards" so you can practice vocabulary and reading with baby, and I wish Baby Laureate had something similar. Still, this DVD is one of my very favorites to watch with my shorty, along with the other Baby Lareaute title, Love of World Travel. We highly recommend it. ... Read more

Description

Mac Rebennack (a.k.a. Dr. John) demonstrates and analyzesmore than 30 tunes, from traditional New Orleans blues tocompositions of Cole Porter, Duke Ellington, Doc Pomus and others. ... Read more

Description

From A-to-Z, "Amtrak-to-Zephyr", packed with one full hour of fun and learning, this exciting video enhances children’s natural learning ability while exploring some of the coolest aspects of real trains.

Your child will develop skills in vocabulary and phonics,and while interacting with our kids on the video will explore: "in & out", "over & under", "teamwork", "above & below", "off & on", "same & different", all sorts of really cool trains and their sounds, train safety, railroad jobs from "Brakeman-to-Yardmaster" and of course, The Alphabet.

Written by a mother of two/professional day care provider, and teamed up with awesome footage from award-winning producer Les Jarrett, this video is sure to please the whole family.

Ages 3 to 6 years. Endorsed by Kids First. Telly Award Winner.

Kids liked the VHS version of this program so much that many parents call to tell us that they need to order another one because the child has worn the first copy out! ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Great educational DVD, poor sound quality
Great educational, "NON cartoon" dvd for kids. Well done with kids voices, clear pictures, and words spelled on screen. Enough action to keep my kid's attention. My only complaint is that the sound quality is OK, but not great (sounds like it was not done in a studio).

Great educational value with real train footage
My son just turned two and this is now his favorite video/dvd. It is approximately one hour of real train footage. The narrator and captions follow the alphabet to explain many aspects of train travel and general information about trains. The video is neither annoying (a relief after too many Thomas the Tank Engine videos) nor exciting. Yet, my son is riveted by the footage. He also shouts out the alphabet letters with the narrator.

I highly recommend this video to anyone with kids 18 months to 5 years. Especially if your children like the actual footage rather than animation. Also check out the Real Wheels series and Straight Up (and Imax movie on helicopters). ... Read more

Description

This DVD dives into the advanced principles of Algebra. The Standard Deviants’ tour of the world of algebra continues with complete coverage of quadratic equations, quadratic roots and factors, and higher order polynomials. Algebra Part 2 clearly presents these principles in a fun and approachable manner. A completely stand-alone program! Part 1 is not required. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

good for second semester in algebra
a tutor in your home - 24 hours a day, it's wonderful

a teacher in your home
perfect for that little bit of extra explanation - good for intermediate algebra

Algebra 1 - Part 2 by The Standard Deviants
This is an excellent tool for learning Algebra. It is entertaining as well as informative. The illustrations of Algebra rules and concepts helps the viewer to visualize what is usually only written in words. I highly recommend this for junior high, high school and college students as a learning tool. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

National Geographic Deserves More Credit
National Geographic is the best company for geography lovers like myself. National Geographic takes us in life-risking settings in real places all around the four corners of our world. A lot of children and adults still don't even know that there is a National Geographic. And to see that only one person reveiwed this exellent set of spellbounding places frightens me. People should take National Geographic more seriously and start respecting the people who make these features. For this collection, the camera angles inside the films are exellent. The cameramen and photographers are obviously professionals. If you want your child to start liking geography or learn something while watching television at the same time this is just for you. If you child dosn't like experiencing it by watching the movies they can learn by playing fun and educational games and quizes as special features. This is a must have collection. It is quite expensive, but it is worth the money.

Great for a Nat. Geo. ...
This is all the Nitional Geographic DVD's in one box. If you plan to get them all or want to give as a gift it's great. A little ... but still a good value. ... Read more

Reviews (9)

Didn't help
I saw this in the bookstore and bought it, hoping that maybe my French skills could improve. I was taking French 101 in college and needed some help (if being tutored by a female, I'd get no work done). The humor was so distracting and dumb. Ah, Standard Devients, you're breakin my balls. If you search the web for free French lessons, you'll find tons of em. The Standard Deviants breeze through their lessons, leaving a French-Canadian like myself cross-eyed in the dust. Maybe foreign languages aren't my thing, but I watched the DVD twice (with a twitchy eye the second time) and still got a C in the class, and I paid complete attention. I went to class everyday and did the workbook, too. Maybe some good-looking actresses would help this video, and perhaps somebody who knows about proper video lighting/coloring, or maybe better content organization. It goes over the bare-minimum basics, and unless you're five years old and/or can learn a foreign language easily, I'd stick with searching the Internet and/or buying cassette tapes. As they stated at the beginning of the video, it's just a supplement; you should go to class and blah blah blah. You'd be better off watching some French foreign films-- or maybe watch movies that have French audio-tracks with French & English subtitles. Memorize the movie in English, then re-watch it in French. I learned more using that method than by watching 10 people jack around in a plotless video for 90 minutes.

And yes, I'm Canuckian.

Great for those who know zero french
I strongly reccomend this DVD for those who are just starting to learn French. This DVD covers the very basics that will be needed to understand anything French. It introduces the viewer to understanding that a verb in French (like "go" in english, "aller" in French) is different based on who is doing the action. If I "go", then "go" is written "vais"; if we "go", then it is written "allons" and pronounced differently. I found this element of learning French painful at the start, that instead of learning one word for "go" I had to learn six. But once I became accostumed to it, learning became much easier. You can also expect to learn a little about numbers and colors, and a few verbs and nouns.

This DVD in no way will leave you knowing enough French to go and speak it. This DVD, and part II, leaves the student with enough basic information so that learning will become much easier. For example, I used the TV series "French in Action". At the start of my studies with lessons 1-6, I had a great deal of trouble understanding what was going on. After watching the Standard Deviants DVD it became much easeir.

One more thing about this DVD. It was entertaining and enjoyable to watch. I did not feel like I was working to learn, rather I felt more like I was watching a show and everything was sticking, that I was remembering what they taught. I highly recommend this for the absolute begenner.

Good Content - Poor delivery
I purchased the DVD to bring with me to learn French while in France (unplanned extended trip). The content is more useful than the audio CD I purchased, however the delivery makes it very difficult to learn. The "humor" noted in other reviews is annoying, but could be overlooked if it were easy to rewind and review - but on a PC, viewing the DVD you cannot rewind in short segments as you can with a remote control/TV DVD setup. There is almost no repetion and the words flash across too quickly to absorb without rewinding. If you have the patience to rewind rewind rewind, there is useful information to be learned.

informative funny, not for learning accent
Its two videotapes each about 80 minutes, progressing in both difficulty and knowledge.
They clearly teach you how to pronounce and conjugate verbs paying attention to tricky verbs ( nous mangeons, vous appelez, teach about adjectives, adverbs, reflexive verbs (to wash), how "the" is complex in French, such as le-la-les, ce-cet-ces, Etc,. each chapter was followed by review conversation that were all excellent. Also each tape came with very handy useful informative insert card.
I used this course to refresh my French, and recalled and regained good information, especially with humorous examples. Unfortunately some times as the other reviewer mentioned was "overly corny".
I did not at all like the idea of learning French from non native speaker, the French accent and pronunciation is difficult with those nasal voices and different "e, eaux..",. Despite the actor great effort but they remain far away from real French. This what force me to give it only three stars, rather it will be four, this is my only take on this informative fun to watch course.

Enjoyable French Review and Refresher
As a person who studied French in school but never mastered it, I loved the Standard Deviants' French 1 tape. It gave a brief but comprehensive review of all the basic important parts of speech. It also emphasized pronunciation, an aspect of French not properly represented in the classes I'd taken in high school and collage. The tape says it can't be used to learn French. It's correct. It really needs to be used with a French course, or some other method of learning the language. As a resource to aid in learning comprehension, or as a refresher course for folks like me, however, I give it full marks. Most of the actors and graphics are engaging. A few things were overly corny. I could have done without the weird, old-fashion cowboy guy yelling at me, or the girl talking out of her passport picture. But, these were minor momentary irritants that didn't take away from the effectiveness of the tape...besides the cowboy guy sort of grew on me after a while. The Standard Deviants' tape did one thing I really liked. Learning a foreign language requires repetition. Most tapes I've seen in the past either offered too much repetition for me, which left me bored and uninterested in continuing, or not enough repetition, which left me confused. The Standard Deviants' found a solution to this dilemma. At first, I was surprised at how quickly they covered each subject. Then, I realized why. It's a video tape. One can rewind it as often as one desires. They covered each thing once with nearly no review and then urged the viewer to rewind the section as many times as they needed. This left it up to each individual viewer to decide how much repetition they wanted. A very clever idea! Overall, I found the tape helpful and enjoyable. ... Read more

Description

Learn the TOP HAND Release and Hit Like the Pros!
"A World Class Instructional Hitting DVD forBaseball and Softball Players of ALL Ages!Bobby Woods, a former Professional Baseball Player of the Chicago Cubs Organization, shows you the most important principles of hitting, including the "Top Hand Release" style of hitting used by major league superstars Willie Mays, Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, Barry Bonds, Ken Griffey,Jr., Tony Gywnn, Alex Rodriguez,Bernie Williams and many others.

Dear Parents,

Have you ever watched your son or daughter struggle at he plate and wished that there was something you could do to help them? You've practiced with them , you've provided comfort and encouragement- but even that can only go so far in improving your child's performance and confidence when it comes to hitting the ball.

What you need is a way of teaching your child the fundamentals of hitting that will be fun and educational.

Bobby Woods'instructional DVD "Mom, Can You Teach Me How To Hit? is the ANSWER!

This lively 75-minue DVD is designed to help both you and your child understand the process of becoming a better hitter in baseball and softball.

In "Mom, Can You Teach Me How To Hit" you get to spend the afternoon with former Chicago Cub Bobby Woods in New York City's Central Park as he teaches a mother and her son the most important principles of hitting including the "Top Hand Release" style of hitting.Woods, who has won 5 Coach of the year awards at the high school and college levels, will show you and your child everything you need to know to improve your hitting performance, including:

. Muscle Memory
. Stance
. Weight transference
. Grip
. Rhythm
. Hitting inside out
. Balance
. Power
. The launch position
. Using your hands
. The short quick swing
. Seeing the ball
. Mental imagery
. The stride
. Follow through
. Using the whole field ... Read more

Description

Take a comprehensive look at Operation Iraqi Freedom, from the military buildup and the shock and awe campaign to the fire-fight in Basra and the toppling of Saddam Hussein's statue.With spectacular footage never before seen in the U.S. and first-hand accounts of soldiers, reporters and National Geographic's award-winning production team, 21 Days to Baghdad will feature an exclusive, insider's look at the war strategy that ultimately drove Saddam Hussein from Baghdad. ... Read more

Reviews (5)

Great Visuals
This is a very good documentary even if the content is too liberal. What I enjoyed about it was the stunning visuals. True to the character of National Geographic the photography was simply excellent. I would recommend this video for that reason alone.

Documentaries are by nature presenting a point of view and this one is the typical liberal media outlook on war - any war - and very poor in its overall analysis of the results of achieving victory and what that will mean for the war on terrorism. Few documentaries I have ever seen go very deeply into what the causes and results of wars may be. Nothing is mentioned of the disruption of the flow of large sums of money to the terrorist or the denial of a large bureaucratic structure to the terror organizations etc. Typical superficial view of war and the practical realities behind the fighting.

But you can't beat the visuals. And what, after all, is the main reason for watching something on the screen? Visuals. The pictures are what this video is all about and worth every dime to see the footage shot.

The filming and narration is handled well. Tight and well edited all the way. I wish other documentaries would edit and control the flow of the documentary as well as this one. Good job.

okay, but not outstanding documentary
While not a complete disappointment, this documentary could have been much better. Admittedly the filmmakers manage to cram quite a lot of information in the rather brief running time (1 hour), but it is too short.
After a very brief introduction about the reasons that led to this military conflict, 21 DAYS TO BAGHDAD shifts aboard carrier
vessel USS TARAWA, where we see marines training for the upcoming combat. The US strategy focussing on high tech, flexiblity and special forces is explained. Officers explain weatherforcast for military purposes. Then 21 DAYS TO BAGHDAD
details the story of this successful military campaign in day by day form. While we get to see all the familiar aspects of the conflict (the "shock and awe" aerial bombardments starting the war on 20/3, sandstorms delaying the advance of the Allied troops, the ludicrious antics of Iraqi "information" minister
Mohammed Saeed al Sahaf, Jessica Lynch's story, special forces operating behind enemy lines) a lot of the proceedings focus on an embedded journalist advancing with marines and a National
Geographic film team in Bagdad secretely filming the aerial bombardments. I was particularly impressed by this footage. I was also impressed by the combat footage, where marines fought for a bridge with Iraqi soldiers.
Again, there is a lot of information in this documentary, but in my view it lacks depth.
Extra features are impressive, but, once again, lack depth. There are bonus interviews with the journalists, which are quite interesting. They comment how they managed to film the aerial bombardments on the sly from the balcony of their hotel and the experience of being in the field together with the marine unit. There is also a feature called Interactive War Zone Map (= a day by day account of important events of the war with troop movements shown on a map.) Sounds interesting, but I wish the map would have been more detailed. An option to zoom in would also have been welcomed by me. Then there is a Tools of the War feature (files on war vehicles and weapons). It is divided into 3 sections (air, land, weapons). The e.g. weapon section consists of files on the following:
* GPS-guided bomb
* laserguided bomb
* cruise missile
* Javelin anti-tank missile
* bunker buster bomb
However, do not expect too much. Each "file" consists of a single image and a very brief description.
Rounding up the extra section of the DVD are three trailers for other National Geographic DVDs: INSIDE THE PENTAGON, VIETNAM`S UNSEEN WAR (about the conflict from the Vietnamese perspective; this indeed looks quite interesting) and LEWIS AND CLARKE: GREAT JOURNEY WEST.

Boring, superficial..
This DVD had very little new information about gulf war II, and was essentially just summing up the major events.

It was also very low in technical content and veeery us-centric.
The battle of Basra was scarcely mentioned, let alone the british use of Alarms to loiter above Baghdad, knocking out AA radars as they came online.
I would have liked to see something more about the use of the B52's as cruise missile platforms, or more about the in-flight retargeting of planes. Something special about the conflict was the astonishingly low time from target aquisition, to coalition planes being able to put steel on target.

The dvd is also high on interviews, and low on action footage.

This is probably a nice dvd for military fanboys with low technical knowledge...but for the rest of us this is a thing to avoid. I bet anyone having served or serving in the armed forces will find this dvd shallow and superficial.

21 Days To Baghdad
The minute that I started watching this I wouldn't stop until it was over. It had me very interested. I think that I liked it so much because I have a lot of friends in the military and they are al over in Irag right now. If you haven't seen this DVD you should watch it. Rather than watching it, you should buy it. It is well worth the money that you have to pay. I wish that there was more videos/DVDs like this one.

A compelling look at Operation Iraqi Freedom
National Geographic has done itself proud in its production of the three most critical weeks of military action in Iraq. Beginning at the launch point in Kuwait and following through to the culmination of the military offensive in Baghdad, the American war machine is analyzed and showcased in much detail.

Using footage never seen by the American public, a comprehensive picture is drawn of a decisive, although ambiguous military victory. State of the art technology, advanced weapons systems, Special Forces operations, and military tactics demonstrate the outstanding abilities of the United States armed forces in achieving their objectives. Interviews with ground forces, military experts, and journalists show the emotional side of the conflict and how it affected those involved.

Relegating itself less to politics and more to wartime operational aspects, 21 Days to Baghdad is a solid, in-depth, and superb documentary on the campaign to oust the regime of Saddam Hussein.

This DVD offers outstanding audio and video qualities and comes with 3 good special features which consist of an interactive war zone map, tools of war fact files, and bonus programming with special interviews. For any and all viewers interested in the depth of Operation Iraqi Freedom, this is an excellent account from start to finish. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A must have for all Jorma fans!
The individual performances on these DVDs are worth the cost alone. Jorma's instruction, and explanation of technique, is easy to follow. It really feels like a one on one lesson.If you've ever admired Jorma's playing, you'll be happy to know it's not as difficult to play as it sounds. It will take alot of practice to master though. If you have solid intermediate fingerstyle chops, you'll be able to handle many of the tunes. My only criticism of this series is that the included tab does not precisely match the version Jorma plays on the DVD. The tab is not incorrect, it just has some variations. I would recommend using the tab for reference and studying it later for the variations. I hate to end on a negative note, so I will say that this one of the best guitar resources I have ever purchased. ... Read more

Reviews (24)

A Great First Exercise Video for Toddlers
If my daugter was old enough to rate this, she would give it 5 stars. She is 1-1/2 year and loves this video. She asks to watch it several times a day. The short scenes of "activities", such as bending, jumping, and twisting, are appropriate for young toddlers that are not ready for choreographed workouts. The length of the scenes are appropriate for this age group as their attention spans are not very long. It has lots of singing and some "free-style" dance and of course the favorite Elmo.

Fun to watch, but not to get fit!
I bought this video expecting it to help my 4 year old exercise more, but it it more of an entertaining video ABOUT exercise. The songs are designed to get children moving but the breaks between songs are too long, so the momentum is broken. My daughter who is great at following directions, had a hard time following it. She likes to do things "the right way," but the children are frequently all doing different things(rather than moving in unison)...so she gives up and just watches. It is okay, but I'd say there are better Sesame Street videos out there for your $$. This one tries to be both entertaining and good for exercise, but it meets neither goal very well.

One of the worse ones
Apparently they hired their singers off the street without hearing them as they are terrible. No surprise in that Cyndi Lauper is horrible, she always was. My 1 1/2 year old will sit and watch it sometimes but she seems to find this one boring as well. It gets a 2 instead of a 1 as it has Elmo and my daughter will watch it sometimes, but other elmo videos you couldn't pull her away from. There are certainly videos out there more deserving of your money. Bleggh!

Fun
My granddaughter who's almost two years old loves Elmocize. We have it on VHS but also had to buy it on DVD. She watches it more than a couple of times a day. She loves all the songs and of course Elmo

elMO cRAZY
mY SISTERS are in love with elmo i have 2 year old triplet sisters and all they say is elmo elmo so last year for christmas we made a special elmo list and now they can wautch elmo all the time. carson, melanie, and morgan are they're names. ... Read more

Product Description

Learn the trademark riffs and solos of the man who reinvented blues and rock on the guitar. An in-depth analysis of eight classic songs presented by Greg Koch: Honey Bee ? Lenny ? Love Struck Baby ? Pride and Joy ? Rude Mood ? Say What? ? The Sky Is Crying ? Tightrope. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Fun, entertaining & educational
A fun, interesting reinforcement and clarification of practical French phrases and rules. A great supplement for students taking french lessons in high school or college. Also great for adults. I bought Part 2 first. After watching the video, I ordered Part 1 for my daughter. ... Read more

Description

In addition to being one of the world's greatest bluegrass musicians, Sam Bush is a clear and dynamic instructor who communicates his ideas with clarity and ease. This terrific two-part series will help aspiring mandolin players improve technical prowess, build repertoire and develop formidable musicianship.

Sam teaches traditional fiddle tunes "Ragtime Annie," "Bile Them Cabbage Down," "Blackberry Blossom" and "Sally Goodin," showing you how to create variations on the melodies, use drone strings for fiddle-like effects, employ crosspicking techniques for a smoother sound and move up the neck to play in higher positions.

A long admirer of Bill Monroe, Sam details the bluegrass master’s unique approach to his instrument, teaching "Big Mon" and the ear catching cross-tuning effects in "Get Up John." He then goes into his own challenging arrangements of "Brilliancy" and "Whayasay" (from his CD "Glamour & Grits") and "Big Rabbit" (from "Howlin’ at the Moon"), all of which will help you develop technical proficiency and dexterity on the mandolin.

Sam is one of the instrument’s great rhythm players, and he shows the essentials of damping, chopping and strumming for bluegrass, reggae and other styles. You’ll also get detailed instruction in pick technique, scales, speed building, warm-up exercises, tremolo, improvised soloing and much more.

As a bonus, Sam provides an up-close look at his 1937 "F5" and his new "Sam Bush Model" Gibson mandolins, explaining the differences between them. He talks about his equipment, favorite strings, fret sizes, pick gauges, electronics and the ways that his instruments have been set up to suit his exacting requirements.

This method is an invaluable and important addition to any mandolin player’s instructional library, and is highly recommended. ... Read more

Description

This very popular DVD have benefited students as well as teachers who wished to learn West African rhythms. This DVD can be viewed on your television using a DVD player or on a computer with a DVD drive.

With this DVD you can instantly access ANY of the parts you want to practice. Searching the VHS tape is eliminated and is a thing of the past!

John Yost has studied in West Africa and U.S. djembe and dunun with the following Master drummers: M’Bemba Bangoura, Madou Dembele, Yaya Kabo, Gbongworo Keita, Mamady Keita, Famoudou Konate, Ibro Konate , Michael Markus, Paulo Mattioli, and Babtunde Olatunji.

Japanese Taiko drumming in Japan and the U.S. with members of Kodo including: Yoshikazu Fujimoto, Eichi Saito, Leonard Eto, as well as with Miyauchi Sensei, Grand Master Seiichi Tanaka, Master Ukichi Takano etc.

Drum Circle Facilitation Training in Hawaii with Arthur Hull , 1994 , Mentor Program in 2002, as well as various weekend trainings. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Excellent rhythms video
I bought this DVD knowing that it contains videos of West African rhythms, just like the title says. The description does not say that it is a DVD of djembe basics. I couldn't disagree more with a previous poster saying it isn't for beginners. There are three notes you need to learn on the djembe - slap, tone, and bass. The other videos may show you that in two minutes but then what? One needs to incorporate those notes and make music. With the two angles you can see the techniques on how to play the notes.

I use this DVD to remember the rhythms and to play along with the other parts. I think the DVD is for the beginner to intermediate student. I have owned and have watched other djembe videos but this is the only one I use frequently even more so than the Mamady Keita videos, which are also strictly rhythms but are on VHS. The instant access to the rhythm parts is a big plus.

Not for beginners!
I bought this book as a gift for someone learning the djembe drum. This book is not for someone brand new to the drum. There is no basic instruction on how to slap, beat, or use the drum, just instruction on some various rhythms for songs. It is not useful for someone who needs to understand the various touches and sounds that can be produced on the djembe. It simply jumps into videos of hands hitting specific rhythms. This is not what was expected.

African Drumming Instruction Goes DVD!
This is an excellent instructional media format for learning several of the most popular African folk drumming songs for Djembe and Djundjun. I have learned how to play world percussion instruments the hard way through long hours of practice, and I really appreciate the advantages provided in this DVD format for future generations. The Djembe is the recently popular hour glass shaped hand drum from Africa made from Mango, Kwenboa, or other indigenous hardwoods. The Djundjun is played with a drum stick to keep basic bass rhythm and is usually mounted with an Cow bell that is played in synch. Parts are delineated for two or three different sizes of each drum. This allows several players to play in tandem, as is done by Dahui, the author's band. John Yost is a Chicago area drum circle facilitator and veteran player. The actual playing is a top down video of the hand playing that can be played slow or fast. The viewer also has the option of seeing all drums played together in a mixed format or one by one. I would strongly encourage the DVD format being used for such instruction in the future. My only suggestion with all of the megabytes available in this format is to provide the opportunity for viewers to play along drum circle style over prolonged sessions to add to the enjoyment of the DVD. The band Dahui could provide a few of their more than lively tracks or even music video for playing along.

One of the best DVDs
This is one of the best Instructional dvds i have ever seen. it has so many different rhythms and it shows you each different part in each one. It is very easy to understand and it shows the rhythms in parts, both slow and fast. Not to mention that it also shows all the parts in a rhythm all together. ... Read more

Product Description

Formally a three-video boxed set now available in one DVD featuring over two hours of footage from the original programs which include: Johnny Vidacovich/Street Beats: Modern Applications * Herlin Riley/Ragtime and Beyond: Evolution of a Style * Earl Palmer and Herman Ernest/From R&B to Funk. Johnny covers parade beats and street beats and applying them as grooves to the kit. His playing blends New Orleans parade beats with funk, reggae with second line, and Dixieland with modern jazz. The great band performances on this video feature some of New Orleans' best musicians. Herlin with Wynton Marsalis, explores the history of the drum set as it relates to the development of jazz drumming, from ragtime to modern jazz. Beginning with military styles and moving through ragtime to jazz, he focuses on the most important features of each style. Earl demonstrates the R&B style helped create which includes shuffles, second line-influenced grooves and rock 'n' roll. Herman performs several tunes that reflect the rich, unique character of New Orleans funk. Both styles feature performances with a band. ... Read more