Comments for ibalalaika.com

Comment on Kalinka “Калинка” – Balalaika Lesson 29 by cor de bruijn

cor de bruijn — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 13:11:55 +0000

I like to become the song kalinka so I can listen how to singing in russian

thanks

cor de bruijn

Comment on Those Were the Days “Дорогой длинною” – Balalaika Lesson 30 by Alex Siniavski

Alex Siniavski — Sat, 16 Apr 2011 23:45:23 +0000

Paul, thanks for your kind words! That was not my translation, these are the lyrics by Gene Raskin.
As far as Dark Night is concerned I did not put the slow part because the song was already very slow.

Comment on Those Were the Days “Дорогой длинною” – Balalaika Lesson 30 by Paul King

Paul King — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 23:56:45 +0000

I may not have been accurate in my lesson descriptions, I can play the robbers, blue kerchief, and along the peterskaya road almost at your normal speed, I can follow kalinka but need practice and I’m still trying to learn those were the days, lesson 4 is still very intimidating to me, one of my favorites is dark night, but I don’t think it had the slow version you usually do after instructions so I couldn’t pick-up on it right away.

Comment on Those Were the Days “Дорогой длинною” – Balalaika Lesson 30 by Paul King

Paul King — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 23:40:25 +0000

I want to personally thank you for lessons 29 and 30. These songs are within my abilities and your chords have given these songs a very sweet melody. I learned how to play kalinka back in 1979, however the version I was taught never sounded as good as your version. Those were the days, excellent chords although I have not yet mastered it I will difinately enjoy playing this with the base-line recordings. I have almost mastered lessons 1,2, and 3, however lesson 4 is very complicated and will require a lot of concentration and constant reviewing of your lesson exercise. To tell you the truth lesson 4 is intimidating to me, but I am determined to go in sequence lesson by lesson till I can get all of these lessons completed, although I am skipping to lessons 29 and 30 for right now. I noticed your translation for those were the days doesn’t match the Russian included with the words, was that deliberate? I am very excited now about actually learning to play the balalaika better now for these recent songs and hope to be able to play well enought to use the fast speed.

Comment on Kalinka “Калинка” – Balalaika Lesson 29 by Alex Siniavski

Alex Siniavski — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 01:36:09 +0000

Thanks! Paul, there is an unabridged version in the member section and the backing track as well.

Comment on Kalinka “Калинка” – Balalaika Lesson 29 by Paul King

Paul King — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 19:06:45 +0000

Outstanding, thanks for this wonderful song, when can it be expected to have the full tutorial along with the fast/slow base line to follow?

Comment on Amplification of Balalaika – Balalaika Lesson 11 by Scott Fisher

Scott Fisher — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 20:18:26 +0000

Dear Mr. Siniavsky

I have bought your book and have also subscribed to your lessons. Since I o not know of any other players, it is slow going. Do you know of any other players or teachers in the Detroit area? Unfortunately, the old city neighborhood is gone. I would greatly appreciate any help you can give.

You have done a great job in keeping this wonderful instrument alive and popular.

Thank you
Scott Fisher

Comment on Where to Get a Good Balalaika by Joseph

Joseph — Sat, 12 Feb 2011 05:57:59 +0000

I think there have been some good points made on both sides of the issue. A “student” instrument would be a great find for a lot of us. It is unfortunate that the balalaika, like many traditional folk instruments, just does not have enough players to support such a market. Perhaps one would be well off to find an inexpensive instrument on eBay or elsewhere, but the quality might be questionable. From my own experience, even a beginner should have a good instrument. A poor instrument will discourage the student, and possibly (very likely, in my opinion) lead to them abandoning the effort. A well made instrument will cost more, but will retain it’s value. If the student decides the instrument does not interest them, a good instrument will bring close to what was paid for it on the used market (often more depending on the maker). I urge everyone to try and invest in the best instrument they can afford.

Wonderful site! Thank you so much Mr. Siniavski. Your playing and teaching are an inspiration to this balalaika beginner!

Comment on Balalaika Part Names and Setup – Balalaika Lesson 1 by Gin

Gin — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 23:41:11 +0000

Thanks you for making this site it is helping me learn, where I live I can’t get help from anybody.

Comment on Where to Get a Good Balalaika by David Hedvall

David Hedvall — Sat, 01 Jan 2011 01:28:26 +0000

I agree with you, and I have to say that I disagree a bit with the article a bit.

I can go along with the statement that it is far fetch to hope to find a good balalaika at a garage-sale. Finding a good guitar would be hard enough, and balalaikas are far from usual. Having said this there are a lot of better ways to find second hand items nowadays, I am of course talking about the Internet.

I do not know how it is in the U.S. but in Sweden you with ease get a real concert balalaika for about 1500 SEK, this equals about 225$. (At the moment there are two for sale, and both have probably been very expensive as new.) The reason to why they are so “cheap” are because there are not many balalaika players around. I am guessing that you could get a real good balalaika eBay for about the same amount, even if it is not good for an instrument to be shipped it should survive with no problem as long as the seller packages it well, and it is hard to avoid the shipping even if you are buying it from a luthier.

I am myself using a cheaper balalaika which I got for about $30, I find it that it sound decent, you may find a picture of it at my homepage.

Now if you do not have the money to spend for a new balalaika, you could always build one yourself. This is at least my solution to the “problem”, I reckon that the total cost will be about 2500 SEK (≈$350). Of course the project have taken much of my time, and it will continue to do so… (If you do not have access to all the tools needed, the cost will be higher.)

Here is a picture of the electric balalaika beside the cheap acoustic one.
http://balalajka.com/work/26d/balalajkas2.jpg

My tip is for you to get a cheap balalaika, it will do just fine till you get the hang of it, and then if you fall in love with the instrument buy a better one:)
It would also be possible for you to improve a cheap balalaika, it is far from impossible to get it sound good…

My best wishes with getting yourself a balalajka and have a Happy New Year!!!