Live Service
Music Books

My Story

Hi there, it's Fedor Ouspensky, the founder of Tuning Fork Music. I'm passionate about making learning materials higher quality, more intuitive, and up to date with what resonates with students today. I've been developing teaching materials for over 7 years, and I'm always evolving and improving them as I see my students use them and see their interactions and experiences with them. Because of the constant evolution of the material, I've had a hard time finishing them for a typical publication. But then it hit me. In the video games industry, live service is normalized, where beta versions of games are published, distributed, and updated over time, with those having obtained those games getting continued access and updates to their already obtained games. I realized this is the kind of flexibility and community relationship with students and musicians I'm looking for when it comes to my materials, and that this would allow me to grant public access to my work, while not being shackled to being "done" editing or tweaking it. I hope this will connect me to students more and students to each other, and will make these materials fit the needs of those investing money and time studying them!

What does Live Service mean?

It means when you buy a book here, you are getting not only access to the materials, you are also getting perpetual access to all future updates, versions, and additions to that material. The books below are regularly being updated, improved, and tweaked to serve you and to help you with the step of the learning journey you got the book to assist you with. Some books may be far in their development, while others may still be in early stages. Books in early stages are of the same quality as fully finished books and just as effective at addressing the needs they're designed to address, but may be shorter in length or not as comprehensive in how many ways it tackles those needs. If you want to learn more about a specific book and where it is in its development stages, click the "more info" button where you can view the completion status and future roadmap for the specific book [under construction].

The other great thing about live service, is we're all ears to hear from you how the materials are working out for you, so that we can continue developing and editing the materials to be as effective and helpful as possible. Join the conversation by commenting on the material you've had experience with and letting us know what you'd like to see changed or improved [under construction].

How does this affect pricing?

Pricing reflects how late or early in development the material is, how big the project was to create the material, and how valuable and unique the material is. The pricing for materials in early development will be lower, and increase as the materials reach late development, so if you buy materials in the "beta" stage, you not only support Fedor's work, but also get to pay the discounted early bird price, and once that material is closer to fully finished, you will have access to that finished version without needing to pay full price for it. Those buying the material later will pay full price, but they'll benefit by getting the finished version right away, without needing to wait for development to elapse.

Detective Dog
30$
Having trouble learning to read music notation? After going through this book, you'll be able to identify note positions, note names, and improve your sight reading on your instrument.
- Treble clef (bass & alto are coming soon)
- Concepts introduced through a very low learning curve
- Easy to follow small incremental steps
- Abundant worksheets to practice each step
Music Theory
50$
Want to deeper understand music but find theory intimidating, overwhelming, or confusing? This book will demystify music theory and deepen your connection with what you hear and feel in music.
- Easy to follow presentation of concepts
- Intuitive learning order and path through the material
- Focus on how the theory relates to the listening experience
- Clarity on what's generalizable and what's context dependant
- Never seen sheet music before? Chapter 1 covers that
- 20 pages thin without sacrificing quality or depth

More Info

Violin Book
20$
The perfect starting point, covering all essential basics and skills. Upon full completion of this material, you'll have exhausted all skills within 1st position, with the next step being shifting.
- Violin
- 1 skill per page, 5 levels of etude challenge per skill
- Self-pace and self-teach friendly
- Quickly move through for obtaining many skills fast
- Drill challenging levels for maxing per skill proficiency
Violin Book: Laser Cat Edition
9$
Some find notation to be difficult to navigate or harsh on the eyes. This edition makes the early parts of the Violin Book easier on the eyes through color coding and only keeping the essential bits.
- Violin
- Strategically color coded staff lines for visual clarity
- Note heads colored based on which strings they're played on
- Note stems removed (crossing lines can irritating the eyes)
Brave Bunny
20$
Wanna improve your sight reading skills? This collection of etudes will improve your interval reading and comprehension speed, covering all intervals up to an octave, all within 1st position.
- Violin
- Interval reading practice with vast variety of etudes
- Improves reading speed of connecting intervals to fingerings
- String crossing intonation practice
Violin Scale Book
30$
Scales are an early and essential part of the learning journey. Many scale books out there are very dense and intimidating. This one is under 60 pages long, cut down to the true essentials.
- Violin
- The thinnest comprehensive scale book on the market
- Introductory Scales chapter on scales & key signatures
- Just 4 pages per key: 3 on major, 1 on variants of minor
- 1, 2, and 3 octave scales, arpeggios, and all double stops
- Scales for position practice in context of different keys
- In depth explanations on fingering systems and philosophy
- Variety of fingering options to accommodate players needs
- Introductory Scales segment smoothing out the learning curve
Space Otter (Viola)
40$
Shifting is one of the biggest leaps in difficulty in the learning curve on violin. This book shows my unique approach to making shifting and intonation in positions truly reliable and consistent.
- Viola
- Clear explanation of the order of operation for shifting
- Consistent rules on what to do for different types of shifts
- Large collection of etudes and exercises
- Comprehensive technique that works on all possible shifts
Dancing Ducks (Violin)
35$
This book tackles double stops by breaking them down into etudes of gradually increasing difficulty to help improve dexterity and intonation control
- Violin
- Double Stops
- Incrementally increasing difficulty
- Improve dexterity and intonation control