Young Violinist's Tutor And Duet Book Free Download
Sandrine Willert
They know that at this juncture, I'm the orchestra. I reach for my duet books, and we take a ride together through their nearly-polished or recital-ready piece. Playing duet accompaniment provides opportunities that words can not: namely, communication through simultaneous music-making. Duet-accompanying also gives context to a student's efforts and allows me to support their music-making in a very literal way. It's a little different than accompanying at the piano, too, because I can model articulations, bowings and dynamics specific to the violin. (Also, I'm a much better violinist than I am pianist!)
Lately, the duets I grab are arrangements by violinist Martha Yasuda, an Atlanta-based teacher and arranger who has written more than 100 books of arrangements, including a set of violin duet arrangements of all the pieces in Suzuki Books 1-8.
Many of Martha's duets, such as the Handel Sonatas, La Folia and more, were simply impossible for me to find in duet form, before finding Martha's arrangements. She's also arranged duets for popular non-Suzuki pieces such as Meditation from Thais, plus books of Christmas melodies, hymns, American songs, wedding music and a raft of cello-violin duets and transcriptions for viola.
Being a teacher, Martha has made these arrangements in a way that allows for musical communication between teacher and student: parallel bowings, similar articulations, etc. But the arrangements stick to the originals enough to help a student transition to piano accompaniment. For example, a student of mine recently performed "Meditation from 'Thais'" in recital, and for many weeks beforehand I played Martha's duet accompaniment with him. The first time he encountered the triplets that run under his duplets (in m. 33), he stopped in his tracks. Whoa! "Let's get used to it; you'll hear it in the piano accompaniment, too," I explained. We also worked out a place at the end (m. 44) where let's just say, a lot of rhythmic "fudging" occurs, and not just with students! By the time he played the piece with the piano, everything fit together and not a lot of rehearsal was required. In fact, I find that in general, when duets are a regular part of a student's lessons, the students simply don't have trouble at recital time, when they have to play with piano.
Martha: When my daughter was five and needed a teacher, I knew that Suzuki was probably the best choice for a young child. I had seen some not-so-good Suzuki teachers, so I was initially a little hesitant. However, the teacher we found in New Hampshire, Sue Anne Erb, had mentored with someone who had lived with Suzuki in the summertime; because of this training, Sue was quite knowledgable and very good with kids. As I took notes as a parent and watched my daughter's progress, I became sold on the method. We traded services -- I helped her with advanced technical stuff and she gave me teacher training. I later took some courses with Kimberly Meier-Sims, Ronda Cole and John Kendall. My teacher in high school, Rudy Hazucha, was also a Suzuki teacher trainer, although I was too old to really be a "true" Suzuki student, having started when I was 10.
I have now been teaching for over 30 years. My program has changed a lot over the years and I have a mixture of different students, some more on a set Suzuki track and others more on a traditional course of study. Bottom line, love is the key ingredient, no matter what book or method you are using.
I still use many of the same Suzuki teaching concepts today that I did as a younger teacher, but always look forward each summer to observing others teach at the Atlanta Institute. This helps me to continue growing and gaining new insights as a teacher.
Martha: My first arrangements were done in 2002, and they were actually double-stop arrangements, books entitled Christmas Melodies, Double Stop Solos and Duets for Violin, Volume I and Volume II.
I had observed an Atlanta Symphony teacher, Ronda Respess, give a lesson to a student on Kreutzer Etude, #38. It has lots of double stops, and you need a bow that is a mile long because of the number of slurred notes. The student was quite good and Ronda did an exemplary job explaining the concepts, but the technical challenges of the bow and left hand were quite difficult for the student to totally nail everything.
After I observed the lesson, I asked Ronda what she thought about the idea of having students learn double stops using Christmas music. I demonstrated with a version of Jingle Bells, an arrangement I had made years before, that I would often play for friends and family at Christmastime. It's pretty challenging, certainly at the level of that Kreutzer Etude. Ronda thought that was a pretty neat idea and encouraged me to write more.
I was further encouraged after talking with a large Atlanta music store owner, Roxanne Rea, at Hutchins and Rea Music, who also thought string players might enjoy playing double-stop arrangements using Christmas carols.
After a few weeks of writing out the tunes, I decided to try and think from the mind of a student: How would I like to learn to play double stops, if I were a student? My revelation was to offer these arrangements in two formats, side-by-side: one as double stops, and the other in a duet format, where the two notes of the double stop were broken apart, but identical to the notes in the duet. If students could play the duet first with their teacher, they could aim to duplicate that sound when they tried the double-stop version.
I was unprepared for the student response. Students were coming into their lessons begging to play double stops! Actually, I think they just liked the idea that they got to play some music that was fun and familiar to them. I never let on that what they were doing was actually difficult!
A few weeks later, as I pondered, I realized that music had, to my knowledge, never been written out this way, using duets and double stops. I knew then that I had been given a nugget to share with students and teachers alike, since double stops are so challenging to play and also to teach. William Starr and William Preucil were both on board with this novel concept concerning double stop learning, and they both wrote forewords for the violin books and transcribed viola books, respectively.
Martha: I simply woke up one morning with a random thought, wondering if duets could be written for all the pieces in Suzuki books 1-8. I almost dismissed the idea, since it was rather massive to contemplate, but decided instead to actually try and write out a few duos and see where it went. I never dreamed that, five years later, my books would be licensed by the International Suzuki Association.
I view the duo books as stepping stones to playing with piano accompaniment, and that's how I use them myself. As a student is approaching readiness in a particular piece, I generally play the duo first with the student. Once we polish the duo, I then go over to the piano and play the accompaniment with them next. It is a very different experience to play a piece without piano vs. with piano. Generally, spots that were pretty secure frequently start falling apart because of the distraction of the added notes in the piano that have to somehow fit together with the violin.
Less than one percent of string players can play piano, and most have to hire a pianist for recitals. If the student is lucky, he or she might get two rehearsals before their recital. I was inspired to write duos primarily to help students for recital readiness and also just because it's plain fun to play your music with another part.
Martha: I have a rough draft of the first movement of the Mozart G Major Concerto. I had avoided these pieces because I have such respect and awe for Mozart -- I didn't want to ruin his music! Happily, I must say that I think the duo sounds quite lovely. So, I think, in due time, I will be doing at least the most popular ones, Nos. 3, 4 and 5. (Note, she has now done so and you can find them here!
Laurie: How are your duets different from the other ones that are out there? Are there actually that many, out there? Are some of yours the only duets for certain pieces? (Like for example the Handel Sonatas?)
Martha: Well, I think my duos are a little busier than most, and I try to have the two parts really moving in a similar fashion, with a similar number of notes. I think this helps students, to have the teacher moving in sync with them, generally thirds or sixths apart, and I also try to line up bowings as often as I can, too, so that students can see the teacher bowing just like them.
I think writers of duets for young students have been cautious, not wanting to give the second player too much to do, frequently just quarter notes and half notes, in an effort to somehow feature the student more. Although the intention is good, I think that, musically, that approach is not as interesting for the student and does not create as much of a harmonic framework that students will recognize when they eventually play with piano accompaniment.
I am actually coming out with a Second Edition for my duo books which will allow the piano parts to be played along with the duo parts. It has been a lot of additional work for me to completely merge the harmony parts, but I believe students and teachers will greatly enjoy the fruit of my labor in their group classes and recitals.
There are lots of duets out there for two violins. Many Suzuki teachers enjoy the three volumes of duets by Marianne Rygner, Fun For Two Violins. I did not know about her duos until I had maybe written about three-fourths of my books. At first I was in a panic, once I heard that she had written many of the same duos as me, thinking that we may have duplicated our writing. I was relieved, once I looked hers over, that our styles were quite different and that she chose only selected pieces from Suzuki books.
Growing up, I thoroughly enjoyed playing the Samuel Applebaum Beautiful Music for Two Violins. There are countless other duo books that I have also enjoyed by Mazas, Pleyel and the wonderful Telemann Canonic duos, to name a few. I absolutely loved playing duos with my high school teacher, Rudy Hazucha. His luscious tone and musicality inspired me greatly as a musician.
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