Simple Duets

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Hi! I have given free violin lessons in a poor area in the past, and am thinking about going back this summer. I'm looking for a book of violin duets/trios.

The music needs to be mostly classical, although not necessarily the recognizable pieces everyone always plays.

The students have a basic understanding of music and notes.

The music should be all first position for the second (or third) parts, and first position with a little bit of simple shifting for the first part.

Slurs and hooked bows are fine; I prefer to keep it mostly up and down bows on the simple parts, though, as the students have varying degrees of knowledge, from playing now-and-then to taking lessons for a few years to true newcomers to the instrument.

The goal is to keep everyone entertained, play beautiful music, and avoid frustration at all costs. It's supposed to expose these teenagers to classical music, bring about some camaraderie and self esteem, etc., not make them feel stupid.

.

I am looking for a book with ten or twenty pieces of varying difficulty from different composers. Ideally there would be different eras and parts of the world represented, but that might be asking a little too much from a simple duet book. Also, the second part (or third part) would be ideal for newcomers to the instrument, while the higher parts wouldn't be boring for more intermediate violnists.

So, basically... simple, but not demeaning, music for a summer violin session. Starting out relatively simple (maybe Ode to Joy-ish) and going more hard-core (maybe a page with staggered rhythms, accidentals, etc.).

Thanks for your time!

--VV

zoom
(1004 points)

Here are two "maybes" ...

(1) http://www.sheetmusicdigital.com/stringensemblesmd.asp (I've downloaded some non-string things from this site in the past.)

(2) These Telemann canons might come in handy: http://icking-music-archive.org/scores/telemann/telcanon.pdf (It's probably worth having a look around the site anyway ... warning: there's a lot of material to sift through!)

VaudevilleViolin
ist

Thanks for the links.

. The cannons will be great in a few years. I did find a free PDF of some anonymous duets, the last being for two violins, and a real contender. There's also some music from the violin online I've come across, http://www.violinonline.com/etudes.htm. I plan on using etude eleven or twelve...

Thanks so much for the help!!

surfinbela
(33 points)

Sheila Nelson has published many duet books with nice little tunes for beginners - just google.

Another idea: Bartók 44 duets - include many beginner tunes and some of medium up to advanced difficulty.
Some years ago I've written versions for electric strings + drums for a school project. Free downloads:
http://www.uli-boesking.de/surfinbela/
sheet music:
http://www.uli-boesking.de/surfinbela/scores.htm
soundsamples:
http://www.uli-boesking.de/surfinbela/sound.htm

Simple Duets

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