Customer Reviews

Suzuki: Duets for Violins

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book adds a very lovely touch to students studying violin. The harmony parts are not difficult but true to the original sound of the music. The music goes with some of the songs in Book 1 and 2 violin solos. While the parts are not difficult, it probably would be better for a little more advanced student who actually reads music to play. I would think it would be more difficult for a student to learn it from memory as most students do in book 1 and 2. It was played by children in book 3 and 4 to accompany children in book 1 and 2 as they played for the teacher's recital and was a beautiful touch.

The print version of the book is fine. However, the Kindle version is poorly done.

The Kindle version consists of scanned pages from the paper book. Many titles don't render on the same page as the music score at some zoom view settings. Zoom changes result in inconsistent scaling and positioning of various scanned objects, e.g. song titles, composer names, and the music scores themselves. Some of the musical notations have been cropped and therefore lost. The Kindle conversion just seemed too amateurish, especially with the Japanese characters of the composer names being shown at the bottom of the music score instead of below the English name. Some of the composer names are shown on the left side instead of the right side of the page.

The only noteworthy features in the Kindle version are the hyperlinked Table of Contents and the search feature. I may have been better off buying the book, and scanning it into a PDF document to load onto my Kindle.

My daughter is in Suzuki book 2 so we played through the first 14 songs in this book. We enjoyed the arrangements. The only things that kept me from giving this a 5 star rating was that I would have appreciated that both parts be on the same score for easier reading, and not just the accompaniment as in this book, and that the binding was a spiral binding instead of a staple. I bought my daughter's violin 1 book with a spiral binding and it is much easier to work with as it lies flat or can be folded around.

I normally accompany her with the piano arrangements, and these were somewhat different, but that was the good part. It keeps things interesting through the hours of playing Suzuki involves, and a violin is much easier to take with us... compared to a piano :-)

The content is great but I've had to return the kindle version because the music notes are illegible on the kindle screen. I am going to get the paperback version instead.

This Suzuki violin duet accompaniment book is perfect for playing with your child! Pieces are pleasant and harmonious and kids are introduced immediately to playing with accompaniment.

This music helps students play the violin 1 pieces easier. The student is able to hear a lovely harmony and stay in tune better.

My students use this harmony book along with suzuki book melodies. This duet book only shows the harmony line. There is no melody line for violin students to see, those are in the suzuki books of course.

It is also good for students to see the notes and rhythms of the other part and see how they fit into their part, therefore my students use the ABCs of Duets for Violin book, too. It has both the melody line and harmony line on the same page. The ABCs of Duets for violin:2 Violins

As a violin teacher, it's nice to be able to play with my students and to give the lesson a different dynamic. This violin accompaniment book is a nice alternative to piano accompaniments (for those who do not play piano) and are easy enough for another student of the same level to play so that they could perform together as a duet at a student concert. It is also great that this book accompanies the first 3 Suzuki books, so it's like a 3 in 1 (I believe the piano arrangements are one accompaniment book for each student book, so you'd have to buy three books instead).

The only thing is the book does not include the melody, so you'll have to have both this book and the corresponding Suzuki student books.