Blog Archives

Introducing Our Newest Music Clip! Plus, Other Solutions for Keeping Pesky Music Books Open!

4/6/2022

Here are some solutions!

First of all, they really are a pain...

We teach with and practice with hard-to-open music books too. It has been so difficult to keep them open that we have never stopped searching for different book clips and solutions to the problem.

The bends:

There's the student "too tired to clip the book so I'll just whack the page with the bow" move. There's the "responsible adult" careful bend open at the spine, lengthwise. There's the frustrated "Cassia-in-a-hurry-in-a-lesson" bend: halfway down the book, perpendicular to the spine, bending as if to break the spine. That one works really well!

Why can't all of our books be spiral?

It's too expensive. The costs for printing and storing our catalog as spiral books would be well over a million dollars. This would necessitate doubling or tripling the current costs of the books.
Not enough availability. Our books are printed all around the world and shipped to retail stores and customers in the countries in which they are printed. These services are not available for spiral books right now and making the books available outside the US would cause shipping costs to exceed the cost of the book in nearly all cases.

However!

We are working to offer some of the thickest books in spiral editions on this website. If there's a book you teach with a lot that you'd like to see in a spiral edition, let us know and we'll put it on the spiral list!

The first clip

The first clip we found was through our grandmother. She somehow came across these clips and gave them to us for Christmas one year. They worked really well for us!

Several years ago, we started carrying them on the website.

Some (minor) problems with these clips are...

Our students really have trouble figuring out how they work. I mean, straight-A, top-of-their-class, amazing-cello-playing students can't seem to remember that the outer spikes of the clip should be on the outside of the book, facing them.

In addition, the clips are harder to use on very thick books and they need two hands to put on, at least most of the time.

SO, We've Kept Looking for Solutions!

Introducing the newest page holder clip:
'The Mini'!

These Mini clips we've found are working well so far! Students can figure them out, which is a good sign. They work best when the book has been bent open a little. Thankfully, the book binding for this type of book is quite strong and can hold up to quite a bit of bending.

Shop Print Cello Books

Shop Print Violin Books

Shop Print Viola Books

And if you've given up on print books completely...

Check out our site of PDF downloadable books! They can be saved to your computer, printed, or read on a tablet.

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7 Ways Duets Can Make Teaching (and Studying) Easier!

4/2/2022

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-Myanna Harvey

My teacher and I never played duets in our lessons when I was growing up. We stuck to hard-core exercise and etude books like Sevcik and Schradieck, Wohlfahrt and Kreutzer, and all the other great books that have been helping people improve at the violin for a hundred years.

As a result, my technique was great, but I could never count at all. Well into high school, rhythm remained a tantalizing mystery reserved for wind players and those who were naturally blessed with having “good rhythm”. I learned all my repertoire rhythm by hearing it, including the ins and outs of orchestral music. Eventually a theory class forced me to actually learn how to make sense of what I saw on the page before I heard it, and the Great Mystery became just a math problem. Thank you Mr. Wilensky!

But when I started teaching, I needed a way to help my students count better that worked in the lessons. I started assigning duets in addition to technical studies, etudes, and solo repertoire and immediately saw my students improve!

Here are some of the benefits I’ve noticed from playing duets in the lessons with my own students over the years:

1. Duets improve rhythm!

Duets are often written in score form, which gives your students a chance to see how the parts fit together and what each note is “worth."
Duets let the teacher establish and insist on a tempo that the student learns to follow. Students can feel pulse and phrasing from the teacher.
Because duets don't work unless the student counts correctly, they can hear why they need to count.
Duets are usually the very first chamber music that students experience. Hearing another part at the same time that they are playing can be initially confusing but it is so important for students to get used to that!

2. Duets help sight-reading.

Sight-reading was another big mystery to me as a kid. Having students sight-read through duets that are a few levels below their current solo repertoire gives them hands-on guided experience in real-time playing. They get weekly chances (with just a little bit of "in-lesson pressure") to tackle the challenges in reading music and making sound from what they see on the page.

3. Duets help tone and overall sound.

When you play with your students, they subconsciously rise to the sound you are creating together. If you use vibrato, they’ll use more. If you are playing with a confident, beautiful tone, they’ll find themselves matching you. If you use longer bows, they will too. Hearing you play alongside them will have a greater effect on their playing than all the explaining, exhorting, and general nagging I usually resort to.

4. Duet-playing improves morale.

When I use duets that are shorter and easier than their concerto or sonata, it’s an easy win; my students can learn an assigned duet in a week or two and feel like they’re really succeeding at something. Solo repertoire takes longer to master and it can be discouraging to be in the middle of learning a long piece without shorter, less-intense music to bring some joy to the lessons.
When we play together, the students sound much better than they do alone; it’s a tangible difference that they and their parents can hear right away.

5. Duet-playing in recitals helps avoid stage fright.

Nervous performers (including some adult learners) can benefit immensely from performing with their teacher in a duet! Duet performances give the student a safety-net and the sense that they aren't alone up on stage!

6. Duets help build a strong student-teacher relationship.

Cassia and I both had awesome and awe-inspiring teachers. We never felt comfortable talking to them as if they were actual human beings. Because of this, I am convinced that lessons were more stressful than they needed to be. Duets help your students realize that it isn’t you against them; you’re in this together!

7. Duets are just plain fun!

Trading rhythms...
Taking turns on melody and harmony...
Feeding off each other’s energy...
Celebrating the social part of music...
Playing music that sounds good, no matter what the level!

I usually play duets with my students either at the end of the lesson, or after exercises and before solo rep, and it always works as a mood booster. When we can achieve joy in a lesson, as well as musical improvement, to me, that’s success!

-Myanna

Browse Violin Duets

Browse Viola Duets

Browse Cello Duets

Check out some of these duet books to
make your teaching easier!

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Archives

Introducing Our Newest Music Clip! Plus, Other Solutions for Keeping Pesky Music Books Open!

Here are some solutions!

First of all, they really are a pain...

The bends:

Why can't all of our books be spiral?

However!

The first clip

Some (minor) problems with these clips are...

SO, We've Kept Looking for Solutions!

Introducing the newest page holder clip:
'The Mini'!

And if you've given up on print books completely...

7 Ways Duets Can Make Teaching (and Studying) Easier!

-Myanna Harvey

1. Duets improve rhythm!

2. Duets help sight-reading.

3. Duets help tone and overall sound.

4. Duet-playing improves morale.

5. Duet-playing in recitals helps avoid stage fright.

6. Duets help build a strong student-teacher relationship.

7. Duets are just plain fun!

Check out some of these duet books to
make your teaching easier!

Authors

Archives

Categories

Cello Books
Violin Books
Viola Books
Bass Books

CONTACT

Categories

Archives

Introducing Our Newest Music Clip! Plus, Other Solutions for Keeping Pesky Music Books Open!

Here are some solutions!

First of all, they really are a pain...

The bends:

Why can't all of our books be spiral?

However!

The first clip

Some (minor) problems with these clips are...

SO, We've Kept Looking for Solutions!

Introducing the newest page holder clip: 'The Mini'!

And if you've given up on print books completely...

7 Ways Duets Can Make Teaching (and Studying) Easier!

​-Myanna Harvey

1. Duets improve rhythm!

2. Duets help sight-reading.

3. Duets help tone and overall sound.

4. Duet-playing improves morale.

5. Duet-playing in recitals helps avoid stage fright.

6. Duets help build a strong student-teacher relationship.

7. Duets are just plain fun!

Check out some of these duet books to​make your teaching easier!

Authors

Archives

Categories

Cello BooksViolin BooksViola BooksBass Books

CONTACT

Introducing the newest page holder clip:
'The Mini'!

-Myanna Harvey

Check out some of these duet books to
make your teaching easier!

Cello Books
Violin Books
Viola Books
Bass Books