My duets book came yesterday – it contains violin two parts for many of the Suzuki Book 1-3 songs.  I am pleased to see that in a few cases there are multiple parts – for one song in particular I could now lay down four tracks if I want to (with a little practice, of course)!

I warmed up with scales last night then went to trying out some duets.  I started with the Book One D Major tunes, for some reason.  They’re Suzuki etude type compositions called Andantino and Allegretto.  One I was able to play along with the violin part 1 and piano accompaniment track through without much trouble at all basically the first time through – a welcome surprise!  The other I am needing to work through a bit more.

I’m realizing that precision rhythm is very important in sight reading music- when you’re playing tunes with which you are intimately familiar due to listening to them many, many times the rhythm comes naturally – you know how long to hold the notes; the rhythm is naturally a part of what helps you remember the music and the song.  But in sight reading a second part, you have none of that; at first it’s just like reading a book – no knowledge of what the next measure will bring.

It’s fun becoming a bit more adept at reading – but I have so far to go.  I’m also realizing that music proper has a million things to teach me.  I’m still not very good at all on note names, for example.  I need to get flash cards.

One step at a time – I have no reason to hurry, and I’m having a blast.

Thanks for reading.

Ryan