I have often been asked why?
Why write tutor books for all four strings instruments. Probably the easiest way to answer this question is to talk about the how it all came about.
A few years ago I was asked to teach a year 7 cello class half way through the year for a few weeks. The students had been learning from the Joggers book. They weren't that engaged and didn't know a lot and their playing wasn't that strong. I introduced some Suzuki rhythms and the Twinkles and the class changed. They seemed to be more aware and their playing was stronger. The following year I was asked to teach the year 7 cello class on a regular basis. It was a new group of students and in my enthusiasm I promptly ordered in Suzuki book 1 for the students. Initially it all went well. The Twinkle rhythms seemed to work, the French Folk Song wasn't too bad, but then Lightly Row bored them, Song of the Wind and Aunt Rhody weren't really tolerated, O' Come Little Children annoyed them, but Allegro they all seemed to like, even though some found it tricky. It soon unfortunately fell into a bit of a heap. Not much had been understood in terms of reading music and even the brighter students didn't want to persevere with pieces that didn't make a lot of sense to them.
I went back to what I had always done since starting teaching, I wrote music out. Popular pieces with the note information always on the page progressing logically.
The following year was a new group of year 7's. I was now also teaching a grade 5 cello class. I ordered in Abracadabra for the 5's but quickly realised that the books didn't suit the class situation. I was writing music for the year 7's and began introducing the same material for the 5's. At that time I was experimenting with starting the cello students on the C string. My thoughts were that it was easier for the bowing arm and enabled the left arm to be elevated. I was also using 2nd finger notes in the pieces introducing minor (blues) concepts. There was a double bass student in the class, but I composed different repertoire for him.
Soon into the school year the upper and lower string students were combined. It was more viable to have all students in the larger rehearsal room. The idea was that they would be playing and learning more as an ensemble.
Mmmmm.....How to combine all strings in the one room, all learning the same musical ideas, all learning the same music at the same time.
Since I had been teaching the cello students 2nd finger notes I couldn't see why violins and violas couldn't, as beginners, learn low 2 notes.
Which string to start on? 'A' was too thick for the beginner double bass, 'A' was good for violins and violas but difficult for some cello students to maintain a straight bow and produce a good sound. I decided on the 'D'. Little, well known pieces, minor and major right from the start.
SingleStringLearning was 'born' :)
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