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Can anybody recommend some Bach pieces or excerpts that would be approrpiate for beginners? I am just starting to learn to read music.
I am looking for specific books or music I can obtain, as well as the names of pieces that I can go look for on the web.
Get this Mike Marshall book
http://www.elderly.com/books/items/644-4.htm
The book Perry recommends is in fact, a great book that I believe is the first to present Bach's Sonata's & Partitas for solo violin in notation and TAB. A few things to note though ....
The pieces presented are excerpts, not the whole piece. Not such a big deal if you want them solely to practice your reading skills. The bigger thing that I would suggest is that these pieces, while wonderful to play and rewarding to invest time in are not what I would consider to be "beginner's pieces"
If your goal is to find some beginning pieces to help your reading I'd check with Patelson's in NY 212-582-5840 ... to see if they can recommend a book of easy Bach violin music. I've picked up a few nice books of this type including some nice duets for two violins (or mandolins) that I use with my students.
Bear in mind too, that if you expand your scope beyond Bach, your options increase as well. Some of Vivaldi's violin pieces for example, are easy enough for a beginner to sink their teeth into and get good results.
Hope this helps!
Good luck! http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif
Me again ... here's a book of very easy Bach pieces for two violins. This book confines itself to fist position and simple enough melodies that sound nice but aren't filled with some of the knuckle busters and synchopations of his more difficult stuff. Should be a good place to start if you're just starting to read ...
"J.S. Bach Easy Violin Duets - Heinrichshofen Edition" "Sole selling agents, CF Peters Corp, 373 Park Ave, New York, NY"
This is one of the books I picked up at Patelson's for use in teaching some of my students ... they have others as well.
Again, hope this helps!
glauber
Nov-01-2005, 6:14pm
There's a Mel Bay "Bach for Mandolin (http://www.elderly.com/books/items/02-95770BCD.htm)" book that has notation and tab. Nothing is really easy in Bach, though.
John Zimm
Nov-01-2005, 6:29pm
You could check out the Icking Music Archive to try out some pieces first, if you like. This link http://icking-music-archive.org/scores/bach/cello_suites/vl100712.pdf will open a pdf of the cello suites arranged for violin. Some of the pieces are very playable and quite lovely as well.
-John.
I would start with the pieces from the Anna Magdalena songbook.These are student pieces that still qualify as good music if not technically demanding. From there I would go to the cello suites as the partitas and sonatas are much more demanding. The Mel Bay book has a good start with fingering included. You will find every possible technical and musical challenge in this music as you progress. Enjoy!
mas746
Nov-02-2005, 2:33pm
check out www.alltabs.com. good amount of bach for your tastes
Perfect. Thank you for the link.
Jim Garber
Nov-03-2005, 5:11pm
Some of the Suzuki violin books have some nice simple Bach pieces that are fiun to play. I think my kid has worked out of book 3 and 4. I know that 3 has some Bach for sure. Lots of fingering for violin that you can use or ignore. The books are pretty inexpensive also. Shar (http://www.sharmusic.com/) usually discounts them 35% or you could easily find them in your local music store.
Jim