Scale Variation Duets

[rrayner]

This forum appears to have a number of interested followers, based on the visit counts that I see posted.

For those of you who are interested, this posting includes a series of exercise duets. Essentially, they are the same three scalar variations in a number of different keys. You could find similar exercises at your local music store, but anyone can access these.

I wrote these for my wife, Cynthia, who I have been teaching to play Soprano Recorder, starting about 2-1/2 years ago. She likes to say that prior to that time, all she could play was the radio. She had no music training at all. All of my duets that you see posted in this forum were written for the two of us.

First, a little insight into my teaching philosophy -- these exercises were designed to support this approach: 1) a student should be familiar with and be able to play every note in the practical range of the instrument; and 2) a student should be familiar with all of the keys and their scales that you are likely to see in the musical area of the student's interest.

The attached exercise duets are written for Soprano Recorder and Alto Recorder. The Alto is not a concert instrument, therefore, it's part is transposed up a fifth. Please feel free to change the instruments to whatever instruments you play. You do not have to have a second person to play with, as you can mute one of the parts and play along with the Notation software.

There is nothing smaller than a quarter note in this series, and you can set the tempo to suit your level of development. There are three different time signatures, but they are not complex. We started with C; worked into F and G; progressed to Bb and D. These are the most common keys for song books and exercise books. I have also included some of the more advanced keys; Eb and A; Ab and E. These are more difficult due to your having to remember the key signatures while playing, but they can be very beneficial to your development on your instrument.

The exercises are essentially the same for all the different keys. There are some minor differences to accommodate the bottom range of the Recorders. The next-to-last measure is modified in some of the variations because the lowest note available on a Recorder is a C.

There is a varying degree of difficulty in this series, but if you can become comfortable in playing them, you will greatly enhance your fluency with your instrument.

We hope you find them beneficial.

Ralph Rayner