Well. I have been very derelict in writing blog posts. I could use Covid as an excuse, and maybe dealing with teaching in the pandemic did have an impact, but that doesn't explain 2019...

In any case, I am now (recently) retired from my university job and hope to chime in more frequently as I find nuggets of interest. So much has happened for women in music in these past few years! Though I'm starting here with a literal blast from the past, I will work to come up with some observations on the progress that's been made recently, and point you to some compositions you might like to know more about by contemporary musicians.

I've been doing some revising of some of the anthology volumes, correcting some wrong notes (it's endless), finding more information on a composer or two where it was sketchy, and sadly adding some death dates for a few who are no longer with us. On a whim, I thought I'd try to find Irma Seydel's death year-- but instead I found a number of recordings she made in the early 20th century which are available online! They are part of the Discography of American Historical Recordings, "housed" at the University of California Santa Barbara. In addition to standards like Massenet's Meditation from Thaïs and the like, is the modestly titled "Minuet", with no composer credited. Well, it is Seydel playing Seydel! It's the minuet that serves as the final piece in volume one of Violin Music by Women, and here it is:

Interestingly, the tempo is much more relaxed than what I interpreted it to be, and I certainly like the grace and elegance (and ease in the Trio's trills) better. Note the unapologetic use of rubato! In so many recordings from this period, violinists' vibrato sounds very fast and narrow. I wonder if it actually was, or whether it's somehow a casualty of the recording technology of the time. The recording is from 1917, very early days. I'm looking forward to exploring the site more and seeing what other treasures are hiding!

There was recently a wonderful article (and broadcast) for NPR by Ned Wharton, brother of violinist Geoffrey Wharton, about Geoffrey's many connections with Audrey Call. It's a great read!

https://www.npr.org/2018/10/27/660187923/a-cosmic-connection-between-2-violinists
​

​The Boulanger Initiative was founded in June 2018 by two young musicians, Laura Colgate and Joy-Leilani Garbutt, who hit the ground running and have already made a substantial impact on raising the visibility of women composers. Their stated mission is “to work towards greater inclusivity, and to enrich our collective understanding of what music is, has been, and can be.” This positive message guides them towards imagining and helping to create a future more inclusive of women composers—past, present and future.
 
I had the opportunity to talk with co-founder Laura Colgate recently and discuss the Initiative’s plans, as well as what spurred the two women into action. The two met nearly accidentally, with a mutual friend introducing them when they both showed up at a restaurant. At the time, both women were in the process of finishing their doctorates (Joy in organ, Laura in violin) and were writing their dissertations on women composers. A later brainstorming session provided more than enough ideas to provide an agenda for the Initiative.
 
Laura’s “aha” moment came when she was in 8th grade and attending the Tanglewood Institute. She said, “… JoAnn Falletta conducted, and I remembered seeing her get on the podium and just being completely dumbfounded that a woman could conduct, and well… It had literally never occurred to me, it had never entered my brain that that was something I could do as a woman… I think a lot of females have that moment where you just go, ‘Oh really—I can--oh—OH, Okay!’ But by 8th grade, it’s already a little bit [late]… We need to get that into girl’s heads when they’re still five.”
 
The Boulanger Initiative (BI from now on) intends to combat that all-too-common experience through a three-pronged approach: performance, education and research, and commissioning new works. They plan to develop a concert series “devoted to presenting music composed by women, past and present,” as well as working towards addressing current inequalities on concert programming. The graphic to the right is courtesy of the Donne--Women in Music project (http://www.drama-musica.com/stories/2018_2019_orchestra_seasons.html )

​In addition to creating visibility on concert stages, BI wants to reach students at early ages through education. Research can support this goal. “We had an interview with a magazine a week or two ago, and they said they had just interviewed an organization in Europe that had found that the numbers for women composers in education drop off drastically after the undergrad years. The higher the level of education, the smaller percentage of women. They just don’t stay in the field… We want to see if it’s the same numbers here, and figure out why that’s happening, and then start to funnel that into our education series. We hope to start this Fall going to different schools, really starting as young as we can—grade schools, high schools, universities—and really start the education process with demonstrations, lectures, whatever we can to put in young minds that this is a possibility… We want to get the research done, to see where the gap is, to see what the numbers are, to see what needs to actually be done based on research, not just what people say.”
 
The third prong, commissions of new works, will seek to generate support for established and emerging composers. They hope to commission at least one piece by their debut season of 2019/20. Eventually, all three divisions will work together and feed into activities like a “Young Composers Festival,” with established women composers working with young girls, and receiving performances by other young musicians.
 
The first major event BI is planning is a three-day launch festival starting on March 8, 2019 (International Women’s Day). The festival will be “non-stop women composers” with activities and events under one roof, all accessible by a cover charge. It will feature local D.C-area performers, an electronics demonstration, a documentary viewing, panel discussions, and master classes. Each day an internationally-recognized guest artist/chamber ensemble will participate in events, capped by a ticketed Main Stage performance in conjunction with a composer(s) that they have worked with, or from whom they have commissioned works. It promises to be an amazing festival!
 
The discovery of women composers really began with Women’s Studies programs in the 1970’s. Interest in the topic has waxed and waned over the nearly fifty intervening years. I was curious as to how Laura thought promotion of women composers might be more effective now than it has been in the past. “I think that, first of all, classical music has taken a completely different direction with entrepreneurship, and all of these new groups popping up. You look at the chamber ensembles and the new music ensembles, and those are the groups that are really getting the music played. Their numbers are making the more traditional venues really take notice, and look, and not have a choice anymore to make excuses and say ‘Oh, well, we don’t need to program that next to Beethoven.’” Laura mentioned the success of the Keychange Initiative [link] pushing to encourage music festivals to achieve a 50/50 gender balance in programming by 2022. Currently more than 100 festivals worldwide have signed on to the pledge, but only three of these are in the United States. “We are talking to a few educational organizations about starting a pledge of a similar nature, but with schools. For example, if there’s a composer’s summer festival, making sure that half of the students are women…. I think there’s a lot happening now that wasn’t happening then. I also think technology makes it much easier for us to reach bigger milestones.” Clearly public pressure and the current climate encouraging women’s activism is a factor in creating “buzz”; BI wants to be sure that they set a positive agenda for the future rather than negatively focusing on attitudes of the past.
 
Finally, I asked Laura a very unfair question—what are her favorite pieces by women composers? Having recently finished her doctorate with a massive recital of violin music by women composers, she has far too many pieces still close to her heart to choose. But, I was cruel and made her choose two.

The first is the monumental Frises for Violin and Electronics by Kaija Saariaho. You can listen to Laura play it here:

​Secondly, and very appropriately, Laura chose Lili Boulanger’s D’un matin de printemps (Of a Spring morning). Unusually, Boulanger wrote three versions of the piece—one for violin and piano, one for orchestra, and one for piano trio. Laura has played the first two versions, and is looking forward to playing the third soon. Here is the one for violin and piano, also performed by Laura: 

​You can keep up with the Boulanger Initiative’s activities through their website, https://www.boulangerinitiative.org and by liking their Facebook page. You can also join them and keep the momentum going by volunteering at https://www.boulangerinitiative.org/volunteer-1/ .

Today I received an email from violinist Geoffry Wharton, retired concertmaster of the Cologne Symphony and owner of Audrey Call's beautiful Gagliano. He has understandably done a good bit of research on Call, and recently came upon new information about her jazzy suite, Canterbury Tales, which sheds an entirely new light on the composition! 

But first, a little recap. I wrote about the piece in a blog post from 11/25/2014 (here, if you'd like to read it) and it turns out I was completely off in my assumptions about it! The piece is not about the book by Chaucer at all, but, as Wharton writes:

Oops. Reminds me of the final exam I took for a college English class in which I wrote a lengthy essay on the wrong chapter of James Joyce's Ulysses.

So now, looking at the piece from this perspective, it all makes sooooo much more sense.  

In the first movement, "To a Lady From Baltimore," the suave introduction does evoke Wallis Simpson and the elegant excess of which she was fond. God Save the King, as indeed Edward needed to be, appears around 1:27-1:45, preceded by a heraldic fanfare. That's followed by a minor version of Here Comes the Bride (1:57-2:20), which tapers out to nothing and the introduction material returns.

From my 2014 recital, which was a return to playing after eight years on the sidelines (I'm not responsible for the piano's intonation, but I apologize for my slips):

www.dropbox.com/s/kl5u2s5dfqmushk/07%2014y11m08%20Cora%20Cooper.mp3?dl=0
​
Movement 2, "The Bishop Checkmates," features a stealthy, slippery theme which morphs into everyone's first harmonic minor tune, the "Snake Charmer." Seems like Call thought the announcement by a clergy member was a little underhanded. According to an article in The Guardian, "What really sparked public awareness of Edward VIII's relationship with Simpson, and the abdication crisis that might follow, came thanks to the words of Bishop Blunt of Bradford whose pulpit denunciation in 1936 exposed the whole crisis." The snake charmer tune arrives at 0:34-0:54.

www.dropbox.com/s/0dmualq6se7nk5b/08%2014y11m08%20Cora%20Cooper.mp3?dl=0

I kept wondering if the third movement had anything to do with Billy Strayhorn's jazz standard, "Take the A Train," but Google tells me it was written in 1939, and Call published Canterbury Tales in 1937. There is certainly a lot of "train" music in the movement, but I can't find any historical reason for the stereotypical "asian" sound of the fifths throughout the movement. In any case, in "The Duke Takes A Train," Edward VIII rides off into the sunset, presumably with Wallis in tow.

​www.dropbox.com/s/9y1i0aahfkps7np/09%2014y11m08%20Cora%20Cooper.mp3?dl=0

While this charming suite is currently out of print, you can find a short jazz solo by Call in volume four of the anthology. It's called The Witch of Harlem, and there's a recording on the "Soundfiles" page. You can learn more about Call's life at the 2014 blog post linked above.

What better way to celebrate women this month than through videos of young students playing their music? There have been some wonderful concerts using pieces from the anthology this year, and happily some videos are available from the performances. Kudos to the teachers embracing new material and exposing their students to women composers. To quote the hashtag of Claire Allen, #WomenWriteMusic too!

One of Claire's students, by the name of Hannah, was the spark behind her adoption of violin music by women into all her student's lives. Claire was having a competition in which students could earn earn points by reading about composers. Six-year-old Hannah came to her lesson and asked, "Why are all the composers we read about men?" Excellent question!

In this video from last June, Claire's student Jiening is playing "A Picture," a movement from a suite by Edith Lynwood Winn titled From the Carolina Hills. Winn (1867-1933) was a pioneer in American music education. She studied violin in Boston with Julius Eichberg, and in Germany with Bernard Listemann. Should you go into a library with a good section on violin pedagogy, you'll likely see some small and well-used books whose titles start with the words, "How to Study..." and go on to name Kreutzer, Rode, Fiorillo, and Gavinies. Those are the works of Ms. Winn. She wrote a number of teaching pieces like this suite. "A Picture" and two other movements can be found in volume 1. 

​The grand finale of the Allen Violin Studio's #WomenWriteMusic recital was a group performance of "The Ice Skating Pond," the fourth movement of Kansas native Hannah Bartel's Kansas Memories Suite (also in vol. 1). Students love this suite! Hannah, now Hannah Bartel Groening, was a student of mine at Kansas State University. She was a composition major and violinist, and writes very beautiful and playable music. A full-time mom now, Hannah has caught one of her toddlers sitting at the piano "composing" already! I think of Hannah as one of the new generation of composers, but maybe her two-year-old is ahead of us already.   

​In February I gave a presentation to string teachers at our state music teachers convention on the anthologies, and in preparation I asked both Claire and Amy Beth Horman for reactions from their students to the pieces. One of Amy's students, ten-year-old Risa, wrote an incredibly beautiful response:

    "Playing well-known wonderful pieces written by male composers always makes me feel great, but playing unknown still beautiful pieces written by female composers makes me feel special.
    After listening to the piece titled A Sketch, I instantly fell in love with it. Its delicate, graceful and poetic melody touched my heartstrings and it was hard to believe that such a beautiful piece went unappreciated.
    I could easily connect with the piece probably because it is written by a woman. I felt proud and privileged whenever I performed the piece because I was pretty sure that no one there had ever heard it before and I felt like being an ambassador for the piece.
    Working on the piece was more than just learning a piece but a more special experience to me.I am fortunate to be able to have such an experience. Thank you so much." 

Risa was a winner of the American Protege competition, and got to play in Weill Recital Hall last summer. She chose to play Ellicott's A Sketch for the occasion (and I was able to go and hear it!) She also performed it on Potter Violins' Classical Open Stage-- check out their Facebook page and YouTube channel for lots of great videos!

tRosalind F. Ellicott (1857-1924) was the daughter of the Bishop of Gloucester in England, and had a musical mother. Ellicott studied two years at the Royal Academy of Music in London, but most of her training was private. A Sketch was her first published work (in 1883), and can be found in vol. 3 of the anthology. In addition to short works, Ellicott wrote some large-scale compositions, including a fantasia for piano and orchestra, and her Dramatic Overture received performances in England and as far away as Chicago. Thanks to Risa and her pianist Brad Clark for such a beautiful performance!

Also in volume 3 is New Zealand composer Claire Scholes' delightful Knee's Up Mambo. Scholes (born in 1980) is a mezzo soprano based in Auckland, where in addition to composing she works as an arranger, and teaches voice and piano privately. She is known for her vocal and choral writing, but I think her string writing is fantastic! 

Kayleigh, another student of Amy Beth Horman, also performed this piece on Potter Violins' Classical Open Stage. It is such a fun work, and in a style we violinists don't get much chance to explore in the standard literature! Spoiler alert-- for the third volume of the viola anthology, I've commissioned a new piece by Scholes, which is Bollywood-inspired! Dust off your C-strings, because you're going to want to play it!

Two historical and two contemporary women composers played by a bunch of young violinists-- a great way to celebrate Women's History (and future!) Month. Do you have videos of students playing anthology pieces? I'd love to see them and share them with the world! 

Tiptoe Dance by Gail Ridgway Brown 
Where to put it: Middle of Book 2, Gavotte from Mignon-ish: after Low 1 has been introduced, and after some pizzicato prep has been done.
 
Tiptoe Dance is a great piece for putting a lot of skills together, but not necessarily for teaching them. Students should be comfortable with high 2/low 2 patterns as well as low 1’s and the C Major Scale before learning this piece. It has some fun fast scales, as well as one little lick that’s reminiscent of Gossec Gavotte.  The theme can be done either on the string at the balance point, or brush stroke, depending on the student. It also ends with a fast transition to a pizzicato chord that needs some isolation practice and some pizzicato prep (see: Green Tomatoes).
 
Teaching Tricks:

• Isolate the 16th note runs and teach them separate bows, then hooked martele, then slurred.
• Isolate m. 9 and make sure the student lifts the high 2 while playing the last 3rd finger to reach back for the low 2.
• Use the 8th rests to make sure the bow hand is released and flexible in the air (you can have them shake the bow during the rest to check this).

Dance of the Gnomes, by Charlotte Louise Woodbridge 
Where to put it: Middle of Book 2 – pairs nicely with Two Grenadiers
 
Dance of the Gnomes uses many of the same skills as Two Grenadiers, from the ability to switch between d minor and D Major to the many finger patterns used. Both the bowings and rhythms are simpler than in Two Grenadiers, so depending on the student, this piece can either be preparation for Two Grenadiers or reinforcement afterwards. There are double-stops, but they’re mostly open strings and add a great element of fun. The slurs in the D Major section also help to strengthen the bow skills needed in Suzuki Book 2. Several well-placed ritards also help students develop musical pacing and sophistication.
 
Teaching Tricks:

• Work a lot on arm levels – slurs can be done as martele to help feel the arm drop to the new string during the stop.
• Teach the D Major section with slurs as martele to help both with level crossings and bow distribution.
• Isolate M. 28 to work on the tritone across the strings from 3 to low 4.
• For the student already doing some 3rd position work, the very last note of the piece (m. 20) can be done in 3rd on the G string.

‘Lil Blue, by Hannah Bartel 
Where to put it: Middle – end of Book 2
 
‘Lil Blue is a beautiful piece that features a lyricism not found in many of the pieces in Suzuki Book 2. Students should be able to play a 2 octave A Major scale before they tackle this piece. This is a much friendlier introduction to A Major than Boccherini Minuet. It’s in ¾, and as every phrase starts on an upbeat, provides ample opportunity to discuss strong and weak beats and bow speed. Lots of good 4th finger practice as well.
 
Teaching Tricks:

• Do work on breathing on an upbeat so the student learns to cue it well.
• Having the student sing this first helps them learn where to breathe naturally.
• Depending on where the student is, teaching the slurs as hooked martele can always be usefule, but if the student’s bow arm is already well developed, you can skip this step and go straight to the slurs.

The Marionettes, by Eve Hungerford 
Where to put it: Late Book 2
 
The Marionettes is another great piece in A Major that’s friendlier than Boccherini Minuet. Its cheerful and upbeat character make it a favorite of my students. There are some fun repeated downbows on the G string which give us a chance to work on landing at the frog and pulling the arm weight in the bow. Students will become very comfortable with alternating high 3 and ringing 3.  Dotted rhythms in the middle section will help reinforce the rhythmic concepts introduced in Two Grenadiers and Witches’ Dance. There is also opportunity to work on the left hand frame with plenty of 1 – 4 octave passages.
 
Teaching Tricks:

• The middle section is a great place to talk about subdivision. The tendency is for a student to turn the dotted rhythm into a triplet rhythm. I have them play the 16th note subdivisions, then I play the subdivision while they play normally, then transition them to thinking the subdivision while they play.
• Isolate the 1 -4 octave sections and talk about hand balance, keeping the left thumb soft, and ringing intonation.
• Isolate the repeated downbows. Have the students land right at the frog, do a pinky pushup or some exercise to feel that their thumb is flexible and that their weight is in the back half of their bow arm.
• For students shifting to 3rd position, the last note of this piece can be done in 3rd position on the D string.

Aria, by Ethel Barns 
Where to put it: After Gavotte from Mignon in Book 2
 
Aria is a beautiful piece in g minor that helps develop a lyrical tone and more sophisticated phrasing. Particularly after the faster pieces in the middle of Book 2 (Two Grenadiers, Witches’ Dance, and Gavotte from Mignon), this makes for a dramatic change in character and allows the student to work on their low 1’s and 4’s in a slower paced piece. There are lots of opportunities to talk about breathing (like a singer, since an aria is a song!), phrasing, and pacing. Two simple doublestops at the end allow for a little technical push as well.
 
Teaching Tricks:

• I almost always have students sing and write words to this piece before learning it.
• Have the students play the quintuplets separate bows, then hooked martele before the slurs. A little rhythmic work may be needed to help them make the 5 notes even within the beat.
• The last line needs some isolation to work on changing from 8ths to triplets.
• The doublestops at the end are worth isolating to talk about string levels and left hand frame.

Many, many thanks to Claire Allen for her thoughtful analysis and helpful hints on using these pieces! Check out all the wonderful activities at the Potomac Arts Academy, where Claire teaches (in addition to her own studio, Allen Violin Studio) and is co-ordinator of chamber music. Fairfax, Virginia is lucky to have her!
 
 
 
 
 

Without further ado, here is the next installment of Claire Allen's article!

The Ice Skating Pond, by Hannah Bartel 
Where to put it: After Minuet 2, and then anywhere in Suzuki Book 2
 
This is a phenomenal piece, and my students simply adore it. Especially when they’ve been working hard to master the more sophisticated bow patterns, playing this piece is a huge relief and lets them just play. I don’t teach this piece until after a student has done Minuet 2 and is fairly comfortable with both low 2 and high 3 patterns. Students will want to play this piece fast right away, and rather than rein them in too much, I make sure that there isn’t really anything new for them to learn in it so they can just run.
 
Teaching Tricks:

• Spend the first week on intonation, especially the 4th fingers. Have students stop and hold ringing 3’s and 4’s and tune them to the open strings.
• If you haven’t done so already, this piece is the perfect piece to introduce how to work with a metronome.
• Use dotted rhythm patterns (again with a metronome) to increase speed.
• Depending on the student, you can also have the metronome on half notes and then have them march quarter notes (while playing) to help keep them steady.
• It can be fun to do a travel bow from the frog to the tip in measures 10-11 for a dramatic dimuendo and to play the recap at the tip, then a reverse travel bow for the crescendo in m. 17-18.

 
Buy My Pine, by Edith Winn 
Where to put it: Musette
 
Buy My Pine is a fun, fiddle-ish piece. I’ve found that it works best around the Bach Musette in Book 2 to work both on D Major finger patterns across all four strings as well as slurs that are a little less complicated than those in Musette. There are also opportunities for a lot of good level work.
 
Teaching Tricks:

• Isolate the 4th finger passages in advance.
• Teach the runs first playing each note twice (doubles), then separate bows, then hooked marteles, then slurs.

 
A Picture, by Edith Winn 
Where to put it: After Minuet 2
 
A Picture works very nicely with Minuet 2. It reinforces the Down Up-Up bowing, and also has some great opportunities for building the connection between the high 3rd finger and the 4th finger. There’s more high 2/low 2 finger patterns, and some fun passage work across the strings. Depending on the student, the bowstroke can either be detache on the string at the balance point, or you can have them bounce it a little bit. There are also a great ritardandos to where you can talk about pacing and breathing.
 
Note: I don’t always teach this piece – I use it more in the Minuets if a student is really getting things quickly and needs more repertoire to go in depth.
 
Teaching Tricks:

• Isolate the runs in advance – doubles, singles, and rhythm patterns if needed.
• Point out the key change for the B section in advance.
• M. 25 – 26 and the analogous passages following them also work well if you slur the first two notes and then do an up-bow on the last quarter note of the measure.
• Many opportunities for bow circles and discussion of flexible bow fingers for a soft landing.

 
Green Tomatoes, by Hannah Bartel 
Where to put it:  Early Book 2, after Musette
 
Students love the fact that Green Tomatoes is almost entirely pizzicato. The D Major finger patterns as well as the bowing patterns in the arco section work well to reinforce the work they’ve done in Musette. Playing this much pizzicato helps prepare them for the ending of Gavotte from Mignon later in the book.
 
Teaching Tricks:

• Teach the pizzicato without the bow at all first – have them plant the thumb and pluck.
• Stage two involves holding the bow while plucking.

 
Note: I teach Gossec Gavotte after Bourree in Book 2, so this serves as prep for that as well. Green Tomatoes would also be good between Happy Farmer and Gossec Gavotte in Book 1 if you teach the pieces in that sequence.


Part 3 coming very soon!

First of all, I promise to get back to writing blog posts very soon! Last summer all my writing energies went into creating a textbook for an online "Women in Music" class, from which I will make a few posts. I'm a little embarrassed to see that the wonderful Claire Allen is filling in for me yet again. Claire organized and prepared eight of her students for a very special recital this past June 4 called "Women Write Music," and it was one of the highlights of my life! All the students played pieces from either volume 1 or volume 2 of the anthology, Claire and I played the beautiful "Nocturne" by Rebecca Clarke from Three Pieces for Two Violins and Piano (published by Prairie Dawg Press), and she performed the three "Romances" by Clara Schumann and the 4th movement of Amanda Maier's "Six Pieces for Violin and Piano" from volume 4 (listen to her performance on the Sound Files page!) David Norfrey was a wonderful collaborative pianist for the program. The students all played Hannah Bartel's "The Ice Skating Pond" for a group finale:

https://www.facebook.com/AllenViolinStudio/videos/858341297626750/ 
 
Since Claire has been using the pieces from the anthology so successfully, I asked her if she would share her thoughts on how she has decided to integrate them with the Suzuki repertoire. Being the generous person that she is, she sent me this wonderful guide for 12 of the pieces. Here are the first four. Many thanks!

An Old World Minuet by Eve Hungerford 
Where to put it: Suzuki Book 1, after Allegretto & Andantino
 
An Old World Minuet is a charming piece that introduces the ¾ time signature in a friendly way that allows the student more time to adjust to the key of D Major. There are good opportunities to work on level changes, simple slurs, and 4th fingers. It doesn’t require as sophisticated a bow arm as the Bach Minuets, so this is a nice introduction.
 
Teaching Tricks:

• Have the student count out loud or play subdivisions yourself during the dotted quarter notes so they hold them full value.
• Depending on the student’s level of coordination, have them do a “Minuet step” while either singing, clapping, or playing the piece. A “Minuet step” = one big step to the side, two small steps, and then repeating the process in the opposite direction.
  

​
The Gipsy Fiddler by Eve Hungerford
Where to put it: Suzuki Book 1, before Etude (I teach this right after An Old World Minuet)
 
This piece is the most wonderful low 2 piece. It has the advantage of not using any 3rd or 4th fingers, so the student can focus on the relationship of the low 2nd finger to the 1st finger. The piece is in minor, so the student hears how dramatic the shift to low 2 is. There are no high 2’s in this piece, so there is minimal confusion.
 
Gipsy Fiddler also uses a lot of slurs, but in fairly simple patterns, and also helps students work on developing a full, sustained tone. It continues work in ¾, with a contrasting middle section in 4/4 that introduces students to meter changes much earlier than the Suzuki books do.
 
Teaching Tricks:

• To avoid overwhelming students with slurs and low 2’s at the same time, I have them play each note twice (“doubles"), separate bows.
• Once they’re comfortable with the finger patterns, I have them play 3 hooked martele instead of 3 slurred to ensure that the contact with the string is good and that they know how to divide the bow.
• Finally, we integrate the slurs once the finger patterns and the bow division are comfortable.

 
Note: After Gipsy Fiddler, I like to use the Bohemian Folk Song in e minor and All Through the Night from Barbara Barber’s Solos for Young Violinists, Volume 1 to work on the idea of high 2 on the D string and low 2 on the A string in G Major. I also do a lot of work on the two octave G Major scale and arpeggios before teaching Etude.
 

Rainy Daze, by Hannah Bartel
Where to put it: Rainy Daze fits well anywhere between the Minuets through all the G Major pieces in the early part of Book 2.
 
Rainy Daze gets students using all the patterns from the G Major Scale over all four strings, in a variety of both step and skip patterns. This piece works especially well between any of the Bach Minuets in Book 1 – my students love the fresh, contemporary, fiddle-inspired style and find it a welcome contrast. There are a lot of two and four note slurs, which help strengthen those skills before proceeding forward in the Minuets. I’ve found that students who have played Rainy Daze before Musette in Book 2 handle those slur patterns much better, as well. There’s also one really fun line with a little bariolage to introduce the idea of backwards string crossings.
 
Teaching Tricks:

• Leaving the 3rd finger down from m. 18 – 20 in the bariolage section also lets you work on hand frame, if you’re so inclined.
• Have the students practice singing the introduction and then coming in on beat 4.
• Have the students play all the slurs as hooked martele first. You can monitor both the bow distribution and ensure that the string levels are changing while the bow is stopped.

The Bumblebee, by Anna Priscilla Risher
Where to put it: Like Rainy Daze, The Bumblebee can work well between the Minuets or also in early Book 2.
 
The Bumblebee does great pre-trill preparation, including three glorious measures of 3-4 for a good 4th finger workout. It’s much more scalar than Rainy Daze, and helps reinforce patterns in G Major as well. The concept of 3/8 may be a little tricky for students at this level to understand, so a little rhythmic work outside the piece is needed. All the slurs also help create a sustained sound, and having one bar per bow is usually fairly easy for students to remember. A few well-placed ritardandos and fermatas make for wonderful lessons about musical pacing and timing, as well as breathing and cuing your pianist.
 
Teaching Tricks:

• Teach separate bows first
• Use hooked marteles before adding the slurs to help with bow distribution.
• Depending on the student, you can talk about using smaller amounts of bow at the beginning of the crescendo and then increasing it to make a crescendo. 

A great joy for me is hearing from people about their use of the anthology pieces, and student reactions to the music. It's been particularly wonderful to correspond with Claire Allen, a Suzuki teacher in Virginia. She has been a wonderful champion for incorporating pieces by women into her teaching (see her blog post from last October on the subject at http://www.claireallenviolin.com/blog/game-changer#comments). She recently wrote to me about how she is integrating pieces from volume one into Suzuki Book 1:

"I wanted to write and thank you again for the wonderful Violin Music By Women anthology. I've been using it in my studio for the last few months, and my students positively adore it. The first two pieces, "An Old World Minuet" and "The Gipsy Fiddler," fit beautifully in the middle of Suzuki Book 1. I use the Minuet right after Andantino to stay in D Major just a little longer and to introduce 3/4 time and the minuet before we get to the big Bach ones. Then, I use Gipsy Fiddler to introduce low 2. I like to teach low 2 long before we get to Etude, and Gipsy Fiddler is perfect since there are only low 2's in it! My students love how dark and moody the piece is, and they also adore the slurs."

She has an exceptional student, five-year-old Jiening Zhang (who has already been studying with Claire for a year and a half!) Jiening recently played "The Ice Skating Pond" from Kansas Memories Suite as an audition piece for an honors recital, and was accepted! Her parents have given me permission to post the video here for your enjoyment:

Look at that beautiful bow arm! What great energy in her strokes.

Claire also writes, "We're all excited in our studio - these pieces make such a lovely contrast with the Suzuki folk songs."
Check out her blog (http://www.claireallenviolin.com/blog) -- she always has interesting and thoughtful ideas!

Another teacher in my town, Katherine Okesson, has told me that she uses the first volume with more advanced students for position and shifting work. The first piece, "An Old World Minuet," fits beautifully in fourth position. "The Gipsy Fiddler" is a great piece for shifting between first and third positions. The beautiful "Aria" by Ethel Barns is perfect for practicing a budding vibrato. If you've found new uses for the pieces, or great ways to incorporate them into your sequence of pieces, I'd love to hear about it!

Volume four is filled with great memories of three composers in particular-- Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, Libby Larsen, and Lauren Wells. Two are firmly established, leading American composers, and one was in graduate school when we met by chance.

I think it was the summer of 2008 that I got the crazy notion of emailing the three most respected American women composers about my anthology project. What could happen? I certainly wouldn't be any worse off if I never heard from them. So emails flew to Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, Libby Larsen and Joan Tower, and then I set about cleaning the house and doing all those summer things that never happen during the school year. I think I was actually dusting when the phone rang. "Hi, this is Ellen Zwilich, and I think your anthology is a great idea. I would love to be part of it." Gobsmacked. I think I managed not to fangirl at her too much. She was absolutely gracious and was so helpful in putting me in touch with appropriate contacts at Theodore Presser. Her Partita for violin and piano was written for a high school student of Louise Behrend, and so was already tailor-made for the project. Dr. Zwilich was kind enough to offer the whole work for my use. Unfortunately, it would have made the volume too long, so she chose the "Tango" movement as the best stand-alone piece. Please do look for the whole Partita-- it is a terrific work, accessible and attractive! 

The boost that phone call made to my ability to complete the whole shebang was immeasurable. She made me feel both validated and inspired. Having the first woman to earn the Pulitzer Prize in Music encourage me was a tremendously special encounter.

Joan Tower and Libby Larsen also returned my emails, to my astonishment. Ms. Tower was lovely and supportive, but she didn't have anything readily available and  unfortunately the timing was not right for a commission. 

Libby Larsen is an amazing confidence booster. Such a positive and caring person! We arranged to meet in Minneapolis when I was traveling there, and had a really wonderful lunch together. It was right before the 2008 presidential election, and as we discovered common political leanings, she sent me a "Baroque Obama" t-shirt afterwards (with President Obama's face superimposed over Bach's in his iconic portrait). I brought along some of the other volume four pieces for her to look at, and she talked about wanting to do something very rhythmic and driving, perhaps even with speech involved. Needless to say, I was fine with anything she wanted to do! Imagine my surprise when Blue Piece arrived-- it's a dreamy, languorous piece conjuring up images of smokey rooms and cosmopolitans. I love it. 

Ms. Larsen kept her commission fee intentionally low to help out, saying she just wanted to be a part of the project. Never having commissioned a piece before (I like to start at the top), it didn't occur to me until it was almost finished that that meant I could also dedicate it to someone. After some thought, I realized I wanted to dedicate it to all my violin teachers, in thanks for the many hours they dedicated to me. 

My violin case is responsible for the inclusion of Serpentine in the anthology. I travel with a cute Tonareli shaped case that sits upright like a cello, taking up much less room sitting around airports waiting for the next flight. In 2011, while I was staring off into space between flights at the Kansas City airport, a young woman complimented me on the case, which of course started a discussion. Yes, she was a violinist, originally from Kansas City, but was getting her master's degree in composition from the University of Delaware. "Hmmm... there are no coincidences," I thought. I asked if she'd written anything for violin and piano, and explained about the anthology. A few days later, there was was an email from Lauren Wells in my inbox with a pdf and recording of Serpentine. I thought it was a great introduction for young players to contemporary idioms, including mixed meters and less tonal writing. I was also really excited to be able to publish a young composer in a volume with established contemporary greats and historical figures. Lauren now lives in Seattle and is involved in many forms of music making, both traditional and experimental. I think I remember her telling me that she has also been on a roller derby team. An exceptional young woman!