Bluegrass Duets Letter to Educators

	Letter to educators and the self-taught

	Greetings Educators and the Self-Taught: Your author uses this curriculum to teach "Practical Bluegrass" at adult education centers . Beginners, those stuck on a musical plateau and life long pickers who heretofore have not learned to read any form of written music find our course interesting, understandable and to the point. Useful as the name 'Practical' implies. We have found that teaching: reading tablature, counting timing, guitar accompaniment and lead picking hand rolls to be the best approach. The advantages of any form of written music can be appreciated only by those who are able to read music. Learning musical structure, benefiting from our musical heritage and leaving a written legacy to the future all depend upon writing it down. Educators who do not read tablature or play these instruments will find our instructional video, 'Introduction Guide' video, informative and to the point. Counting 2/4th timing, the basic structure of many instrumental leads for banjo, guitar and mandolin, will be examined in a single line of written music. "Alternating bass with runs" is the most fundamental and useful structure of guitar accompaniment known. This method provides a counter melody to the lead and chord information to the listener. This type of 'back-up' works well for instrumentals and vocals alike. All music presented in Bluegrass Duets is complete with an "alternating bass with runs" guitar accompaniment. Playing together is no longer a mystery. A complete understanding of picking hand rolls is the shortest route to successfully playing these instruments. Because a single set of rules apply to all three instruments, banjo, guitar and mandolin, whether students are advised of it or not, they are learning all three instruments at once. Bluegrass Duets employs the best of all possible picking hand rolls and ignores those which remain. 'Best' means those rolls which are playable, or 'humanly engineered' to be more easily remembered by mind and hand. Also, these rolls can be accented while playing. It is accent that is lost in many performer's work, that element which adds rhythm to the music you are music. Bluegrass Duets is a series of nine books, all with audio CDs and an 'Introduction Guide' that includes a manual, an instructional video and an audio CD. Each series is made up of three books with CDs, one each for banjo, guitar and mandolin. Most students choose to start with our 'Old Favorites' series, twenty (20) well known songs written for their instrument of first choice. Each package ('Old Favorites', 'More' and 'Generic Series') contains an instruction manual and an audio CD recording of every song in the manual. These recordings are played at a comprehensible speed, with the lead on the left tract and the guitar accompaniment on the right tract to allow for isolated study. The 'Introduction Guide' covers all three instruments. With an instructional manual, an instructional video and an audio CD students will realize that what they've learned on any one instrument will also apply to the other two. An instructional text is found at the back of all our 'Old Favorites' and 'More' manuals with emphasis on these same four topics: reading tablature, counting timing, alternating bass with runs guitar accompaniments and lead rolls for all three instruments. Also included on this website are the Samplers, which are short examples of Bluegrass Duets' educational offerings. Many homes already contain guitars. Banjos and mandolins are inexpensive and available everywhere. Music teachers not familiar with bluegrass and these instruments will find our video the key to teaching this material in a class room environment. What students learn on these instruments will last and be used for a lifetime.