Sassmannshaus, Kurt – Early Start on the Viola Book 4 Published by Baerenreiter Verlag

Volume 4 expands playing in upper positions, introduces new bowing techniques, and trains the latter by means of scales in every key and increasingly demanding classical duets. Three-note chords, harmonics and further ornaments (lower mordents, grace notes, gruppettos) advance the young violist’s playing technique.

By now students will have attained a level of technique and interpretation that allows them to venture into the concert literature while they study Volume 4. Violin concertos by Rieding and Seitz, arranged for viola, are found in Bärenreiter’s Concert Pieces, a series edited by Kurt Sassmannshaus that proves an ideal continuation of the Sassmannshaus tutors. Students can also play the original compositions and arrangements in the collection “Concert Pieces for Viola and Piano” (BA 9697), which form a bridge to the viola’s standard concert repertoire.

The authors
In 1976 Egon Sassmannshaus, one of the most experienced and renowned violin teachers in Germany, published his tutor “Früher Anfang auf der Bratsche”. This standard work for young string players quickly became the most popular and best-selling tutor in the German-speaking countries for beginners on the viola. His son Kurt Sassmannshaus functioned as co-editor of the English-language edition, “Early Start on the Viola” (BA 9686, BA 9687, BA 9688, BA 9689), adapting his father’s successful tutor to meet the needs and requirements of English-speaking children.

The combined knowledge and experience of both father and son make these four volumes the most thoroughly researched and thought-through viola tutor for beginners all over the world.