Product Description
*PLEASE READ IMPORTANT NOTE AT BOTTOM
Though playing gigs doesn't bring much prestige, it's a main part of the business, and I have many fond memories of playing weddings, receptions, etc from when I was younger. Generally, the people in attendance are very appreciative, and you get to play some great music (sometimes even in good arrangements!) One can also hope you're being paid well and maybe fed, too.
Most gigs are pretty standard. It was my goal to make arrangements of the *most requested*, most *standard* Classical music to make this book as useful as possible. In only one case was I a little prescriptive: I happen to think the Bach Sinfonia BWV29 (AKA the prelude to the Third Partita with accompaniment) would make a great recessional at a wedding, though I've never actually been asked for it. Everything else I've ended up playing multiple times on multiple gigs.
Often the goal with quartet and trio music for weddings is to have it be as simple (and therefore sightreadable) as possible. Who knows who might be called to fill in at the last minute? And there are enough players that there isn't too much worry of the arrangements sounding thin.
With this book of duos, however, it was my assumption that the musicians would be a fixed duo playing together fairly regularly. Therefore I felt freer to use more double-stops than is customary in order to make the arrangements sound as full as possible. (Don't worry, though, it's not nearly as difficult as our arrangements of the Great Symphonic Masterworks for two violas!)
I'd estimate that for two really good string players, a little practice time with the trickier tunes and one rehearsal up-front would suffice so long as they continued playing through the book regularly enough after that on gigs. And a note about slurs: in some cases they're reasonable, in others they're simply phrase markings from the original and should be broken. Even the reasonable ones, of course, are to be broken when playing under adverse circumstances and more projection is required.
-Scott Slapin & Tanya Solomon
Video here: https://youtu.be/YcCa6_gs_e4
NOTE: This book is not necessarily meant to be played or printed cover to cover. We did not included blank pages in between pieces because we know that many musicians have their own way of putting together their "gig books". You can print them out any way you choose and you can also put in blank pieces of printer paper wherever you'd like.
This product was created by a member of ArrangeMe, Hal Leonard's global self-publishing community of independent composers, arrangers, and songwriters. ArrangeMe allows for the publication of unique arrangements of both popular titles and original compositions from a wide variety of voices and backgrounds.