Hmm. I just thought of something. Maybe I should move my original question to the teaching section and get input from a teacher’s point of view, too? I certainly do not want my instructor, whom I love dearly (just a little glitch in lesson speed), to rev it up when I mention other songs. For two weeks, due to the holiday season, it has been Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.

I went back to playing English Country Gardens, Danny Boy, Aulde Lang Syne, some of the songs from the middle of the book, and just found Rainbow Connection. I have been trying to get through them while remembering I am holding a bow. These are all in the Key of D, so I do not have that natural C next to a B to deal with. They are all easy versions for beginners. The lesson book progresses too quickly from page to page. 

Maybe some input from the teachers’ section would help, too.

Bocaholly, I am not talkimg about peeking at furture lesson songs, which I have done ?. I have been playing with songs within the level I am at (songs in Key of D, in first position) and trying to use them to firm up bow hold, bowing and intonation. I am not sure if that is a hindrance or will be a hindrance in the future. I really do not want to mess this because I really want to learn to play solo violin, and then viola.

I had my lesson today. No problem with adding songs. I showed her the one I thought would be good to help me cement the bowing and fingering and explained why. She agreed, and also got out some of her books and I took a snapshot of one and am hoping I can find a less expenisive version. She paid $40 for it and she doesn’t want students spending that much on it, it is very good, though. She said it was expensive because it had to be imported. Hm,.

Then she looked through book 2 of the series we are using and found 2 songs that should have been in book 1. She gave me the book to bring home. I was just going to buy book 2 because I will be needing it anyway. She said to just make a copy of those 2 songs. But, I don’t do that, so I will just take the cello version of those two songs, it is the same series I use for cello, and rewrite manually for my violin, not a biggy, or I will just go ahead and order book 2. I just started the one song with my cello.

So, I am good with my songs. 

Thanks, everyone.

Fiddlerman said

Which pieces are you referring to? Sometimes you can find that stuff here:
https://musescore.com/  

The book she has is, “Bärenreiter’s Sassmannshaus, The Sassmanshaus Tradition” “Violin Recital Album, First Position Erste Lage, Volume 1 / Band 1” Apparently German? 

It has simple songs rhe nirmal,way, and they getbmore difficult the further into the book you go. That song is done in three ofher versions with different rhythms, etc. It is so neat. It had “Lightly Row”, of clurse. But the different versions were really something. Not just simple 1/2 notes changed to 1/4 notes, A little more variated than that, the songs do get more involved, and they each have versions that are more involved than the original. 

Ever hear of that book? 

Will look at the link you provided, too.

Thanks. This has been a very upliftinf violin day. 

On top of that, my Obligato strings for my violin and viola arrived today. Ordered them from Fiddlershop. They were in the mailbox while I was at my violin lesson,so we let them warm up. Might wait for tomorrow to put them on. Getting kind of late and it takes me so long to change my strings, yet. Popped my bridge last time when I put Violinos on it. Almost done, and boing! I was checking all along and then did a tiny turn, bummer. I could see where it was before and put it back where it was. I want to put the Obligatos on to make it more soulful and keep the Violinos as a backup. They have only been on a few weeks.

Bob said
@Mouse you might enjoy surfing through Sassmannshaus's web site (link below). He has videos of him teaching students specific techniques. A little bit on the "stiff" teaching style, but still very interesting to watch.

http://www.violinmasterclass.com/  

From the looks of the book, it does not surprise me. I suspect strict classic style, which is not me. I think my instructor purchased her book straight from their site in Germany(?), found it there yesterday evening. She paid $40 for it and said most was shipping and she said some import fees(?). I generally order from US stores (I don’t do much online shopping) and have not encountered import fees.

I did find it at one of the US violin shops online, but not sure I want it. The page they sampled was not like the three she showed me. The song in the sample did not have the three variations of that song after the traditional version. It was a sample page using one of the songs further back for the student who is a little further along in first position. Maybe they do not give the variations with those songs.

It also had all that piano accompaniment part, that just gets in the way for me. The book title I browsed did not state it was the version with the accompaniment. It was exactly as I Googled, but the version displayed said, “with piano accompaniment”. My instructor’s version was just violin. The one I saw in the official website was just violin.

I am going to see if I can have another look before I buy it. I don’t want a collection of books starting here. You should see all of my piano and guitar books. I have enough songs to hone what I have learned for now. I realized that last night.