I recently purchased an easy treble clef instrumental duet sheet music book called 'Classical Themes For Two'. It contains 24 favourite classical melodies and is published by Hal Leonard. You can click the link to view the book at www.musicroom.com.
I have been using it for some of my teaching, some practice with my daughter (who is learning the cornet) and I have been recording some of the pieces to share on YouTube. Here is an example.
As I play for The Grimethorpe Colliery Band, I couldn't resist playing The William Tell Overture! The book doesn't have any actual grade music (because they are all duets) but it would be suitable for a player who is between grade 1-5 ability.
This book is labelled as being for trumpets, but any two treble clef reading instruments could use it. You could also use the book when teaching small groups of musicians. Also it is a brilliant way to expose younger musicians to Classical music.
The easiest duet in the book is probably Blue Danube Waltz. Here is a recording of it. It uses a lot of the C major arpeggio and would be a great way of teaching beginners about playing in a 3/4 time signature.
One of my favourite duets in the book is the Promenade from Pictures at an Exhibition. I have recorded that one as well, see below. This duet has some changes in time signature and covers a wider range.
One criticism of this book is that there are no written dynamics but you could just add those in with a pencil. This is definitely a task I will be asking my students to do as homework!
The full list of repertoire can be seen in this photo. I think it is a really great mix of music.
I hope this review has been useful. This is a great book that I am going to be using a lot!
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Thanks for reading! ❤
Mark Glover
3/4/24