Review

David Vining
Solo Duet Training for Trombones:
Two trombones

Flagstaff, Arizona, United States
Publisher: Mountain Peak Music
Date of Publication: 2014

Duet book

Primary Genre: Trombone Ensembles - 2 trombones
Secondary Genre: Study Material - etude

The breadth of invaluable pedagogical material available from David Vining, Professor of Trombone at Northern Arizona University, just got a little wider. This book is comprised of trombone duets, sans piano, arranged from frequently performed solos. The solos include: David’s Concertino, Galliard’s Sonata No.1, Guilmant’s Morceau Symphonique, Barat’s Andante et Allegro, Saint Saëns’ Cavatine, and Rimsky-Korsakov’s Concerto. I was happy to see that each of the two trombone parts contains an approximately even ratio of solo to accompanimental material. Pedagogically, the back-and-forth from these two types of material give the performers a better understanding not only of how the parts fit together, but also when to step forward into the limelight, and when to back away from it. One cannot help but take this knowledge and apply it to performing the solos with piano. The two parts are equal in difficulty, the level of which rises slightly from the solo material alone as some of the accompanimental material requires a firm grasp on technique.

 

I appreciate that Mr. Vining chose solos that a younger college student would perform. It can, at times, be difficult maintaining a student’s drive and focus on a given solo, and this source provides a means of keeping interest for this age range. Mountain Peak Music has done a fine job with clarity of layout, although a few awkward page turns exist where they could have been avoided. My personal tendency would be to use these as pedagogical tools more than for juries or solo recitals. However, they could be nice additions to studio class performances or studio recitals, especially when attaining a pianist is a challenge.