Testimonials

The new Fun and Easy books are FANTASTIC. David Tasgal deserves the Nobel Prize for writing them. My advice to teachers: RUN (don’t walk) to your computer and order Books 1–4. When you get the books, listen to the CDs—you’ll be hooked too.

–Susan Shields
first non-Japanese Suzuki trainee

It has been a blast this year teaching from Strings Fun and Easy! My students love their books and practice like crazy to get to the next fun song. Their parents love hearing them practice and yell out “requests” of their favorite songs. On our school programs, the violin class performances of Strings Fun and Easy pieces have made “rock stars” out of the violin kids with their peers! Love, love, love these books, David! Great work and a big “BRAVO!”

–Ardis Billey
string teacher, Cleveland OH

My students love the variety of musical styles along with the early and easy introduction to note reading. After teaching for 20 years I found this String Method is a fun and creative beginning for me and my students! Thanks, David.

–Denise Sprague
Santa Barbara CA

Strings Fun and Easy has been a tremendous asset to my strings program. The instructions and pictures reinforce what is taught in class. There is such a variety in the songs. David has created a curriculum that is fun to play and the CD accompaniment engages the students to play these exercises multiple times. I highly recommend this series.

–Gwendolyn C. Scott

These books are by far THE BEST instructional play-along books I have ever used in my 30+ years of teaching. Students of all ages (even adults) LOVE the tunes and literally can hardly wait to go home and practice and perform them for their friends and family. The tune sequence is very user-friendly and sets the student up for success. The wide variety of musical styles and outstanding arrangements on the CD put this series in a class by itself.

–Sue Jesch
Education Director, Carson City Symphony Association, NV
Recipient, 2011 Governor’s Arts Award for Leadership in Arts Education

I so appreciate your work and the brilliantness of your Strings Fun & Easy text. I have been teaching 25 years and have never found a text that offer such a seamless and sequential approach to note reading, technique development, all-encompassing exposure to style/genre and musicality. Bravo! The CD accompaniments are the icing on the product!

–Paul Pierce
orchestra director, Windsor CT

My son loved, loved, loved this book. He is hard to motivate and this method did the trick. The learning curve for both playing and reading is very easy and it’s rewarding right away. The accompaniment CD makes it a lot of fun, like playing in a band where all the other musicians are really, really good and they make you sound good too. The tunes are catchy and the writing is charming with kid-friendly humor. It also introduces a variety of musical styles and genres.

–Sophie Athena
parent and Amazon reviewer

My students are highly motivated to practice EVERY DAY, especially with the practice CD. The humor found within the text is another motivator for my students starting with the piece “Oink! Oink!” This text is a treasure for teaching note reading.

–Janet Fantozzi
string teacher, Farmington Public Schools, CT

My kids—and students—LOVE it. Rave about it, actually. Practicing was never so easy!

–Jessica Ragsdale
San Antonio TX

My students LOVE the books I’ve given out and are very enthusiastic about reading through them. The accompaniment music is such fun, and a nice break from their Suzuki pieces. Add me to your list of fans.

–Diane Mcintyre
Music a la Carte, Anchorage AK

I think I have found the perfect fit for my daughter … she has begged each day this week to do “just one more” sight-reading piece in Book 1 … my daughter only gets to listen to the pieces and play along as a reward AFTER sight-reading the music. And what a reward it is! The accompaniment is fabulous. Honestly, when I listened to the samples on the website, I kept pressing “play”. It has high-quality sound, a wide variety of styles of music, and somehow (as [my daughter] put it) “It makes it seem like my playing is a really important part of the whole thing.”

–Jennifer
parent of a 10-year-old, Suzuki Association forum