Meet the authors
	The author Egon Sassmannshaus studied with the eminent German-American violinist Walter Schulze-Priska, who had been a student of Otokar Sevcik, the first truly systematic violin pedagogue. Egon Sassmannshaus' keen interest in child psychology as applied to the teaching of young children, coupled with an impeccable background in technical violin expertise and pedagogy led him to publishing his violin method "Früher Anfang auf der Geige" (The Sassmannshaus Tradition) in 1976. This method quickly became the most popular and best selling beginner method for violin teaching in German speaking countries. Egon Sassmannshaus' own students have excelled to become leading teachers and musicians all over Europe. His son, the violinist Kurt Sassmannshaus, is currently chairman of the string department at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. A prize winning student of Igor Ozim and Dorothy DeLay, he had been a teaching associate to Dorothy DeLay for a quarter century. He published the pioneering website www.violinmasterclass.com in 2004. The UK's Strad Magazine calls him the "King o on-line violin tutorials". One of the most important violin teachers of his generation, Kurt Sassmannshaus's students have won major internationel competitions and occupy important positions in the music world across the globe. In 2005 he founded his own summer school for outstanding young string players, the Great Wall International Music Academy in Beijing, China (www.greatwallacademy.org).