This collection contains twenty-four pieces from 18th and 19th century Scotland. Included are airs and dance tunes originally for voice or fiddle. These duet arrangements are perfect for student and teacher as well as violin colleagues. the music is presented in sets of two or three tunes ready for performance. the traditional music of Scotland has unique and beautiful qualities and is fun to play.
The twenty-five pieces in this collection date back to eighteenth and nineteenth century Scotland. Music was passed around among professional and amateur musicians, hand copied, and ended up in slightly different versions in many collections. the Airs were originally songs or for solo violin. the Dances - strathspeys, reels, jigs, a hornpipe, and the sword dance - were originally for fiddle or bagpipe. the book is arranged as a program from beginning to end - from sunrise, with Ossians's Hymn to the Sun, to sunset, with the lullaby O, Can Ye Sew Cushions. and no Scottish evening is complete without Auld Lang Syne as a finale. But one can, of course, choose to play a selection.Three of the airs are Gaelic songs. Others are tunes for which Robert Burns and other poets wrote lyrics. Two airs were composed for the violin - Neil Gow's Lament for the Death of His Second Wife and the anonymous Killiecrankie,. the dances were played by fiddlers or pipers. They played (and still play) many of the same pieces. One example is Gillie Callum, the sword dance. Originally a bagpipe tune, its range was expanded beyond the pipes' nine notes and it became a fiddle tune.The composers are anonymous except for pieces by Niel Gow (1727-1807), his son, Nathaniel Gow (1763-1831) and William Marshall (1748-1833). Niel Gow was the preeminent violinist of his day. All three composed many fiddle tunes for Scottish country dancing.Most of the pieces are presented in sets of two, and they should be played without stopping in-between, as they would be performed at a country dance. Metronome markings are given as a guideline. Guitar chords are included ad libitum. Since the first violin generally has the melody, the pieces can also be played by solo violin.The music of Scotland is unique. the airs have their own special beauty. the dances are fun to play, with lively tempos, dotted rhythms and sudden key changes. This music has long been the pleasure of country fiddlers and pipers. These new arrangements for two violins are perfect for student and teacher as well as violin colleagues.
This collection of intermediate level Advent and Christmas pieces for violin(s) and piano includes some well-loved classics as well as pieces that will be new discoveries. While both beautiful and fun to play as duets, these pieces can also be performed as solo works using the Violin I part with the piano accompaniment. Each piece goes beyond a straightforward presentation of the main melody to bring a sense of joy and wonder to both the musicians and the listeners. These arrangements provide excellent opportunities for expression and collaborative playing; the melody often moves from part to part, and original material and fiddle tunes enhance the original melodies. Perfect for use in church settings or in recitals, as solos, or as ensemble repertoire in group classes, this collection will bring joy to your holiday season. Angels We Have Heard on High • Gabriel’s Message / Cold Frosty Morning • Joy to the World / The Ashplant • O Come, O Come Emmanuel • O Holy Night • Pat-a-Pan • Silent Night • Snowfall • St. Basil’s Hymn • What Child Is This?
Celebrate the winter season with these concert-ready arrangements influenced by a variety of folk traditions such as Celtic, old-time, bluegrass and Scandinavian fiddle. This collection of time-honored and original melodies is written with a modern string crossover twist to keep both the listener and performer engaged. All tunes are arranged by the Wires String Duo, including their original piece “Campbell Street”. The audio is a stereo recording of each of the arrangements inside this collection. Includes access to online audio.
Incorporating skills taught in many popular violin methods, these tuneful solo pieces offer a fresh alternative for teachers who would like a stimulating supplement to their usual method. These entertaining and whimsical compositions reinforce and develop violin skills through repetition disguised as lyrical musical phrases. They strengthen the left hand, exercise the fourth finger, and use rests in musically compelling ways that keep the student attentive. They also present mixed meter and double-stops, and offer a practical introduction to musical form and phrase structure. Slurs and dynamics are incorporated immediately, along with right-hand pizzicato on stopped strings and left-hand pizzicato on all open strings. These pieces are written specifically to encourage interpretive creativity, even at the most elementary levels. As twenty-first-century pieces for solo violin, they are meant to be performed as well as studied.
A collection of 92 delightful folk melodies from Romania, Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Hungary, Moldavia, Transylvania, Czechoslovakia, Moldavia, Serbia, Croatia and more, arranged for two violins in the first position with accompaniment chords. This package includes the companion recording, a 72-minute stereo CD presenting a performance-tempo rendition of all 92 duets from the book. Each violin is isolated on its own channel, so by adjusting the balance of your player to the left or right you can play along with the first part, second part, or both.
Anyone who is serious about learning Irish traditional music will eventually come across O'Neill's Music of Ireland, a collection of well over 1000 tunes. This book contains a selection of one hundred tunes from this collection, arranged into sets for fiddle which can be used at sessions, and for dancing. The book includes hints, tips and comments for playing the tunes and some of the tunes also have alternative melodies and harmonies for added variety and interest. At the back of the book, there are guitar chords with standard and open D tuning, and a fingering chart for fiddle that you might find useful.
Thoughtful and pragmatic fingering is essential to achieving a high degree of musicianship on any string instrument. Violin Fingering: Basic to Advanced is a primer for conventional fingering practice as well as for modern concepts. With more than half of its 82 musical examples taken from elementary and intermediate technical levels, the book’s basic ideas are readily accessible to the student violinist, while the advanced examples would challenge any violinist. “… there are so many brilliant ideas contained within…” David Kim Concertmaster of The Philadelphia Orchestra
The seventeen Christmas songs in this volume, arranged in comfortable keys, can be used for players at different levels and for all kinds of occasions. All three editions (Violin, Viola, and Cello) include two parts for either solo or duet performance and piano accompaniment. the three books are all compatible so that ensembles may mix and match parts as desired. Suzuki groups may particularly enjoy these arrangements. the CD provides the piano accompaniments alone. It can be used for back-up, improvisatory play-along, or for pleasant listening by itself.
Late Victorian Scotland had a flourishing music publishing trade, evidenced by the survival of a plethora of vocal scores and dance tune books; and whether informing us what people actually sang and played at home, danced to, or enjoyed in choirs, or reminding us of the impact of emigration from Britain for both emigrants and their families left behind, examining this neglected repertoire provides an insight into Scottish musical culture and is a valuable addition to the broader social history of Scotland. The decline of the music trade by the mid-twentieth century is attributable to various factors, some external, but others due to the conservative and perhaps somewhat parochial nature of the publishers’ output. What survives bears witness to the importance of domestic and amateur music-making in ordinary lives between 1880 and 1950. Much of the music is now little more than a historical artefact. Nonetheless, Karen E. McAulay shows that the nature of the music, the song and fiddle tune books’ contents, the paratext around the collections, its packaging, marketing and dissemination all document the social history of an era whose everyday music has often been dismissed as not significant or, indeed, properly ‘old’ enough to merit consideration. The book will be valuable for academics as well as folk musicians and those interested in the social and musical history of Scotland and the British Isles.
