Strictly Strings

Although the key signature of two sharps suggests the key of D major, Dorian Parade begins with a six-measure introduction starting and ending on E-implying the Dorian mode. The piece spends a conside...

Playfully written, Scherzando employs mostly down and up bowing, includes some two-note slurs, and all instruments are given a chance to play the melody. Although the tempo is marked 88-104, it can be...

Imagine the stately bird, the blue heron, in the marshes along Lake Erie. When standing on one leg in the water, the bird is visible to the careful observer, yet their large wingspan makes them majest...

Edmund Siennicki has arranged this classic fiddle tune for young strings with more than just the fiddles in mind. Including the usual eight-note fiddling rhythmic figures (4/4), left-hand pizzicato, d...

A Kwanzaa Celebration combines "African Noel" and "Kum Ba Yah" with easy-to-play and fun percussion parts that will have your audience tapping their toes. A novel way to introduce multicultural music...

This remarkably simple, yet sophisticated sounding piece from Mark Williams allows for the development of many expressive possibilities in young players. Syncopation and spicatto are explored and deve...

This fresh, contemporary-sounding work by Mark Williams allows your young string players to experience the changing modes and tonalities of 20th-century music within an extremely easy format. Featurin...

This skillful arrangement of themes from Brahms's First Symphony, Sibelius's Finlandia and Mouret's Rondeau ("Masterpiece Theater" theme) is a delightful excursion into some revered musical classics....

This stately minuet is a great introduction to the Baroque style for your beginning string orchestra. This authentic-sounding arrangement is perfect for students who have just learned their first note...

Rosin up the bow, call out the fire department, and let's go! This lively, energetic piece gives students a chance to show off their newly learned C natural (on the A string) in a modal display of beg...

Beginning with a slow introduction featuring the viola section (with optional 3rd violin), the pace quickly changes to one of vigorous activity. Your students will love this composition with its stron...

Familiar songs of the Chanukah season are skillfully presented in this great arrangement for young strings by John O'Reilly. Ideal for first-or second-year string orchestras, this selection is correla...

Rosin up the bow, and limber up those fingers as we get ready for a real "Fiddle Finger Frenzy!" Within a rip-roarin' fiddle style, a variety of accidentals are explored in first position. Besides bei...

Your students will love the modern sound of this original by John O'Reilly. The piece begins with a lyrical "Andante" in Phrygian mode utilizing slurred bowings, followed by a robust folk style "Alleg...

This clever, yet very easy treatment of one of the world's most beloved folk songs uses only a one-octave D major scale (plus open strings) within a simplified rhythmic structure. With only quarter, h...

This vigorous original work cleverly uses open strings, plus only the first notes learned on the D and A strings, to evoke the sometimes charming, sometimes rough world of the sailor at sea. Open doub...

Using only quarter notes and a one-octave D major scale, this fun piece depicts the "two steps forward, one step backwards" approach typical in mountain climbing. Utilizing both loud and soft pizzicat...

This delightful work for beginning string orchestra uses only a one-octave D major scale plus open strings to evoke the spirit of a lively country dance. The interplay between forte and piano provides...

Rosin up the bow and get ready for a rip-roarin' good time! The spirit of the Old West rides again in this lively Mark Williams original. Correlated with page 30 of Strictly Strings, Book 1, this exci...

Rosin up the bow and get ready for a rip-roarin' good time! The spirit of the Old West rides again in this lively Mark Williams original. Correlated with page 30 of Strictly Strings, Book 1, this exci...

String a Song of Christmas features a number of Christmas classics, including: 'The First Noel,' 'Silent Night,' 'Deck the Hall,' 'Away in a Manger,' 'Jolly Old Saint Nicholas,' and 'We Wish You a Mer...