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Christmas Solos for Violin
Here are some recommendations of Christmas solos for violin. All of the Christmas titles listed below come with a printed piano accompaniment. Some of them have downloadable piano tracks to practice or play along. Enjoy some old favorites in new ways this Christmas season. March Level 1B The Nutcracker signals Christmas for many people. And for many students who also take ballet, this is a great opportunity for them to play a piece they hear as they prepare for their part in the Nutcracker. This arrangement is set in the key of D, and the student will need to review moving 2nd finger from low to high. Bow retakes are…
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New Christmas Violin Solo
Here is a new Christmas violin solo that is hot off the press. I have a couple students that are going to start working on it for fun. It’s not hard. The arrangement can be played in first and third position with one big shift at the end going into 5th and 7th position. We have been working really hard on 3 octave major and minor scales this semester so step wise pattern in 5th and 7th, shouldn’t be out of reach for them. (No pun intended.) I wanted the arrangement to be majestic. In thinking about this wonderful text by Charles Wesley, I had in my mind the description…
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9 Free Easy Christmas Songs
Here are 9 free easy Christmas songs for beginning violinists. All of these songs are in first position. They begin with the easiest finger pattern. You will find one note change in Deck the Halls. This change avoids a using a high 3rd finger on the D string. Then the songs progress to using low 2nd fingers. The final song Carol of the Bells include using a low first finger on the E string and a high 3rd finger on the D string. G Major and D Major Christmas Songs In mid-Suzuki book 1 I usually teach Jingle Bells, Deck the Halls, Angels We Have Heard on High, and Joy…
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Wobble Gobble November Vibrato Challenge
I’m doing a November vibrato challenge for my students. Once a student has a basic working vibrato sometimes it falls by the wayside. Once the newness and excitement of learning vibrato has worn off they stop using it. I have to remind them to add it into their pieces. And keep giving a weekly assignment to use it. An assignment could be play tonalization and vibrate on every note. Or, play Chorus this week and vibrate on all the 3rd fingers. Another assignment could be, this week vibrate on all the notes that are eighth notes or longer in Humoresque. I’ve also said, “This is the vibrato section in Seitz.…
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Christmas Violin Play-Along Books – Part 3
Here are 2 more reviews of books in the series Christmas Violin Play-Along Books. These collections are from Hal Leonard. The Play-Along Books are for different levels. You can also read about other Play-Along Books here: Part 1 and Part 2. Hal Leonard Violin Play-Along: Favorite Christmas Hymns Vol. 77 Arrangers: Peter DeneffPublisher: Hal Leonard CorporationLevel: 5 or 6 (because of position work) Pros: These arrangements are not just the melody part. Often the player plays through tune 2 or 3 times. But there is variety and variation that gives interest on each stanza. This would be a good collection for an intermediate player who is comfortable in 3rd position. It does…
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Christmas Violin Play-Along Books – Part 2
This is a continuation of the violin Christmas Play-Along Book Reviews. See the titles and in each book. I have given a general level to each book. Each collection will have easier and harder pieces. The leveling is very broad in these Christmas violin play-along books. I have listed the key each piece is in and some of the techniques that are found in that piece. I would recommend all 3 of these books. They are for different levels of playing, but they all work well for their level. Lindsey Stirling Christmas Collection: Violin Play-Along Volume 81 Arrangers: Lindsey StirlingPublisher: Hal LeonardLevel: 6 Pros: Arrangements are taken from Lindsey Stirling’s album Warmer in the…
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Christmas Violin Play-Along Books – Part 1
Do you love violin Christmas Play-Along books? True confession: I used to have a very snotty attitude toward violin play-along books. Through the pandemic I began to see these violin Play-Along book were meeting a need. First, these books come with performance tracks and accompaniment play-along tracks. In a world where students live in earbuds. Sometimes creating your own live music is disappointing. These books give them a soundtrack to play along to. Which is really exciting and can be very fulfilling for the student. Second, many of these books have more popular titles from movies and artists that students like and know. So, while there is a value of…
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Winter’s Snow Christmas Violin Duets
Winter’s Snow is a collection of Christmas violin duets that I wrote in 2009. The first two books of arrangements that were published with Soundforth did not have recordings available with them. Some of my students will learn these this fall. I had some extra time this summer and so I decided to record these duets. Since I am a Suzuki teacher and I do a lot of online teaching, having recordings for my students is a high value for me. I saved the recordings in 4 different formats. The first is the violin duet with piano accompaniment. Next there is a recording of each part with the piano accompaniment.…
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Joy to the World with Vivaldi’s Gloria
It’s that time of year again when I have to admit that I love Christmas music. There is something in the songs that fires up my creativity. Just look at the publications page and you’ll see… But one of my students pointed out to me that all my Christmas arrangement tend to be slow and lyrical. She is one that loves fast and loud, and the faster and louder… the better. And I have to admit that I was like this at her age. So, for all my fast-song-loving students, I arranged Joy to the World with Vivaldi’s Gloria just for them this year. Mashing up two of the Baroque greats, Handel and…
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Want to Write A Christmas Song?
I have found that students often get bogged down an discouraged by the many steps that go into writing a song. After all, that’s sort of how they imagine the composition process going. In there minds it composing goes something like this…. … You pick up your violin, set the bow on the string, and suddenly you have this great inspiration and you play a completely new piece. Then you walk over to a computer and play it for the computer. The computer of course knows exactly what note you play (because your intonation is perfect). Certainly the computer knows exactly what rhythm you play (because there are no hesitations…
