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 Vivaldi.

Great Composer Note Reading Worksheets

To have your students learn more about Handel and Vivaldi, check out the Great Composer note reading worksheets.

Handel

Vivaldi

Vivaldi’s Gloria

I have found that very few young students know the major classical works. Vivaldi‘s Gloria is one of my favorite pieces. It’s sparkly and fast. I especially love the contrast between the choir and the orchestra. Several of my students are preparing to begin the Vivaldi Concertos in Suzuki Book 4. So, I thought that combining Joy to the World with themes from Vivaldi’s Gloria would be a great exposure for them.

One student told me today that she was practicing it on Sunday at church and several people commented, “Is that Vivaldi’s Gloria? That’s my favorite.” It was helpful for her to realize this was something she should know! She went home and looked it up on YouTube and watched it! I count that as win!

Techniques

Position Work

You know how some moms sneak vegetables into sauces and smoothies to get their kids to eat more vegetables. I might have snuck in some techniques that my students are working on to get some extra practice. Students will encounter minor modality, 3rd position, bariolage, and there are some great long notes for practicing vibrato. The opening introduction is taken directly from Vivaldi’s Gloria, and is all in first position, then the entire first and last stanzas of Joy to the World is in D Major in 3rd position. The fingering printed so they shift in and out of 3rd position on an open string.

Vibrato

Then the choral theme from Gloria is in the melody part. The ensemble parts and piano have the orchestra parts from the Gloria. The choral part uses dotted quarters, eighths and half notes. And boy do those half notes make great vibrato notes!

Relative Minor, Harmonic and Melodic Minor

The next technique comes in the second stanza which is in B minor. I use both the harmonic minor and natural minor for this stanza. Students have to navigate between A natural and A-sharp. When they first sight read through this, I get a lot of looks. They haven’t heard or thought about changing modalities and it seems to hit them really funny. My students are pretty open with me about their thoughts and several made comments like:

“That’s weird.”
“I don’t like this at all!”
“Well that’s different.”

I waited a couple weeks, and the minor modality grew on them. This week they told me that now they really liked it. (Ah! Maturity… just like a tomato takes time to mature on the vine, so do students.) In the opening theme there is the rapid sixteenths that use bariolage bowing. I was curious to see how my students would do with this technique as it hasn’t been in their literature very much. My students in Suzuki Book 3 and 4 have loved it. One student said it was her favorite part!

Violin Solo with Piano Demo

Below is just the solo part with the piano accompaniment. If you know you don’t have other instruments to play chamber music with, then this solo version might be the perfect option for you.

Lyrics

I realize it isn’t standard to include the lyrics in instrumental parts. But I often base my arranging on the lyrics of the hymn. I sang these carols so often as a child that I have most of the stanzas memorized for many of the Christmas carols and hymns. I’m finding that students today don’t know them. I realized that Disney piano books often write in the words because kids love to sing along. While instrumentalist many be able to sing as easily as a pianist, I still think that it’s helpful for stylistic interpretation that they know the words. And hey, they probably can sing along too if they really wanted to.

Flex Orchestra Series

This is part of the Flex Orchestra Series. With the Flex Orchestra Series, you can play the arrangement with any combination of stringed instruments with piano accompaniment. The melody part is available for violin, viola and cello. (The cello melody part has a simplified part for the bariolage section.) An ensemble part for each instrument allows any combination of instrumentation. The piano accompaniment is the glue that holds it all together.

Orchestra Demo

For more arrangements with this flexible instrumentation, check out the collection with 8 hymns and gospel songs here. Practice accompaniment tracks are also available to download.