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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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Violin Arrangement of Psalm 137
Here is an arrangement for violin and piano of a tune for Psalm 137 or Isaiah 53.
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Piano Trio of the National Anthem
A friend recently asked if I could write an arrangement for piano trio of the national anthem. A local doctor/surgeon will assume the presidency of a national medical organization. She is a well known and well respected doctor in her field, but what her colleagues don’t know is that she considered being a concert pianist before choosing to become a surgeon. Her boys studied violin and cello in our Suzuki School. This Dr. Mom was their accompanist as they were learning and growing up. She wanted to surprise her colleagues at the opening of the convention by playing the national anthem with her sons. Here is the arrangement I came…
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We Wish You A Merry Christmas – String Orchestra
The Story This arrangement of We Wish You a Merry Christmas was written for the Liberian Youth Orchestra. Last year I heard via a friend on facebook that a mutual friend and string teacher from Michigan, Julie McGhee was starting a new youth orchestra in Liberia, West Africa. In November 2018 The Liberian Youth Orchestra was born. Through the use of distance learning technology, 34 children are learning to play violin and cello in their school. She visits the school a couple times a year to teach in person and to conduct concerts. I heard about her project through a metal friend on facebook, and sent her some of…
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Romance by Anton Stamitz
About Anton Stamitz Today’s post is the middle movement from a violin concerto, Romance by Anton Stamitz. It seems that a music gene ran in the Stamitz family. Violin virtuoso, Johann Stamitz, performed and composed at the dawning of the Classical period. “It is difficult to overestimate Stamitz’s influence” on the both the sonata form and the Minuet and Trio movement he added to the Classical symphony [1]. We also see his influence in his two sons Carl and Anton who followed in his footsteps. Both boys were violinist and composers. Johann Stamitz died in 1757 when Carl was 11 years old and Anton was only 7 years old. Found on…
