Holiday
Resources violin teachers and students for holiday activities, holiday worksheets, free holiday sheet music, links to published holiday music.
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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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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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Intermediate Violin Christmas Solo
Looking for violin Christmas music? It is that time of year when music teachers begin choosing and introducing Christmas music. (And you wonder why we are tired of it by the time Christmas rolls around?) There have been some years I have waited until Halloween in order to introduce pieces, but that means I often only have 3 or 4 weeks for them to learn the piece well enough to play at a Christmas recital. So I usually begin talking about titles and choosing music at the beginning of October. I had trouble finding Christmas music that challenged my intermediate and advanced students. Many of the publications I found are…
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Violin Solo of The Star Spangled Banner
Here is an arrangement of the United States national anthem, The Star Spangled Banner for solo violin. This violin solo is arranged for the late intermediate or advanced student. The technique needed in the left hand for the double-stop and triple stops would place this at a Level 6. The player will need to be comfortable playing in first and third positions as this arrangement uses double stops to provide the harmony. Opportunities to Perform Use this violin solo of “The Star Spangled Banner” to bring your string program or studio attention at events where the national anthem is needed. There are school and community sporting events, plays and productions, school flag raising ceremonies are all occasions…
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How Far Is It To Bethlehem?
I learned the Christmas hymn “How Far Is It to Bethlehem?” when I was in 4th grade. I remember it because my family moved from Chicago to South Carolina. We began attending a small church in Clemson, SC. That year the children’s choir learned the song “How Far is It To Bethlehem?” for the Christmas program. Recently, I read an article on Frances Chesterton, wife of G. K. Chesterton. She is the author of the poem How Fari Is It To Bethlehem. I still remember most of the words for the hymn. But I didn’t realize it’s beauty and depth until I re-read it now as an adult. Who was Edith Chesterton? The…
