String Quartet String Quartet - Level 3 - Digital Download

SKU: A0.716313

Composed by Shaker Tune. Arranged by Lena Seeger. Folk,Multicultural,Wedding,World. Score and parts. 7 pages. Lena A Seeger #5985031. Published by Lena A Seeger (A0.716313).

Simple Gifts, the shaker tune featured in Copland's Appalachian Spring, arranged for a modified string quartet: three violins and cello. Suitable for first-time string ensembles, as well a nice addition to a wedding set.

String Quartet Cello,String Quartet,Viola,Violin,Voice - Level 4 - Digital Download

SKU: A0.749202

By Celine Dion. By Harry Warren. Arranged by HELEN MARPLE-HORVAT. Oldies. Score and parts. 21 pages. Helen Marple-Horvat #3539949. Published by Helen Marple-Horvat (A0.749202).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRqJrKjpk0o

‘At Last’ was composed by Mack Gordon and Harry Warren for the musical ‘Sun Valley Serenade’ in 1941. It was recorded by Glenn Miller and his orchestra, becoming a chart hit in 1942, and in 1960 by Etta James, who was subsequently inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. The song is a frequent wedding favourite for quartets.

I also have a version for string quartet without a vocalist listed on this site, which is very similar, but entails more double stopping for the players. I am also planning to do several arrangements of this wonderful classic, including a version with a simplified first violin part.

This version is for a professional quartet, as the opening is tricky for the first violin. However, most of the double stopping includes open strings for one of the notes. This is a great opportunity for the singer to try her improvisational skills, so I have taken the vocal line from the original, with a few tweaks here and there. This is not set in stone however, and our recording shows my daughter embellishing the vocal line. Nevertheless, the quartet parts are almost identical to the score I am uploading.

As I am classically trained, it was quite difficult, at first, for me to stick to the beat and not to try to follow the singer when accompanying on the piano!  It’s important to remember to keep the quartet in rock solid time so that she can feel free to pull the lines away from the main pulse sometimes. Little slides up to notes suit the style well too.

Look out for the upcoming simpler version if this one feels a bit daunting and exposed!

Have fun and post me any recordings. I can be found on Facebook very easily. 

String Quartet String Quartet - Level 4 - Digital Download

SKU: A0.836707

Composed by Brian Joyce. Christmas,Contemporary. Score and parts. 67 pages. Brian Joyce #3226073. Published by Brian Joyce (A0.836707).

What’s Christmas without a few toys?

Here is a new suite of older carols for string quartet in which each musician is required to play a wee bit of percussion in addition to his or her real instrument. The potential for entertaining visual theater is nearly as high as the potential for mishap. (If all goes according to plan, nothing should actually go airborne.)

This is something of a sequel to my earlier Christmas quartet And Therefore Be Merry, which has never been out of print since it was first published over twenty years ago. But where that work was a continuous medley, this is a set of independent and more fully developed movements, each able to stand on its own.

As mentioned above, each member of the quartet is responsible for a small item of percussion. These are all things which could readily be found in a local school band room: a triangle, a tambourine, a suspended cymbal - played with a soft (yarn) stick - and a small frame drum, played with the bare hand.

These are all earlier, earthier carols than what one typically finds on the radio or playing over the speakers at the mall. They include Gloucestershire Wassail, Riu Riu Chiu, Angelus ad Virginem, The Sans Day Carol, The Wexford Carol, and Masters in This Hall. Being perhaps less familiar, they bring a welcome respite from the overworked seasonal fare we all hear a bit too much of each year. They speak of simpler times, and of a far less frantic approach to Christmas. These fresh and inventive arrangements will make a useful addition to a quartet’s repertoire, provided the players have the requisite spirit of adventure.

Score and Parts total 67 pages. Performance time is about 14 minutes.