Grade 3 Listening Log: String Orchestra
Polaris—Garrett Hope. Polaris is a cinematic piece for grade 3 string orchestra with rapid spiccato rhythms, long legato phrases, and delicate harmonies. There is an appropriate amount of chromaticism throughout the harmonies, especially the cello and bass parts, and lots of unison parts between these two sections as well. My only complaint is that with the exception of a few measures about 2/3 of the way through the piece where they have 16th notes, the first violins have mostly half and whole notes.
Simple Gifts—Traditional/Michael Hopkins. This is an exciting and energetic arrangement of a traditional Shaker him. It blends traditional fiddling techniques with more modern harmonies and has a nice change from typical arrangements of “classical” music, which so often gets played too much and string orchestras.
Beauty and the Beast—Alan Menken & Howard Ashman/arr. Custer. This fun medley of songs from the 1991 Disney film “Beauty and the Beast” is sure to be a challenge for your first violins, but I believe it would be a hit—especially with younger students. It gave the cellos a chance to play the melody and if you want to make it even more exciting there are two percussion parts that can be added but are not necessary!
Flower Duet from “Lakme"—Leo Delibes/arr. Frank J. Hafferty. Flower Duet is great for introducing differentiating between triplets and eighth notes in all instrument sections. This is a lush and beautiful piece that can also be used to help students start to play. up in position. The tempo changes are sudden, but still feasible for young players. This piece will challenge your players’ rhythm in the best way!
Folk Song and Shanty—Richard Meyer. Meyer uses original melodies with traditional English flair to create a beautiful flowing piece that would be a great warm up at assessment for a mid-level string orchestra. He also provides a high get attainable first violin solo and gives all sections an opportunity to develop their legato and martelé both strokes. The faster section in the middle is in a pedant-then-light folk tune-style to give students an opportunity to break up the thick warm legato sections flanking it.
Arlington Sketches—Elliot Del Borgo. The Arlington Symphony orchestra association commission this fun D minor piece in 1994. Del Borgo did a great job using lots of different techniques such as arco , pizzicato, and marcato to get the right kind of tone for this piece. It’s sure to be a hit in your orchestra!
Cocnerto in D for Strings—G. P. Telemann/arr. Steven Frackenpohl. To not have students play a Telemann concerto would nearly be a sin! Frackenpohl does a great job arranging this classic concerto. This will challenge your violins to move their fingers a little faster, and also provide an opportunity for students to learn about fugues and Baroque style bowing. It will also challenge your students rhythm skills. There’s a lovely short legato section in the middle to work on bowing technique as well.
Fantasia in F—Tracy Rush. What a beautiful piece! The violas lead in which doesn’t happen often, so they would likely appreciate those three eighth notes of spotlight time! This soaring and delicate medley will also provide an opportunity to develop their legato both strokes, while also working in third position for violins. Lower strings are also welcome to play parts that they can up in position for a warmer timbre, which is another thing the director could start talking about.
Celtic Force—Steve Frackenpohl. This driving melody contains four hard-hitting Irish fiddle tunes arranged in a Celtic rock style. Students and audiences will enjoy the nonstop momentum of this exciting peace. This piece, maybe more so than the others on this list, really provides a great opportunity for students to work on both placement and distribution, especially with the driving eighth notes.
Ashokan Farewell—arr. Calvin Custer. Can you tell that I love a good folk tune? There are so many things you can do with this piece. You could give the solo to your advanced violinist or have the section play it as a Soli. There are a couple of tricky rhythms that would be great for students to challenge themselves with, and it’s another great opportunity to practice legato both strokes. There’s also a possibility to start talking about phrasing, versus simply doing the dynamics!
Drifen—Shirl Jae Atwell. My very first year of regional orchestra, we played this and ever since then, it’s been on my list of pieces to play when I’m a teacher. The melody gets passed around frequently and it will really challenge your violin players in terms of syncopated rhythms and high notes—it gets all the way up to an A in the first violins! Based on the Old English word for “driven,” this piece is a perfect representation of its etymological roots!
Beginning Bluegrass—Wieloszynski. OK, so maybe I’m partial to fiddle tunes as well. This could be a great piece to teach students about regional music, especially Appalachian music! It may be short, but it sure can be fun to let students loose musically!
Hornpipe from Water Music—G. F. Handel/Caponegro. This is another piece we played in my middle school orchestra. It’s a great way to start talking about complex meter— I remember really trying hard to wrap my head around the three to time signature and trying to figure out how it worked! Not only is it a beautiful piece, but it’s also a standard piece of orchestral literature that students should at least recognized by the time they finish middle school.
Czardas—Vittorio Monti/arr. Elliot Del Borgo. This piece hold such a special place in my heart: this is what I auditioned into JMU with! If you have an advanced violinist, it’s a great opportunity to play a solo with a string orchestra, and if not, it’s a great part for a violin solo.
Fantasia on an Original Theme—Joseph Phillips. When I saw the score, I knew I had to include it in my list! Violas rarely get solos especially at this grade level and so I just knew that to cater to everybody’s desires this was a must have. It provides a great chance for the first violins to play divisi and the seconds to have long beautiful flowing lines of secondary material. Fantasia also gives students a chance to work on intonation and tremolo.