News & Views Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Expressive Programmatic Pieces for Strings – Grade 2-3 Friday, January 05, 2018

recommended by Dan C., Orchestra Music Specialist

Have you been working on vibrato and stressing balance and blend with your string orchestra? Be sure to check out these expressive options! Students tend to like “up-and-at ‘em” pieces, but there is a lot to be said for learning slow, expressive musical literature. It develops maturity of sound and musicality, provides good contrast for concert and adjudication programs, and offers a kind of emotional feeling that string instruments can conjure up better than any other. Don’t miss these “feel good” winners.

grandm-gmmor180-fNebula by David Bobrowitz, Grade 2
Teaching moments abound as you capture the beauty and mystery of an interstellar cloud. Reinforce the concept of triplets and 2 against 3, get your students comfortable with sixteenth notes and introduce them to the one measure of 5/4 time. Everyone has active and essential parts, so they will enjoy working on this excellent contrast to more uptempo repertoire.

A Song for Friends by Larry Daehn/arr. Kyoto Sila, Grade 2.5
If your strength is in your upper strings, let them shine on this exquisite tribute to friendship. Perfect for practicing newly-learned vibrato, it will also reinforce smooth bowing, blending the ensemble and the best way to dove-tail the melody between sections. The lovely melody, uncomplicated rhythms and smooth harmonies will provide a great “Aaah” factor to any concert. Have your high school do it in the fall and middle school do it in the spring!

grandm-gmmor177-fCity Awakens, City Sleeps by David Bobrowitz, Grade 3
In an interesting reversal of the fast-slow-fast compositional stereotype, Bobrowitz goes slow-fast-slow in this depiction of a city coming to life in the morning, bustling through the day and closing down at night. He includes various bowing styles, including slurs ending in staccato, a left hand stretch from Eb to F# in most parts and an accelerando for a good “watch the conductor” lesson. There are short bass and cello solos and action for everyone as they perfect this example of programmaticism at its cinematic finest.

Contact us for more programming ideas for strings, and shop Stanton’s for all your sheet music needs!

About the Author:
Dan C. has worked at Stanton’s since 1979, primarily with orchestra music and print promotions. A “working” musician, he’s a classical cellist, a rock & jazz bassist and a folk & country guitarist/singer. His free time is spent with family or reading, gardening, cycling and working puzzles. His series of musical puzzles (RP3 Rebus Puzzle Picture People) can be found on the Stanton’s Facebook page each Sunday. He also has a reputation as a pretty good joke teller. Seriously.


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