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Solo Violin

Solo Violin Wedding Repertory

15 elfin violin solos and 5 elfin duos for two violins

for practice, recital, performance, and enjoyment!

Emphasizing off-the-string playing (spiccato), trills, and ornamentation

Available Now!

The Faerie Fiddler aims to make several not-so-easy techniques fun to practice and perform. These techniques include spiccato bowing, trills, and ornamentation. Development of such delicate violin techniques should be supervised by a capable violin teacher, and this book assumes that the player is already somewhat familiar with these techniques. Therefore, these pieces are intended as supplementary material, not as a formal etude book. I hope these pieces will stimulate both students and teachers. I have endeavored to channel mischievous Puck to sprinkle magic juice on difficult techniques:

• By writing interesting pieces that 
  - captivate the player while maintaining simple forms
  -  use woodland imagery to describe several of the tunes
  -  introduce traditional dance forms
• By writing whimsical accompanying verses to: 
  -  introduce each piece
  - identify and highlight specific techniques 
  - encourage observation of what the music is doing 
  -  cast humor on the process, so that student, teacher, and writer/composer are accomplices in the same game
• By reinforcing the faerie fiddler techniques throughout the book (all pieces except Raucous Rondo include spiccato bowings).
• By maintaining clarity and consistency in the use of expression markings so that the student will know when and when not to play off the string.

I believe The Faerie Fiddler will appeal to students who have begun to learn spiccato techniqes, including imaginative adults. The solo pieces have been recorded below as a preview (and as an exercise for myself to ensure the pieces are playable and the bowings reasonable). Though the pieces are short and may look easy, they are not easy to play perfectly, given their transparency and the faerie fiddler spiccato bowing and ornamentation.   

back cover of The Faerie Fiddler

Faerie Exercises (1-6)
  Welcome
  Balance
Trills and Thrills
  Cruising
  Cross the Creek
Bounce and Trill

Woodland Songs (7-10)
  Curious Fawn
  The Fox
Playful Rabbits
Robin's Nest

Faerie Dances (10-15)
Berry Bourrée
  Gracious Gavotte
  Raucous Rondo
Elf Queen's Waltz
  Elf King's March

Faerie Duos (16-20)
Tandem
Soar and Skip
Hide and Seek
Only a Dream
Bower

 $20.00 per copy plus shipping. 

All U.S. shipping is via U.S. Priority Mail. 
International shipping is via international airmail. 

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Discover Dorothy Barth's Other Sheet Music Anthologies

Key words: Violin study, violin teaching, sheet music, new violin study music, The Faerie Fiddler,  Dorothy Barth, spiccato studies, trill studies, Celtic ornamentation studies, compositions by Dorothy Barth, original fairy music, fairy lore, faerie music, faerie wedding, woodland wedding