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Nov 15
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New String Sheet Music

By cello duets, cello quartets, fedora strings, relaxing string music, sheet music sales, violin and cello duet sheet music No Comments

We have just added new string sheet music to our online shop. The new string sheet music comprises four cello quartets, two intermediate cello duets and one violin and cello duet.

The Cello Quartets

The cello quartets are Pirates’ Return, Poldark, The Magnificent Seven and a new composition called Together. All of the parts are of  early intermediate standard and all of the pieces are around three minutes long. Together uses the opening  notes from Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells as an ostinato theme.

The Cello Duets

The new early intermediate cello duets  Pirates Meet The Magnificent Seven  are an arrangment of the main theme of The Magnificent Seven and a duet inspired by the song He’s a Pirate from Pirates of the Caribbean. Both use easy but imaginative effects on the cello to bring the mood to life.

The Violin and Cello Duet

The violin and cello duet is of special historic interest. It is an arrangement of a short piece written by the legendary violinist Jascha Heifetz (under the name of Jim Hoyl.) Heifetz wrote this song – When You Make Love to Me Don’t Make Believe – after he bet one of his friends that he could compose a piece that would get into the top ten. Needless to say Heifetz won his bet. Despite this less than serious start, Heifetz plays this song with great tenderness…

May 25
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Free Cello Exercises!

By fedora strings, string teaching No Comments

As there are so many excellent resources online at the moment I thought this would be a good time to add some free cello exercises to our website. So I am attaching the three short exercises below as pdfs which you can click and print. Although I wrote these for my pupils I have found them useful warm up exercises myself.

The first one is an exercise for finding thumb position. It’s all in bass clef:
Relax and Fly

The second exercise is based on The Lark Ascending and is for practising shifting from 1st to 4th position:
Flying Fourth

Finally, here is a bowing exercise which is mostly on open strings and so can be used for pupils from fairly early on:
String crossing exercise

cello duetsI hope you enjoy playing these. I’d be happy to have feedback.

Sep 05
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New Book for Song Cycle Published

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Roger Stimson’s children’s book ,  ‘Quest for the Golden Orchid’ , is now on sale as a straightforward  book and an audio book. Links are here: Quest here: Goodreads  and here:Google link It will also be represented at the London Book Fair on January 20th.

The Quest for the Golden Orchid is the book that Roger based his 15 Insect Songs on and these will soon be published by Spartan Press.

  The story features a bee called Hermia – and a variety of other insect characters- and their adventures in escaping dangers caused by pesticides.
music success

About the songs

The music is fun and imaginative in illustrating the different characteristics of the various insects. The number of solo voices or choruses vary per song and there is a violin and piano accompaniment.

” These songs are ideal for use in schools, ” said Roger. ” Each song works on its own with or without the book – or all the songs and the book can be combined to create a children’s musical.”
 music success

Find out more

 If you’d like to be kept in touch with up to date information about publication of the book and the songs please email Roger direct at roger.stimson@googlemail.com

 

Mar 31
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Inspiring Performances

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In this blog I wanted to share some videos of inspiring performances in different genres. What they have in common is a passionate and fearless sense of interpretation. The first is by Camille O’Sullivan:

The next is  Robert Stephens’ acting, especially notably this most famous speech from Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar:

 

And finally, something classical: Hvorostovsky’s performance of  Bizet’s Toreador Song:

Duet versions of Toreador Song are on sale here: Violin and Cello Duet   Cello Duets

Feb 19
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Creative Influences

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What are your creative influences? Are you inspired by paintings, books, architecture, poetry, theatre or dance?
For me the answer is all of the above. And this week I’ve also been watching skating:

It’s hard to imagine a more aligned interpretation of the music than the choreography here. The commitment of the skating has an intensity you can also see in the best classical music performers:

Moving away from live performance I often find paintings or architecture inspiring.
creative influencesI love the intensity of this famous painting by George Stubbs, which you can see at The National Gallery. And most people would thrill at the Harringworth Viaduct  ( below):
creative influences

What are your creative influences?

Aug 05
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More Narrative Playing

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Following on from the last blog here is some more narrative playing – that is, where there is a clear interpretation that is full of ideas.

Example 1: Casals and Bach

Casals’ heartfelt recording has spellbinding drama .

Example 2: Rachel Podger and Andrew Manse

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The imaginative dialogue between the two soloists in this performance of Bach’s Double Violin Concerto makes the music sparkle into life.

Cello Duet Narrative

The cello duet arrangements of Puccini’s aria Your Tiny Hand is Frozen and Mozart’s Non Piu Andrai have a clear story line so lots of opportunities to play with narrative. You can hear and buy this music on the links below:

Your Tiny Hand is Frozen

Non Piu Andrai

Four Famous Operatic Arias arranged for Cello Duet

 

Jun 13
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Music Narrative

By famous violin and cello duets, fedora strings, fedora strings performance, sheet music sales No Comments

Music narrative is an essential part of great interpretation. By narrative I don’t mean something you could necessarily put into words, rather the performer having a clear idea of what the music is about and what it has to say.

Examples of Music Narrative

The example above  – though crackly – is a superb example of performers who are completely at one with the mood of the music ( Massenet’s Elegie )  and convey its character wholeheartedly and beautifully.

Stanislavsky

Here are some relevant quotes from the great Russian actor Stanislavsky:
” Create your own method. Make up something that works for you. Keep breaking traditions, I beg you.”
“You’ll never see any two great actors approach a role in the same way.”
“Play well or play badly, but play truly.”

The overall point is that if you come up with imaginative ideas that are true to you they will breathe life into the music  – just as an actor hopes to breathe life into a character he portrays.

Opera has its own narrative

One of the easiest ways to respond to narrative is when playing opera arrangements, where there is a defined story. Our arrangements of Toreador Song and Habanera   –  from Bizet’s opera Carmen – are good examples of this.