Skip to main content
Tag

violin and cello duet sheet music

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…

Christmas Party Music

By gifts for string music lovers, intermediate and advanced cello duet sheet music, intermediate and advanced violin and cello duets, sheet music sales No Comments

What sort of Christmas party music would you choose to play for violin and cello duet? If you’re not sure we have a selection of sheet music in our online shop which would be fun for any occasion.

christmas party musicWhat is the programme?

Tambourin, Coppelia Waltz, Dance to Your Daddy, Pick Yourself Up, Exsultate Jubilate, Charpentier’s Te Deum,  and   Lilliburlero  are all lively and relaxed. These pieces are in major keys and project energy and joy. Christmas Variations   is also ideal. And if you add some straightforward carols to this you have a lovely programme.

Free arrangements!

This is a good time to browse through our sheet music because if you buy four arrangements from our online shop you get a fifth arrangement free.

And we can arrange carols for you…

Yes, although we don’t sell carol arrangements we can arrange them for you at quite short notice. For more information click here  or email us direct at info@fedorastrings.com

christmas party music

Building a repertoire of violin and cello duets for weddings

By sheet music sales, violin and cello duet sheet music No Comments

Building a repertoire of violin and cello duets for weddings

If you are forming a professional violin and cello duo which will play at weddings you may be struggling to find repertoire. Violin and cello duets are an unusual combination.

So… welcome to Fedora Strings!  Our website specialises in  violin and cello duet sheet music which is imaginative and effective.  Our two  wedding collection albums are likely to contain almost all the music you’ll need to start with. And the pdf format they are sold in can be printed not just once, but as many times as you want. This makes  them excellent value for money.

Not just for weddings!

While Wagner’s Bridal Chorus might be considered an unusual choice to play in a recital, most of our other music is not just for weddings but can be played anywhere! Almost all our arrangements and compositions are true chamber music. They have very equal parts and share the tunes between the instruments.  And at the moment we are offering five arrangements ( or compositions) for the price of four!

exsultate jubilate alleluia by mozart

 

 

Relax with our violin and cello duet sheet music!

By buy sheet music, cello duet sheet music No Comments

Relax with our violin and cello duet sheet music!

If you feel like trying some new duets we have plenty of sheet music in our shop which is not too demanding technically and is fun to play. Here are some relaxing, summer choices :

Tambourin
A lively, happy piece with straightforward parts for both instruments.

My Love is like a Red, Red, Rose
Who doesn’t enjoy this well known, romantic folk tune?

Over the Hills and Far Away
Another vibrant, happy piece with lots of open string double stopping that is easier than it sounds!

Arrival of the Queen of Sheba
One of the most popular pieces ever written? Here’s the chance to try a duet version instead of playing it in an orchestra.

As for cello duets Non Piu Andrai is a bit harder than the violin and cello duets mentioned above, but aims to have a sense of humour! And here’s the cello duet version of My Love is Like a Red, Red Rose.

More queries?

If you want to know more about the standard of our music just email us at info@fedorastrings

 relax with our violin and cello duet sheet music!

 

How TV Themes Work

By sheet music sales No Comments

This blog explores how tv themes work. Have you noticed how the best tv themes immediately take you into the world of the programme with no words needed? Ever wondered how they do that?  Here’s a very rough outline:
First – Hawaii 5 0.  The lively mood, off beat rhythms, energy, contemporary pop style, use of drums and minor key instantly evoke action, seriousness and America.

Compare this with Inspector Morse – a very different, definitely non American, detective:

This tune expresses darkness and sadness – ideally suited to the older, cultured and world weary  Inspector Morse!  The minor key, repeated rhythms and repeated descending bass line – in chaconne style – create a sense of inevitability. Vitali’s Chaconne  ( below)  with its famous repeated descending bass line, is in the same world  (but was written  300 years earlier.)

Changing the mood completely, the Pride and Prejudice theme projects lightness and happiness with its major key, scale patterns  and lively speed. The composer effectively captured the late classical /early romantic style of Jane Austen’s era .


Compare this with the Haydn Piano Concerto and John Field Nocturne  below. Both composers were contemporaries of Jane Austen.


Do we sell similar sheet music?

We don’t sell anything exactly like the above themes.  But all music creates its  effects in similar ways. The nearest we have to Hawaii 5 0 is Over the Hills and Far Away or Lilliburlero. Both are lively and energetic, but they don’t have the American feel and are not in a minor key. The closest we have to the Inspector Morse theme is probably Una Furtiva Lagrima or Scarborough Fair.There’s no repeated descending bass, but both are sad, beautiful minor tunes.For the classical style of Pride and Prejudice choose Exsultate Jubilate and Boccherini’s Minuet and Trio.

Finally, the Listen With Mother radio theme – from long, long,long  ago –  was simply Faure’s Berceuse – a  lullaby duet that was perfect for the programme.

Film Music Favourites

By sheet music sales No Comments

What are your film music favourites? In this blog I am going to share some of my favourite film themes. I’m also going to explain how some film themes have influenced our sheet music arrangements.

Film Music Favourites

This is the first fab film theme that  springs into my mind, and I love its energy and excitement. If fact, I like this theme so much that I included a quote from the main tune in our arrangement of Long Ago and Far Away ( even though this song is entirely different in mood)

Next, who could fail to be impressed by use of Bach’s Air on a G String in the Hamlet Cigar adverts ? This particular arrangementy is more jazzy than our own, but certainly gets some of the sense of calm across!

The film extract below is by far my favourite  version of La Cumparsita – and some of the accordion playing influenced our arrangement.

The theme from Dances with Wolves – with its sense of openness  achieved by using the first and fifth degrees of the scale – had some  influence on Morning Prelude

While Gabriel’s Oboe from the  film The Mission is an excellent example of a beautiful melody:
Enjoy!

Intermediate level violin and cello duets

By violin and cello duet sheet music No Comments

I recently had an email from a potential customer asking about intermediate level violin and cello duets. She wanted to know which of our sheet music was the most straightforward and easy to play. She was also looking for duets where the cello had the tune quite a lot of the time.

The easiest repertoire on our site

I had a chat to Roger about this and we agreed that the easiest sheet music duets on our site are:
My Love is Like a Red, Red, Rose
Londonderry Air
Over the Hills and Far Away
All of these are in D major, are rhythmically clear, and share the tunes equally between the instruments.Other pieces that we sell in the easier range include:
La Cumparsita    and   Bridal Chorus

The violin has the tune most of the time in these two. So, if you are looking for a duet which focuses on cello, Morning Prelude starts and ends with a cello solo in natural harmonics. It is always possible to adapt arrangements and leave things out. In fact, almost every time we play a piece we make some change to make the arrangement more effective. It’s an ongoing process.

Contact Us

Please feel free to email or phone us if you have any questions about the level of our arrangements. There are many recordings and videos on our site which we hope will help you assess the standard of the music.

 

New Duet Sheet Music

By sheet music sales No Comments

We have just added some new duet sheet music to our online shop. It’s called Morning Prelude and a recording will be available in November.

This is a 3 -4 minute piece in a gentle reflective mood which starts and ends with harmonics on the cello. There is a also a cello solo version: Morning Prelude for Cello Solo
The music was inspired by watching one of my baby twin grandsons looking out of the window on a wintry morning when he was just three weeks old.
new duet sheet music

 

Composing and improvising

Becoming confident about improvising on your instrument is one of the easiest ways to learn to compose. There are actually very few well known pieces for cello solo, and those that do exists are often extremely challenging to play. This is a pity, because you can achieve evocative effects fairly easily without making it too technically demanding. This is what I aimed to achieve in both the cello solo and duet version of Morning Prelude. The main mood, after the opening harmonics, is calm and relaxing, so if you are able to feel like that when you play the music it definitely helps.

 

 

More Narrative Playing

By fedora strings, sheet music sales, wedding ceremony music No Comments

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

.

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

 

Music Recordings

By fedora strings performance, sheet music sales No Comments

We have just completed some new music recordings of the pieces we sell online.

The recording session took place at Wadenhoe Church. The acoustics here are ideal for chamber music because the church is not too big. It’s also fairly isolated from roads and potential traffic noise.
Wadenhoe Church

Our new music recordings

The pieces we recorded included Scarborough Fair Dark Eyes, Variations on a Christmas Carol and one of Roger’s tangos. We’ll be adding the recordings to our website next month but meanwhile you can find out more about the music by clicking on the highlighted titles above.

music recordings