The Fiddle Quartet

Now that we have introduced the violin, viola and cello individually in Music K-8, we figured it was time to feature them collectively as members of the string quartet. At the end of the instrumental tracks of the Performance/Accompaniment recording, you will hear string quartet performances of "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik," and "Variations on America," which correspond to the study of the string quartet in this issue (pages 62-63). To further emphasize the differences and similarities of the instruments, and to help students identify their respective sounds, we wrote this little ditty which focuses on each instrument separately and together.

Written in a folk/country style, the song introduces each member of a string quartet: first violin, second violin, viola and cello. A "partner song for strings," the song allows each instrument to solo during the verses which introduce them. The fifth verse then combines all four of them into the collective quartet. If you are using the P/A recording, be sure to let your students listen to the instrumental version of the song so they can really hear what each instrument is playing. This will not only help them pick it out while they are singing, but it will also reinforce the sound of each distinctive instrument.

The lyrics are quite simple and somewhat humorous and your students may feel the urge to sing them comfortably in a chest voice, even with a little bit of country twang thrown in. Let them! It will be much more memorable if they have fun with it.

If you decide you'd like to stage the song, you can have your own family fiddle quartet "perform" the fiddle parts, either for real or pantomimed. If you do want to have a live performance, we have included a reduced score of the four parts right on the piano/vocal. You will need to extract parts for ease of reading, but it's all there! Consider having your players dress casually as if they were living in a remote or rural mountain setting. Have a few "folks who come from miles around" stand around and clap, dance or generally cheer them on as they play. You could even have a number of "animals" join the party if you wanted to get serious about costuming. If you plan to use the song as part of a program, you could even have a mountain setting behind them, complete with a "log cabin" or other simple structure to enhance the style.

You can find the features of the string instruments in the following issues of Music K-8 magazine: The Violin, Volume 5, Number 1 (Sept./Oct. 1994); The Cello, Volume 6, Number 2 (Nov./Dec. 1995); and The Viola, Volume 7, Number 2 (Nov./Dec. 1996).