The Tenants' Polka (Husmannspolka)

The Tenants' Polka is yet another lively Scandinavian traditional dance tune!

The Violin 2 and Cello 2 parts in this arrangement should be fairly easy to play. The Cello 1 section, on the other hand, needs to be comfortable with playing in second/third/fourth position. A nice challenge for the oldest cellists in the Junior string orchestra!

One elephant – or more!

This arrangement was made as a part of The Double Bass Project, but for a spesific concert with both junior and youth orchestra members playing together in one big orchestra.

The unusual thing about this particular orchestra was that it had 5 – five! – double bass players, which, let me tell you, is no common occurence in our small town. We had two of my cellists-turned-bassists, one junior bassist, one youth bassist, and the bass teacher. I really wanted a piece with which to show off this incredible bass section, and this Danish elephant march was the result. Well – I'm not the first to cast the double bass in the role of the elephant...

We actually had the whole bass section stand in front of the orchestra for this piece, and it seemed to me that it was very popular!

As this piece is meant to be played by musicians of varying ages and abilities, some of the parts are super easy (Violin 3, Cello 2 and Double bass 2 can all be played on open strings), some are just easy, and some – notably the Violin 1 part – require more experienced students.

I include the beginners' part, Violin 3 and Cello 2 (in Norwegian only, sorry!), which is basically rhythms on the open A string.

Dance of the Lonely Moon Man

Another one of my own compositions for our Junior orchestra: The Dance of the Lonely Moon Man, a sort of wistful spaceman passacaglia...

Dino Dances 1: Velociraptor Waltz

This velociraptor seems to be a little dizzy – maybe he has been running around in circles for too long?

P.S. Complete parts for  the Velociraptor Waltz and the other Dino Dances are available at Sheet Music Plus: Dino Dances for Junior String Orchestra

Dino Dances 2: Tyrannosaurus Tango

Who knew the T-rex was such an elegant dancer?

Note: The Cello 1 part may be played by a soloist.

P.S. Complete parts for the Tyrannosaurus Tango and three other Dino Dances are available at Sheet Music Plus:  Dino Dances for Junior String Orchestra

Listen to Tyrannosaurus Tango here!

Dino Dances 3: Brachiosaurus Boogie

The Dino Dances were actually inspired by the drawings of the amazing children's book illustrator Paul Stickland. I'm starting with the last one, that way they will end up in the right order on the blog (you see, I'm learning...).

Like in the other Double Bass Project pieces, the bass part is playable on open strings. But in this piece the bass section gets to show off a little, too, starting at letter B. Who says open string parts have to be dull?

The brachiosaurus is way too awesome a creature to have a regular ending to its dance. In the last chord, everyone should play as high a note as they can on their instrument. This will result in a sort of microtonal cluster. What the brachiosaurus actually does (or says) here, I leave to the imagination of the musicians!

P.S. Complete parts for the Brachiosaurus Boogie and the other Dino Dances (with a bonus movement!) are available at Sheet Music Plus: Dino Dances for Junior String Orchestra

Synes du om meg?/Ut å søke tjeneste – Two folksongs from Norway

A new piece for The Double Bass Project: Two Norwegian folk tunes. The song called "Synes du om meg?" (Do you love me?) starts at letter A, and "Ut å søke tjeneste" (Seeking a post) starts at letter B.

Like in most of my other Junior pieces, the Violin 2 and Cello 2 parts are intended for the least experienced musicians in the orchestra. Nevertheless I have tried to make them as musically meaningful as possible – to encourage practicing at home!

Polly Wolly Doodle

A well known tune for Junior string orchestra, with a very easy double bass part!

In my experience, most children find it easier to play fast notes than long slow ones. That's why most of the Junior pieces on this blog are of the lively kind. Also, they tend to be more popular – many of my youngest students seem to rate music by speed: the faster the better! Nevertheless, I do have some pieces of the slightly more slow and soulful kind up my sleeve... Stay tuned!

The Double Bass Project

This year saw the dawning of The Double Bass Project in our Junior orchestra. The background being that a) we recently aquired two 1/4-size double basses, and b) our cello section is very large at the moment – in fact we have as many cellists as violinists! Being a cellist myself, of course I think this is just great. But it also provided an unmissable opportunity to let our cellists try out the double bass.

And so I divided the cellists in pairs, and decided that by the end of the spring term, all of them shall have played the double bass in the orchestra at a minimum of one concert. So far this has been very popular, and the cellists all look forward eagerly to having their turn on the double bass (I even think some of the violinists are a bit jealous...). Not to mention that the orchestra sounds so much better with a double bass section!

The cellist-turned-bassist pairs all get three lessons to learn the very basics of double bass playing. Then they get to play the bass in two or three pieces in the next orchestra concert.

This also means that I have had to make some new pieces to suit these aspiring bassist. The upcoming pieces on this blog (tagged with Double Bass Project) will therefore have a double bass part that is very easy – only open strings – but that requires some orchestra experience (such as being able to count rests). I hope other string teachers will find this useful, too!