A delightful piece based around the D major scale, Three’s a Crowd features lots of lovely triplets, where you have to play three notes in the time of two!
A delightful piece based around the D major scale, Three’s a Crowd features lots of lovely triplets, where you have to play three notes in the time of two!
This buoyant, exuberant piece will help you to practise dotted rhythms. That's when the beat is divided into a long dotted note and then a quick skip for the short note!
This piece is great for practising Left Hand Pizzicato. Use the 3rd finger of the left hand to pluck the notes that have little crosses on them!
This rousing, noble tune appears in the final movement of Johannes Brahms's landmark 1st Symphony, written in 1876. Play it fast and with vigour!
Take a bracing walk in the country with this piece, A Country Jaunt! The whole piece can be played in 1st position or, for more advanced players, you can experiment with different sounds by coming up with your own fingerings. Keep an eye out for the dynamics and the ‘staccato’ instructions – the short notes and the crescendos and diminuendos help to give this piece lots of energy, so make the most of them!
Here’s the proud, emphatic theme from the opening movement of the hilarious and ingenious ‘Carnival of the Animals’ by Camille Saint-Saëns. Roooooooooooooar!!
ViolinSchool’s String Crossing Exercises – eight pages of rhythm and bowing patterns – will help you get really really good at crossing strings!
Here's the scale of F Major in one octave. Listen, sing, then play along with the track until you know the pattern from memory!
Here's the scale of G Harmonic Minor in one octave. Listen, sing, then play along with the track until you know the pattern from memory!
This famous Viennese Waltz by Johann Strauss II was inspired by the river Danube, one of the longest rivers in Europe.
This famous sea shanty from the 1800s tells the story of sailors hunting whales near New Zealand. Here's an exclusive ViolinSchool / Violin Orchestra version!
Old Folks at Home, often known as 'Swanee River', is a gorgeous melody written by Stephen Foster in 1851. Swan off down the river with this exclusive duet version!
I like the flowers, the daffodils, the mountains, the rolling hills, and the fireside when the nights are cold and I’m singing, “Doo wappa doo wappa doo wappaty wop!
Who will win in this game of two halves … the lower half or the upper half of the bow?! Each half is competing to be the most exact and the most pleasing to the ear!
Are you a major or a minor? A perfect or an augmented? Find out if opposites really do attract in this excellent exercise … a great way to improve your intonation!
Yeeeeeee-haaaaaaaaaw! Get your feet tapping with this romping barn dance, great for practising open string double stops! See how fast you can get the ending!
A jaunty Baroque dance for two! This famous tune by English composer Henry Purcell will have your fingers springing sprightly up and down the G major scale!
Each finger experiences the highs and lows of first position in this super-useful exercise! Listen really carefully to make sure you don’t go too high, or too low!
Move up and down in half steps (semitones) on each string to play part of the chromatic scale. Making sure everything is nice and smooth and nicely in tune!
Leap acrobatically up and down the chromatic scale, checking each note in relation to the open string to make sure you are jumping exactly the right distance!
Time to Cast Your Note! Move smoothly up and down in half steps (semitones) on each finger and on each string. Remember … Every Note Counts!
Jump from the open string to the notes of the chromatic scale with grace, agility and precision! Listen carefully to the intervals as they expand and contract.
Try these exercises and you’ll soon be double stopping at the double! Practise getting the bowing arm at just the right level to play two open strings at the same time.
Turkey in de straw, Turkey in de hay, Roll 'em up an' twist 'em up a tune called Turkey in the Straw … a riotous American folk song from the early 19th century!
