anyone play the viola? I need help!

[disykat]

I'm putting together a children's music piece for the kids who play instruments for our Sunday School Christmas program. We are doing a piece that the kids who play in band have in their band book. The problem is there is no matching orchestra book and I have two violas and a violin that want to play.

I think the violin can play along with the flute (?), but am confused about the viola. The flute appears to play off a treble cleff in C, but the viola has something weird and I don't know what to do with it! I've been looking all over the net trying to find examples so I can figure out how to write their music.

Can anyone help me? I thought I had stretched my brain enough trying to figure out how to voice the music for instruments that play in a different key. Now this viola thing has me thrown!

 

[ainmama2001]

I have e-mailed a whole mess of orchestra/band teacher friends of mine. I should have an answer for you shortly!

 

[erinz]

Hi, my daughter plays the viola. She says that the viola is played in the "Alto" clef, and that middle C is the middle line on the Alto clef. I don't know if that's going to help or not.....maybe you could look up "Alto Clef" on the internet.

Good Luck!

 

[disykat]

Thanks, to both of you!

So their middle C is what I would read as B on the treble clef. I think I get it, but I'll do some research on "Alto Clef" to make sure. Thanks for the help - it's amazing what you can find out on the DIS!

 

[tiggerdog]

I teach my students the lines of the alto clef with this saying:
(bottom line to top) Fat Alley Cats Eat Grass, or F A C E G.

The spaces, from bottom to to are, Green Beans Don't Fly, or G B D F.

The violas, like the other string instruments, are also in the key of C. So, when transposing the flute part just move everything down a step.

What book and what songs are you transpsoing from?

 

[disykat]

Thanks! I am using the kids band books from school because they already have copies and I have the director's score. Standard of Excellence First Performance by Pearson and Gott. We're doing "Children of the Heavenly Father "so it'll be pretty easy to pick some notes out of the chord for them. I just needed to figure out how to write it for them! I sure appreciate the help.

 

[sharbear]

I hope that this helps. I have bookmarked for you a piece that is written for flute or oboe or violin (all in the key of C) and viola. It should help you transpose your music. http://www.lastresortmusic.com/MusicSamples/M2Mixed/46101.pdf

If this link does not work, it's from last resort music. You can go to music samples and find the link for this piece.

 

[tiggerdog]

diskat, one thing I forgot to mention was key signatures. String players are used to playing with sharps, such as F# and C# and the flute part will probably have B flat and E flat.

When you have the string players on the wind parts, remind them that:

Violin will play: low 2 (B flat) on the G string; low 1 (E flat) low 2 (f natural) on the D string; Low 1 (B flat) low 2 (C natural) on the A string; and low 1 (F natural) low 2 (G natural), and low 4 (B flat) on the E string.


The Viola will play: low 2 (B flat) on the G string; low 1 (E flat) low 2 (f natural) on the D string; Low 1 (B flat) low 2 (C natural) on the A string;

If the children are young they may not have been introduced to the "low 2" or "low 1" yet. If they have been introduced they may know the low 2s as "kissing cousins" because the second finger is placed right next to the first finger. (I don't use "kissing cousins" because I have had every one of my cousins in my class for the past 8 years.)

Sorry, the book you are using is the only Standards of Excelence book I don't have. If I had one I would walk you through.

 

[disykat]

Thanks so much - you guys have been so helpful. The band music does seem to be geared toward the Bflat instruments so the C instruments do have the B and E flats.

I think I've figured out away to avoid sharps and flats altogether by taking the notes for the violin and viola from the piano chords and mainly using the notes C,D,F, and G. From looking at the link Sharbear provided it appears that the viola part should be centered right around middle C, while the violin plays an octave above. They'll never get the melody line, but they'll really help fill out the chord. I can have them sort of intertwine to add some interest.

I think this will work! For some reason I always seem to volunteer for things that turn into a lot of work! I just know that some of the kids really want to play. I really appreciate the help from you all when I got in over my head!

 

[disykat]

One more question - can 6th grade viola players comfortably play the basic notes (no sharps or flats) on the staf - from F to G - or are there notes I should avoid? Thanks.

 

[SoonerKate]

Notes on the staff ought to be fine for a 6th grader.

 

[disykat]

Thanks everyone! I finished writing a part and it sounds pretty good if I do say so myself. I'll let you know in a while how it all turned out - our Sunday School program is Dec. 12th.

Sometimes I wonder about myself. I'm a singer and know nothing about instrumental music. I figure I can count, how hard can it be? LOL! I did recruit some people who play instruments to help me out so I'm hoping I can wrangle the kids and keep everyone together and they can help with the technical difficulties. I'll have about 20 kids between 5th - 8th grade.