Fiddle & Song
Piano Accompaniment Book 1
A Sequenced Guide to American Fiddling
by Crystal Plohman Wiegman, Renata Bratt, and Bob Phillips
Alfred Publishing

This collection of beloved standards from traditional American fiddling literature will introduce young players to an aspect of string playing that is motivational, fun, and pedagogically appropriate. Intended to be used in tandem with other string methods, Fiddle & Song is carefully sequenced in a step-by-step way to accompany beginning instruction. Singing the tune first provides a framework for the instrumental instruction. The left-hand pages of the book are for students. The right-hand pages have information for the teacher, parts for advanced students, and easy ensemble parts. Each tune includes melody, breaks, back-ups, kick-offs, tags, guitar chords, ensemble parts, and creative exploratory activities. Piano accompaniments are available.

The series works for like instrumentation or mixed instrumentation. The violin book is generally in the keys of A and D while the viola and cello/bass books are in the keys of D and G, a fifth lower. Innovative ensemble parts allow each instrument to accompany the others in mixed instrumentation, from duos up to string orchestra. Kick-offs can be used to transition to the new key if all strings are playing together.

Difficulty: A1-3 (Beginner to Easy Intermediate)