I Saw Three Ships for string orchestra by Traditional String Orchestra - Digital Sheet Music

SKU: A0.899906

Ideal for a school string ensemble Christmas Concert or an advanced primary strings group Winter Recital. Alternatively it would be a good seasonal sight reading exercise for an intermediate string ensemble. A good piece for building confidence.

The piece will improve confidence with dotted rhythms, syncopation and reading in 6 8 across all parts. Changes in grouping of parts from homorhythmic sections to solo features will encourage shared tempo, listening and awareness within the group and promote rhythmic accuracy and confidence . Three violin parts are used in this arrangement in addition to viola and cello to allow the teacher more flexibility when allocating parts.

The third violin uses all three fingers but sparingly in small feature sections and has lots of strong rhythmic sections on open strings. The first violin mainly carries the tune, which is swapped into different octaves to challenge the player but the whole part remains in first position with some low 2s. The second violin changes role from supporting the first on the tune, filling out chords and ‘sailing’ over the top with a counter melody. Cello and viola parts carry the rhythm throughout and ground the harmony. The cello part has open string passages to give respite to developing fingers and allow cellists to focus on rhythm and ensemble playing. The Double Bass part is mostly open Ds and As, a slow scale in the final section can be swapped out for one of the previous sections if needed.

‘I Saw Three Ships’ may be suitable for interfaith environments as whilst the piece is considered seasonal and often associated with Christmas, it was originally an English folk tune. In the lyrics now associated with the tune, there is no mention of any Biblical characters or the Christmas Story except for the line ‘On Christmas day in the morning’.

I design my pieces to enable teachers to reinforce techniques learnt in one-to-one or group lessons. I try to pick modern, familiar and popular repertoire that will appeal to children or teenagers. I hope that this arrangement of the traditional 'I Saw Three Ships' achieves this.

Included
You will receive a score comprising of violins i, ii, and iii, viola, cello and bass. Each individual part is included, plus a full score.
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Nat