My viola student has an orchestra piece called "Fiddles on Fire" and every time I see it I have to yell "Fiddles on Fire!" just because I like the name of it. I know she thinks I'm weird. :-)
On Monday night I finished writing the 'cello parts for a bunch of fiddle tunes to be played this summer by students at the New England Suzuki Institute. I now have new respect for arrangers of student music. It's one thing to write a decent 'cello part that sounds nice, won't be too muddy, and doesn't break too many voice leading rules, but on top of that to make sure that there are no complicated string crossings, no difficult finger patterns, and no shifting out of first position, PLUS writing a part that isn't too boring for the kids...yeah. As I said, I have new respect for those arrangers. Huh, I guess I just became one.
Here they are:
http://www.cs.brown.edu/~vbg/scores/nesi_2005