Saturday, December 4, 2010

Tips For Finding Great String Quartet Sheet Music

By Andrew Ward


New music to play is always a treat for musicians. The fun is the same whether you play professionally or if you are great hobbyist. String quartets tend to have a bit more problems finding new music in many music stores. Finding quartet sheet music may just be a bit easier to find online.

Music stores will often carry quite a bit of solo literature for violin and perhaps cello. For the other instruments in the customary quartet, including the viola and the string bass, it can be a little more difficult. Often music for any less often played instrument must be special ordered. And though string quartets are common instrumentation, some stores will only carry the basic literature.

But thanks to the Internet, things are changing. You may still need to order online and wait for the music to arrive, but at least your options are greater than they used to be. And many online music stores are now offering downloads that you can pay for by credit card, and then print out on your printer. These are generally more expensive, but worth it when you cannot find the music elsewhere.

One excellent group, The Hampton Rock String Quartet, has made a thirty year career out of performing rock music scored for string quartets. If you are looking for something unique and very popular, then this may be an excellent choice for your ensemble. Their arrangements feature classic rock tunes from major groups. Their website offers audio samples of their music and their recordings, if you are interested. And, you can download their sheet music for a fair price.

There are excellent online music stores that offer downloadable versions of popular movie music. Listening to MP3 audio samples will help you to choose the arrangements your quartet likes the best. Movie tunes are very popular with audiences and are often requested for weddings.

String quartets to perform at weddings are readily available as online downloads. Many string quartets do make a nice living performing for weddings so it is nice to see wedding standards that may be purchased for a reasonable price. The wedding collections often allow you to hear audio recordings of the arrangements, and to look at the first page of music. This is helpful to get an idea of whether or not the arrangement suits you.

If time is on your side, then you might look over new classical sheet music and jazz arrangements. Many new collections have recently been published and may be sent to you via regular mail. There are some interesting arrangements made by famous quartets that play them. Their signature sections are usually included so that other musicians can try them out for themselves.

String quartet sheet music has many more options than before. If you play in a string quartet, you may wish to look at some of the great popular music that has come up for sale online.

This is particularly true if you have not yet played much of the standard classical literature. Most any music that your group will enjoy playing together will be what you should play. It can be difficult to form a group, but with all the music to play, it may be easier to keep the group together than it ever was before.




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