The Devil's Dream

It's no wonder that The Devil's Dream is a classic of the American fiddling cannon. Besides being a fun and relatively easy entry into fiddling and double-stops, it encourages students to have a relaxed bow hold and right arm, and its parallel fifths help reinforce fingerboard geography. It's marked Allegro molto, but any moderately quick tempo will do. The violins are in unison here so that your firsts and seconds get the same work-out, and even the violas and cellos get in on the fun (it may be useful to teach the melody in small blocks to all four sections at once and have them learn it in unison). Meanwhile, your bassists are also learning an essential style of bass playing; feel free to encourage them to slap on the rests as well. The piano part is optional but goes a long way to reinforce the harmonies and texture.