You wonderful folks have helped my daughter with her homework before you may remember (finding a british comedy skit ), so if it’s OK I would like to ask for you help again. This time she has to perform, on the violin, a tune but in a different genre. You know the sort of thing – rock to bluegrass, pop to classical, classical to rap even classical to folk. She is an accomplished fiddle player (grade 8 ish) so quite able to do fairly tricky things. She can sing but hates singing. Im thinking a well known pop song in a classical style – Smells like Teen Spirit for example, although that’s been done loads of times. She knows how to play both classical and folk well, Anybody got any interesting ideas? Once again, grateful thanks for your consideration.
Help with my daughter’s homework required
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How about something electronic? Like early OMD or something early 80s. Fairly strong chords, so something like Maid of Orleans might be interesting. And that way, the big chords can be bowed fairly easily, there’s nothing too demanding vocally, and there’s possibly even space for a bit of pizzicato with some sensible arrangement
Nice to see you back here @illuminatus. Not see you for ages! All good?
Yeah, I’m always fine :). No real reason I’ve not been around, just kind of dropped off the radar with other stuff.
The main riff to OMD’s Electricity would sound great on a violin.
Yeah, that too. That was also (honestly) in my head. So nice to know know it’s not just me 🙂
That’s a jolly good idea – and first off the block. Thanks
Well known into classical? I reckon Deep Purple might work well as classical (and I’m 100% certain no one’s ever thought of that before).
This works well with the violins. Status Quo’s acoustic version of Pictures of Matchstick Men
Not a patch on the original though.
that should be on the sh**e thread Gary
Heathen.
God, yes. It’s not the original anyway – it’s late seventies children’s choir-tastic – from the same reeking cesspit as Clive Dunn, St Winifred’s School Choir and Pink Floyd. Quo were being psychedelic-lite a decade earlier.
I was joshing about it being the original versh of the Quo song Sal. (I’m hilarious, me). But I am genuinly fond of it though. Much better than Clive Dunn or Winifred’s School Choir (but not quite as good as Floyd at their best). Actually, better than the Quo song to my ears. In my list of fave songs of all time I put it at number 1,823.
I’m not a Manc, so I don’t have the sentiment for it. The Floyd I was citing was ABITW – nothing else. There was a time when I was a kid, what with Grange Hill, Crackerjack, Cheggers Plays Pop, etc, that you couldn’t turn on the TV without a mass of kids spontaneously emoting in choral form.
One Christmas way back when, in a remote village in Purbeck, I had asked for a Quo album and was given their first one. After some bafflement, I really got into Ice in The Sun, Spicks and Specks, Green Tambourine, Black Veils of Melancholy, etc.
When we got home, mind, I went straight back to my cassette copy of 12 Gold Bars. but that weedy acid sound never really left…
If the Square & Compass had a jukebox, that’d still be on it.
That Quo performance is tremendous, where, when? And I have a crush on that gorgeous violin player who grins at the camera at the end
The Roundhouse, about five years ago I think, obviously before dear Rick carked it. Some of it works well, Matchstickmen better than most because it’s such a good tune. Paper Plane is another. YT is your friend.
It was all over bbc red button at the time, as I recall. Some of their stuff works really well like this, and pictures os one of them
@slotbadger – It was recently re shown on BBC late night and so is on iPlayer (for another two weeks)…..
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b052yq1f/status-quo-live-and-acoustic
and The Camper Van Beethoven version deploys violining to great effect:
Anarchy In The UK or Pretty Vacant could be interesting
I think Teen Spirit us a great idea. I could hear that riff played on violin.
Nigel Kennedy did an album of Jimi Hendrix tunes. I have a couple in my DJ box including, obviously, Purple Haze.
Had you considered The Green Day and their song ‘Good Riddance’? Lovely melody which I’m sure would sound marvellous extemporised on the violin.
I played it with my folky duo at a festival with violin. I can agree it is perfect.
Can I add Paul Weller’s work, he recently did a South Bank show with an orchestra and lots of his songs would suit a string arrangement. Not from this concert, but has an excellent string arrangement:
Elbow’s One Day Like This has a lovely swooping top line.
I know it is over-exposed, but it still brings a lump to my throat.
I did live sound at a choir gig once, they did it as their encore as the MD knew it made me blub. House lights came up to reveal me in full waterworks and snot glory.
We heard a choir do One Day Like This in Bournemouth a few years ago. As you say, tremendous.