UC Santa Barbara

ABSTRACT

Viola Arrangements: History and Rationale with Focus on New Repertoire for the Young Violist

by

Tianna Harjo

When I was a younger viola student, I always felt there was something missing in the music I studied and performed. Often, I either did not like it or did not connect with it. If you ask any violist why they chose the viola, the response you will get most often receive is something to the effect of “because I like the dark, deep sound”. Now as a professional violist and teacher, I understand why I felt that void. Much of the music widely available to the average student and music teacher were written and intended for the violin and simply transposed a fifth lower.

This document contains fifteen new arrangements for viola and piano. The aim of this document is to create repertoire for the young violist that addresses and corrects problems viola students often face. Each piece was written with the intricacies of viola in mind. Far too long have young violists been treated as violinists that play a bigger instrument.

The arrangements were created from works by well-known composers like Tchaikovsky and Dvorak and more obscure composers like Jean Hure and Maria Hester Park.