Selections from Rolling Stone Magazine's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time: Instrumental Solos for Strings, Volume 2: Violin Book & CD

You'll recognize every song the moment you start reading. There's genuine pleasure in discovering how familiar rock and soul melodies fit onto the violin, and the orchestrated accompaniments bring studio production right into the practice room. These arrangements honor the originals while making space for the violin to shine as the lead voice.

Violin students at the intermediate level who are ready to move beyond classical pedagogy into repertoire that holds their attention. These arrangements assume solid fundamentals in reading and intonation, and they reward that foundation with iconic melodies that feel rewarding to play.

• Use the demo track first to lock in the melody and phrasing, then move straight to the play-along version to build confidence with the accompaniment.
• Pay close attention to dynamics throughout. These arrangements preserve the emotional arc of the original recordings, so shape your tone and volume to match the accompaniment's intensity.
• Listen for how the violin sits within the orchestrated texture. Some songs place you as the lead voice, while others require you to blend with a fuller harmonic backdrop.
• Subdivide carefully in slower ballads like 'How Deep Is Your Love' and 'You Send Me,' where the accompaniment's breath can easily pull you off the beat.

Drop one or two selections into a winter concert to surprise your audience and show students there's no repertoire boundary for strings. The play-along tracks also make these excellent choices for solo festival preparation, where the accompaniment eliminates pianist coordination from the equation.

• Playing with pre-recorded accompaniments
• Phrasing and interpretation of non-classical idioms
• Intonation adjustment to recorded harmony
• Reading Level 2-3 violin parts with varied rhythmic content
• Sustaining melodic lines over longer phrases