String Ensemble: Fall 2026

Session Info

September 23, 2026 - December 16, 2026

Rehearsals - Wednesdays 6:40 - 8:15 PM

Fall Concert - Sunday, December 13, 2026, 3:00 in the LS Cafeteria

No rehearsals - Nov 11, Nov 18, Nov 25

Monday Nov 9, Monday Nov 23 - special rehearsals to make up for the 3 Wednesdays in November when we can't rehearse.

The rehearsal on December 16 is our new music rehearsal where we run through the new music for the next session, and celebrate our concert with munchies and social time afterwards! Anyone interested in playing in the Winter/Spring session is welcome, but please contact Diane so we can get you the music.

Rehearsal Location: Choral Room (A220) Room at Lincoln Sudbury High School. How to get there.

Registration for Fall 2026 is open. Click the link above to go to the Lincoln Sudbury Adult and Community Education site to register.

Registration fee is $192.00.

If you need financial assistance, please do not register yet. Email Diane and she will guide you through next steps.

Thinking about joining us? Please contact Diane before registering. We can't give refunds, so we suggest that you attend a rehearsal first to see if the group is a good fit for you.

Music & Materials

All sheet music and practice soundfiles are stored in Dropbox.

See email for links
Email Diane if you need access

Music and soundfiles are shared this way due to copyright restrictions. Limiting access helps protect the music and ensures that the composers and arrangers who create it are paid for their work.

You must print your own music—copies will not be available at rehearsal (but if you ask, we will print it for you!).

Curious about how to use practice sound files? See Soundfiles & How to Use Them.

Strings Repertoire

Download / Print music information

RUSSIAN EASTER OVERTURE

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, arr. Austin Isaac · Directed by Oliver Chang

Oh, this piece is so gorgeous, both lush and exuberant, I've loved this piece for a long time! While the overture uses liturgical themes, Rimsky-Korsakov wrote this in memory of two of his friends, Modest Mussorgsky and Alexander Borodin (Mussorgsky passed away 6 years prior, while Borodin passed away only months before the piece was composed), so it's less about the holiday, and more about celebrating and saying goodbye to friends (not to be too depressing right away, but you know me!).

Listen

Getting started with this piece (review before first rehearsal)

GYNMNOPEDIE No. 3

Eric Satie, arr. Bob Phillips · Directed by Oliver Chang

Satie has been an absolute favorite of mine; there's something so terribly haunting and pristine about his music. The title, a word Satie made up, roughly translates to "nude dances." Far from being promiscuous, it more refers to the stark quality of the pieces.

Listen

Getting started with this piece (review before first rehearsal)

Before the first rehearsal:

Print your music
Listen to the soundfile
Make any necessary markings

On the surface, the music is very simple and minimalist, but it conceals a delicate intensity. The focus will be on bow control, creating a pure clean sound, without vibrato (yes, without!), and feeling long phrases. Easy to learn, hard to master. A great exercise is the “minute bow”, playing an open string with a single bow stroke, maintaining a beautiful tone, and trying to get as close to a full minute per stroke (start by trying for 10 seconds).

ADAGIO (from SYMPHONY No. 2, Op. 27)

Sergei Rachmaninoff, arr. Robert Longfield · Directed by Kett Lee

One of Rachmaninoff's most beloved works, this piece is about the most Late Romantic of all Late Romantic music. Like a pie inside a cake covered in chocolate, it's unapologetically glorious (maybe not the best analogy; maybe I'm just hungry).

Listen

Getting started with this piece (review before first rehearsal)

Before the first rehearsal:

Print your music
Listen to the soundfile
Make any necessary markings

The texture is full and bursting at the seams, alternating and layering eighth-note and triplet rhythms - keeping a steady pulse will guide you home. Violins, be especially careful in the section starting at measure 30, Rachmaninoff gets awfully chromatic for a few measures. And before everyone asks, the downbeat is empty, the violas start on the second eighth of the first measure.

WALTZ No. 2 (from Suite for Variety Stage Orchestra)

Dmitri Shostakovich, arr. Paul Lavender · Directed by Kett Lee

This is piece is wonderfully iconic, and one of Shostakovich's most popular works. The Waltz feels like a mishmash of contradictions, simultaneously being playful, light, melancholic, joyful, and sinister. When I listen to it, I don't know how I'm supposed to feel, but I love it.

Listen

Getting started with this piece (review before first rehearsal)

Before the first rehearsal:

Print your music
Listen to the soundfile
Make any necessary markings

The gorgeous melody is a passed through the orchestra, everyone getting a chance to lean into their sound and shine. For the pizzicato, it can feel a bit fast at first, and beyond simply playing slow and working up the tempo, try playing softer, to lighten the touch in the right hand. Plucking too heavily will physically weigh down the tempo

Joint Piece (Band & Strings)

Download / Print joint piece information

BEGIN THE BEGUINE

Cole Porter, arr. Linda Murdock · Directed by Diane Muffitt

This is an arrangement of Cole Porter’s wonderful song, “Begin the Beguine,” for strings, winds, and percussion, to honor SVNHM’s 20th season of making music together. We began in 2007-08, and at our very first rehearsal the first piece we played was an arrangement of “Begin the Beguine.” Now, of course, we have both band and strings, our string ensemble having started in the 2010-11 season, and it seemed fitting to celebrate our 20th season by returning to that very first piece, but now in an arrangement that includes both band and strings!

The song was written by Cole Porter in 1935, while on a cruise, and is a long, beautiful, romantic ballad, with a soaring melody set over a simple beguine rhythm pattern. Because it doesn’t follow the expected structure of American pop songs, there were comments about people not being able to remember the words. Perhaps as a result, the first popular recording was an instrumental jazz arrangement recorded by Artie Shaw and his orchestra in 1938, and it has since been recorded by virtually all of the major big bands.

Hope you all enjoy playing this piece!

Listen

Here is a computer generated soundfile of our arrangement.

See Lyrics and Interpretive Notes below for additional guidance at specific rehearsal numbers.
Try to listen to the piece before the first rehearsal to get familiar with it
Sound file tip! Use earbuds/headphones when practicing with soundfiles → You will have a better experience!

Want to listen to some of the great singers interpret this song? (We are skipping the big band versions, like Artie Shaw, because this is an arrangement based on the original piano/voice score, not a jazz interpretation.)

Frank Sinatra(opens in new tab)

Ella Fitzgerald(opens in new tab)

Getting started with this piece (review before first rehearsal)

Before the first rehearsal:

Print your music
Listen to the soundfile
Make any necessary markings

The song is romantic and needs much emotional expression, so please pay particular attention to the dynamics and phrasing. As you listen to the piece and look at your part, take the time to read the words of the song and understand how they fit with your part, as that will enhance your understanding of dynamics and phrasing and help to bring out the meaning of the song. I’ve printed the words below, along with the rehearsal numbers so you can easily see what’s happening in the song during each section of your part.

And... a couple of comments for specific players regarding Begin the Beguine:

For strings

There are many places in the viola and cello parts that should be played divisi — there are no double stops in this piece, all double notes are divisi & should be divided as evenly as possible among the players

For winds

Many of the wind parts also have divisi parts where some players should play the upper notes and others the lower notes (and occasionally, upper, lower, & middle) — all these places are divisi & should be divided as evenly as possible among the players

For percussion

Be aware that the percussion 1 & 2 parts are not set in stone — Dan will be looking at the parts, adding instruments and rhythms, and he will let you know what he would like you to do.

Make sense? If not, please ask!

Lyrics and Interpretive Notes

Here are the words to Begin the Beguine, with our rehearsal numbers added in brackets, and a few more interpretive notes at the end:

[5] When they begin the Beguine
It brings back the sound of music so tender,
[13] It brings back a night of tropical splendor,
It brings back a memory evergreen.
[21] I’m with you once more under the stars

And down by the shore an orchestra’s playing,
[29] And even the palms seem to be swaying
When they begin the Beguine.
[37] To live it again is past all endeavour,

Except when that tune clutches my heart,
[45] And there we are, swearing to love forever,
And promising never, never to part.
[53] What moments divine, what rapture serene,

Till clouds came along to disperse the joys we had tasted,
[61] And now when I hear people curse the chance that was wasted,
I know but too well what they mean;
[69] So don’t let them begin the Beguine,

Let the love that was once a fire remain an ember,
[77] Let it sleep like the dead desire I only remember
When they begin the Beguine.
[85] Oh yes, let them begin the Beguine, make them play

Till the stars that were there before return above you,
Till you whisper to me once more, “Darling, I love you!”
[97] And we suddenly know what heaven we’re in,

When they begin the Beguine.
[105] When they begin…. The Beguine.

A few more comments:

37 – notice the key change, emphasizing the feelings

45 – increased dynamics, a high point

69 – increasing tension, emotion

85 – highest dynamic of the piece

93 – notice the ritard & the hold on “more” in 94

94 – meno mosso (“Darling, I love you”) is probably the climax of the piece

103 – a tempo & softer to the end