Top Banana comprises interchangeable parts for violin, viola and cello which can all use the same piano accompaniment, the latter of which is available in three versions, each displaying the solo part of just one of these instruments. Students therefore have the option of playing along as soloists or in unison with the other two instruments in group settings.
The piano parts are not too demanding but add a great sense of character to the solo lines. The layout is generally very good and there are some helpful practice notes on each piece at the back of the string books. The composers are both active as string teachers in Cambridge, with Celia Cobb directing the Stringmoves project, for which Naomi Yandell is also a tutor, and these pieces are likely to be well-received by elementary players of all ages.
The solo parts are all in first position, albeit with some octave harmonics and glissandi to add to the colour. The cello version also has one E harmonic, a fourth above the open A string. Keys and techniques employed are commensurate with those found in Grades 1–2+, although they would also provide great additional material for many working towards Grade 3 and would make delightful concert pieces. There is a mixture of arco and pizzicato (including with the left hand) in several numbers, as well as tremolo bowings and, in ‘With a Swagger’, a section requiring short up-bows at the tip and down-bows at the heel, which is great for mastering bow control.
There are some simple chords, with stopped notes on the upper string, and a piece with slurred bowings across three strings. Students struggling with the pattern at the top of melodic minor scales should have no further problems after studying ‘Tightrope Walk’, and there are some chromatic elements to ‘Snoozy Blues’, ‘Apple Day Rag’, and ‘Goblin Parade’. The pieces also feature a wide range of dynamics, including getting from pp to f in just one two-beat up-bow at the end of ‘Tightrope Walk’. There is plenty of rhythmic variety, with swung quavers, syncopations, and use of irregular time signatures.
Overall, Top Banana offers students a lovely range of musical styles in a collection which immediately feels very enjoyable to play. Just one (‘Emerald Sea’) is unaccompanied, but many of the others will surely be rewarding to practise at home, even without the piano. If there is one very tiny quibble, it is that the C string is used very rarely in either the viola or the cello parts. Perhaps these instruments’ sonorities could be explored further in future publications, possibly while the violin enjoys a melody on the D string. This is an inevitable hazard when writing music for mixed string groups and, overall, the composers have done well in offering all three instruments enjoyable parts.
There do not yet appear to be pre-recorded accompaniments available for students who cannot access a pianist; this could be a useful addition to an exemplary publication, as might the publication of a single piano part with all three string parts shown above at the correct octave.
Violin, viola, cello parts are £8.95 each. Accompaniments for violin, viola, cello are £10.95 each.
