Book to 'progress students' passion for violin'

Teacher Laura Rowles has put together 16 more advanced Manx music pieces for violinists

A music teacher said cataloguing more advanced violin arrangements for Manx tunes will help students to progress their passion for the island's traditional music.

Laura Rowles has put together 16 contemporary arrangements of 19th century piece of music and compositions by contemporary composers including Katie Lawrence and David Kilgallon.

Called Fiddyl Reesht - Manx Music for Fiddle - the book followed on from another publication in 2012 that provided arrangements of Manx music for beginner violinists.

Dr Rowles said there were a lot of children learning Manx music who became "really good" but had no outlet to keep progressing.

"We are very lucky that Manx music is a living tradition, it is always changing and growing - it is not stuck in the past," she said.

Musicians Katie Lawrence and David Kilgallon contributed to the book, which was edited by Laura Rowles

There were a number of young musicians who were "really passionate about their music" and were "pushing the standards which has a knock on effect on younger musicians", she continued.

She said she decided to embark on the project after "running out of material to teach" as students became more advanced and needed more of a "challenge".

The book has been aimed at grades four and five for the instrument, and has been created so the tunes could be used as a piece of choice during Associated Board of Royal Schools of Music (ABRSM) exams.

As a lot of Manx music was "a bit simpler", the more modern compositions raised the level, which meant it was "taking Manx music, pushing it up a notch and giving it a more contemporary outlook", she said.

Chloe Woolley, Music Development Officer at Culture Vannin which supported the project, said the it was a "way of crossing over Manx music and the classical tradition" as the former was typically learnt orally, while the latter was documented.

It makes the genre "accessible to everyone", she said, and as it included contemporary arrangements and music would "take the culture forward and keep things fresh".