Is this the opening of the most overplayed piece in the violin repertoire? Probably! Does that mean that violin students should not have an opportunity to learn this Greatest Hit of Classical Music for themselves? Of course not! If piano teachers can keep teaching Für Elise, we can keep teaching The Pachelbel!
My students GET to learn The Pachelbel when they reach the equivalent of Suzuki Book 4. And most of them LOVE it. Many transferable skills can be taught using this piece: Counting in 8/8, note values from dotted-quarter-notes to thirty-second-notes, a little bit of 3rd position shifting, ensemble playing with two other partners, even Baroque performance practice if desired.
I learned this piece in high school from the Max Seiffert edition. For sentimental reasons and because it is in the public domain, this is the version I use with students. Because I teach this piece so frequently and repeat myself every time, I wrote down my usual spiel as Study Notes at the end of the piece. I also added handy section lettering every two measures, so it is easy to stop and start with a trio of intermediate students. I cleaned up some of the extraneous articulations and inconsistent bowings. The engraving is still a little scratchy, because this is the version that you can still download for free from IMSLP.org. I offer my Study Edition for a nominal charge here! This helps me maintain this site.
If you enjoyed using this resource, please check out some of my other repertoire publications for sale at SheetMusicPlus.com. Thank you!
