Knotwork

by Helen Adam

Knotwork is a collection of 12 violin duets composed by Helen Adam, all based on Welsh traditional music.The tunes include well known song melodies as well as lesser known dance tunes. The original melody is given in full as well as the duets in clear and easy to read format. Knotwork refers to the style in which these arrangements are written, whereby different lines of melody are twisted and knotted together to produce new and satisfying ensemble pieces designed for sociable playing. Three of the pieces contain an optional third part. All can, with a little adaptation, be played on most melody instrument as well as violins. Performance notes and information about the music and its history is included. The pieces become a little harder throughout the book, but most would be fine for an intermediate violinist or fiddler. The pieces were written as a celebration of Welsh music by Helen Adam, who has made Wales her adopted country and is researching and performing its music every day.

46 pages, Paperback

First published February 3, 2014

About the author

Helen Douglas Adam was a Scottish journalist and author. After moving to London, she worked as a journalist for the Weekly Scotsman. At the outbreak of the Second World War she was stranded in Connecticut, where she had been attending a wedding. She later moved to San Francisco, where she became a muse to the beat generation of the 1950s and 60s.

Her dark, timeless tales of doomed love and emotional revenge are hauntingly crafted into traditional ballad forms. Thanks to publication in magazines and anthologies and personal readings at universities, theatres and poetry centres, she had an enthusiastic following in the USA. Her Selected Poems and Ballads were published in 1974.