Reuben and Rachel is a children’s song with music by William Gooch and words by Harry Birch. It is not as old as some, being published in 1871, but it is not an unknown song. I have only encountered it a handful of times myself. According to the wiki, this song became popular again in the 1900s. This version is in D major and arranged for beginner violin.
I am hoping to use this sheet music arrangement to introduce cut time and as a song that uses not 1, not 2, but 3 strings! Teaching will probably involve using a different coloured highlighter for each string and possibly writing down all of the fingering numbers. Most children will probably cheat by counting as though we are playing in 4/4 time instead of 2/2, but getting them to see that there are other time signatures is good on its own.
To download free sheet music for Reuben and Rachel arranged for Very Easy Violin as a .pdf, please click:
