If you are looking for some lovely, dark and mysterious violins songs for Halloween, look no further than this deliciously tenebrous collection of themes from Mahler’s Symphony No.1, Movement Three.

If you aren’t familiar with this symphony, listen to the recording. I know you’ll love it!

All violin Halloween songs are going to be in minor keys. Minor keys always sad, scary or spooky, so of course our Halloween song for this month will be in a minor key!

There are three types of minor scales and for this song, I’ve chosen a harmonic minor scale since it matches the song best. That means we’ll have a big stretch between the B flat and the C#—so reach for it!
(If scales are confusing you, my scales course can help you out!)

The main theme of this movement is repeated over and over again as a round. A round is just a type of duet in which someone starts playing a simple melody, and then two or four measures later, another instrument starts playing the same melody and the theme just gets layered over and over again like the layers on a dark chocolate devil’s food cake.

One thing that will make this song really sparkle is vibrato. If you’re already using vibrato, I’ll talk about some great sections where you can add it in. And if you’re not learning vibrato, now’s the time to start! Take a look at my violin vibrato course here.

During the video lesson to this Halloween violin song, I’ve included two play-along tracks. One is just the solo, so feel free to play the duet part with me. Or play along with either part when I play a duet with myself in the next play-along.

Want new sheet music sent right to your inbox? Sign up for my newsletter below. (You’ll get some free goodies too!)