It is likely that a fiddle or rebec was used to play "Sixth Royal Estampie," an instrumental dance piece from the Medieval period. This piece came from a collection of 13th century French trouvere songs called the Chansonnier du Roy (The King’s Songbook). [10]

Estampies are considered to be some of the oldest surviving notated versions of instrumental music.[11] The musical form of this particular piece consists of four melodic phrases which are each repeated with a first or second ending (a first ending the first time the melodic phrase is repeated, and a second ending the second time the melodic phrase is repeated). Similar first and second endings are used at the end of all four melodic phrases.

TECHNIQUE TIPS: Since this piece calls for a lively, dance tempo, you may want to play it in the upper half of your bow. Slurs may make some of the bowing easier, and some of the phrases should begin with an up-bow. Towards the end of the piece, a Bb accidental is used.