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I have a friend who plays viola. Does anyone have common fiddle tunes in standard notation, alto clef? There's some stuff out there that's New Englandy and old timey but I'm looking for the bluegrass festival favorites and Kenny Baker/Monroe kind of stuff.
Oops. Sorry. I misread your post and answered the wrong question.
Your friend has to learn how to read treble clef on the viola. This is what I did to play mandola(CGDA) in the Long Island Mandolin and Guitar Orchestra.
The other way is to just play the tunes as if playing the violin. Of course it won't be the same key as the music. I asked Mel Bay to put out a book for mandola and viola players for fiddle tunes in alto clef.
a suggestion that will take effort, but use Muse Score to transcribe fiddle tunes to alto clef.
I sat befuddled, holding a mandola in my lap, for several years trying to read (and mentally transpose) that goofy clef.
One Monday night I looked up from my stand, wiping the sweat from my furrowed brow, and glanced at the mandolanist to my right. She was cool as a cucumber and THEN I saw she had treble clef versions of my part!
“Where did you get that?!” I said, grasping for some hope to ease my Horn in F brain, and she (also the orchestra librarian) said “I can give you a book in treble clef if you want.”
I said “I want!” and from that day forward the dolas made fewer mistakes, sounded better and I enjoyed playing.
Just transpose it and play.