Brass Ensemble,Brass Quintet - Digital Download

SKU: HX.1497897

By The Canadian Brass. By Claude Debussy. Arranged by Gary Kulesha. This edition: scorch. Classical. 10 pages. Canadian Brass #GOLLIWOGSCAKEWALK_00_SCORE. Published by Canadian Brass (HX.1497897).

Brass Ensemble Horn,Trombone,Tuba - Level 4 - Digital Download

SKU: A0.826671

Composed by Claude Debussy. Arranged by Bud Caputo. 20th Century,Ragtime,Standards. Score and parts. 18 pages. Bud Caputo #3879099. Published by Bud Caputo (A0.826671).

Golliwogg's Cakewalk is one of the six movements by Debussy from the Children's Corner, originally for piano. The arrangement requires good individual rhythmic security on the part of the performers  since the parts often dovetail where the piano range would allow for an entire passage to be performed. Unlike so may other of Debussy impressionistic works, this has  a real jazzy feel that compliments the cakewalk dance. .

Composed by Claude Debussy (1862-1918). Arranged by Austin Ralphson. 20th Century, Impressionistic, Repertoire, Wedding, Recital. Score, Set of Parts. 18 pages. Published by Austin Ralphson

Brass Quintet Horn,Trombone,Trumpet,Tuba - Level 4 - Digital Download

SKU: A0.1401614

Composed by Joseph Lamb. Arranged by F. Leslie Smith. 20th Century,Classical,Historic,Ragtime. 32 pages. Sweetwater Brass Press #984793. Published by Sweetwater Brass Press (A0.1401614).

Ragtime was originally and primarily piano music.  The Library of Congress traces the origin and wellspring of ragtime to St. Louis, Missouri.  The Britannica website explains, “Ragtime evolved in the playing of honky-tonk pianists along the Mississippi and Missouri rivers in the last decades of the 19th century. It was influenced by minstrel-show songs, African American banjo styles, and syncopated (off-beat) dance rhythms of the cakewalk, and also elements of European music.�
     But it wasn’t until the mid-1890s, when music publishers started printing ragtime scores, making the music available to the public at large, that ragtime’s popularity began to soar.  By 1900 ragtime was the popular music.  It stayed that way until about 1917 when the rise of jazz began to overtake it.  By 1920, ragtime was nearly forgotten.
     Thirty years later, a ragtime revival began.  And one Patricia Lamb-Conn found out that her father, Joseph F. Lamb, was a well-known composer of ragtime.  In fact, the “Big Three� composers of classical ragtime are considered to be Scott Joplin, James Scott and the only non-African American, Joseph Lamb.
     Lamb was born in 1887 in New Jersey, taught himself to play piano and was very much influenced by Joplin’s early ragtime publications.  From there, Lamb went on to develop into a master of classic ragtime.
     One of Lamb’s most popular works was a 1916 composition he titled “Patricia Rag.� (The title apparently had nothing to do with his daughter, who was born in 1924.)  It consists of four themes in five sections, with the first theme repeated after sections 1 and 2.  Lamb pitched the opening in E-flat Major, changing to A-flat Major at the Trio.  
     This brass quintet arrangement, completed in 2024, consists of 150 measures, approximately five minutes, ten seconds in length.  It retains the basic structure of the original piano score but modifies the pitches to B-flat Major and E-flat Major, respectively, to accommodate the normal playing range of the brass instruments.  Possible exceptions for some players include:  (1) Trumpet 1 plays its A-above-the-staff a number of times and its B above-the-staff once; (2) Trombone plays several E above-the-staff notes; (3) Tuba plays several way-below-the-staff F notes and one high G note. Throughout the arrangement, the original melody is maintained and featured, but in some sections the background and harmony are altered to feature one or more of the five instruments.  In the Trio, the sections designated by rehearsal marks F and G are slowed and treated as a serenade; the original tempo is restored at H.  In performing this arrangement, players should pay particular attention to dynamics.  Additionally, because of the nature of ragtime, this piece may require more-than-usual practice and rehearsal.
     The arranger, Les Smith, will be happy to provide substitute parts (for example, treble clef baritone for trombone) at no charge.  He would like to receive your suggestions, comments, corrections and criticisms.  Contact him at lessmith61@bellsouth.net.  For more arrangements by Les, enter Sweetwater Brass Press (without the quotation marks) in the Sheet Music Plus or Sheet Music Direct search box.

Brass Quintet Cornet,Euphonium,Flugelhorn,Trombone,Trumpet,Tuba - Level 3 - Digital Download

SKU: A0.1145313

Composed by Will Marion Cook. Arranged by Charles Decker. 20th Century,Broadway,Jazz,Multicultural,Musical/Show,Pop,World. 20 pages. Charles Decker Music Press #745558. Published by Charles Decker Music Press (A0.1145313).

Swing Along! by Will Marion Cook, prominent African-American in Music Theater, composer, conductor, and violinist, combines Cakewalk style with classical music techniques to create an entertaining and memorable work from the early 20th century now arranged for a brass quintet of two trumpets or cornets in B-flat, horn in F (alternate flugelhorn part provided), trombone and tuba. The recording is of the complete edition. 

Cook was a key figure in American music from the 1890s to the 1920s. His Swing Along! was written for a theater production in 1903 combining Black folk music with classical music techniques and became a popular standard with choruses and glee clubs. A violin virtuoso, he studied at Oberlin College, Berlin's Hochschule für Musik with Joseph Joachim, and New York's National Conservatory of Music with Antonin Dvorak. He devoted his career to Black musical comedies and was instrumental in showcasing his Southern Syncopated Orchestrat throughout the Unites States and Europe, featuring New Orleans clarinetist Sidney Bechet. Mentored by Frederick Douglas, Will Marion Cook went on to mentor Duke Ellington, paving the path for orchestral concert jazz. 

“The Music of Black Composers Series is a welcome and timely addition to the brass repertoire. Interesting music, expertly arranged, fun to perform, and well received by audiences. Highly recommended!�   Wesley Nance, Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, Eastman School of Music

“I was so pleased to see the great works arranged for brass ensemble by Charles Decker Music Press especially the Music of Black Composers’ Series. It was especially rewarding to perform several of these with Summit Brass and with the students attending the Rafael Mendez Brass institute. Please keep these wonderful settings coming. You have provided the brass world with some real gems.�  Joseph Parisi, Director Summit Brass, Fountain City Brass Band, University of Missouri Kansas City Conservatory Wind Ensemble

The Interlochen Arts Academy and the University of Denver have purchased the Music of Black Composer Series with Charles Decker Music Press and the summer Rafael Mendez Brass Institute and Eastman School of Music uses the series arrangements in their chamber and brass ensembles music programs. 

See 50+ homogeneous brass editions for trumpet, horn and trombone ensembles and 75+ mixed brass ensemble publications with Charles Decker Music Press at Sheet Music Plus for inexperienced to advanced musicians with music ranging from the Renaissance to contemporary new works for trios, quartets, quintets, brass choir and brass band. Many of the mixed brass ensemble editions include alternate and substitute parts being alternate C trumpet parts for B-flat trumpet parts, flugelhorn/trumpet substitute for horn, horn substitute for trombone and treble clef euphonium substitute for trombone. To see our Music of Black Composers Series enter “Black Composers Series� in the search box at Charles Decker Music Press for 25 arrangements for mixed brass ensembles ranging from early jazz to symphonic works with composers Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, R. Nathaniel Dett, William Grant Still, Will Marion Cook, James Reese Europe, James Johnson and others.