Brass Ensemble - Level 5 - Digital Download SKU: A0.792534 Composed by Anton Bruckner. Arranged by Brennan Johns. 20th Century,Classical,Romantic Period. Score and parts. 69 pages. Gordon Cherry #5008375. Published by Gordon Cherry (A0.792534). Symphony No. 4, also known by the composer himself as the Romantic was written in 1874, but revised several times and premiered in 1881 in Vienna. The subtitle actually does not refer to romantic love, but a medieval romance such as some of Wagner's operas.The movement titled Scherzo is full of adventure and vitality with a relaxed middle section. Bruckner himself hinted that the Scherzo movement was a Jadthema or hunting theme and Volkfest or people's festival. The hunting horns are calling, the brass are blowing their fanfares and it is a good day to be hunting.  The main feeling from this movement is a strong feeling of the great outdoors.Mr. Johns has arranged this work for 14-part brass ensemble including optional Timpani.The instrumentation is: 4 Trumpets (including piccolo, C, B-flat and Flugelhorn) 4 Horns 4 Trombones, Euphonium and Tuba Timpani (optional)This work is suitable for advanced performers and is about 5 minutes in length.

Brass Ensemble - Level 3 - Digital Download SKU: A0.808698 Composed by Frank Loesser. Arranged by F. Leslie Smith. Contemporary. Score and parts. 26 pages. Sweetwater Brass Press #5290545. Published by Sweetwater Brass Press (A0.808698).     Brandon Thomas’ three-act farce, Charley’s Aunt, opened in London in 1892 and was a huge success. It has since been performed and adapted many times. One such adaptation was Where’s Charley? a 1948 Broadway version with music and lyrics by Frank Loesser. Ray Bolger played the starring role as Charley, and its most memorable number was the second act’s Once In Love With Amy. Every night Bolger would perform the number, then turn to the audience and invite them to sing along with him. They loved it, and Bolger would continue to perform it as his signature act for years even after the play closed.    The rhythmic and melodic nature of Once In Love With Amy seems to lend itself to performance by a brass group. And that’s what inspired this arrangement. All play the eight-measure introduction, while the verse-I caught you, sir, having a look at her as she went strolling by-features Trumpets, Horn and Trombone playing melody while tuba provides tempo and pulse. Then comes the familiar chorus, Once in love with Amy, always in love with Amy. The first time through, Tuba plays melody with the other instruments providing accompaniment. On the second time through, for the first half, Trombone and Tuba play an intricate counterpoint while Trumpets and Horn do a rather smooth swing version of the melody; for the second half, Trombone and Tuba take the melody and Trumpets provide the counterpoint. Then comes the surprise ending in which all three participate.    Most players will have little trouble. The arrangement consists of 77 measures in 4/4 time. There are several tempo changes; the fastest is quarter note equals 108. Key signature is G, changing to F at measure 44. All notes for should be within normal playing range.    Sweetwater Brass Press also offers a similar version of Once In Love With Amy arranged for tuba trio.     This arrangement was completed in 2020, and performance time runs about 2 minutes, 58 seconds. The arranger, Les Smith, will be happy to provide substitute parts (for example, treble clef baritone for trombone) at no charge; contact him directly at lessmith61@bellsouth.net. For more arrangements by Les, enter Sweetwater Brass Press (without the quotation marks) in the SheetMusicPlus search box.

Brass Ensemble - Level 3 - Digital Download SKU: A0.767277 Composed by Claudio Monteverdi. Arranged by Mike Lyons. Baroque,Renaissance. Score and parts. 79 pages. Lyons Music Services #3218695. Published by Lyons Music Services (A0.767277). As part of my continuing project to transcribe Monteverdi's madrigals onto winds, here is the 6th book. In this book we see a much greater development towards dramatic representation. In a way, this book is divisible into two Scenes with a number of single items in between. The vocal lines are all much more complex and we can also see the beginnings of monodic writing appear in the semi-recit sections of some of the songs. Also clearly developing are delineations of the voices into soloists and chorus. Several songs in this book are almost akin to arias, with clear soloistic writing for the higher voices (Cantus/Tenor). The songs starting from no 8 form a set of 6 to which Monteverdi gave a separate title Sestina Within this set of songs Monteverdi creates a little dramatic episode which foreshadows many of the developments that we find in his early operas: Monody/recitative, dialogue between chorus and soloist, a tendency to give the high parts strong melodic lines and a clear division of the roles of the singers. For the time being, until someone asks, I am not going to release the separate songs from Sestina individually as some of them are a little short. A sestina is a complicated verse form of six stanzas each of six lines with rules about repeating the last line of the first stanza. The poetic form is of little use to us as instrumentalists, but the dramatic mourning, cries of anguish and the feelings of loss embodied in the music will come through regardless of the lack of words. As with all things madrigalian, the lyrics are rife with double entendres.

Brass Ensemble - Level 4 - Digital Download SKU: A0.808712 Composed by F. Leslie Smith. Arranged by F. Leslie Smith. Children. Score and parts. 37 pages. Sweetwater Brass Press #6656487. Published by Sweetwater Brass Press (A0.808712).     Gremlins, trolls and hobgoblins. All are imaginary or supernatural, products of folklore. The first is a mischievous elf. The second, a product of Scandinavian imaginations, is a rather unattractive dwarf (or maybe a giant) that dwells in caves or on mountains. The third is a small, hirsute and naughty household spirit. In other words, these are just the types of beings that show up on your doorstep on October 31 evenings threatening to play tricks unless you provide treats.    This composition exemplifies not only these creatures, but also the witches, skeletons, ghosts, vampires, black cats and other scary beings that populate Halloween. Written in the key of C minor with a 6/8 time signature, it rolls along at a suggested tempo of 96 BPM. Based primarily on the traditional melody, The Hearse Song (the worms crawl in, the worms crawl out), it also quotes the composer’s own The Eerie Night and Chopin’s Marche Funèbre. And like the worms of the song, the melodies work their way sinuously in and out among the five instruments. Most notes are well within normal playing range: Trumpet 1’s highest is five A notes above its staff; Tuba’s lowest, G below the staff. There are no tricky rhythmic figures. It’s just a fun piece for Halloween . . . or any time of the year.    Completed in 2021, performance time for Gremlins, Trolls and Hobgoblins runs about 3 minutes, 33 seconds. The composer, Les Smith, will be happy to provide substitute parts (for example, treble clef baritone for trombone) at no charge. He would also like to receive your suggestions, comments, corrections and criticisms. Contact him directly at lessmith61@bellsouth.net. For more arrangements by Les, enter Sweetwater Brass Press (without the quotation marks) in the search box. (Also, purchase of this piece entitles you to your choice of another of his arrangements at no charge; send a copy of your purchase receipt directly to him at lessmith61@bellsouth.net.)

Brass Ensemble - Level 4 - Digital Download SKU: A0.808695 Composed by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908). Arranged by F. Leslie Smith. Holiday,Patriotic,Romantic Period. Score and parts. 44 pages. Sweetwater Brass Press #4819845. Published by Sweetwater Brass Press (A0.808695).     Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov composed his third opera, The Snow Maiden, during the period 1880-1881. Based on Alexander Ostrovsky’s play of the same name, The Snow Maiden uses fairy-tale characters to portray the opposing forces of nature, winter versus summer. Act 3 contains the Dance of the Skomorokhi.  Skomorokhi were traveling performers in old Russia and, in connection with this composition, the term is usually translated as tumblers or clowns. Rimsky-Korsakov also included this selection as one of four movements he compiled into a concert suite based on the opera. Dance of the Tumblers has become one of his most frequently performed and best known pieces.    Light and uplifting, Dance of the Tumblers is vibrant, energetic and addictive. It takes the form of, as one commenter wrote, a classical sonata-structure, complete with development section, invigoratingly intensified reprise, and a veritable whirlwind of a coda. This brass quintet arrangement retains the original key signature of C but adjusts register to make the melodies accessible and playable. As a result, most notes are well within the normal playing range of the five brass instruments. Trumpet 1’s highest note is its A above the staff. At measures 132 and 133, Trumpet 2 has the option of playing some high notes (including one C above its staff) an octave down. Tuba plays mostly in the lowest register, with quite a few low F notes and one low E. Most instruments have some octave jumps, but all have a lot of notes to play in a very short time: many, many sixteenth notes. The score is marked Vivace, and the audio sample moves along at a pretty fast clip. But of course, the speed at which performers actually play the piece is up to them, a matter of interpretation.     This arrangement was completed in 2019, and performance time runs about 3 minutes, 38 seconds. The arranger, Les Smith, will be happy to provide substitute parts (for example, treble clef baritone for trombone) at no charge; contact him directly at lessmith61@bellsouth.net. For more arrangements by Les, enter Sweetwater Brass Press (without the quotation marks) in the search box. (Also, purchase of this piece entitles you to your choice of another of his arrangements at no charge; send a copy of your purchase receipt directly to him at lessmith61@bellsouth.net.)

Brass Ensemble - Level 4 - Digital Download SKU: A0.808709 By Eldridge/Gillespie. By Leo Mosley, Mary Lou Williams, William Luther Johnson, and William Willie Johnson. Arranged by F. Leslie Smith. Contemporary. Score and parts. 28 pages. Sweetwater Brass Press #6433397. Published by Sweetwater Brass Press (A0.808709).     Mary Lou Williams learned to play piano on her own at age 3. By age 6 she was playing piano to help support her large family. At age 15, she turned professional, and by the time she was 20, she had made a name for herself nationally not only as a jazz musician but also as an arranger and composer. In 1943, she wrote a piece titled Satchel Mouth Baby, which she recorded the next year with her group, Mary Lou and her Chosen Five. Three years later, Bill Johnson and His Musical Notes recorded Williams’ song after he and Leo Snub Mosley had worked on the lyrics and changed the title to Pretty Eyed Baby. Others would go on to record Pretty Eyed Baby, among them: Frankie Laine and Jo Stafford, Jane Turzy, Johnnie Ray, Peggy Lee and Roy Eldridge.    This arrangement skips along at about 120 bpm. It contains common swing rhythmic figures, and all notes are well within the normal playing range of most brass musicians. Horn in F and Trombone carry the melodic load, but all instruments get a turn at playing lead. This is a fun piece, so don’t be surprised if your audience starts clapping along while you’re playing.    Completed in 2021, performance time for Pretty Eyed Baby runs about 3 minutes,9 seconds. The arranger, Les Smith, will be happy to provide substitute parts (for example, treble clef baritone for trombone) at no charge; contact him directly at lessmith61@bellsouth.net. For more arrangements by Les, enter Sweetwater Brass Press (without the quotation marks) in the SheetMusicPlus search box.

Brass Ensemble - Level 3 - Digital Download SKU: A0.924439 By Barry Manilow. By Alex North. Arranged by Joseph M. Chopp. Pop,Rock. Score and parts. 12 pages. JOSEPH M CHOPP #4404526. Published by JOSEPH M CHOPP (A0.924439). The beautiful, flowing melody was written by Alex North (a composer of many movie scores) for the prison film Unchained in 1955.  There were many popular recordings over the years.  It was the July 1965 version by The Righteous Brothers that became a jukebox standard for the late 20th century, regaining massive popularity when used in the 1990 blockbuster film Ghost.This arrangement features the French horn with lots of great melody. All instruments have smoothly moving harmonies and some melody.  Sing it slow and easy.There are no rapid passages that require advanced technical ability.  A great song for musicians at an intermediate level to play musically and for an audience to enjoy.Playing time is 2.75 minutes (4 w/repeat)