Brass Ensemble - Level 4 - Digital Download SKU: A0.808685 Composed by F. Leslie Smith. Arranged by F. Leslie Smith. Children,Holiday,Traditional. Score and parts. 83 pages. Sweetwater Brass Press #3631645. Published by Sweetwater Brass Press (A0.808685).     What is a Rumpus? Most definitions include words such as noisy disturbance, commotion and uproar. Sort of like the sounds from a group of neighborhood children in the days before play dates, private lessons and organized kids’ sports. These sounds were part and parcel of the games they played, games that originated years, even centuries, before and involved high energy levels and top-of-their-voices counting, chanting or singing (with an occasional Nyah-nyah nyah-nyah nyah nyah thrown in for good measure!). Rowdy and raucous, indeed!    This composition is one that will entertain both adults (who, after all, are just grown-up children!) and youngsters. Like children at play, it races right along. In one 6-minute work, it incorporates tunes of eleven children’s game and campfire songs: Michael Finnegan; Ring a Ring o’ Roses; Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star; London Bridge; Hickory Dickory Dock; Three Blind Mice; John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt; My Pony Boy; Old MacDonald Had A Farm; The Farmer in the Dell and Bingo. And, again, like children at play, there is fun, humor and a surprise at every turn.    A Rowdy, Raucous Rumpus is a hoot to play. At a cut-time tempo of 132 and with 14(!) changes of key, it keeps all five musicians on their toes. And busy: on the Tuba part, there are V.S. (turn the page quickly) indications on the bottom of 6 of the 8 pages, 5 for Trombone and Horn in F, 3 for Trumpet 2, and 2 for Trumpet 1. In Bingo, the last tune, the group intermittently stops playing and claps or foot-taps loudly (which is a good spot for audience participation!). On the audio clip, this is indicated with a click (actually, a tambourine sound).    There are a few high notes scattered throughout. Trumpet plays B above its staff once and A a number of times. Trumpet 2 has one A above its staff. Trombone has one F above its staff. Tuba has one G in the top space of its staff.

Brass Ensemble - Level 4 - Digital Download SKU: A0.808688 Composed by Henry Clay Work (1832-1884). Arranged by F. Leslie Smith. Children,Folk,Holiday,Patriotic. Score and parts. 31 pages. Sweetwater Brass Press #4111581. Published by Sweetwater Brass Press (A0.808688).     Henry Clay Work, Civil War era song writer and abolitionist, composed Kingdom Coming in 1862. Chicago’s Root & Cady published it in April of that year, Christy’s Minstrels premiered it and it became enormously popular.    The lyrics to Kingdom Coming, also known as The Year of Jubilo, were written as though slaves in the Confederacy were celebrating their upcoming freedom. However, the song was actually released eight months before President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. Interestingly, Kingdom Coming also gained popularity in the South. A Southern edition was published in August in 1864, and the song remained a favorite in the former Confederacy for some years.     Kingdom Coming has been used as theme or background music in a number of film, television and radio settings. Almost certainly its most popular iteration in modern times was the Sauter-Finegan Orchestra’s 1952 recording under the title Doodletown Fifers.    This arrangement is a show-off piece for each member of the quintet. It moves along at a brisk pace of about 108, begins in the key of C and changes to A-flat, then B-flat. The first time through the melody, all instruments perform ensemble. Each succeeding repetition features an instrumentalist, starting with tuba and working up to Trumpet 1. The piece ends with another ensemble version.    There are no exceptionally out-of-normal-playing-range notes: Trumpets 1 and 2 both play their B-flat below the scale several times, and Trumpet 2 plays G below the scale; Horn in F also plays its G below the scale; Trombone’s range is G at the bottom of the scale to D above the scale; Tuba’s lowest note is A-flat below the scale. Trumpet 1 will probably triple tongue its repetition of the melody, and some triple tonguing may be called for near the end of the piece for Trumpets 1 and 2 and Trombone.    This arrangement was completed in 2018, and performance time runs just under 4 minutes. The arranger, Les Smith, would be very interested in your comments; contact him at lessmith@ufl.edu. For more arrangements by Les, enter Sweetwater Brass Press (without the quotation marks) in the SheetMusicPlus search box.

Brass Ensemble - Level 4 - Digital Download SKU: A0.808682 Composed by Turner Layton (1894-1978), Henry Creamer (1879-1930). Arranged by F. Leslie Smith. Holiday,Jazz,Pop. Score and parts. 32 pages. Sweetwater Brass Press #3454039. Published by Sweetwater Brass Press (A0.808682).      After You’ve Gone, composed in 1918 by Turner Layton (melody) and Henry Creamer (lyrics), was a hit from the beginning. Al Jolson introduced it to live audiences, Marion Harris’ record went to #1 in early 1919, and since then dozens of artists have recorded it . . . and many are still doing so. The words are rather sad-she’s leaving and he’s trying to get her to stay-but played up tempo, the melody is bouncy and fun. That sad-versus-happy dichotomy is incorporated in this arrangement. It begins with a bright, bouncy introduction and first-time-through of the chorus, then slows so the Horn in F can play a melancholic and somewhat schmaltzy rendition of the verse. The Tuba provides a transition back to the upbeat chorus, and we are again off to the races. Layton’s melody slips and slides from one instrument to the next (with the Tuba getting an entire iteration all to itself!), until the pace again slows for a 4-bar reminder of the sentimental verse, which then gives way to a rousing Dixieland-like closing.