Baritone Saxophone,Piano - Level 1 - Digital Download

SKU: A0.548665

Composed by James Pierpont. Arranged by James M. Guthrie, ASCAP. Christmas. Score and part. 8 pages. Jmsgu3 #3408945. Published by jmsgu3 (A0.548665).

Jingle Bells arranged for baritone sax & piano. Score: 3pg. part: 1pg. piano 3 pg. Jingle Bells is perhaps the most famous songs in American music history. James L. Pierpont published the song as One Horse Open Sleigh in the late 1850’s. Since its introduction, people began to insist that Pierpont wrote it for a Sunday school choir. However, it seems unlikely that such a secular song would be considered appropriate during that historical period for Sunday school.

Christmas Repertoire

Pierpont wrote the song for the Thanksgiving holidays, but over time people began to think of it more as a Christmas song. Some choirs adopted it as part of their Christmas repertoire in the 1860s and 1870s. Jingle Bells was first recorded in 1889 on a wax cylinder.

Origins

No one knows where Pierpont composed the song. One theory suggests he wrote it in Medford Massachusetts in 1850. Sleigh races were certainly popular in 19th Century Massachusetts. To this day, a commemorative placard appears in Medford square claiming that it is the birthplace of Jingle Bells. Others suggest that he wrote it in Savannah, Georgia where he was an organist and music director at the Unitarian Church. This theory gains support from the copyright date of 1857. We know he was living in Savannah by then.

Traffic Signals

Horse-drawn sleighs are relatively quiet in the snow. Consequently, horses were usually equipped with bell-laden straps so as to avoid accidents at blind intersections. Sleigh drivers in 19th Century New England were constantly vigilant, listening for the sounds of approaching horse-drawn sleighs. The tune imitates the rhythm that the trotting horse bells produce.

Social Context

Jingle Bells was sung as a drinking song at local revelries: during the song folks would rhythmically jangle the ice in their glasses. A sleigh ride gave couples an opportunity to be alone together. The term Jingle bells is a poetic descriptive adjective referring specifically to the more accurate term sleigh bells. In many arrangements, sleigh bells are used to accentuate the rhythm during the song chorus. 

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Baritone Saxophone,Piano - Level 3 - Digital Download

SKU: A0.549384

Composed by George Frideric Handel. Arranged by James M. Guthrie, ASCAP. Baroque,Sacred,Standards,Wedding. Score and part. 9 pages. Jmsgu3 #3492299. Published by jmsgu3 (A0.549384).

Duration: 4:55, Score: 6 pages, Solo part: 1 page, piano part: 2 pages. A very famous aria (Ombra mai fu) from Xerxes
Suitable for any venue requiring meditative music. Excellent choice for a recital encore.

Xerxes

Xerxes is, in fact, an opera seria in three acts by Handel. Moreover, Handel conducted the premiere performance in London in 1738. Handel casts the opera in Persia in 470 BC. The part of Xerxes was indeed originally sung by a soprano castrato. Nowadays, the part is generally sung by a mezzo-soprano or conversely a counter-tenor. In the first place, Xerxes sings an opening aria, Ombra mai fu to a plane tree. Handel sets this aria to one of his most truly famous melodies. Although many refer to it traditionally as Handel’s Largo, Handel has, on the contrary, clearly marked Larghetto in the score.

Handel Background

George Frideric Handel (1685 - 1759) was born in Germany, but eventually became a British citizen. Nonetheless, he was a famous Baroque composer. In fact, he became famous for his operas, oratorios, anthems, and organ concertos. Handel studied music and, by and large, worked as a composer in Germany and Italy before moving to London. On the whole, Handel was very familiar with the contemporary music of Italy and Germany.

Career in England

It is important to realize that Italian opera was all the rage in England at the time. Moreover, Handel was really good at writing them. Therefore, he started not one but three opera companies in England. Alexander's Feast was a huge success in 1736, but Handel nevertheless began composing English choral works. After success with the Messiah in 1742) he certainly never again wrote an Italian opera. Consequently, he died in 1759, a treasured genius. Accordingly, the English government gave him full state honors at his funeral. Hence, he is buried in Westminster Abbey in London.

Legacy

Music historians agree that Handel was in general one of the greatest composers of the Baroque era.  To demonstrate, his works such as the Messiah, Water Music, and Music for the Royal Fireworks remain consistently popular up to the present time. He especially composed the coronation anthem, Zadok the Priest for the coronation of George II. Nevertheless, it has specifically been performed at every succeeding British coronation since. His oratorio Solomon has by all means also continued to be prevalent. As a matter of fact, the Sinfonia from act 3 was featured the 2012 London Olympics opening ceremony. Handel was particularly prolific. To enumerate, he wrote over forty operas.  Since the late 1960s, we have expressly experienced a revival of baroque music. Similarly, we have especially seen a pique of interest in historically informed musical performance. Since his death in 1779, interest in Handel's music has, all in all, expanded.

 

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Baritone Saxophone,Piano - Level 2 - Digital Download

SKU: A0.549425

Composed by Antonin Dvorak. Arranged by James M. Guthrie, ASCAP. Instructional,Romantic Period,Sacred,Standards. Score and part. 12 pages. Jmsgu3 #3494017. Published by jmsgu3 (A0.549425).

Score: 7 pages, solo part: 2 pages, piano part: 3 pages. Duration: 4:25 Not difficult, but requires sensitivity & dynamic control. Suitable for recitals, church meditations, or school programs.

Dvořák Background

Antonín Dvořák (1841 –1904) was, of course, a composer from Czechoslovakia. As a matter of fact, he was among the first Bohemian composers to attain universal recognition. It is important to realize that the late Romantic Nationalist period featured composers who used traditional and folk elements to portray the character of their nation. In particular, we see this in the music of Grieg (Norway), Finland (Sibelius), and Smetana (Bohemia).  Dvořák relied markedly on rhythms and other characteristics of Moravian and Bohemian folk music.

Ascent to Fame

Dvořák was truly a child musical prodigy on the violin. The premiere performances of his compositions notably occurred in 1872 and 1873. He submitted his First Symphony in particular to a German competition, but it failed to win. Consequently, in 1874 he presented two more symphonies to the Austrian State Prize for Composition. Johannes Brahms was the principal of the jury and was accordingly very impressed. They forthwith awarded the prize to Dvořák in 1874, 1876, and 1877. At this point, Brahms thereupon endorsed Dvořák to the publisher Simrock. Later, the publisher commissioned Dvořák to compose the Slavonic Dances, Op. 46. These became popular overnight and, as a result, Dvořák's worldwide status was launched.

International Status

Dvořák visited England upon invitation nine times. On each visit, he frequently conducted performances of his own compositions. He conducted concerts of his music, especially in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Eventually, the Prague Conservatory in fact appointed Dvořák as a professor. There, to be sure, he wrote his famous Dumky Trio.

United States

Consequently, the National Conservatory of Music of America appointed him as director in 1892. As a result, Dvořák composed his two most famous symphonic works: the Symphony No. 9 (From the New World), which spread his name universally, and his Concerto for Cello and Orchestra, one of the most famous of all cello works. Moreover, he wrote his most celebrated American String Quartet during this time. At the same time, because of his growing recognition in Europe and his homesickness for his own country, he left to return to Bohemia in 1895.

 

Baritone Saxophone,Piano - Level 3 - Digital Download

SKU: A0.549336

By Barry Manilow. By Bruce Johnston. Arranged by James M. Guthrie, ASCAP. Contemporary,Rock. Score and part. 8 pages. Jmsgu3 #3486311. Published by jmsgu3 (A0.549336).

Duration: ca. 3:00, score: 5 pages, solo part: 1 page, piano part: 2 pages.Very famous song suitable for church, recital or nightclub. I Write the Songs is a popular song written by Bruce Johnston in 1975 and made famous by Barry Manilow. Manilow's version reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in January 1976[2] after spending two weeks atop the Billboard adult contemporary chart in December 1975.[3] It won a Grammy Award for Song of the Year and was nominated for Record of the Year in 1977.[3] Billboard ranked it as the No. 13 song of 1976.[4]

The original version was recorded by The Captain & Tennille, who worked with Johnston in the early 1970s with The Beach Boys. It appears on their 1975 album, Love Will Keep Us Together. The first release of I Write the Songs as a single was by then teen-idol David Cassidy from his 1975 solo album The Higher They Climb, which was also produced by Bruce Johnston. Cassidy's version reached #11 on the UK Singles Chart in August of that year.[5]

Johnston has stated that, for him, the I in the song is God,[2] and that songs come from the spirit of creativity in all of us. He has said that the song is not about his Beach Boys bandmate Brian Wilson.[6]

Manilow was initially reluctant to record the song, stating in his autobiography Sweet Life: The problem with the song was that if you didn't listen carefully to the lyric, you would think that the singer was singing about himself. It could be misinterpreted as a monumental ego trip.[3] After persuasion by Clive Davis, then president of Arista Records, Manilow recorded the song, and his version of I Write the Songs was the first single taken from the album Tryin' to Get the Feeling. It first charted on the Billboard Hot 100 on November 15, 1975, reaching the top of the chart nine weeks later, on January 17, 1976. Wikipedia

Baritone Saxophone,Piano - Level 3 - Digital Download

SKU: A0.547985

By Lady Gaga. By Dino Zisis, Julien Arias, Nicholas Mercier, Nicholas Monson, Paul Blair, Stefani Germanotta, Steve Guess, and William Grigahcine. Arranged by James M. Guthrie, ASCAP. Pop. Score and part. 20 pages. Jmsgu3 #3123311. Published by jmsgu3 (A0.547985).

Lady Gaga: Applause 
Score: 5 pages, solo part: 2 pages, piano part: 3 pages. Duration: 3'26

In the United States, Nielsen SoundScan predicted Applause to sell upwards of 400,000 units in their first week.[37][56] By the end of the week, Nielsen SoundScan and Billboard had lowered the estimated amount of Applause's first week sales from 400,000 to 200,000–225,000.[57][58] Applause did not enter the Billboard's Hot 100 in its first week.[56] It also ranked below the top 75 threshold of the US Radio Songs chart, with 16 million audience impressions across 210 stations, with the track officially impacting radio stations on August 19, 2013. Applause reached number one on the Dance/Electronic Songs chart,[56] and entered the US Pop Songs Chartat number 20; the highest debut on that chart, by a solo female artist in 2013. The following week, Applause debuted at number six on the Billboard Hot 100. Following its radio and retail release the track charted on Digital Songs at number three, Streaming Songs at number nine and Radio Songs at number forty.[59]

On its second week on the Hot 100, the song climbed to number four while reaching number three on Streaming Songs (due the release of the music video), and number thirty-five on Radio Songs, and falling to number five on Digital Songs with sales of 163,000.[60] In its sixth week, the song sold 160,000 copies and reached sales of 1 million copies, becoming her eleventh song to do so.[61] In the same week, it rose to number nine on the Radio Songs chart, becoming her tenth single to reach the top-ten there.[62] It managed to stay in the top-ten of the Billboard Hot 100 for 14 consecutive weeks. As of April 2016, the song had sold 2,640,000 copies in the United States,[63] and has been certified triple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).[64]

According to the Official Charts Company, Applause sold over 10,000 copies within a few hours in the UK.[32] It debuted and peaked at number five on the UK Singles Chart, making it her highest charting single since Born This Way (2011). Applause sold 38,042 copies by the end of the first week, and dropped to number nine on its second week.[65] It was present for a total of 20 weeks within the top-100 of the chart.[66] The British Phonographic Industry (BPI) certified it Gold,[67] and it has sold slightly under 300,000 copies as of September 2016.[68] Applause was also certified Gold in other international markets including Italy, New Zealand, and Sweden.[69][70][71] Wikipedia

Baritone Saxophone,Piano - Level 3 - Digital Download

SKU: A0.1337514

By Elvis Presley. By Johnny Christopher, Mark James, and Wayne Thompson. Arranged by Kevin P Holdgate. 20th Century,Broadway,Country,Musical/Show,Pop,Standards. Score and part. 6 pages. Kevin P Holdgate #923329. Published by Kevin P Holdgate (A0.1337514).

Always on My Mind is a ballad written by Wayne Carson, Johnny Christopher, and Mark James, first recorded by Brenda Lee and first released by Gwen McCrae (as You Were Always on My Mind) in March 1972. Lee's version was released three months later in June 1972. The song has been a crossover hit, charting in both the country and western and pop categories. Elvis Presley's recording was the first commercially successful version of the song.

AllMusic lists more than 300 recorded releases of the song in versions by dozens of performers.[1] While Lee's version reached no. 45 on the US country chart in 1972, other performers reached the Top 20 on the country and/or pop charts in the United States and elsewhere with their own versions: Elvis Presley (1972, US country; UK pop Top Ten); John Wesley Ryles (1979, US country) and Willie Nelson's Grammy Award-winning version (1982, US/Canada country number one; US/Canada pop Top Ten); and the Pet Shop Boys' 1987 hi-NRG/synth-pop interpretation (UK number one; US Top Ten).

This arrangement of what is a beautiful song is suitable for players of around Grade 4 ABRSM or equivalent.

Baritone Saxophone,Piano - Level 3 - Digital Download

SKU: A0.967676

Composed by James Pierpont. Arranged by Lawrence H. Underwood. Children,Christmas,Pop,Ragtime. Score and part. 9 pages. Lawrence H Underwood #6189289. Published by Lawrence H Underwood (A0.967676).

Arranged by veteran instrumental educator and performer, Lawrence Underwood, as the fifth installment in his A Christmas Portfolio series, this brand new setting of Jingle Bells is destined to be a new favorite! This Jingle Bells has been given the ragtime treatment. . .opening in standard 2/4 ragtime, moving into a ragtime waltz in the middle of the piece, before once again revisiting 2/4 - but with the piano part covering the melody and the soloist playing countermelody lines until final reclaiming the theme for the final rousing statement of the chorus. Suitable as a showpiece or encore in any winter or holiday setting!