SKU: A0.1080623

This is a really fun piece that will challenge but be achievable at the end of the first year. Everything stays in standard 1st position fingerings with mostly stepwise motion with skips to open strings, though there are a few quicker notes to challenge the left hand. There's a lot of interplay between the high and low voices, which gives each section the opportunity to work on listening to the whole ensemble and counting through rests. Rhythms will be mostly straightforward for this level, with one syncopated example at 24 - I like to teach this rhythm with the text Pass the tasty chocolate chip cookie. Last, there's some fun unusual techniques, including a glissando in the cello/bass and the instructions to Start high on the (E/A/D) string and play 8 notes, each lower than the last for upper strings. These should be kept random, chaotic, and fun. I hope your students enjoy The Gladiator!

SKU: A0.1414137

John Phillip Sousa's The Gladiator is one of his most successful marches ever written. The original piece is quite difficult to play so in this arrangement it is to be suitable for all High School Concert Bands and is playable for all Grade 3 Students.

SKU: A0.1213033

Sousa’s first commercial success. It was initially rejected by publishers Stopper and Fisk but sold well under Harry Coleman. 

This Brass Quintet arrangement was made using “The President’s Own� United States Marine Band’s The Complete Marches of John Philip Sousa score as found at https://www.marineband.marines.mil/Audio-Resources/The-Complete-Marches-of-John-Philip-Sousa/. The Gladiator was composed in 1886, and the referenced edition was made Public Domain in 2015. The piece is catalogued as Volume 2, No. 28.