The Beginning Brass Quintet Series is designed for younger brass players getting their first experience with a
small ensemble (and weekend warriors who may not have the time to keep their chops at a professional level and
professionals who like to keep some less taxing arrangements in their concert book).
Instrument ranges are written to Level 2 guidelines, and there are no sixteenth note rhythms. Many phrases
begin with several instruments starting in unison to help young players feel confident and find their partials
before moving into harmony with the rest of the quintet. These arrangements are very straightforward, not
too lengthy, and use a minimum of close harmonies (in other words, the French horn and trombone won't spend the
whole chart a half step away from each other). Despite these guidelines, the pieces all sound very professional
and are suitable for any concert setting.
In this collection, we have tried to do the impossible -- reduce five John Philip Sousa marches down to quintet
format while keeping them playable by high school level players. To do this we have in some cases lowered
the key, got rid of repeated sections, thinned things out a bit, and swapped who is playing what. The first
trumpet never goes above a written G, trombone never goes above written F, and French horn almost never goes above
written C (OK, there is one E in "The Thunderer"). What we haven't done is compromise the spirit of the
tunes. These arrangements are suitable for professional performance -- but they won't destroy your chops
like a lot of other Sousa quintet reductions can. All of the memorable lines are still there along with
tons of dynamics, articulation markings and bluster!
Marches included in this collection:
El Capitan
High School Cadets
Semper Fidelis
The Thunderer
Washington Post
Check out the other selections in the "5 Easy" series on sale here.
5 Easy Christmas Classics
5 Easy Christmas Classics #2
5 Easy Classical Favorites
5 Easy Dixieland Standards
5 Easy Dixieland Standards #2
5 Easy Scott Joplin Rags
5 Easy Spirituals
5 Easy Stephen Foster Songs
3 Methods of Delivery
Download the arrangement from the link in your
immediate confirmation e-mail
as an Adobe PDF file and pay no shipping fee!
Receive the arrangement as an
e-mail attachment. A $2 handling fee will be included.
(May take 1-2 days.)
