The popular song ?Five Foot Two? dates back to 1914. So who wrote it? Good question, since the song was changed so often. Leo Feist, Inc. published a version in 1925 crediting Ray Henderson with music; Sam Lewis and Joseph Widow Young, with words. That same year The California Ramblers made the song?s first recording and used the Feist-published version. Since then, ?Five Foot Two? has been recorded many times by many different artists as well as being used in film and TV productions.
This arrangement was inspired by a vocal interpretation the arranger heard in the 1950s while working at an Adirondacks resort hotel. It starts and ends with brief slow sections but most of the way through breezes along at a suggested 112 tempo. All notes are within normal playing range of the five instruments, although Tuba does play its lowest E and F a couple of times. The melody consists mainly of half notes, quarter notes and whole notes, but the variations include lots of eighth notes and a few tricky rhythms. Written as a companion piece to Sweetwater Brass? popular ?Somebody Stole My Gal,? this ?Five Foot Two? is upbeat and fun and includes plenty of delightful 1920s-style doo-wacka-doo and ricky-ticky turns.
Completed in 2020, performance time for ?Five Foot Two? runs about 2 minutes, 39 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.