Traditional: Amazing Grace: Concert Band: Score & Parts

SKU: CF.YPS214F

ISBN 9781491153017. UPC: 680160910519.

This new piece from composer George Sweet is a delightful combination of Scotland the Brave and Amazing Grace. Each tune on its own is wonderful, but in Sweet's setting, they are masterfully layered to reflect the composer's Scottish-American heritage. This presentation of a Scottish melody with Americana-inspired harmonies is a stunning example of compositional craft.
Bravery and Grace is a setting of the unofficial Scottish national anthem, Scotland the Brave. While the melody is taken from Scotland the Brave, the accompaniment and harmony both have a “Western Americana” feel, reminiscent of composers like Roy Harris and Aaron Copland.  This combination of a Scottish melody with American harmony is a reflection of the composer’s Scottish-American Heritage.The piece begins with a fragment of Scotland the Brave presented in a lush and reflective context. The main theme is performed in full by the upper voices at m. 9. The middle voices perform the material at m. 17, and the lower voices perform it again at m. 33. This results in a loud passage representing pipers at m. 46. The traditional spiritual Amazing Grace appears suddenly at m. 51 in a somewhat polytonal setting. This is, once again, reminiscent of practices of the aforementioned American composers.  After this lyrical presentation, a fragment of the main theme returns at m. 66. This is followed by a broad restatement of the theme at m. 70 and a brisk conclusion with a final flair of polytonality.

SKU: KJ.WB490F

UPC: 8402704857.

The simple melody of this famous hymn is treated to lush harmonizations and searing emotion. In this arrangement, the tune is heard in its entirety three times, each time becoming more impassioned. Between each iteration of the hymn, the composer includes original material that serves to bridge the ardent treatment of the multiple verses. After a change of key, the climax of the work is delayed and extended before the music evaporates back into its simplest and purest form. Amazing Grace is a wonderful vehicle for increasing the musicality of the young intermediate band.

About Tradition of Excellence: Excellence in Performance

Excellence in performance is a concert band repertoire series correlated with the Tradition of Excellence Comprehensive Band Method by Bruce Pearson and Ryan Nowlin. The compositions in the series correlate to a specific page in Tradition of Excellence Books 1, 2, or 3 and reinforce and expand on skills and concepts introduced in the method.

/Selections include exciting parts for every player, grade-appropriate cross-cueing, accessible ranges and rhythms, creative percussion writing, electric bass and rehearsal piano parts, and full conductor scores with rehearsal suggestions, program notes and composer biographies. In addition, the Grade 1 works provide an Advanced Snare Drum part for percussionists who have achieved a higher level of ability, playable simultaneously with the more basic Snare Drum part to facilitate differentiated learning.

SKU: PR.115402480

ISBN 9781491134139. UPC: 680160684236. 9 x 12 inches.

Originally composed for solo organ, Hailstork’s fanfare is a 3½-minute explosion of joyous sound inspired by the Baroque-era tradition of Chorale Preludes. As in Bach’s organ preludes, the familiar hymn’s phrases broadly emerge from ornate counterpoint, here in the form of brass fanfares. The result is exhilarating! Also scored by Hailstork for chamber ensemble and for orchestra, FANFARE ON AMAZING GRACE was transcribed for concert band in January 2021 by MGySgt Don Patterson, staff arranger for “The President’s Own” United States Military Band, for that ensemble’s worldwide broadcast performance at the 2021 Presidential Inauguration.

SKU: BT.DHP-1002085-216