Joseph Compello
Grade 1/2
Inception means “the starting point,” and with this work, your students' introduction to performance music is made especially exciting with Inception’s strong, serious style. This piece will serve as the student's first introduction to truly exciting band music. Popular composer Joseph Compello gives fledgling musicians a chance to put their initial skills to use in front of an audience.
PPS3 - Score and Parts
Sean O'Loughlin
Grade 1/2
Azimuth is a dynamic composition for the beginning concert band. Designed to be played in an ensemble's first concert, the notes and rhythms are limited to those first learned by beginning students. Both dramatic and heroic, the piece is fun to play while also offering a multitude of teaching opportunities throughout.
PPS48 - Score and Parts
Joseph Compello
Grade 1/2
Written for first-year band students, this accessible and fun march will be a great contest or festival march choice. The development of tempo consistency, articulations, and the ability to count rests are key educational components of this beginning-level composition. Your ensemble and audiences will enjoy this piece intended to fit your developing band’s needs while improving its skills.
PPS55 - Score and Parts
Gene Milford
Grade 1/2
Written to honor the courage of the men and women who venture into space, this work helps reinforce young brass players' embouchures and pitch recognition while also developing beginning essential fingerings for woodwind players. A great concert or contest opener that will show off new players developing skills while also giving every section a chance to shine.
PPS56 - Score and Parts
Carol Brittin Chambers
Grade 1
Night Fury is intended to portray a mythological time period, full of adventure and excitement with images of dragons, castles, and other legendary creatures. Composer Carol Brittin Chambers was highly influenced by dramatic film scores while creating this epic, fast-paced composition playable by young musicians.
BPS108 - Score and Parts
Gary Fagan
Grade 1
Sailing Into the Moon, a strong tuneful beginning band piece, was inspired by the image of a Windjammer sailing toward the rising moon on the horizon. Veteran composer Gary Fagan draws from his experience as a long time educator to provide music that students will enjoy learning and performing.
BPS116 - Score and Parts
Kevin Hilbun
Grade 1
Inspired by NASA’s Starliner, this composition offers players interesting, yet easy, melodic material and countermelodies that will let your students work on phrasing and balance while still having fun. Short percussion solos and an emphasis on developing low brass and woodwinds make this an excellent concert opener or contest selection
BPS139 - Score and Parts
Alan Lee Silva
Grade 1 1/2
Featuring a lovely and appropriate use of mallet percussion instruments, especially bells and other delicate members of the percussion section, Northern Lights is evocative, melodically distinguished and cleverly scored to help a young band sound its best. The contrast between the natural minor of the woodwind melody at the beginning and the grander, major mode brass theme introduced later is nicely maintained throughout this very effective piece.
FPS60 - Score and Parts
Bill Calhoun
Grade 1 1/2
Bill Calhoun is quickly becoming one of the best composers in this business. He has a way of writing pieces that are exciting, well-scored, interesting and different. Night Flight shows his aggressive side with a piece that starts strong, right out of the gate. The fearless-sounding melody lifts up players and audience, grabs hold of them and takes them on the musical journey of a flight into the night sky. A perfect selection to showcase your developing band at a contest or festival performance.
FPS96 - Score and Parts
Jay Coles
Grade 2
Galactic Episode takes the performer and listener on a musical journey through time and space, both externally and internally. Jay Coles, pours his energy into a piece that will grab the attention of your students and never let it go.
YPS170 - Score and Parts
Carol Brittin Chambers
Grade 2
The contemplative opening measures of Sunchaser set the mood by depicting the dawn of a new day, quickly launching into a spirited adventure full of energy and life. Composer Carol Brittin Chambers gives us a beautiful work rife with musical imagery that students will love to play. Sunchaser is a perfect selection to highlight the strengths of your young band at your next festival.
YPS192 - Score and Parts
Travis J. Weller
Grade 2 1/2
Composed about the possibilities for greatness that lie within each day, this concert fanfare starts inquisitively before moving to a musical reminder of the challenges we all face daily. Reinforcing several basic 6/8 rhythmic patterns that performers need to learn, this piece also offers development opportunities for articulation accuracy while playing in a light, precise style. Listening for melodic elements and balance will also be improved. Use this to start your next concert in an uplifting way and as a meaningful opportunity to discuss the power of making positive choices.
YPS252 - Score and Parts
Michael Miller
Grade 3
Cosmic Expedition takes performers on a musical journey far across the galaxy. This fanfare composition by Michael Miller is perfect for a concert opener. Starting with bold brass fanfare figures over textural woodwinds, this piece takes the listener on a sonic journey through a variation of harmonic colors, timbral and textural shifts.
CPS216 - Score and Parts
Yukiko Nishimura
Grade 3
Yukiko Nishimura's lush ballad Winter Milky Way will take students on an interstellar journey. With whimsical lines and jazz-influenced harmonies the piece is both idiomatic and impressive, just right for intermediate bands. Winter Milky Way is sure to delight performers and audiences alike.
CPS208 - Score and Parts
Chris Campbell
Grade 3
Written for intermediate-level bands, Moontowers intends to evoke a fantastical atmosphere containing huge mythical constructs – such as stone edifices – that rise from a lunar surface, softly illuminated by reflected light from another galactic source, while also allowing listeners to create their own, more specific visual interpretation. The piece also pays homage to the metal towers that once existed in cities through the U.S. intended to brighten the areas at times when there was insufficient natural moonlight. A perfect selection for those directors in search of a contemplative work to round out concert programs.
CPS257 - Score and Parts
Chris Campbell
Grade 3
Written for smaller bands with limited instrumentation that are looking for more challenging compositions, this complex composition will develop musicians counting and rhythmic precision skills while also working on cut-time and tonguing. Definitely a different type of composition, this will entertain performers and audiences alike with its tongue-in-cheek approach.
CPS256 - Score and Parts
Travis Weller
Grade 3
Mercury, known as the messenger of the gods, is easily identified by his unique winged shoes (talaria) and hat (petasos). Chasing Mercury depicts exactly that: a playful chase of the winged messenger. By whom? It is up to the young musicians who have the opportunity to bring this work to life. Those who are familiar with Gustav Holst's Mercury will notice the opening motif chasing two themes of Holst's around the rest of the work –giving Chasing Mercury a second meaning. This fun and playful piece is certain to entertain and delight.
CPS234 - Score and Parts
Peter Sciaino
Grade 3 1/2
A poignant balladic description of a memory of a New Mexico night sky, this lyrical piece encapsulates the feeling of wonder and humility felt when we stare out at a sky seemingly filled with hundreds of little moons. Beginning with subtle percussion and a cross-cued euphonium solo, a wistful theme is developed and passed throughout the ensemble. Multiple expressive demands related to phrasing, balance, listening, and tone let you teach these in a composition that sounds harder than it is. Use this ballad as a contrast to your opener in concert or as a second selection in festival or contest performances.
CPS242 - Score and Parts
Carolyn Bremer
Grade 4
Carolyn Bremer's brilliant showpiece for orchestra has already been a hit in this version for concert band by the composer. Based on our national anthem, which gives the piece its title as well as much of its musical content, Early Light is also tribute to baseball, the "national pastime." This exciting showpiece has just been added to the Texas UIL Prescribed Music List for festival/contest use. Duration: 5'30"
SPS3 - Score and Parts
Sean O'Loughlin
Grade 5
A tour de force concert opener (or a striking closer) that rips right out of the gate with a four-note motive functioning as the genesis for the rest of the piece. It comes complete with bursts of brass fanfares, woodwind flourishes, percussion interjections, and biting harmonies that build tension only resolved at the final chord. This piece packs an incredible amount of music in a short period of time. Before you know it, wham! It's over. One of O'Loughlin's finest works to date!
SPS36 - Score and Parts
David Maslanka
Composer David Maslanka brings a short 3 minute fanfare into existance based on inspiration from a prayer by St. Francis of Assisi. Often high school bands do not get the opportunity to perform music by this important composer due to their length and difficulty, but this piece is well within the reach of many high school groups. Certainly it will be a standard in the reportoire.
J754 - Score and Parts
