Beginning Band Music
Level 1
Embedded Files
Celebration and Canon
This piece is a celebratory statement! Bold and confident, the herald-like introduction sets the stage for a catchy and tuneful melody that celebrates the success of your and your students. The B section features the differences between the winds and the percussion and leads to a lush, yet simple canon and ends with a powerful restatement of the A melody. Using only the first five pitches of the Bb scale, Celebration and Canon makes for an exciting musical experience for the earliest stages of music making.
I hope you and your students enjoy this piece!
Jubilation for Concert Band
Jubilation is a feeling of great happiness and triumph - an appropriate feeling having already made it this far in beginning band! Using only the first five pitches of the B♭ Scale and basic rhythms, this exciting piece starts with a strong introduction that is punctuated by the snare. The Upper voices play a familiar melody from the intro with accompaniment before being similarly punctuated. The Mid voices get a turn to play a version of the same melody with accompaniment with a new percussion instrument color and the Low voices get an inversion of the melody before returning to the opening music as a Coda.
I hope you and your students enjoy this piece!
Le Petit Rondo for Concert Band
The rondo is a musical form made up of a main melody (theme) which alternates with one or more contrasting melodies (episodes). The most common pattern is ABACA; this Little Rondo provides students a chance to experience this important musical form with the first five pitches of the B♭ Scale and the basic concepts covered in the first few pages of most Beginning Band Method Books. High, Middle, and Low voices all get opportunities to experience the melody, episode melodies, and harmony parts.
This fun in this piece is in its speed, don’t shy away from challenging students to play up to the marked tempo
I hope you and your students enjoy this piece!
Many Splendid Flowers
Depicting a bright sunny garden bed, Many Splendid Flowers uses the first five notes and most basic rhythmic patterns to provide students with three distinct melodies (flowers). Every voice gets an opportunity to play the melody in this piece that students can play after mastery of the first few pages of most modern Beginning Band Method Books!
I hope you and your students enjoy this piece!
March for Success
The Concert March is one of the most important styles of music in the history of band. This simple march can introduce your students to this genre once they have completed the first few pages of most Beginning Band Method Books. All rhythms are unison and tutti, but the melody and harmony shift through each voice, creating a fulfilling and meaningful performance experience.
I hope you and your students enjoy this piece!
The Perilous Seas
Take to the seas with the first five notes of the B♭ Scale, limited rhythmic responsibility, and an exciting Dorian/Minor mode melody! Playable after mastery of the first few pages of most Beginning Band Method Books, this piece follows an easy to understand AABA formula, shifting the melody to middle voice instruments while always maintaining an engaging low voice part.
I hope you and your students enjoy this piece!
Rain Drops
Take to the seas with the first five notes of the B♭ Scale, limited rhythmic responsibility, and an exciting Dorian/Minor mode melody! Playable after mastery of the first few pages of most Beginning Band Method Books, this piece follows an easy to understand AABA formula, shifting the melody to middle voice instruments while always maintaining an engaging low voice part.
I hope you and your students enjoy this piece!
Successful Beginner Fanfare
Congratulations on completing the first few pages of your Method Book! I wrote this fanfare using only the typical concepts covered within these pages. The idea was that the music would be passed out after mastery of these concepts as a reward - we would end class with a little work each day on the “concert music” even if we weren’t preparing a concert. I have always found that it’s never too early to start working on the ensemble skills of balance, blend, intonation, and understanding one’s role within the ensemble. Plus, the act of making music together is why our kids joined band: playing pieces of music is fun!
This fanfare should be played at Quarter Note = 120. It should be strong and notes should be played for their full value. There are only ever three lines (plus percussion) at any given time to help start the process of teaching Melody, Harmony, and Accompaniment.
I hope you and your students enjoy this piece!
Variations on a Solemn Theme
A Solemn theme is stated in a chorale-like setting in A. A’ rhythmically shifts the theme with a rhythmic accompaniment from the Mid and Low voices. A’’ moves the theme to the Mid voices with a clear harmony and bass-line accompaniment. A’’’ begins with an ostinato in the High and Mid voices and elongates the theme in the Low voices. The chorale is restated in part in the coda with a rhythmic ending. Using the first five pitches of the Bb Scale and basic rhythmic values, this Theme and Variation style pieces is achievable after completing the first few pages of most Beginning Band Method Books!
I hope you and your students enjoy this piece!
Where Once You Lay
In the early morning of February 9th, 2025, I said goodbye to my dog, Riley. He was a 13 year-old puggle with a powder-snow face, only a few bottom teeth (that stuck out), and the sweetest disposition of any animal I’d ever known. When I arrived home, all of the places he would lay were empty - the back of our sofa, the foot of the bed, the lounge chair in the bedroom... I wrote this brief tone poem about these empty spaces where once he lay to be achievable by the youngest of musicians, using only the first five notes of the concert Bb scale, to help introduce them to concepts and importance of grief, loss, and sadness. These feelings are okay and we all deal with them in different ways. Please play this piece with care, in memory of Riley.
I hope you and your students enjoy this piece.
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