Flex Ensemble Performance Music

Teachers keep coming back to Strings of Fire by Chris M. Bernotas and Exhilaration by Cooper Ford for their accessibility and musical payoff at Grade 1 and 1.5. Falling Snow by Christopher Alan Schmitz (Grade 2) and Tripwire by JaRod Hall (Grade 2) are equally trusted for concert programming and festival play.

Recent additions include Arabian Dances and Rock This Band! by Robert Sheldon, Rampage! by Todd Stalter, and Call to the Heroes by Chris M. Bernotas, all published within the last year and covering flexible band, string, and hybrid configurations.

Chris M. Bernotas brings 25 years of experience as an educator and Director of Instrumental Publications for Alfred Music. His compositions balance accessibility with emotional depth, making them favorites at all levels from beginning ensembles to advanced groups.

Brian Balmages writes across orchestral, band, and chamber settings with equal command. His work has appeared at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, and the Sydney Opera House, and he received the A. Austin Harding Award from the American School Band Directors Association.

Tyler S. Grant is an internationally recognized composer and clinician whose music appears regularly on all-state honor ensembles and annual repertoire lists. His Panoramic Fanfare won the Dallas Wind Symphony's 2014 "Call for Fanfares" Competition and continues to be widely performed.