66 Festive & Famous Chorales for Band: 2nd Clarinet Book

This collection strips away the tedium of generic warm-ups by offering real music with substance. Directors get a single resource that functions simultaneously as a tuning and listening tool, a repertoire exploration, and a platform for teaching ensemble balance and phrasing across a full calendar of rehearsals.

Opening this book feels like stepping into a well-organized library of musical tradition. The chorales span centuries and styles, so players encounter everything from Bach-inspired counterpoint to folk hymns, each one crafted to sound complete and purposeful even when played by just a few instruments.

Second clarinet players in beginning through intermediate concert bands will find consistent, rewarding material that builds competence without overwhelming technical demands. These are also useful for clarinet section rehearsal, studio coaching, and stand-alone recital programming with other wind players.

• Balance the 2nd clarinet voice against the first clarinet line. These arrangementsexpose imbalance immediately, so use that sensitivity as feedback for section work.
• Treat phrase shapes as you would in a chorale improvisation exercise: find the arch, breathe at logical points, and shape the line even when you're playing inner harmony.
• Lock onto the chord function rather than note-by-note accuracy. Understanding whether you're playing the root, third, or fifth helps you hear where the line belongs in the harmonic texture.
• Experiment with the smaller ensemble possibilities. Playing these as a quartet or septet reveals details that can feel buried in full band and builds confidence in exposed settings.

Use these as opening ritual during the first ten minutes of rehearsal three or four days a week. Rotate through them across the semester so students encounter all 66 over time. They also serve as filler material for short concerts or as flexible ensemble pieces when you need something that works with shifting instrumentation due to absences.

• Harmonic function and awareness of chord color
• Phrase shape and musical direction in inner voices
• Ensemble balance and blend in four-part writing
• Sight-reading fluency across varied harmonic styles
• Intonation sensitivity within vertical alignment
• Adaptation to different ensemble sizes and configurations