66 Festive & Famous Chorales for Band: 1st B-flat Trumpet Book

Erickson's hand-picked selection of 66 chorales gives you genuine variety in a single package. Every chorale reads naturally for trumpets, which means your section gets to focus on musicianship rather than fighting awkward voicings. The SATB flexibility means you can pull these into rehearsals, chamber warm-ups, or small ensemble settings without rewriting a thing.

These chorales span centuries of musical tradition, from Bach's harmonic language to 19th-century hymn tunes. Working through the collection feels like a conversation with classical music fundamentals; you'll notice how composers used harmony to shape phrasing and emotion. The straightforward four-part writing lets you hear exactly what you and your section are doing.

Trumpeters in concert band settings benefit most from this book, whether you play first or second part. Conductors building warm-up routines or needing flexible chamber repertoire will find reliable material that works for full band or scaled-down groups. Advanced high school and college trumpet sections will get real mileage from the tuning and musicianship demands.

• Shape each chorale as a singing melody rather than marching through it. Trumpets carry the soprano line in these arrangements, so think of phrasing and breathing as you would in a vocal chorale.
• Balance against the lower brass and woodwinds, which carry inner voices. The clarity of your intonation will expose blend issues quickly, making this collection an honest teacher.
• Vary your dynamic approach across the collection. Not every chorale needs the same articulation or weight; let the harmonic content and style period guide your choices.
• Use sustained notes as opportunities to refine tone quality. Many chorales contain whole notes and half notes that reveal what your section actually sounds like without movement to hide behind.

Open rehearsals with a single chorale for focused warm-up work on a specific musicianship goal. In concert, a thoughtfully programmed sequence of contrasting chorales creates a spiritual or celebratory moment without requiring a full program of elaborate works. Pull individual pieces for chamber music festivals or small ensemble competitions where variety and polish matter.

• phrasing and breath placement in non-melodic contexts
• intonation matching in harmonic structures
• balance and blend with inner voices
• sustain and tone production on longer note values
• historical style recognition across periods and regions