A Good King's Christmas: Concert Band Conductor Score

Del Borgo's setting captures what makes this carol enduring while building it into something cinematic. The unison fanfare immediately commands attention from a young ensemble, and the harmonic answering section gives students their first taste of how orchestration creates momentum. Every section gets the melody at some point, which means your clarinetists, saxophones, and brass players all have featured moments.

A Christmas carol transformed into ceremony and pageantry. The opening fanfare creates grandeur from simplicity, and the straightforward melody remains the heart throughout, but here it's lifted by fuller harmonies and richer orchestration than the original. There's warmth in the full band sound and a sense of occasion without pretension.

Directors programming their first or second winter concert who need something reliable, attractive, and manageable for early-season ensembles. The Grade 1 level means any beginning band can execute it successfully, yet the orchestration is sophisticated enough to satisfy more experienced players filling out the section.

• Shape the opening fanfare with clear articulation and unified entrance. This is your ensemble's first impression, so lock the rhythm section in tight and let the full band ring.
• Balance the full harmony sections carefully. With so many voices, younger players often cover the actual tune. Bring out the melody line subtly above the supporting harmonies.
• Vary the tempo slightly between sections to avoid monotony in a Grade 1 arrangement. The simple melody can feel static without slight shifts in pace to mark the formal sections.
• Use the different instrumental colors to your advantage when the melody passes between sections. Let trombone and euphonium own their statement, then shift focus when the woodwinds pick it up.

Open your winter concert with this piece to set a festive, elegant tone immediately. Its opening fanfare works beautifully as an audience cue that the concert is beginning. You can also pair it with other Grade 1 holiday selections from the FJH series to build a cohesive opening or closing segment without stretching rehearsal time.

• Sectional melody passing and awareness of voice independence
• Dynamic balance between melody and harmony
• Articulation clarity in unison passages
• Listening to and blending with surrounding sections in sustained harmonies