An American in Paris: Concert Band Conductor Score & Parts

Jerry Brubaker's adaptation captures the essential Gershwin: those iconic taxi horn effects, the swagger of the main themes, the shimmer of orchestration that makes you taste the Parisian air. At Grade 4, this isn't a simplified version that loses character. Your band will feel like they're playing the real thing because, musically, they are. This is the kind of arrangement that reminds students why they chose their instruments.

Sunlight bouncing off Seine water. The rush of motion, but the sophisticated kind. There's charm here and genuine wit, plus moments where Gershwin lets the harmony settle into something tender before the taxi horns return. Your audience will leave humming.

Bands at the Grade 4 level with solid fundamentals and the stamina for a full concert suite. You'll want reliable intonation and musicians who can handle divided sections. This works best when your ensemble has already proven it can balance jazz-influenced idioms with classical structure.

• Balance the ensemble so those auto horn effects (typically in the upper woodwinds) cut through without drowning the harmonic foundation. If the texture muddies, the piece loses its visual clarity.
• Keep the rhythmic accompaniment figures crisp and light, especially in the lower voices. Gershwin's idiom depends on that jazz-inflected bounce staying bouncy.
• Shape the main melody line with the kind of vocal legit that befits popular song, even when it's in the trumpet section. Don't let it become march-like.
• Use the recorded accompaniment as a reference for tempo relationships. Gershwin's harmonic language rewards rubato, but the piece needs internal clock to maintain its shape across 378 pages.

Program this as your concert centerpiece rather than an opener. Its length and architectural scope deserve an audience that's settled in, and it pairs beautifully with American classics before or after it. The piece also serves as a cultural bridge in a program mixing concert band standards with world music or folk arrangements.

• Balancing jazz-influenced rhythmic figures with concert band sonority
• Executing rapid passagework in the upper woodwinds with clarity
• Sustaining ensemble cohesion across extended melodic sections
• Reading divided parts in the brass and woodwind sections
• Responding to subtle orchestral color changes within a single thematic idea