Anitra's Dance: Brass Choir Score & Parts

Marlatt's arrangement captures the lightness and wit of Grieg's original while making genuine use of the brass choir's tonal palette. The strategic deployment of mutes and the distribution of melody across trumpet, horn, and euphonium create a piece that sounds richer and more colorful than many original brass compositions at this level. It's the kind of arrangement that reminds students why classical music became classical in the first place.

Anitra's Dance dances. There's a lightness and playfulness in the melody that the mute colors enhance, creating an almost impressionistic quality despite the Classical era origin. The rhythmic interest keeps the listener engaged without ever feeling heavy or overly complicated.

Brass choirs at the intermediate to advanced high school level and beyond will find this both playful and musically satisfying. Directors looking to add a Romantic masterwork to their programs without programming a full orchestra transcription will appreciate how well Marlatt's writing sits in the brass choir idiom.

• Balance the muted passages carefully; cup mutes require more air support than players often expect, and the softer dynamic can obscure rhythmic clarity if the section doesn't lock together.
• Shape the melody line across the three instruments that carry it. Think of trumpet, horn, and euphonium as a single voice that passes the tune between them, maintaining consistent phrasing and vibrato from one instrument to the next.
• Let the rhythmic interest breathe. This piece doesn't rush; give the syncopation room to land without losing the forward motion.

This works beautifully as a lighter companion piece to more substantial brass choir repertoire, or as a bridge between your contemporary works and the classical tradition. It also makes an excellent opener for a concert, establishing a warm, approachable tone before moving into weightier material.

• Tone production with cup mutes and straight mutes
• Phrasing across multiple instruments carrying a shared melody line
• Rhythmic precision in syncopated passages
• Balance and blend in muted sections
• Understanding of Classical-era melody and harmonic language