As Time Goes By: Marching Band Conductor Score & Parts

Porter's arrangement captures the romantic sweep of the original while building to a genuinely spectacular finale that lands exactly when your show needs maximum impact. The orchestration gives every section moments to shine, and the 2:05 length fits perfectly into competition or concert programming without dominating the full show.

The opening unfolds with intimate restraint, almost nostalgic, before the arrangement gradually unfolds into lush harmonies and full ensemble brilliance. It captures both the quietness of a late night at Rick's Cafe and the grandeur that the moment deserves on the field.

Competitive marching bands and exhibition ensembles looking for a show closer that's both musically substantive and immediately recognizable to audiences. This arrangement works equally well for advanced high school bands and drum corps looking to program something elegant rather than purely pyrotechnic.

• Establish the rubato early in the solo passages so your brass section understands the freedom they have; this isn't metronomic, and that expressiveness is what makes the arrangement sing.
• Balance the melody carefully across trumpets and woodwinds during the statement sections. Neither should overwhelm; the goal is to blend them into one seamless voice.
• Bring the final section up gradually in volume and intensity rather than jumping to full power all at once. The climb matters more than the peak.
• Use the recorded accompaniment to lock tempos and ensure your students hear how the arrangement breathes; this helps tremendously with the softer, more lyrical sections in the middle.

Reserve this for your finale or your penultimate selection when you want to leave judges and audiences with something emotionally resonant. Its contemporary treatment of a universally known standard makes it an excellent bridge between demanding technical repertoire and crowd-pleasing programming.

• Dynamic control across soft, lyrical passages and full ensemble swells
• Balance and blend in multi-voice harmonic sections
• Rubato and expressive phrasing in non-metered or freely timed sections
• Marching technique at varying tempos and volume levels
• Stylistic awareness of film music and standards in contemporary arrangement