Belwin Beginning Band, Book One (featuring the works of Michael Story): B-flat Trumpet/Horn in F Book

Story's voice comes directly into your rehearsal through the Conductor Book's recordings. Hearing a composer explain his own intentions for tempo, character, and phrasing transforms how students hear and perform his music. The collection itself spans multiple styles and moods, giving you genuine programming variety within a single book while maintaining consistent accessibility for beginning players.

This collection moves through moods and settings with surprising variety. You'll encounter the stately grandeur of a fanfare, the rhythmic energy of carnival music, the quiet grace of a cherry blossom arrangement, and the festive chaos of holiday medleys. Each piece feels complete and intentional, not like an exercise.

Beginning band trumpet and horn players who benefit from clear, playable writing without sacrificing musical interest. Conductors looking to teach musicality and stylistic awareness at the earliest levels will find Story's varied catalog particularly useful.

• Listen to Story's recorded comments about each piece before your first rehearsal. His guidance on articulation and style choices will clarify passages that might otherwise require extended explanation.
• Pay attention to the character marking and tempo indications in each piece. Story writes specific performance directions; honor them rather than adjusting for ease.
• Use the contrasting styles across the eleven titles as teachable moments about musical genre. Moving from "Roman Fanfare" to "Sakura" demonstrates how composers approach different traditions.

These pieces work well as concert openers, transitions between larger works, or standalone repertoire for smaller ensembles within your band. The mix of originals and arrangements means you can build a concert theme around Story's interpretations of familiar music, or let his original compositions anchor a program exploring different styles.

• Articulation variety across different style periods and genres
• Phrasing and musical shaping beyond mechanical note reading
• Part independence within homophonic textures
• Sight-reading fluency across changing key areas
• Responding to composer intent rather than conductor interpretation alone