Cousins: 6 Trumpets Score & Parts

Marlatt's six-trumpet rendering transforms a historical brass duet into something genuinely practical without sacrificing Clarke's sophisticated voice-leading and harmonic content. The cornet-flugelhorn pairing creates a natural tonal hierarchy that keeps the texture transparent even with full instrumentation, and the piece lands squarely at medium-difficult, making it accessible to strong high school sections while remaining musically rewarding.

Cousins sparkles with the formal grace of late Romantic salon music, all elegant scalar passages and dancing rhythmic counterpoint. The writing feels intimate despite the ensemble size, with moments of gentle interplay that recall chamber music rather than band arrangements, anchored throughout by Clarke's unmistakable chromatic harmonic language.

Trumpet sections with at least four players who read at an intermediate-advanced level and want to program something beyond the standard quintet or sextet fare. It works equally well for master classes, recital contexts, and festivalcompetitions where you need flexible, genuine music that showcases individual soloists alongside section work.

• Balance the solo pair against the accompanying voices by seating them slightly forward; the four supporting trumpets should sit back and focus on rhythmic cohesion rather than projection.
• Work the cornet and flugelhorn parts independently before the first ensemble rehearsal. Each soloist needs comfort with Clarke's chromaticism and the intervallic leaps that define the melodic line.
• Attend to dynamic shaping across entire phrases rather than note-to-note. Clarke's melodies breathe in long arcs, and breath placement in the accompaniment should mirror the soloists' phrasing.
• Lock the opening unison figure among all six players before addressing the duet exposition. Precision here establishes the foundation for everything that follows.

This arrangement shines in contexts where traditional concert band repertoire feels overscaled. Program it on a recital showcasing chamber brass, slot it into a contest festival where your section needs both group and solo entries, or use it as a master class vehicle to demonstrate how creative instrumentation can open performance opportunities beyond your ensemble's primary instrumentation.

• Upper register accuracy and control in fast passages
• Balance between solo and accompanying voices
• Lyrical phrasing across extended melodic lines
• Sight-reading chromatic harmony and voice-leading
• Ensemble precision in rhythmic coordination without a conductor focus