Holiday Favorites: Percussion Ensemble Score & Parts

Jeff Moore's sequencing is smart and economical. Ten songs in under three minutes means no arrangement outstays its welcome, and the transitions between pieces feel inevitable rather than stitched together. Directors get genuine crowd appeal without sacrificing musical substance or rehearsal time.

Energetic and generous. The contemporary percussion palette keeps these familiar melodies fresh, and the arrangement's momentum makes it feel inevitable rather than dutiful. There's real joy in the orchestration without veering into novelty.

Percussion ensembles with 9-12 players looking for a crowd-pleasing holiday program piece that respects the audience's ear and the ensemble's musical capabilities. This works for groups with decent independence and the ability to manage quick textural shifts.

• Balance the mallets across your ensemble so one player doesn't carry the melody while others fade into accompaniment. Test different groupings during sectionals to find where each tune sits best.
• Mark the transition points clearly in your parts beforehand. At this tempo and density, a half-second of uncertainty compounds quickly.
• Record a run-through early in rehearsals so students can hear how their individual lines weave into the larger medley. Percussion players especially benefit from hearing the piece as a whole.

Close a winter concert with this or place it as the finale to a multi-ensemble holiday showcase. Its length and brightness make it ideal as a palette cleanser between heavier chamber or orchestral work, or as the last piece on a program when you want the audience leaving happy.

• Managing rapid transitions between independent melodic and textural roles
• Balancing written dynamics across varied mallet and percussion voices
• Reading and executing tight rhythmic ensemble passages at performance tempo
• Coordinating starts and cutoffs in medley format with minimal breaks