Holiday Garland No. 2: Brass Quintet Score & Parts

Warm, celebratory, and direct. These seven carols sparkle without pretension. The quintet texture lets each melody sing clearly, and the arrangement choices highlight moments of harmonic surprise that audiences recognize and remember.

Brass quintets at the high school or early college level looking for holiday programming that lands with both audiences and players. If your group performed Holiday Garland No. 1, this sequel offers the same approachable musicianship with fresh melodic material.

• Balance the melodic voices against the harmonic foundation. In a quintet, every player shapes the line, so encourage your first trumpet to lead decisively while the lower voices support with clear, steady tone.
• Use the printed parts to mark phrase breathes collectively. Since these arrangements draw from well-known melodies, audiences will listen for where phrases naturally resolve; rehearse those moments as an ensemble.
• Keep articulation uniform across all five players within each phrase. Christmas carols live or die on rhythmic clarity, especially in the faster movements like Ding, Dong Merrily On High.

Program this as the centerpiece of a holiday pops concert or the closing segment of your winter concert. The collection of seven melodies gives you flexibility to program several consecutive carols or scatter them throughout your season. Medium difficulty means you can rehearse this alongside your concert band or orchestra repertoire without competing for rehearsal resources.

• Balancing melodic and harmonic roles within a small ensemble
• Phrasing and breathing in familiar tonal contexts
• Sectional independence while maintaining ensemble unity
• Articulation consistency across brass voices