Jitterbug!: Concert Band Conductor Score & Parts

Buckley captures the infectious energy of swing era big bands without requiring advanced jazz vocabulary from your students. The piece gives you a legitimate pedagogical tool for teaching swing articulation and style while keeping rehearsals fun and the audience genuinely entertained.

The piece channels the unbridled optimism and propulsive rhythm of the swing era, with moments that celebrate the distinct personalities of different orchestras. You'll hear playful call and response, snappy articulation, and that unmistakable joy of musicians swinging hard together.

Grade 4 concert bands ready to explore American jazz idioms with a piece that's musically substantial yet approachable. This works well for ensembles that want to program something energetic and stylistically different from traditional classical fare.

• Isolate the swing rhythm feel in sectional rehearsals before putting the full arrangement together. Have your rhythm section and brass lock in that relaxed, behind-the-beat phrasing that defines the style.
• Listen to classic swing recordings from different bands to help your students hear the tonal colors they're imitating. This contextual listening deepens their understanding of what 'signature sound' means musically.
• Balance the solo passages so featured players can shine without overwhelming the ensemble texture. These moments often make the strongest impression on audiences.

Open a concert with this to immediately set an upbeat tone and signal that your band plays across genres. It also serves as an excellent pairing with a more traditional second half, giving you programming variety that appeals to diverse audience members.

• Swing articulation and rhythmic interpretation
• Style-specific phrasing in jazz contexts
• Balancing solo passages within ensemble texture
• Listening and responding to idiomatic jazz language
• Rhythmic precision in syncopated passages