My Shot (from Hamilton) (arr. Michael Brown): Concert Band Conductor Score & Parts

Michael Brown's arrangement captures the raw energy and rhythmic complexity of "My Shot" while making it genuinely playable for Grade 3 ensembles. The flexibility to perform with or without rap keeps your options open depending on your ensemble's strengths and your concert vision. Students will feel the cultural weight of this music the moment they start rehearsing it.

Urgency mixed with swagger. The arrangement carries the defiant energy of the original song, that sense of a young person claiming their moment and refusing to back down. Your band will feel powerful playing this.

Bands ready to program something that speaks to their students' actual lives while building genuine musicianship. This works for groups comfortable with contemporary idioms and interested in showing their community that concert band can be culturally relevant without sacrificing artistic integrity.

• Establish the groove before worrying about note accuracy. The pocket matters more than perfect intonation in this style; lock your rhythm section in first, then layer the melodic voices around that foundation.
• If you're using the optional rap, give that performer space to breathe and lead. The rap isn't accompaniment; it's a soloist with the band in support.
• Articulation drives the character here. Work deliberately on the difference between punchy, rhythmic passages and sustained moments. The contrast is what makes this arrangement sing.
• Don't shy away from the dynamic range. This arrangement uses silence and sudden volume shifts as compositional tools, not mistakes.

Open a concert with this to immediately signal that you're offering something different from what audiences expect from band. It also serves as a bridge piece between your classical season and pops concerts, showing students and parents that all of these musical worlds belong on the same stage.

• Syncopated rhythm reading and articulation in contemporary idioms
• Ensemble balance and blending in a hip-hop/R&B harmonic context
• Rhythmic independence across sections while maintaining groove
• Dynamic contrast and phrasing in non-traditional forms
• Confidence performing music with cultural significance outside the classical canon