On Wisconsin!: Concert Band Conductor Score & Parts

Paul Lavender's arrangement strips away unnecessary complexity while preserving every ounce of the original's infectious spirit. Your beginning players get to feel the surge and swagger of a genuine march without drowning in technical demands, and audiences respond to music this recognizable with immediate engagement.

Pure forward thrust. The melody arrives immediately and never apologizes, marching through with the kind of buoyancy that makes even modest ensemble performance feel celebratory. There is swagger here, the feeling of stepping into something larger than yourself.

Grade 0.5 to 1 bands looking for a crowd pleaser that works at pep assemblies, concerts, competitions, or homecoming events. This is the arrangement you program when you want your developing musicians to feel the confidence of playing something the entire audience already knows and loves.

• Keep the tempo steady and march-like; resist the urge to slow down during the trio section. The piece thrives on forward momentum.
• Balance the melodic line across sections so the familiar tune cuts through clearly. If the harmony swells too much, the accessibility disappears.
• Shape phrases with subtle dynamic swells rather than abrupt jumps. This arrangement rewards singers more than shouters.
• Lock the low brass and percussion together to establish the march's backbone before any musical refinement happens in rehearsal.

Open a concert with this and watch the room shift. The arrangement also works as an opener to a smaller pep band setting, or as a fun encore after something more demanding. Consider pairing it with another march or a patriotic selection to build a thematic program section.

• Maintaining steady tempo in a march idiom
• Balancing melody and accompaniment within a section
• Reading straightforward rhythmic figures in 2/4 time
• Executing clean articulation in a fast-moving arrangement
• Following a conductor's interpretation of dynamics and phrasing