Saints: Brass Quintet Score & Parts

An exuberant parade filtered through a jazz sensibility. The piece swings between reverent and raucous, playful and profound, capturing the full personality of this iconic American tune without relying on nostalgia alone.

Brass quintets at the advanced level looking for a crowd-pleasing showpiece with serious musical substance. Your soloists will appreciate the spotlight, and your ensemble will enjoy the stylistic variety and technical challenges.

• Balance the opening exclamation so it lands with punch; this is a show-stopping moment that sets the tone for the entire performance.
• The trumpet and trombone solos are feature moments. Give your soloists rehearsal time to own their parts and develop individual interpretations.
• Shape the funeral dirge section with clear dynamic control and attention to sustained tone quality; the contrast with the surrounding sections depends on it.
• Lock the Dixie sections rhythmically as a unit; the groove depends on tight ensemble precision rather than individual flexibility.

Perfect as a closing number on a brass ensemble or chamber music concert where you want to send the audience out smiling. It also works well in a sacred or Americana-themed program as a sophisticated reinterpretation of familiar material.

• Solo performance and individual voice projection within ensemble context
• Stylistic flexibility across multiple idioms (hymn, dirge, Dixie, gospel)
• Extended techniques specific to trumpet and trombone parts
• Sectional balance and independence from the ensemble
• Rhythmic precision in syncopated and swing-based passages
• Reading piccolo trumpet notation and transposition demands