It is October 31, Halloween, late in the evening. Outside, a slight but chilling wind blows. Inside, the pendulum of the great clock ticks slowly back and forth, back and forth. Somewhere a faucet drips arrhythmically. Suddenly, the clock strikes twelve. And, it all starts. The ghosts, the goblins, the witches and all their familiars?these are the beings that hold sway on The Eerie Night. This Halloween fantasy was inspired by a jingle the composer learned many years before while in primary school. Attributed to Lillian Mohr Fox, the words accompanying the tune described ?witches on broomsticks with cats and bats? and ?spooky . . . noises on Hallowe?en night.? ?The Eerie Night,? composed for brass quintet, emulates the supposed ghostly environment of Halloween with generous (and eerie!) use of the lower brass instruments. Trumpets provide emphasis, punctuation and occasional screeches, while the Horn in F harmonizes with Trombone and, at one point, shrieks like a cat. The haunting and scaring builds and builds until just before the end, when absolute cacophonous bedlam occurs. Gradually, things quiet down. The nightmare is ended, and we?re back to the clock, the wind and the faucet. Completed in 2017, this composition runs about 4 minutes, 40 seconds. The composer, Les Smith, would be very interested in your comments on this piece; contact him at lessmith@ufl.edu or leave a review on the SheetMusicPlus website. For more arrangements by Les, enter "Sweetwater Brass Press" (without the quotation marks) in the SheetMusicPlus search box.

?The holly and the ivy/When they are both full grown/Of all the trees that are in the wood/The holly bears the crown.? So go the opening words to this cheerful, upbeat Christmas song. The lyrics appeared as broadsides in early nineteenth century Birmingham, England. The melody was first published in Cecil J. Sharp?s 1911 English Folk-Carols; on page 63 of the collection?s ?Notes on the Carols? section, Sharp wrote that he heard the tune sung by "Mrs. Mary Clayton, at Chipping Camden." (An alternative version linked the words to a melody identified as "old French carol.") This version is a fast-moving and fun treatment of the Sharp/Clayton melody. It includes, among other things, a call-and-response variation, a running tuba solo, an alternative ?verse? tune and a countermelody section featuring ?Deck the Halls.? There are two key changes, trumpets play a couple of B-above-the-staff notes, and the time signature changes from � to 4/4 near the end. Completed in 2016, this arrangement runs about 3 minutes, 20 seconds. Contact the arranger, Les Smith, at lessmith@ufl.edu. If you like this one, don?t miss Les? arrangements of ?Silver Bells,? ?Jingle Bells,? ?Jolly Old St. Nicholas,? ?Up On The Housetop,? ?Deck the Halls? and many other Christmas songs and carols. Enter "Sweetwater Brass Press" (without the quotation marks) in the SheetMusicPlus search box.