?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 ¾ 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.

The Big Book of Christmas Carols for Brass Quartet, Volume III, Arranged by Joel Jacklich 1. Break Forth, O Beauteous Heavenly Light (J. S. Bach) 2. Ding Dong Merrily on High (Traditional French) 3. The Holly and the Ivy (Traditional English) 4. In the Bleak Midwinter (Gustav Holst) 5. It Came Upon a Midnight Clear [British] (Sir Arthur Sullivan) 6. Lullay My Liking (15th C., Arr. Gustav Holst) 7. Noel Nouvelet (Traditional French) 8. Nous Voici Dans la Ville (Traditional French) 9. Nowell We Sing, Both All and Some (Medieval English) 10. Once in David?s Royal City (Henry John Gauntlett, Harm. Arthur Henry Mann) 11. Past Three O'Clock (Traditional English) 12. Pat-a-pan (Traditional French) 13. Personent Hodie (German, 1360, Arr. Gustav Holst) 14. Puer Nobis (Piae Cantiones, 1562) 15. The Rocking Carol (Traditional Czech) 16. Sans Day Carol (Traditional Cornish) 17. See Amid the Winter's Snows (Sir John Goss) 18. The Seven Joys of Mary (Traditional English) 19. The Shepherds's Farewell from L'Enfance du Christ, Op. 25 (Hector Berlioz) 20. Still, Still, Still (Traditional Austrian) 21. The Wexford Carol: Good People All (Traditional Irish) 22. While Shepherds Watched (Este's Psalter, 1592) adds 22 more carols to the 40 carols of Volumes I and II. Trumpet parts are available both in C and B-flat, and a Baritone Horn (TC) part is included as a substitute for Trombone.