?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.

In 1880, Edvard Grieg composed twelve songs based on the poetry of A.O. Vinje. Two of those he arranged for string orchestra as Two Elegiac Melodies. Four years later Grieg composed a five-piece suite to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the birth of Ludvig Holberg, the Norwegian-born writer who played a major role in the founding of Danish literature. Originally written for piano, Grieg soon arranged From Holberg?s Time for string orchestra. Nearly one hundred years later, Kathryn Forbes? novel, Mama?s Bank Account, was published, recounting the tale of a Norwegian family living in San Francisco in the early Twentieth Century. Forbes? book inspired a number of dramatic presentations, Broadway and Hollywood productions. Most relevant to ?Two By Grieg,? however, was Mama, a TV series CBS launched in 1949 that ran for eight years. This weekly half-hour program used two Grieg compositions as themes: ?Sarabande? from Holberg Suite and ?The Last Spring? from Two Elegiac Melodies. For many viewers, this was the first time they had ever heard these beautiful songs, and the two melodies have been forever linked thereafter. ?Sarabande? and ?The Last Spring? are the compositions that comprise ?Two By Grieg.? This arrangement is based on Grieg?s string orchestration and stays as close as possible to the original. Completed in 2016, this arrangement runs about 7 minutes, 3 seconds. The arranger, Les Smith, will be happy to provide substitute parts (for example, treble clef baritone for trombone) at no charge; contact him directly at lessmith61@bellsouth.net. For more arrangements by Les, enter "Sweetwater Brass Press" (without the quotation marks) in the SheetMusicPlus search box.

Gounod wrote this in 1872 as a piano piece and orchestrated it seven years later. He originally conceived of it as one part of a satirical piano suite, the subject of which had nothing to do with puppetry. Once it was completed, however, he had it published as a stand-alone composition with the present title. The occasion of the music is that the Marionette has lost a duel and died; a funeral cortege takes place; the bereaved troupe takes a break then returns to the cortege. Recorded numerous times, the music was also used in several early films but reached its largest audience by far as the theme song for the TV series, ?Alfred Hitchcock Presents," 1955-1965. The current arrangement is based on the composer?s original piano score but has been augmented slightly to take advantage of brass quintet instrumentation. This arrangement was completed in 2016, and performance time runs about 5 minutes, 8 seconds. The arranger, Les Smith, will be happy to provide substitute parts (for example, treble clef baritone for trombone) at no charge; contact him directly at lessmith61@bellsouth.net. For more arrangements by Les, enter "Sweetwater Brass Press" (without the quotation marks) in the SheetMusicPlus search box.

The popular song ?Five Foot Two? dates back to 1914. So who wrote it? Good question, since the song was changed so often. Leo Feist, Inc. published a version in 1925 crediting Ray Henderson with music; Sam Lewis and Joseph Widow Young, with words. That same year The California Ramblers made the song?s first recording and used the Feist-published version. Since then, ?Five Foot Two? has been recorded many times by many different artists as well as being used in film and TV productions.
This arrangement was inspired by a vocal interpretation the arranger heard in the 1950s while working at an Adirondacks resort hotel. It starts and ends with brief slow sections but most of the way through breezes along at a suggested 112 tempo. All notes are within normal playing range of the five instruments, although Tuba does play its lowest E and F a couple of times. The melody consists mainly of half notes, quarter notes and whole notes, but the variations include lots of eighth notes and a few tricky rhythms. Written as a companion piece to Sweetwater Brass? popular ?Somebody Stole My Gal,? this ?Five Foot Two? is upbeat and fun and includes plenty of delightful 1920s-style doo-wacka-doo and ricky-ticky turns.
Completed in 2020, performance time for ?Five Foot Two? runs about 2 minutes, 39 seconds. The arranger, Les Smith, will be happy to provide substitute parts (for example, treble clef baritone for trombone) at no charge; contact him directly at lessmith61@bellsouth.net. For more arrangements by Les, enter "Sweetwater Brass Press" (without the quotation marks) in the SheetMusicPlus search box.