Flute choir meets heavy metal!

Avenged Sevenfold is one of my absolute favorite heavy metal bands. I don't usually hear a flute choir when I listen to their songs, or mostly any heavy metal songs for that matter, but A Little Piece of Heaven is so creative, so musical, and so funny, that I couldn't help it. Also, Oingo Boingo headed up the instrumental parts of the original song, which is evident.

If you are unfamiliar with heavy metal, you don't need to know anything about this song, other than it's incredibly unique and has to be played with an attitude. Accentuate the down beats, lay off the full vibratos, keep pushing the tempo - it never should slow down, and channel your inner rocker.

This song was the brainchild of the late James "The Rev" Sullivan. With the help of Oingo Boingo musicians, the song was scored to include an orchestra, full wind section, and choir. This arrangement is less than half the length of the original song, but it still clocks in at around 3 1/2 minutes.

This arrangement is scored for 4 flutes, alto, bass, contrabass, and upright string bass or keyboard. It is essential that there is a strong bass line. The upright bass part could also be played by any bass clef C instrument, like a euphonium, trombone, or tuba. If you are lucky enough to know a drummer, that would help a great deal too. I did not include a drum part, only because I am not knowledgeable enough at writing for drums and would rather leave it out than mess it up!

I hope you and your group will enjoy playing this song as much as I enjoyed arranging it. And I hope your audience will like it too!

This absolutely fabulous song comes from the 1965 slapstick comedy film, The Great Race. I first heard it on James Galway's album, In the Pink, which features Galway playing 13 of Henry Mancini's songs.

This piece just screams fun in the middle of a gazillion notes just flying by. Filled with arpeggios, this is a workout for the fingers and requires quite a bit of precision for the song to sound really good. As with most of my arrangements, I have tried to give every part something interesting to play, with the exception of the contrabass flute and optional upright bass, which could also be played by any C instrument in the bass clef range. These lower parts are important in helping maintain good downbeats.

Scored for 5 C flutes, alto, bass, contrabass, and optional upright bass. There are 2-part divisis in flutes 1 - 4. This piece is for the more advanced flute choir and would be a great opener or encore for your recitals.

Duration: 2.75 minutes

Pentatonix is well-known for creating wonderful arrangements and this is no exception.

This arrangement of Deck the Halls for flute choir - 4 C flutes, alto, and bass - is upbeat, fun, and it allows everyone a chance at playing the melody. It's a toe-tapping, happy piece that will definitely bring smiles to everyone's faces.

There are optional hand claps and foot stomps with very simple repetitive patterns. Substitutions for these parts could be a bucket or vocal percussion.

This piece is great fun!