You'll feel the gentle tropical breeze as your beginners play this easy and contagiously hum-able tune! Simple rhythms (half-, quarter-, and a few eighth-notes) make CUBAN BREEZE an ideal piece for your concert.

FEATURES: Easy notes, easy rhythms, repeated sections; uses rhythm instruments for color; simple, unison low brass/low woodwind parts.

CHALLENGES: Percussion break (4 measures); tenor drum line uses a two-sixteenth/eighth-note rhythm pattern.

KEY and RANGES: Concert B-flat major. Beginner ranges: all parts use 5 or fewer different notes. Flutes, Clarinet 1, Trumpet 1 use concert D to A; Clarinet 2 uses low G to D below staff; all others use first 5 notes of B-flat concert scale.

INSTRUMENTATION: Flute, Oboe, Bassoon, Clarinet 1, Clarinet 2, Bass Clarinet, Alto Saxophone, Tenor Saxophone, Baritone Saxophone, Trumpet, Horn in F, Trombone/Euphonium, T.C. Euphonium, Tuba, Percussion 1 (Tenor Drum, Bass Drum), Percussion 2 (Guiro, Maracas), Percussion 3 (Claves).

MINIMUM INSTRUMENTATION REQUIREMENTS: At least one: Flute, Clarinet 1, Clarinet 2, Trumpet, Bass line (any low reed, saxophone, or low brass instrument), and 3 Percussionists.

NOTE: This Digital Download document is assembled with the Trumpet part appearing as page 1 so you may view it on the web site as you listen to the sound file. When you download/print the full document (26 pages, total), the first page to print will be the Trumpet part, followed by 8 pages of the FULL SCORE, then the remaining PARTS (16 pages), and a Site License permitting you to make multiple copies of the score and parts for use by your school.

"God Defend New Zealand" was written as a poem in the 1870s by Irish-born, Victorian-raised immigrant Thomas Bracken of Dunedin. A competition to compose music for the poem was held in 1876 by The Saturday Advertiser and judged by three prominent Melbourne musicians, with a prize of ten guineas. The winner of the competition was the Tasmanian-born John Joseph Woods of Lawrence, New Zealand who composed the melody in a single sitting the evening after finding out about the competition. The song was first performed at the Queen?s Theatre, Princes Street, Dunedin, on Christmas Day, 1876. [Wikipedia]

This arrangement is for Concert Band and with optional Strings and Piano parts included (but not shown on the score) - Lower Key of F (Original in G) ? If singing the words for more than one verse, accompaniment can be varied eg. Woodwind only for one verse ? as in the MP3 recording with was recorded with NotePerformer. Also available MARCH CARD format...

Duration = 2:00 mins Grade 2-3