The Beautiful Mess takes a deep dive into the practical and artistic elements of composition and creativity, drawing on Eric Whitacre's thirty years of experience writing music and lyrics. This comprehensive course provides online access to video content, lesson plans, reference sheets, perusal scores and a personalized certificate upon completion. Materials are customized at three levels so they can be used from middle school through college and are ideal for both individual and classroom instruction. The strategies and creative solutions discovered in this course can also be applied to many aspects of life, so are suitable for general music education, composers, performing ensembles, or individual music-lovers. Instructions for online access will be sent within one business day to the email address provided when you place your order.

The Beautiful Mess takes a deep dive into the practical and artistic elements of composition and creativity, drawing on Eric Whitacre's thirty years of experience writing music and lyrics. This comprehensive course provides online access to video content, lesson plans, reference sheets, perusal scores and a personalized certificate upon completion. Materials are customized at three levels so they can be used from middle school through college and are ideal for both individual and classroom instruction. The strategies and creative solutions discovered in this course can also be applied to many aspects of life, so are suitable for general music education, composers, performing ensembles, or individual music-lovers. Instructions for online access will be sent within one business day to the email address provided when you place your order.

This pack contains over 900 pages of music for mixed ability ensembles. There are 4 original pieces and 5 Christmas pieces, as follows:


The Mixed Abilities School Ensemble Series

Children (and adults) who learn a musical instrument will always progress at different rates.Students also develop some of the many skills involved in instrumental playing faster than other skills.

The Mixed Abilities School Ensemble Series has the flexibility to allow pupils of different standards to play together in one ensemble (up to five parts). It also encourages students to develop improvisation skills by providing soloing opportunities within all parts, with suggested pitches for improvising.

Each piece has five different parts which are split into four ability levels as follows:

A ? Range of about 5 notes, easy rhythms. B ? Range of about 1 octave, basic rhythms. C ? Range of about a 12th, some more difficult rhythms. D ? Range of about 2 octaves, some rhythmic complexity.

This enables the teacher to select parts which are suitable for the standard of individual players in the group. As a general rule, the pieces have been composed as follows:

Part 1 ? melody / countermelody (alternates with Part 2)

Part 2 ? melody / countermelody (alternates with Part 1)

Part 3 ? accompaniment (synchronises with Part 4)

Part 4 ?accompaniment (synchronises with Part 3)

Part 5 ? bass line (independent)

Each part also comes in a wide array of transpositions, clefs and pitches. Hence, almost any combination of instruments can play together in an ensemble of mixed abilities,including:

Flutes, clarinets, saxophones, mixed woodwind, trumpets, mixed brass (including brass band), violins, strings, keyboards/pianos, tuned percussion.

An ensemble using any combination of instruments (as is often found within schools) will work effectively as well.

Example: A quintet might be selected as follows:

1A (violin), 2C(trumpet), 3B (clarinet), 4B (tenor sax), 5D (trombone)

The melody in 1A would be very simple but would contrast nicely when passed to the more difficult 2C. Parts 3B and 4B will have quite a simple accompaniment between them, whilst the bass line on 5D will be more complex and rhythmically interesting. Parts can obviously be doubled up as well beyond five players.

Please note that the teacher of the ensemble should be careful to pick parts which are well-suited to the players? abilities.

This pack includes all four pieces in the series (volumes 1 and 2) as follows:

BANANA BLUES is a 12-bar Blues piece

CRAZY LATIN! has additional parts for Latin percussion commonly found in the classroom

IT'S TIME FOR REGGAE! is a reggae piece

FEEL THE FUNK brings funky, James Brown-esque rhythms into the classroom.

Please listen to the mp3 file, which is an electronic example of a typical classroom setup.

Score and all parts are included here in a variety of pitches, clefs and transpositions. It is the complete package with over 680 pages of music, representing a massive saving on individual purchase prices.



5 Christmas pieces:

Each piece is arranged into 13 different parts which cater for the large majority of musicians within school. These include:

* a variety of difficulties in C, B flat, E flat, higher octave for flutes and alto clef for violas

* easy and standard bass parts in treble and bass clefs, and also in B flat and E flat for saxophones or brass band players

* very easy violin and viola parts on open strings only

* easy and standard piano parts

* ukulele part in tab, chord patterns and chord letters

* guitar part in tab, chord patterns and chord letters

* general chord plan in chord letters

Teachers / band leaders can select the parts which are most appropriate for their students. The music is intended to be repeated a number of times, with different parts coming in and out for each repeat to create variety.

Printing and Copying

The purchaser may print or copy all pages of this resource as required in order to facilitate a performance, but must not distribute to others.

** Also check out my Scales and Arpeggios Pack - excellent methods for learning scales and arpeggios at all levels (copy and paste into new tab) https://tinyurl.com/y8wl3qnq **