John Philip Sousa

The Stars And Stripes Forever (March)

All Debut pieces are arranged with consideration for the challenges that meet every ensemble of beginning musicians. The arrangements are constructed to function well for a variety of skill levels and instrumental combinations.
A crucial element of motivation for beginning musicians lies in performing for family and friends. Having access to melodies that are playable as solos, duets or trios make it easier for young musicians to get important early performing experience.

In Debut, all musicians have a melody part as well as either a harmony part (B part) or bass line (C part). This makes it possible for the conductor to adjust the scoring of the arrangement to the existing instrumentation of the ensemble. It also makes it possible to change the distribution of parts while working on the piece, to increase or sustain motivation in the ensemble. In this manner, the piece can be repeated many times without becoming predictable and unchallenging. Everyone in the ensemble can get a chance to play the melody, while at the same time working on concepts like tuning, balance and the importance of inner parts. Soloists can be assigned the melody while the rest of the ensemble plays the accompaniment. This is a good way to positively reward musicians who have practiced hard, and a solid confidence builder!

Any arrangement for beginning band must consider the instrumental ranges of beginners as well as the most easily accessible keys. This usually leaves the saxophones and the horns at a disadvantage. A key that works well for the trombones and the clarinets is often either too high or too low for the horns and saxes. The arrangements in Debut share this common flaw. Many of the melodic lines for horn and saxophone are, of necessity, much more difficult than they are in the other instrumental parts. For this reason, the horn and sax parts do not have a regular B- or C-line. They have instead their own harmony line. One that is specially adapted for beginning hornists and saxophonists. The conductor must take these limitations into account when distributing parts to the ensemble. The ensemble will attain the fullest sound by using a well planned combination of A, B, C and horn/sax parts.

The melody in the percussion part is written for melodic percussion, while the other percussion line is written for snare drum and bass drum. It is never too early to introduce percussion players to the melodic instruments, and Debut provides a good opportunity. The conductor can also use other percussion instruments to cover the snare/bass parts to produce greater variation for the percussionists, and new timbre combinations for the ensemble.