The Canadian Brass Christmas Carols - 1st Trumpet
15 Easy Arrangements
By The Canadian Brass

There are only four parts: Trombone 1 doubles the Horn, and Trombone 2 doubles the Tuba, so this is really a quartet, not a true quintet. They sound nice enough, but not as full or as interesting as I would have liked.

Easy quintet.

Very, very traditional arrangement. First Trumpet, melody; Second Trumpet, harmony; Bass, "oompa"; French Horn, "after beats." A far cry from the interesting arrangements of the red "Book of Favorite Quintets" or the green "14 Intermediate Quintets" which exhibit some of the great variations of sound and instrumentation for which the...

Canadian Brass are well-known. Try Christmas Crackers (intermediate+) if you want a great arrrangement.

First of all, the arrangements are pretty simple and apparently only work for the entire quintet. We tried it for a trumpet duet, with piano and it turned out very 'thin', and not too melodious. Do not try them unless you have a full complement of instruments.

This series has a good sampling of carols and flexible instrumentation. Each carol has a basic verse, and a second ending leading to an embellished version. Watch out for the optional endings, some include the "extra" bar, some don't. It's not marked very well, but with some common...

sense, you can figure it out. Overall, very enjoyable to play.