Composer- Francis Scott Key/arr.Chidester
Length- 1:45
Difficulty- E
Range – ME (optional high C in 4th part)
Endurance- E
Finger technique- E
Counting ability- E
Ensemble difficulty- ME
A recent reader and friend asked if I could arrange The Star Spangled Banner for her music program. The problem was that the number of trumpet players could be changing at any time. So I decided to solve her situation by first writing a solo trumpet part, then a duet part followed by a trio, quartet, quintet, sextet, septet, octet and finally a nonet part.
No matter how many players show up to perform, all you have to do is count the number of players and then start passing the parts out in the order of the charts. What a great idea! Thank you for giving me the challenge.
The sample starts as a solo and gradually adds all of the other parts to illustrate how each ensemble would sound by itself.
Solo begins measure 1
Duet measure 5
Trio- 9
Quartet- 13
Quintet- 17
Sextet- 21
Septet- 25
Octet- 29
Nonet- 37