Jingle Jam
If you want to get your audience clapping along, look no further! Jingle Jam is a feelgood holiday celebration that features many of your favorite classics, including “Up on the Housetop”, “Deck the Halls”, “The 12 Days of Christmas”, “O Tannenbaum”, “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen”, and of course, “Jingle Bells!” A host of percussion instruments ensures everyone feels the groove and prepares them to embrace the spirit of the season! Jingle Jam is the perfect way to conclude your holiday concert!
Grade 2 | 2:30 | JWPepper Editors’ Choice 2024
What Lurks In The Shadows
Eerie melodies, suspenseful harmonies, and intense percussion create an atmosphere of mystery and anticipation that will captivate both musicians and listeners alike! Do you dare turn around to find out “What Lurks in the Shadows”? Starting with a brief, medium-tempo lyrical portion, the tempo quickly picks up, and the chase is on! Young bands will love this! What’s chasing you?
Grade 1 | 2:30
Battle Volcano
Battle Volcano captures the epic soundtrack of what you might hear, see, and feel when volcanoes attack! With driving rhythms, edgy chromaticism, and intensity throughout, it’s my hope that concert band students will embrace the battle of creating music that embodies the epic nature of a battle between volcanoes!
Grade 2.5 | 2:00 | JWPepper Editors’ Choice Award 2023
Not So Silent Night
Every child imagines witnessing Santa Claus coming down the chimney, delivering presents under the tree, and enjoying milk and cookies. This programmatic work envisions a movie-like soundtrack to these events… until things take an unexpected turn.
Our scene starts with Santa descending the chimney, carefully avoiding waking the sleeping residents. He tiptoes around, humming Christmas tunes like “Silent Night,” “Jingle Bells,” and “Up on the Housetop. “Carefully placing the presents under the tree, he briefly pauses to ensure no one is awakened. As time passes, Santa becomes more comfortable with his surroundings, becoming less conscious of the noise he makes. Eventually, he breaks into full-throated merry singing as he continues his work.
Suddenly, Santa becomes very aware he’s not the only one in the room! Around the corner peers a newly awakened pet dog and not a friendly one! Panic sets in as Santa collects himself, and a full-blown chase breaks out as Santa makes for his exit! After a prolonged chase around the house, Santa makes his way up the chimney and out of the house! With a sense of relief, Santa and his reindeer fly off to the next house, where further antics no doubt await in what has become a Not So Silent Night.
Starting with a clever tango and ending with a cartoon-esque chase scene, this witty work for concert band will engage the imagination of your students and audience alike!
Grade 3 | 4:30 | JWPepper Editors’ Choice Award 2023 | Stanton’s 5-Star Feature Award
To Dare Greatly
The composer writes: “I’ve always been inspired by a famous speech, titled “The Man in the Arena”, by US President Theodore Roosevelt, delivered shortly after his presidency in 1910. The most famous excerpt from this speech is as follows:
“It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actuallyin the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.”
-Theodore Roosevelt; speech at the Sorbonne, Paris, France, April 23, 1910
These words have echoed throughout history across various arenas – presidents, politicians, sports figures, musicians, commercials, speakers, and more.
As a young person, and even still, the fear of failure is a daunting obstacle for me as it is with many others of all ages. For those at the start of their musical journey, performing in front of an audience can be a major first hurdle on the road to success. In writing To Dare Greatly, it was my aim to provide a vehicle for the beginning band musician to experience a successful first performance. It is my hope that this concert band composition, and the words that inspired it, will serve to embolden young musicians everywhere To Dare Greatly!”
Grade 1.5 | 1:30 | JWPepper Editors’ Choice Award 2023
She Loves the Light
Feature the sound and sonority of your young band with this emotional, lyrical work. Colorful harmonies, flowing lines, unique percussive textures, and clever scoring make She Loves the Light an ideal musical tribute for someone special to your program or community.
The composer writes: “She Loves the Light is conceived for and dedicated to my daughter Anna. As many new parents come to understand, the love felt for your first child at birth is altogether overwhelming, awe-inspiring, terrifying, and more… and something I didn’t even begin to understand until I experienced it for myself. In the many hours spent holding her in the first weeks of her life, Anna was drawn consistently to light. It’s true; many infants are attracted to shiny, bright things as they adjust to the new world around them. But for me, there was something magical about seeing Anna light up when she experienced light catching her eye. This lullaby seeks to capture the wonderment of that moment of light, both what Anna must have felt when experiencing the light, but perhaps more vividly, my sense of awe, love, and hope for the future I continue to feel when I see her light up.”
Note: The title She Loves the Light uses the pronoun “she” to directly refer to the composer’s daughter to whom this piece is dedicated. However, please feel welcome to adjust this pronoun to whichever may best suit your specific purpose when programming this work. Additionally, you may find that this concert band piece may be useful in a variety of programmatic circumstances. The composer welcomes its use for these purposes and more to observe, memorialize, and/or celebrate as you see fit.
Grade 3 | 5:30
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