- Title
- American medley for 12 horns
- Original Title
- Composer
- Martin, Jack
- Year
- 2005
- Editor
- Arranger
- Year Arranged
- Original Instrumentation
- Type of Arrangement
- Availability
- 1
- Publisher
- RMW Publishing
- Year Published
- 2005
- Catalogue Number
- Sheet Music Format
- A4, Score (24) & parts (12x3=36)
- Horns
- 12
- Additional Equipment
- Others
- Other Instruments
- Difficulty
- 2
- Duration
- 6
- Structure / Movements
- One movement. Andante - Hymn-like: A little slower - March-like - Slower - Allegro
- Clefs
- Treble, bass
- Meters
- C, ¢
- Key signatures
- 2#, 1b, 2b
- Range
- Horn 1: e1 - bb2 Horn 2: g - f2 Horn 3: c1 - a2 Horn 4: f - e2 Horn 5: a - bb2 Horn 6: f - f2 Horn 7: a - a2 Horn 8: e - c# Horn 9: a - g2 Horn 10: d - d2 Horn 11: f# - f2 Horn 12: D - d1
- Creator's Comments
- American medley is a short compilation utilizing five melodies that have become deeply ingrained into our collective conscience as being definitely "American." With the exception of The Stars and Stripes Forever, none were conceived in the forms in which they exist today. The four tunes weren't even written specifically for the text to which each is now forever linked. In the case of America the Beautiful, the music was originally the hymn Materna, with different lyrics, composed by Samuel Ward years before Katherine Lee Bates wrote her poem. Amazing Grace is a melody of unknown origin. This pentatonic tune first appeared in print in this country as St. Mary in the early 1800's. It was later combined with the text by John Newton, being published as the hymn New Britain, known universally today as Amazing Grace. Some theories place the tune's beginnings in Scotland, others as an African-American slave tune. During the Civil War, William Steffe wrote the camp-meeting hymn Oh brothers, will you meet us on Canaan's happy shore? already containing the familiar "Glory, Halleluiah" chorus. It evolved into the song John Brown's Body before Julia Howe wrote her poem "Battle Hymn of the Republic" specifically for the tune. The origin of the melody to Shenandoah is another mystery, with some proposing that it incorporates both Irish and African-American elements. It became widely known as one of the few truly American sea shanties in the 19th century and remains to this day one of America's most popular fold songs. Sousa's The Stars and Striped Forever is undeniably his most recognized work, and is also the official march of the United States. Unlike the others, which were joined to text or different text later, the 'Stars and Stripes' was composed in the purely instrumental form in which it is known today. It does have lyrics, added later by Sousa himself.
- Performance Notes
- The tunes are outlined above, and while the number of players is (as would be expected from a transcription of songs) a bit too high for individual voices, the piece is fun to play and popular with audiences that like a bit of Americana in the repertoire.
- Credits
- Access to review score: Nancy Joy (NMSU)
- External Link
- http://www.rmwpublishing.com/
- Sound
- Score