Hey everyone! As the school year fast approaches, here is my new concert band music for the 2026/27 year:
Feis!
Grade 1
Duration: 2:00
With something for everyone in the ensemble, this folk setting of two traditional Irish tunes is sure to engage your students. Starting with “Peg Ryan’s Polka,” this Grade 1 piece for concert band moves the melody around the ensemble using accessible rhythm and ranges for each instrument. As we move into “Stitches in My Britches,” the speed intensifies, the percussion gets to play spoons and tambourine, and the students’ air and fingers move like the feet of an Irish dancer–fast!
Perusal Score / Recording
Purchase here!
Winter Song
Grade 1
Duration: 2:00
Winter Song is a wistful and expressive ballad portraying the serenity and beauty of winter. The piece’s lilting melody in 3/4, shared by many instruments throughout the ensemble, makes it a great first ballad for beginning bands and gives the ensemble a great opportunity to explore lyrical playing. It features four percussion parts and an optional vibraphone part, giving the music that extra wintery sparkle!
Perusal Score / Recording
Purchase here!
Brief Though Thy Sojourn
Grade 1
Duration: 2:40
This chorale features lush harmony and introduces chromatics in an accessible way for a younger ensemble, all while the group builds foundational qualities like balance, blend, line, and tone. It’s centered around a touching rural story of a lost piece of music played at a small town funeral in the 1930s, so kids can connect with the heart of the piece while still building their core band sounds.
Perusal Score / Recording
Purchase here!
Reverential Skies
Grade 2
Duration: 2:45
Reverential Skies reaches for new heights with triumphant fanfares, wistful lyrical passages, and majestic chorales, all centered around themes of gratitude and giving thanks. Set in Concert Bb, Eb and F major, every section of the band is featured in this Grade 2 work with great opportunities for teaching contrast, note shape, and articulation. The theme of thankfulness also engages players’ hearts and minds to connect with the world around them and share appreciation for meaningful people and places.
Perusal Score / Recording
Purchase here!
Where the Waves Finally Rest
Grade 3
Duration: 4:45
This programmatic piece uses music to tell the story of a prairie shipwreck that took the lives of all crew except for one deckhand, who finally shared what happened that night thirty years later. It features emotional lyrical sections, stormy orchestration, lots of percussion, and a fast 3/4-in-1 section that will keep all of your students engaged.
Perusal Score / Recording
Purchase here!
Great Blue Heron
Grade 3.5
Duration: 5:10
Graceful and expressive, Great Blue Heron is a work inspired by the journey of migration. Reflecting themes of perseverance, growth, and renewal, the music follows the heron’s path as it faces challenges, overcomes obstacles, and ultimately reaches its destination.
Flowing melodies, shifting textures, and colorful orchestration create a vivid musical landscape, while solo opportunities throughout the ensemble allow each section to shine. Balancing lyricism with forward momentum, Great Blue Heron offers both musical and emotional depth. A meaningful and engaging choice for concert or festival performance.
Perusal Score / Recording
Purchase here!
Getaway Car
Grade 4
Duration: 4:00
Hot in pursuit by the city police, the thieves swerve through busy streets and back alleys trying to ditch the cops after their successful bank heist!
This piece has roots in cop shows from the late 1970s and 80s with driving rhythms, jazz influences (including a fiery alto saxophone solo) and a full array of percussion including bongos, high hat, shaker, and traditional battery. It twists and turns with its melodic material, sometimes extending down a long stretch or being suddenly cut off at the end of a phrase, and playing through a variety of keys; in fact, so many that the key signatures were just getting in the way, so the piece uses only chromatic alteration on pitches to indicate key. Your ensemble will love this exciting and dramatic piece!
Perusal Score / Recording
Purchase here!
Northwest Passage
Grade 4
Duration: 5:45
This rich and lush concert band setting of Stan Rogers’ iconic folk anthem, Northwest Passage, is sure to connect with audiences and musicians alike. With its sweeping melodies and rich harmonies, this channels the earthy baritone of its original Canadian singer. It features an opening euphonium solo then tells both a hopeful and melancholy story as the melody is moved through every member of the ensemble.
Perusal Score / Recording
Purchase here!
Arcadia
Grade 5
Duration: 10:50
Innovative and forward-thinking, Arcadia is a Grade 5 work that fuses wind ensemble with electronic sound design inspired by retro video game systems. Drawing from the sonic palettes of early consoles while reimagining them through modern technology, the piece creates a distinctive and immersive musical environment.
Layered textures, rhythmic drive, and colorful orchestration combine with an intricate electronic backdrop to form a unique hybrid sound world. Rather than simply imitating retro styles, Arcadia transforms them into something new, blending nostalgia with contemporary compositional techniques. Bold and imaginative, Arcadia is a compelling choice for advanced ensembles seeking a truly modern concert experience.