Grade .5 - 1 Concert Band Compositions

Ability is a great title for this early march in traditional form that celebrates the youngest musician. Marches are wonderful tools to teach all sorts of musical concepts, and “Ability” is no exception. This one is a perfect “first” foray into the wide world of march music!

A Natural Blues is composed in a traditional 12 bar blues form. The use of the A natural is a perfect way to reinforce this note when it is taught.

Your young band is sure to receive high acclaim when they play this nifty two-step march. It is composed of just half notes and quarter notes, but there are several accidentals and a key change to keep things interesting and band members learning. This chipper tune will be an audience favorite!

The march style is important to the heritage of the modern concert band. Why not get beginners off to a great start by teaching them this essential band style as early as possible? Achieve uses only the first six notes of the Bb-major scale and utilizes two repeated eighth notes as the most difficult rhythm. It is written in traditional march form and style, but without modulation in the trio.

Achievement is a chorale and march using the first 7 notes found in most beginning band methods.

Larry Clark's Adamant is strong from the very beginning helping even the youngest of players sound confident and assertive. The work is set in C minor with simple rhythms no more difficult than two repeated eighth notes. With biting dissonances and angular interjections in the flowing main theme, the piece is quite dramatic for beginning band students.

After just ten weeks of study, you can get your students to play in the march style, which is essential to the band’s heritage. Admiration March has all of the standard trademarks of an American style march -- but with very limited notes and rhythms. Totally tuneful and fun to play!

Bands that had the great experience of playing Larry Clark’s popular Shockwave can now move on to part two: Aftershock. While a bit more difficult than its predecessor, Aftershock maintains the bold, exciting, and aggressive qualities that made Shockwave such a sparkler.

This is a very easy march using only the first six notes students learn in all band method books. It is intended to teach students march form, but remains tuneful and exciting just like the more challenging marches. How does Larry Clark do it year after year!

In every great story there is always an antagonist, the character of opposing force who is central to the success of the story. Larry Clark has applied this concept to music in a new beginning band piece, fascinating in sound and an excellent cross-curricular tie with English classes, musically illustrating the structure of a good story. This piece is aggressive and at times, purposely antagonizing. Designed with the youngest of players in mind, it works on simple repeated eighth note patterns as the foundation for the melodic material. As is typical in a Larry Clark piece, interesting parts are provided for all instruments, and everyone gets to play the melody

Aspirations is written for the youngest and least experienced of musicians, who have only had a short time on their instruments. This piece uses minimal material, including no more than two repeated eighth notes as the most difficult rhythm. It contains bold fanfare gestures, marcato melodic material, and a contrasting legato theme. Every section of the ensemble is featured in this surprisingly sophisticated, yet very attainable piece.

What young person hasn’t looked up at the stars and wondered what is up there in the cold darkness of space? The piece tries to depict this feeling with majestic fanfare-like themes in the winds, and twinkling of the stars depicted in the bells. A dream-like secondary theme is used to add to the musical mystery.

An axiom is a statement or proposition which is regarded as being established, accepted, or self-evidently true. Make your band sound mature with this bold piece that includes fanfare gestures, strong themes and contrasting lyrical music. A strong choice for festival performance.

Imagine, a blade smith in Medieval times hunched over the forge getting the metal for his next sword molten hot, so that he can hammer it into a beautiful weapon for knights to use.  Blades of Steel is meant to depict this process.  The Brake Drum is used to simulate this sound, along with scrapes of a Gong to emulate the sound of the sword once completed. This piece is aggressive and full of thick resonant harmonies and bold melodies that your student will love. Larry Clark does it again!

Introduce the march style to beginning band students with this delight little march. The piece is tuneful and authentic in style, but within the grasp of very young band musicians. Perfect for your band’s first festival warm up march.

Using only the first six notes young players are taught, Larry Clark encourages upright thinking with this aptly titled, somewhat stern piece. The music's seriousness and amazing variety of harmonic sophistication belie the narrow range of the materials involved. An excellent piece for contest and festivals, Character will make a very strong impression whenever it is performed.

Larry Clark is known for writing exciting pieces for the youngest of students, and this upbeat concert piece is playable after a very limited amount of study. Chronicles is especially compatible with many of the band methods in use today, and it will pave the way for your students' musical and expressive growth.

Fanfare like gestures and a bold rhythmic push characterize this piece. Clark has kept the range between the first 6 notes that players learn and has used simple eighth note patterns that are well within the grasp of first year groups. The piece is much l less involved and less difficult than it sounds. Perfect for the beginning band!

What a stunning composition for bands at this level! If ever there was a piece that sounded more difficult that it was technically, this is it. Larry Clark's original is very active rhythmically, but is built on just six notes! And musically, he manages to create more excitement, more drama and more vitality than many a more difficult piece.

Larry Clark creates the feeling of dancing on a cloud through this whimsical piece for beginning bands. The core of the piece hovers around lush harmonies, providing a beautiful base for the floating melodic material. It is memorably tuneful, flowing, and gives every section of the band a moment to shine.

A fanfare-like piece that makes even the youngest of players sound advanced beyond their abilities. Its technical demands are very limited, but the music is daring and exciting for the players and audience alike.

A simple straightforward march, that demonstrates the march form to best advantage with memorable tunes that employ only half notes and quarter notes in the winds and a break strain featuring the lower-voiced instruments.

Contrasting a slow, expressive opening with a vigorous aggressive "Allegro con fuoco," both based on the same modal/minor idea, Larry Clark created a remarkably effective piece using the six notes that are first introduced in all beginning methods. A great piece to introduce minor/modal sounds to the young band.

A true "contest" style piece for the beginning band that uses limited note and rhythm resources, but is very creatively written. Your youngest students will feel like they are playing serious music, as the piece is bold, aggressive and sounds more difficult than it plays. This is the type of exceptional music you have come to expect from two of the most popular composers of beginning band music. This piece is correlated to The Yamaha Advantage band method book 1, but can be used with any band program of study.

Using only six notes (Bb, C, D, Eb, F and G), Larry Clark has fashioned a powerful concert opener ideal for the beginning band. Though there is limited rhythmic difficulty, the piece does employ some syncopation, along with contemporary harmonies that will appeal to young students and colorful, active percussion writing.

As the title implies, this piece is written in a contemplative manner for beginning students.  It is a good piece to demonstrate basic compositional techniques that the students will be able identify easily in the piece. It begins with a lush opening section with an elegant melody to work on musicianship. This is contrasted by the uptempo section of the piece based on the same basic musical material, but in a varied style and frolicking feel. A very satisfying piece for beginning wind players.

For several years, Larry Clark's music for beginning band has set the standard for musical excellence. He always finds a way to make his pieces fresh and sophisticated, incorporating contemporary harmonies with tuneful melodies that students love to play. He is also a master at knowing exactly what this level is capable of and writes technically easy music that still makes any band sound and feel great!