Moon River, for community band?

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Oslide
Posts: 205
Joined: Apr 03, 2018

by Oslide » (edited 2024-09-10 3:06 p.m.)

Does someone of you know of a good arrangement of Moon River for community band?

Thank you for your suggestions,

Wolfgang
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boneapart
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by boneapart »

In the USA, a "community band" can be any type of band that serves a community. However, it's most likely to be a "concert band" of 25 pieces or so that includes flutes, baritone horn, cornets, and individual percussion instruments or a "big band" of 17 or 18 pieces, basically saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and rhythm. Tell us more about the type of band you're looking to provide "Moon River" for.
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JohnL
Posts: 2529
Joined: Mar 23, 2018

by JohnL »

A community concert band I play in did this arrangement a few years back.

https://www.halleonard.com/product/4003353/moon-river

It's a solo feature piece, so a good soloist can potentially do quite a bit with it. The ensemble parts are OK, as I recall, though nothing spectacular.
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Oslide
Posts: 205
Joined: Apr 03, 2018

by Oslide »

Thank you, boneapart, for explaining this to me! I had something with "co..." in mind, but would not have thought of "concert band".
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Oslide
Posts: 205
Joined: Apr 03, 2018

by Oslide »

Thank you, JohnL, for this suggestion.

The arrangement sounds good, and certainly is "good enough" for our band. Regarding the range of the solo voice this would be great for e.g. an alto sax, maybe less ideal for an average trombone amateur.

Still I'm hoping something might show up where the main theme is given to a trombone trio or quartet taking turns with the full concert band. But that my be asking too much. Anyhow I'm surprised I could not find more concert band arrangements for this famous tune.
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JohnL
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by JohnL »

[quote="Oslide"]The arrangement sounds good, and certainly is "good enough" for our band. Regarding the range of the solo voice this would be great for e.g. an alto sax, maybe less ideal for an average trombone amateur.[/quote]
We did it as a French horn feature. It's a bit high for trombone, though it might work well on bass trombone in the lower octave.

It seems that a lot of these dual-purpose vocal/instrumental feature pieces don't exactly fall in a great range for trombone.
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Oslide
Posts: 205
Joined: Apr 03, 2018

by Oslide »

That's true. They seem to be intended for female voices. On the other hand, operatic arias for tenors fit very nicely for trombone.
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u_2ndTrom
Posts: 7
Joined: Mar 02, 2025

by u_2ndTrom »

I've played that Hal Leonard arrangement - though as an oboist. It's nice.