Christmas Tootie-Flooties! was originally written back in 1990, as a short medley of Xmas tunes for school instrumentalists - flute or recorder trio and piano.

As such it has been well received, but having recently re-arranged some other similarly-resourced pieces for wind or string instruments alone - i.e. without their piano part - I felt it might be an equally good idea to do the same here, and turn out a few versions for the commonest combinations I’ve written for before - Flute / Clarinet Choir, Wind / Brass Quintet, Saxophone Quartet.

As with the other arrangements I’ve made, where the piano part has to be incorporated into the 4, 5 or 6 or so instrumental lines, the individual parts have become more difficult, of course, but not overly so!

Each arrangement is, however, individual - it’s not merely a copy - and hopefully makes best use of the respective instrumental ranges and timbres, by varying the concert key to suit.

As I wrote in my original programme note to the 1990 version: "Overall it is intended to be bright, lively and festive, with just a little calm and repose in the middle section, with Silent Night."

PS If there’s any other combination you’d like, I’m always open to suggestion, especially with Xmas currently only a couple of months or so away, yet again it seems!

PPS I’ve just been asked by a teacher in Ohio, USA, for a couple of alternative parts, as he hasn’t double reed instruments to hand. I have therefore made a version of the Oboe for Flute, and the Bassoon for Bass Clarinet. I’ve also added a version of the Clarinet part playable on Alto Saxophone.

strong>STOP PRESS! I have added an extra ’tune’ to the Christmas Tootie-Flooties! medley. Following Silent Night, there’s now my late Mother’s favourite, In the Bleak Midwinter - Holst’s melody - just before the Wish you a Merry Xmas ending.

The Christmas Medley for Piano Duet already included this, so it seemed only right to make it available for all the other versions and arrangements.

N.B. In the present economic climate, a good number of smaller ensembles understandably buy just the set of parts as, in reality, these alone are all that is needed in performance. Equally, a similar number buy both the parts and the full score. To compensate for this, I intend to reduce the cost of the full score by $4, and increase the price of the lead part by $3, a differential that wasn’t available to sellers at the former SibeliusMusic.com.