A short while ago, I was emailed by Toronto trumpeter, Chris Kemp, who wrote: ’I was wondering if it would be possible to obtain a version of ’The Lone Ar-ranger!’ arranged for 5 trumpets. I’m in the process of putting together a trumpet ensemble and your composition would suit us perfectly!’

As there are so many different versions already, it was, still a challenge to write for five instruments with the same range, and without a specific bass instrument - hopefully, though, the arrangement will serve Chris’s purpose! As with all my arrangements, there are some little individual ’tweaks’ which make this another unique one, while, of course, still closely based on the original concept.

Chris’s experience encompasses a wide variety of settings and styles including musical theatre, recording studios, television, club and stage performances throughout North America. Currently, Chris is the private brass instructor at Montcrest School in Toronto, leads the twenty-piece Big Smoke Big Band and is a member of the Chase tribute band Primal Therapy.

The arrangement, of course, also fits an ensemble of five Bb clarinets - unlike the existing choir and ensemble version which really need the bass and Eb instruments. While Trumpets 1-4 are identical with the Clarinet parts, with Clarinet 5, given that the piece is in concert F, the availability of the low D, did allow for a slightly better bass line in some of the D minr sections, where the lowest note of Trumpet was sounding E. Therefore Clarinet 5 cannot be played as such by Trumpet 5.

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.