Category Archives: Band Music

Instrumental arranged for bands or other ensembles. Some of these may also be songs.

America the Beautiful

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Download PDF of America the Beautiful

Download PDF of band arrangement of America the Beautiful

Download MuseScore file (compressed) of America the Beautiful

America the Beautiful is the first score that we have offered in a MuseScore file. We are doing this so that band leaders can arrange parts according to what instruments they have in their bands. MuseScore is a really good music transcription application that can be downloaded free from MuseScore.org. There is also a professional level version that also allows you to download from a really big library of music that other members have composed or transcribed. As with all the music transcription software available, there is pretty stiff learning curve when you start; but, if you are going to be dealing with a lot of music for band, it is well worth the time to learn it.

Here is a wonderful arrangement by Carmen Dragon. I couldn’t resist including it. If your band is can do it, definitely play this rather than mine! (Well, maybe for marching.)

The Star Spangled Banner

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Download PDF of The Star Spangled Banner

Download PDF of full score and parts for marching band of The Star Spangled Banner

I have mixed feelings about our National Anthem. Francis Scott Key’s intention in writing the words it was, in part to proclaim victory over slaves who tried to escape in British ships during the War of 1812, and nowadays it is still very often used in offensively chauvinistic ways, ways that reinforce a kind of overbearing, masculine and militaristic ideal of what it means to be an American, and ideal that excludes women, gay men (really all LGBTQ people), native Americans and anybody who does not ally themselves with football. Still, the tune (which predates Keys’s words) is magnificent, and the sentiment in the first verse speaks to our hope that our Flag and the American ideals that it stands for will somehow withstand the shadows of oppression that are shadowing our land. Yeah, I do actually love the song. We know that the origins of our national ideals are often marred by the unthinking racism of the founders, but they laid down ideas that were a transition from the brutality of their times and have been a foundation for the liberal tradition of the past two and a half centuries.

Here is the Navy Band playing the Star Spangled Banner. (I need to listen to their arrangement carefully and see if I can’t improve the version for band given above).

Here is a really fantastic choral version by the Kentucky All-State Choir at their annual convention. It is very slow because the space they are in is so reverberant.

Down by the Riverside

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Download PDF of Down by the Riverside (in F major)
Score for Band: Down by the Riverside In B-flat major for band, separate instrumental parts included.
Download MuseScore files (lead sheet and band arrangement) of Down by the Riverside

Down by the Riverside is very popular at demonstrations, particularly when there is a band there. I have included a band arrangement above, but a lot of bands just take the melody and improvise on it in a New Orleans jazz style and, if your band can improvise, this is probably the best and the most fun and effective way to use it.

I just learned the term, “Zipper Song.” It means a song that is easy to add new lyrics to, on the spot. Down by the Riverside turns out to be a terrific zipper song. Aaron, who is the music coordinator at the weekly “Bear Witness” rally outside the ICE Detention Center in Burlington, MA stands there with his guitar and makes up lyrics on the fly. He says he just looks at people’s signs and turns them into lyrics!

Louis Armstrong singing Down by the Riverside (I’m Gonna Lay Down my Sword and Shield)

Bill and Gloria Gaitherr singing Down by the Riverside

O bella ciao

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Download PDF of O bella ciao

(We’ll have a version of O Bella Ciao for band available soon.)

Non violence is in its essence a method of communication by taking down walls and, if possible, making friends with the enemy and convincing them to change their ways. We always hope for that possibility. Often, we can do this work better through music than we can by yelling and arguing. Here‘s an interesting clip from The Tennesseean showing a confrontation at the No Kings demonstration in Nashville between the police, a group from The Proud Boys and a crowd of demonstrators. A lot of protestors were yelling and swearing; but a brass band stepped up and started playing O Bella Ciao. By the end of the song, the tension had dissipated and everybody, even the Proud Boys, were clapping and cheering for the music.

During World War II, this song of resistance was sung by the partisans. It is known and used widely in Europe and Latin America.  But it’s in Italian, not Spanish. O bella ciao is one of those melodies that can be deeply moving while also being adaptable for dancing.

Here is a famous performance of it by the popular Italian singer Milva:

Milva singing O bella ciao
Milva singing O bella ciao

For a totally different take on O bella ciao, here is an scherzando arrangement for band.

If you would like to learn more about the song, try this Wikipedia entry.

Wade in the Water

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Download PDF of Wade in the Water

Download Arrangement for Band in E-flat (listen to audio below).

This is just one of my favorite hymns. Not exactly a protest song, but I think it would be great at a vigil or a memorial celebration. I’m not sure what the words mean, exactly, but somehow it comforts me when I feel trouble is coming. “Good trouble,” I hope!

In the PDF I’ve included a version with very simple chords plus another version that has been arranged for a choir. If you have singers who are good at improvising harmony, I’d go with that; but the arranged version is also excellent.

The rhythm on this is kind of hard to read (most American gospel, pop, and jazz music is); but, if you listen to a couple of recordings, you’ll find that it’s pretty easy to do it. Don’t forget to sing the eighth notes with a swing rhythm.

We Shall Overcome

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Download PDF file of We Shall Overcome

Download PDF file of an arrangement for marching band of We Shall Overcome.

I’m not saying that this isn’t a good song but I can’t sing this any more. I’m old and I remember the Vietnam War, the assassinations of Dr. King and the Kennedy brothers, the war in Nicaragua, the Gulf War and the War in Iraq, the seemingly endless mass murders in schools, churches, synagogues, supermarkets and in the streets; and now the present horror show with concentration camps in authoritarian countries that are unaccountable to the citizens of the United States. The increase in stateless people in endless peregrination as they search for a place to settle has long been foreseeable given the totally predictable damage we are doing to the environment. Yet we who foresaw it have been incapable of doing anything to prepare for this time, while those who use cruelty and viscousness as their tactic of choice to enrich themselves leapt on the unprotected. The truth is, I am not certain that we shall overcome. Yet, the joy I take in building solidarity with the poor and the good-hearted is very great. What is a collection of protest songs without, We Shall Overcome? The PDF has two harmonized versions, the second one is very churchy, with a kind of Southern Baptist feel to it. You could play it on a Wurlitzer organ with the vibrato turned up high to get the full effect; and I have just added an arrangement for brass band for which I wrote a descant obligato for piccolo, which I am stupidly proud of.

Here is a recording from 1965 of Joan Baez (who else?) singing We Shall Overcome.