The 12 Days of Christmas
A well known carol is given a humorous treatment.
Composer : Traditional
Arranger: Jim Fieldhouse.
Instrumentation : S/A/T/B sax quartet
Difficulty rating : Medium-Advanced (ABRSM grade 6+)
Arranged here for saxophone quartet, this version has been carefully scored to allow it to work as both a seasonal concert piece or as an audience sing-along item. The melodic line is always presented in the traditional manner, to allow audiences to join in with the words, whilst the accompanying parts weave through a variety of styles and harmonisations to keep things interesting! There are many dynamic, articulation and tempo directions within this score and ensembles should take care to balance the group in such a way as to ensure the melody is always audible. This arrangement should start at a controlled allegro tempo and get gradually faster over course of the twelve verses. The metronome marks are simply a guide and quartets should feel free to alter tempos to suit their own interpretations.