Deck the Halls Trumpet Duet

Description

Important Note: This trumpet duet is also available in the Trumpet Christmas Duets book. It’s a book of 21 Christmas carols arranged for trumpet duet. Click HERE to go buy that book.

Deck the Halls Trumpet Duet

By Thomas Oliphant

Arr. Eddie Lewis

Creative but grounded in tradition. That’s how I would describe this Deck the Halls trumpet duet arrangement. Even though the arrangement playfully explores the famous Christmas carol contrapuntally and rhythmically, you can still hear the original melody throughout.

This Deck the Halls trumpet duet begins with one of the motifs of the traditional Christmas carol being developed through the cycle of fifths as an introduction. Then it opens into a very conservative statement of the original carol.

This is something I’ve been doing with a lot of the hymns and Christmas carols. I want there to be at least one verse that clearly identifies the original melody. I also make sure that the harmonies will work with those from the hymnal. This practice has spilled over from the hundreds of unadorned trumpet hymns I’ve published over the past few years.

The second verse introduces drone-like long notes with glissando attacks. These get traded back and forth between the two parts. Then the last verse plays with the tempo, pitting the slowed tempo against faster counterpoint.

The arrangement ends with material similar to the intro.

Trumpet Christmas Duets book

Deck the Halls trumpet duet is number thirty-six in our Trumpet Christmas Duets book. This is a book of traditional Christmas carols arranged for trumpet duet. The book is something of a sequel to the Trumpet Hymn Duets book. Both books strive to honor the mood and harmonies of the original carol/hymn.

If you like this arrangement of Deck the Halls and would like a book of twenty similar trumpet duets, then we encourage you to visit the Trumpet Christmas Duets page on this website.

We would also like to encourage you to check out our other duet books as well by clicking HERE (Trumpet Duet Books). We currently publish six different trumpet duet books (as of 2023).

Trumpet Player Skill Level

The most obvious aspect of the Trumpet Player Skill Level is that the highest note is written G above the staff. Many of the duets in the Trumpet Christmas Duets book, including this Deck the Halls trumpet duet, observe this restriction. There are four written Gs (above the staff) in the first part.

In the second part, the highest written note is fourth space E. There is only one of these and the rest of the part is on the bottom side of the staff.

The length of this duet is four pages long and can be a bit of a blow if you are weak on the endurance side.

Practice Suggestions

Here are a few recommendations for working on this trumpet duet of Deck the Halls.

• Notice the tempo changes.
• Practice the grace notes slowly until they flow easily.
• Be aware when you have the melody and when you have a harmony part.
• Be sure to tune before hand so the unison section sounds great!

Deck the Halls Trumpet Duet Play-Along

There is a free trumpet play-along video for this Deck the Halls Trumpet Duet. We publish these free play-along videos for educational purposes, but they also offer a wonderful opportunity for prospective buyers to take the piece for a “test drive”.

Click the following button to go to that video:

Deck the Halls Trumpet Play-Along Video

If you are interested in more of these play-along videos, then the best way to access them is on our other website, EddieLewis.com.

Deck the Halls Trumpet Duet Score Video

Here is a score video of our Deck the Halls trumpet duet arrangement.