In the Bleak Midwinter 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.

In the Bleak Midwinter Trumpet Duet

MTR 0243 4149

By Christina G. Rossetti, Gustav T. Holst

Arr. Eddie Lewis

This arrangement finds its original roots in Eddie Lewis’ Unadorned Trumpet Carol arrangement of the same song, published a few years earlier. This is one of the most popular arrangements from that series (and digital album). A listener on YouTube even commented that it was “LIKE I ALWAYS PICTURED THIS SONG, SIMPLE AND BEAUTIFUL”.

When it was time to write a more “adorned” version of this Christmas carol, Eddie wanted to keep most of that simplicity and beauty in the duet. For that reason, this arrangement is far more simplistic than Eddie’s other trumpet duet arrangements in this series and the Trumpet Hymn Duet’s series.

Embellishments were kept to a minimum throughout the arrangement. There is a bit of an elaboration in the last verse, but Eddie worked to prevent that elaboration from deterring from the peaceful nature of the original Christmas carol.

Not all hymns and/or Christmas carols are equally accessible as trumpet duets. Sometimes the way the harmonies and melodies come together make for some very awkward second parts. In that sense, In the Bleak Midwinter did not automatically lend itself to this instrumentation. There were note choices that had no “good options”. In those situations, Eddie prioritized melodic flow first and harmonic intent second.

For that reason, there are some slight dissonances in this arrangement that are not there just as effects. Those dissonances portray the Holst’s harmonies as well as is possible with only two voices in the arrangement. Eddie is not afraid to use dissonances as effects, but these are not that.

Trumpet Player Skill Level

The highest note in this trumpet duet arrangement of In the Bleak Midwinter is top line F sharp. This puts it squarely in our Trumpet Player skill level. The Trumpet Player skill level is the first of two intermediate skill levels in our system and most high school trumpet players should have no difficulties learning any music from this level.

To browse more compositions, arrangements and books for this skill level, click the following button:

Practice Recommendations

This trumpet duet arrangement of In the Bleak Midwinter is almost “easy” and on the surface it seems as if there is nothing to recommend for practicing. But the truth is that it’s almost always the easiest music that becomes difficult to perform well.

With that said, what does someone focus on when the skill level makes the composition technically easy, but more of a musical challenge?

The one thing that stands out most is phrasing. Without poetic phrasing, music will sound like “just notes”. Learn to phrase well and use that phrasing on this Christmas carol trumpet duet.

In the Bleak Midwinter Free Trumpet Play-Along

We have a free trumpet play-along for In the Bleak Midwinter in our You Play First Chair video series. The original purpose of the series is educational. Trumpet students from around the world are using these play-along videos to practice their sight reading. But the videos also offer a wonderful opportunity for trumpet players to try these sheet music compositions and arrangements before they purchase them. To access the play-along video for In the Bleak Midwinter, please click on the following button:

In the Bleak Midwinter Demo Video

The following is a video Eddie Lewis made for this arrangement. Eddie began making these multi-trumpet videos long before it became a trend (mostly due to covid). In fact, one of the reasons he began his YouTube channel was to post demo videos of his compositions. So, his reasons for making these videos is not to show everyone how well he plays. We want you to be able to hear what these arrangements and compositions really sound like.