Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence Trumpet Duet

Description

Important Note: This trumpet duet is also available in two of our duet books, Trumpet Christmas Duets book and Forty Trumpet Player Duets. 

Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence Trumpet Duet

Gerard Moultrie, Arr. Eddie Lewis

When I first began writing this piece, it wasn’t going to be a Christmas song. It was going to be a new duet in my experimental composition series. When I realized that the melody I was writing was very close to the traditional Christmas carol, I decided to take it in that direction. Instead of an original composition, I turned it into an “experimental” arrangement.

What is experimental about it?

With the exception of the middle section, the only interval between the first and second parts is that of a fourth or fifth (a single interval if you see the fifth as an inversion of the fourth).

I have composed a number of original pieces using this technique. It began with Three Famous Soldiers for brass quintet. Entire sections of the piece are made up of one chord type, inverted to fit the melodic contour of the piece.

Since the Three Famous Soldiers, I have learned how to apply that same concept to the duet instrumentation, Phantacita being the first of those.

Now I am using that same technique on this arrangement of Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence trumpet duet. The primary difference with this arrangement is that I do not change intervals throughout the application of this technique. In other compositions that utilize the “same chord” technique, I always changed the chord at each new section. In this case, I decided to keep the fourth/fifths throughout and instead change techniques in the middle.

I hope that make sense. In the middle section of this duet arrangement, I went to a more contrapuntal approach, before returning to the “one chord” technique to finish the piece.

Trumpet Christmas Duet Series?

Because the harmonic element of this arrangement of Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence trumpet duet is experimental, it almost doesn’t fit with the rest of our Trumpet Christmas Duet Series. One of the characteristics of that series is that the duets stay close to the traditional harmonies found in the hymnals. This arrangement does not do that.

After giving it a lot of thought, I’ve decided to include it in the series. Yes, it is experimental. No, it does not follow the harmonies in the hymn books. However, the hymn books don’t follow the original anyway. This melody is hundreds of years old and my understanding is that the hymnals offer a “modernized” SATB version of what was originally more like a Gregorian chant. The sound my experimental technique creates is not very different from some of those old treatments of the chants.

Skill Level

In our skill level system, Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence trumpet duet is at the Trumpet Player skill level. This is the third skill level in our system, the first of two intermediate skill levels. Most high school trumpet players should be good enough to play this arrangement.

Practice Recommendations

The most difficult aspect of this Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence trumpet duet is the intonation. If the fourths and fifths are out of tune, it can ruin the entire piece.

In this regard, it’s important to understand that “in tune” does not mean, “in tune with the tuner”. It can be “in tune with the tuner” and still sound bad. You can use the tuner as a general guide, but the individual notes need to be tempered according to context.

Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence Trumpet Duet Play-Along

We have a free trumpet play-along video in our You Play First Chair video series for Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence trumpet duet. These trumpet play-along videos are educational tools meant to help trumpet students practice their sight reading and ensemble playing. But they also work very well for letting prospective customers take the piece for a proverbial test drive. Click on the following button to access the trumpet play along video for Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence:

Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence Play Along

Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence Trumpet Duet Score Video

The following is a score video for Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence. We offer these score videos so you have an opportunity to see and hear the piece before you buy it.