Description
Stand Firm in Christ
Trumpet Sextet Sheet Music and PDF
by Eddie Lewis
Stand Firm in Christ is a very ambitious trumpet sextet in twelve/eight time. The inspirations for the various themes in this “rhapsody” come from Eddie Lewis’ time in South Africa where he performed and taught for the Standard Bank Jazz Festival in Grahamstown, in 2016. The piece takes a great deal of endurance and will either need to be cut or double up on the number of players on each part.
When I realized the piece was going to be too strenuous for the top trumpet players, I shifted gears and began envisioning it with two or more players per part. I will eventually make a recording that reflects that sound, in contrast to this recording which is only one player per part.
This trumpet sextet rhapsody takes you on a powerful journey. The story outlines the day to day life of a Christian. It is a story of victory over evil. The Apostle Paul said that each day is a battle “against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places” (Ephesians 6:12). As Christians who walk in God’s will on a daily basis, this is our life. But we are victorious in Christ when we stand firm in His strength.
On a personal note, I know that it is bad writing to compose a piece that will challenge the trumpet players’ chops, in a physical sense, as much as this one does. I made a decision to stick to the plan for the sake of the musical story. I do not anticipate selling as many of these pieces as my other works. It is an entirely impractical piece of music, but the story and message are very powerful. I wanted to stay true to THAT story instead of making the piece more commercially viable. I hope that makes sense. Like I said, I wouldn’t normally write this way…. not because of the money I’m missing out on…. but because I write music for people to perform. I almost always have the performers in mind when I write music. But this time I decided to remain loyal to the message and present the piece more as a listening experience than as a composition for other people to perform.
Play-Along Video
We also have a You Play First Chair FREE trumpet play-along video for this composition that you can access by clicking on the following button:
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