This set includes one number: He Shall Feed His Flock from Handel's Messiah. This arrangement is a bit more advanced than most of our Christmas Quints because of the somewhat higher range and sustained nature of the parts.

This particular arrangement is only two minutes long, though the original soprano solo in Messiah is over five. We've truncated the introduction and coda section and eliminated the interlude and repeat to reduce the strain on the brass players playing continuously. A repeat to the top could be executed at the end of measure 40 to make the piece closer to four minutes long if desired and if endurance allows.

From time to time, all brass groups get asked to play at a community gathering, shopping mall, open house, or something similar, and this could be a handy source of some material to play.

Christmas Quints No. 1
Silent Night, O Come All Ye Faithful, Good King Wenceslas

Christmas Quints No. 2
God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, Thou Didst Leave Thy Throne, I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day

Christmas Quints No. 3
How Great Our Joy (Echo Carol), Once in Royal David's City, As With Gladness Men of Old

Christmas Quints No. 4
O Tannenbaum, Jeg Er Sa Glad Hver Julekveld, Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence

Christmas Quints No. 5
Away in a Manger, Fum, Fum, Fum

Christmas Quints No. 6
Christmas is Coming, Bring a Torch Jeanette Isabella, What Child is This?

Christmas Quints No. 7
Angels We Have Heard on High, Jingle Bells, We Wish You A Merry Christmas

Christmas Quints No. 8
The First Noel, Lo, How a Rose E're Blooming, Hark! The Herald Angels Sing

Christmas Quints No. 9
The Virgin Mary Had a Baby Boy, Joy to the World, Here We Come A-Wassailing

Christmas Quints No. 10
For Unto Us a Child is Born, O Thou Joyful, O Thou Wonderful, and Infant Holy, Infant Lowly

Christmas Quints No. 11
It Came Upon the Midnight Clear, Of the Father's Love Begotten, and O Little Town of Bethlehem

Christmas Quints No. 12
Go Tell It on the Mountain, Long Ago and Far Away, and O Come Little Children

Christmas Quints No. 13
On Christmas Night All Christians Sing, A Virgin Unspotted, and Lully Lullay

Christmas Quints No. 14
Carol of the Shepherds, Deck the Halls, and O Come O Come Emmanuel

Christmas Quints No. 15
The Dreidel Song, The Birthday of a King, and We Three Kings

Christmas Quints No. 17
I Saw Three Ships, Still, Still, Still and God Loves Me Dearly

MP3 sound sample: Complete piece (synthesizer/midi).



CHRISTMAS QUINTS NO. 16, He Shall Feed His Flock from Handel's Messiah, arranged by Tom Kirkland for brass quintet consisting of two trumpets, french horn, trombone, and tuba, comes in a pdf file of 219K, with one three-page score, five one-page parts, and a license page, nine pages in all. Performance time should be about two minutes.