Transpositions Available for Each Part in the ENSEMBLE CONCERT BOOKS SERIES

This chart describes each transposition available for each voice in the Ensemble Concert Books Series, along with a list of most of the instruments that can be appropriate for playing that part. This will give you a good idea of which books to order, based on which instruments you have. The preferred instruments for each part are highlighted in red.

SOPRANO 1:

In C. This part includes both the high octave, suitable for flute, piccolo, and violin, and the low octave, suitable for oboe or brass instruments in C.
In Bb. This part is suitable for trumpets, (soprano) clarinets, and soprano saxophones.
In Eb. This part is suitable for and voiced for the Eb soprano clarinet. It can also be played by an Eb sopranino saxophone. If necessary, it can be played by an alto saxophone, but it will not be in the right register, and it would be good if the alto sax player could play it an octave above the written notes.
In F. This part will be available only on request. Please allow six weeks for us to produce it. It is available in the event that a French horn or F trumpet is the only instrument you have to play this voice, and it will require a horn player with a good high range to play it.

SOPRANO 2:

In C. This part is voiced for oboe and violin. It is possible for a flute to play it as well, but this part will frequently be in the lower range for a flute and therefore might lose some power.
In Bb. This is the part to get for (soprano) clarinets, trumpets, and soprano saxophones.
In Eb. This part is voiced for alto saxophones and alto clarinets. It can also be played by an Eb soprano clarinet, but should be played an octave below the written notes.
In F. For French Horns.
In Alto Clef. For violas. This part is only available on request. Please allow six weeks for production.

ALTO:

In C. For violin, viola, or any other C-pitched instrument playing treble clef n the alto range.
In Bb. For soprano clarinets. It can also be played by a trumpet, as it has higher-octave cue notes for those notes that go below the range of a trumpet. It can also be played by tenor saxophones and treble clef baritone horn, but that player should play an octave above the written notes.
In Eb. For alto saxophones, and alto clarinets.
In F. For French Horns.
In Alto Clef. For violas, and those rare (and strange) trombone players who prefer to read alto clef. This part is only available on request. Please allow six weeks to produce it.
In Bass Clef. For trombones and baritone B.C. players. This part will usually be in the higher end of the range of these players, but not uncomfortably so.

TENOR:

In Bb. This is for tenor saxophones and baritone horns who play treble clef.
In Eb. This can be played by alto saxophones, although it will be somewhat low in their register.
In F. For French Horns. This is not the preferred instrument for this part, but they CAN play it.
In Tenor Clef. For violas, and others who prefer tenor clef. This part is only available on request. Please allow six weeks to produce it.
In Bass Clef. For trombones, baritone horns, and cellos. It can also be played by bassoons when needed.

BASS:

In Bb. For Bass clarinet and contra-bass clarinet. Also for Bass Saxophone and brass band type tuba/bass players who read Bb treble clef bass parts.
In Eb. For baritone saxophones and Eb Contra-alto Clarinets.
In F. For experienced horn players only. This part is only available on request. Please allow six weeks to produce it.
In Bass Clef - High. For string bass players.
In Bass Clef - Low - for tubas and bassoons.

MISCELLANEOUS PARTS:

Piano. If you cannot fill in all five other parts, adding a piano player may give you all the extra harmony notes you need.
Drum Set. While not required, adding a drum set to your performances, especially when you are using ten or more players, will definitely enhance the presentation.

My inspiration to write this song began with a discussion on the Community Music online forum. Their main site is www.Community-Music.info, and they also have a discussion group on the www.groups.io platform. This group is comprised of more than 1,000 people interested and involved in (mostly) community bands worldwide.

One of the group members posted a request, did anyone know of a medley of service songs that included the Space Force song?

After a week or so of online discussion and of me doing research online, what I found was that as far as anyone knew, they didn’t have an official song yet, and in the interim they were using the trio from John Philip Sousa’s “Invincible Eagle” as their theme.

Of course, I immediately had several hundred thoughts about this, including “I need to WRITE a song for them!” and “Who would know how close they are to selecting one?” And this last thought began several days of intense research and intense frustration as I attempted to answer this question.

You can see the results of that research in the blog postings above.

In the meantime, I wasn’t going to wait. I immediately began sifting through melodic motifs in my mind, trying this one and that one and probably discarding several hundred before I began to gravitate to what became the final melody.

ABOUT THE MELODY OF ALWAYS ABOVE:

Almost from the very start, I knew I wanted this theme to be in 6/8 time. I wanted this as a nod and a salute to the Air Force, because the Space Force is in the Department of the Air Force, and I see the USAF as the “progenitor” of the Space Force.

Also, the Air Force theme song is the only service song among all the others that is in 6/8 time, so it is appropriate that the Space Force song also be in this meter.

I wanted the melody to be spirited and upbeat, with several motifs “pointing upward” to signify space, and I wanted it to be usable as a march, as are all service songs. Finally, I wanted the melody to have a slight ring of familiarity, but to have a melody and lyrics that were truly unique to the Space Force, and I am currently working to lock that into place.

Finally, the first three chords of Always Above are the same as the first three highly identifiable chords in the USAF song, which adds one more salute to the AF and makes the beginning of this song unmistakable as a military service song.

The final melody has gone through quite literally hundreds of modifications and tweaks, and the version you hear in the video(s) above is very likely the final version.

Transpositions Available for Each Part in the ENSEMBLE CONCERT BOOKS SERIES

What is a VIRTUAL CONCERT?

And how do we make one?

Semper Supra Blog

SS Before 8 May 2022

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