Good King Wenceslas

This jazz-inflected, rocking arrangement of Good Kind Wenceslas will delight both your orchestra and your audience. Offering a variety of textures, the piece begins with a slow, layered introduction that breaks open into a rock rendition of this traditional tune, with the cellos and basses taking up the role of a rock guitar. Along with the violas, they then lead the transition into a contrapuntal pizzicato section, where the violins join in to create a nearly constant eighth-note pulse that dances back and forth between all sections of the orchestra (thereby eliminating the arduous challenge of everyone having to play continuous pizzicato eighth notes for measures at a time!). Syncopation features in the rock section, but there is safety in numbers, as many of the syncopated figures feature multiple sections together. A fun and varied ending recaps the different sections of the piece. This arrangement can broaden your students' stylistic range and skill set, with multiple textures and styles, syncopations, and swing eighth notes, and also serves as a great feature for a strong cello section.