In the Bleak Midwinter Trumpet Duet

In the Bleak Midwinter

Trumpet Duet

MTR 0243 4149

By Christina G. Rossetti, Gustav T. Holst

Arr. Eddie Lewis

Bring some peace to your Christmas program with this sublime In the Bleak Midwinter trumpet duet arrangement.

This arrangement finds its original roots in Eddie Lewis’ Unadorned Trumpet Carol arrangement published a few years earlier. This is one of the most popular arrangements from that series (and digital album). One of the listeners on YouTube commented that it was “LIKE I ALWAYS PICTURED THIS SONG, SIMPLE AND BEAUTIFUL”

When it was time to write a more “adorned” version of this Christmas carol, Eddie wanted to keep most of that simplicity and beauty. For that reason, this arrangement is far more simplistic than Eddie’s other trumpet duet arrangements in this series and the Trumpet Hymn Duet’s series.

Embellishments were kept to a minimum throughout the arrangement. There is a bit of an elaboration in the last verse, but Eddie strove to prevent that elaboration from deterring from the peaceful nature of the original Christmas carol.

Trumpet Player Skill Level

The highest note in this trumpet duet arrangement of In the Bleak Midwinter is top line F sharp. This puts it squarely in our Trumpet Player skill level. The Trumpet Player skill level is the firs of two intermediate skill levels and most high school trumpet players should have no difficulties learning any music from this level.

Practice Recommendations

This trumpet duet arrangement of In the Bleak Midwinter is almost “easy” and on the surface it seems as if there is nothing to recommend for practicing. But the truth is that it’s almost always the easiest music that becomes difficult to perform well.

With that said, what does someone focus on when the skill level makes the composition technically easy, but more of a musical challenge?

The one thing that stands out most is phrasing. Without poetic phrasing, music will sound like “just notes”. Learn to phrase well and use that phrasing on this Christmas carol trumpet duet.  

In the Bleak Midwinter Free Trumpet Play-Along

We have a free trumpet play-along for In the Bleak Midwinter in our You Play First Chair video series. The original purpose of the series is educational. Trumpet students from around the world are using these play-along videos to practice their sight reading. But the videos also offer a wonderful opportunity for trumpet players to try these sheet music compositions and arrangements before they purchase them. To access the play-along video for In the Bleak Midwinter, please click on the following link:
In the Bleak Midwinter Trumpet Play-Along