Benedictus (Karl Jenkins) for Band

This is my arrangement of movement XII of Karl Jenkins' mass, The Armed Man, for wind ensemble. I'm generally happy with how it is now, but there might be a bit more room for improvement, yet. You'll notice that I have done nothing with the tenor and bari sax parts (for fear of making the lower voices too strong), and very little with some others. A couple of areas are actually based on the piece's original title, "The Eternal Knot."

Also: you can see a brass band rendition at:

Here's a midi and pdf score. Send Feedback!

Benedictus.MID

Benedictus.pdf

The clarinets might want you assassinated...! They are blowing an awful lot without a lot of breaks... This goes for the whole piece... that might be something to think about changing, they are blowing so much with almost no breaks. You might want to think about giving some gaps in between your sections and repetitions, to give the players a chance to breathe! Or reorchestrate it, switching off the clarinets and the saxes or higher woodwinds or even a brass chordal background with wood melody. Or, you could create a more motion-oriented background, with woodwinds overlapping each other with chords, maybe a pulse, but never having one group of instruments constantly playing - that's something strings are good at!

Other than that, you have a lovely piece to work with. As far as an arrangement, you went for a simpler way of doing it than could be possible, although beautiful in its own right. I would strongly suggest you take a look at how much you're asking your clarinets to blow, however. Nicely done!

Ah, snap....I was going to put "sneak stagger breathe" and then forgot, but I will consider your suggestions. :thumbsup:

yeah...as a clarinetist, I would be dying holding the notes....You know cl's need melody, personaly me, I would have the low voices holding out the notes, but clarinets....its not that bad, but consider putting a little more moving lines.....

a quick question, but isn't this work under copyright?

The texture is very bland and boring (and the clarinets will despise you for the held background notes).

The horn solo is far too long and since it's the only interesting thing going on, it just draws attention to the lack of other textures or movement.

Do not use "8va" or "8vb" for wind instruments. We are used to ledger lines and nearly all of us prefer it that way, since the fingerings we use in one range are usually different in another range. Use 8va/8vb indications for piano only (and possibly strings...ask a string player).

Frankly, it looks dull... to play and to listen to. Vocal pieces rarely translate well to large ensembles due to the limited vocal range, the lack of interesting moving parts, and the usually total lack of independent lines.

Much too much homophonic texture.

I've had another moderator tell me that I can upload arranged work as long as I credit the original composer...but I just might drop this since it's pretty much exploded now....

...And give me a break...I'm in high school!

I've had another moderator tell me that I can upload arranged work as long as I credit the original composer...but I just might drop this since it's pretty much exploded now....

...And give me a break...I'm in high school!

I'm sorry for bringing it up.

However, it IS an issue.

The reason I asked was that you might have had permission to do so. You might know Mr. Jenkins. You might be a student of his.

What does being in high school have to do with anything?

Just so you know, and for future reference: if a work is covered by copyright, it is not enough to simply credit the original composer on an arrangement. Permission must also be gotten from the actual copyright owner for any derivitive application (arrangements, reductions, etc...).

Quick guide to copyright law

Finally, another person my age!

I actually play violin in orchestra so I don't know much about band other than what I have shown myself--but about the 8va in strings, go ahead, use it, we get it all the time!

To your piece, I liked it for what it was, lots of chords! I thought it sounded nice, though it would obviously sound much better live--do you play in band? If you do, you should get your directed to run through your piece, you'll hear things that you have never heard before. Overall, good job on the arranging thing...and I wouldn't worry much about the copyright thing right now.

Hey Do you mind If I add more alto sax, and also write out the tenor sax part, I'm going to get my band to play this for our spring concert.