Trumpet Quartets
Trumpet quartets are one of the most standard trumpet ensemble instrumentations. Not only is it a full instrumentation, but it also affords the composer to pit duets against each other. This gives the music a greater level of excitement that cannot be achieved with smaller instrumentations.
Eddie Lewis has been composing trumpet quartets since he was in high school. His very first composition was a trumpet quartet that he wrote so he could play it with his friends, just for fun. Today Eddie continues to write trumpet quartets and they are still as fun as ever.
To listen to Eddie Lewis’ trumpet quartets and other compositions and arrangements, we invite you to visit the website’s CDs page by clicking HERE or pushing the following button:
Alien Cyclops Pickles – Jazzy Trumpet Quartet
Alien Cyclops Pickles
Jazzy Trumpet Quartet
Jazz up your trumpet program with Alien Cyclops Pickles jazzy trumpet quartet. This is a six minute composition in swing style.
Free Play-Along
We have a free play-along video for this composition that you can access by clicking HERE.
Copyright Year: 2022
Performance Rights Organization: BMI
At Last, Victorious! – Easy Trumpet Quartet
At Last, Victorious
Easy Trumpet Quartet
Upgrade your library of easy trumpet literature with At Last Victorious! easy trumpet quartet. This is a 6/8 march in three sharps.
Free Play-Along
We have a free play-along video for this composition that you can access by clicking HERE.
Copyright Year: 2022
Performance Rights Organization: BMI
Casual Morning Stroll – Easy Trumpet Quartet
Casual Morning Stroll
Easy Trumpet Quartet
Add a piece in six-four with seventh chords to your library of easy trumpet ensemble music with Casual Morning Stroll easy trumpet quartet.
Free Play-Along
We have a free play-along video for this composition that you can access by clicking HERE.
Copyright Year: 2022
Performance Rights Organization: BMI
Chromatic March – Modern Trumpet Quartet
Chromatic March
For Trumpet Quartet
This is one of the earliest trumpet quartets that we publish. I say it that way because I was writing trumpet quartets as early as fifteen years before I wrote Chromatic March. But we don’t publish the music I wrote when I was still in school. We do sell a few things that I wrote in college, but most of what we sell was composed after I moved to Houston and began my career in full.
Chromatic March is a tongue-in-cheek, sarcastic march. The rhythms I used for the piece come from a famous song. Try to see if you can hear it before you read my blog post that reveals the hidden mystery. 🙂
Click HERE to go to that blog post.
Copyright Year: 1995
Performance Rights Organization: BMI
Easter Fanfare – Trumpet Quartet
Easter Fanfare
For Trumpet Quartet
Eddie Lewis composed this trumpet fanfare late in the day on Easter Sunday, after having spent the day celebrating our most important holiday as Christians. This is what Easter sounds like to him. Easter Fanfare is part of a series of trumpet ensemble works that sound like the day they were written for. So far the series has compositions for Thanksgiving, Christmas, Palm Sunday and Easter.
Easter Fanfare is an original trumpet fanfare in five-four time signature. It features a call and response section at the beginning which is followed by an episode of flourishes. It returns to the main theme to end. (The repeat at the beginning of the piece is optional.)
The composition celebrates Christ’s resurrection, proclaiming loudly with great joy that our savior has risen from the grave.
The Gardener – Trumpet Quartet
The Gardener
For Trumpet Quartet
The Gardner is an easy trumpet quartet composition. It was designed as an educational piece that sounds interesting to the audience while offering something enjoyable for the students to practice. Each student gets to shine with four measure solos in the third section of the piece. Also, there is at least one trill in each of the parts except for the third trumpet part.
The skill level of The Gardner is a little deceptive. It is an easy piece, but it will need some rehearsal time to prepare it correctly. The first trumpet part never goes higher than fourth space E, but it does stay up there for a while. It is probably best performed by a student with a range higher than fourth space E.
Copyright Date: 2019
PRO: BMI
Graduation March – Trumpet Quartet
Graduation March
For Trumpet Quartet
Graduation March is a piece I composed as a graduation gift for two brothers who were taking lessons with me for several years, Robert and Andrew Thompson. They were homeschool friends of my son and started off with me in a home school trumpet ensemble. You can hear their recording of the Graduation March by clicking HERE.
We have a free play-along video in our You Play First Chair video series for Graduation March. You can access that video by clicking the following button:
Copyright Year: 2013
Performance Rights Organization: BMI
Happy Camper – Jazzy Trumpet Quartet
Happy Camper
For Trumpet Quartet
Here’s a fun swing piece for trumpet quartet that will get your fingers poppin’ and your toes tappin’. Happy Camper has a bouncy, bluesy sound that will add something special to your event. You can program it as something light on a otherwise serious recital, or you can use it as something fun to play for concerts at malls, parks and churches.
The first trumpet part has a range up to high C above the staff. The piece is supposed to swing, but you could use it as a teaching vehicle for learning how to swing.
The style of this piece borders between New Orleans and old-fashioned swing. Now that I’m thinking about it, it sounds a little like the old Bugs Bower swing duets.
Copyright Year: 2018
Performance Rights Organization: BMI
Happy Dance of Praise – Jazzy Trumpet Quartet
Happy Dance of Praise
For Trumpet Quartet
Happy Dance of Praise is our fifth trumpet quartet in the swing style. People are enjoying these little novelty pieces and that makes sense because they are fun to practice, fun to rehearse and fun to perform.
Happy Dance of Praise is basically a twenty-four-bar blues with the solo part being passed to each of the parts throughout the composition. The technique/skill level can be tough if you play it at the written tempo (just over 200 bpm) but should sound just as good at a slower tempo if that is necessary.
Copyright Year: 2019
Performance Rights Organization: BMI
Heaven (Duke Ellington) – Jazzy Trumpet Quartet
His Peace
For Trumpet Quartet
Eddie Lewis
His Peace is a classical composition based on an original jazz tune by Eddie Lewis.
Copyright Date: 2023
Performance Rights Organization: BMI
His Peace – Trumpet Quartet
Heaven
by Duke Ellington
For Trumpet Quartet
Arr. Eddie Lewis
This was the first jazzy trumpet quartet arrangement I did of a jazz standard. The idea came to me after playing lead in a big band that performed Ellington’s sacred works. I finished it many years ago and it sat on my hard drive for a long time simply because it is still under copyright. When Sheet Music Plus began facilitating copyrighted arrangements, I pulled this arrangement out for publishing.
Words and Music by Duke Ellington Copyright © 1968 Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC and Tempo Music, Inc. c/o Music Sales
Corporation Copyright Renewed All Rights on behalf of Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC Administered by Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC,
424 Church Street, Suite 1200, Nashville, TN 37219 International Copyright Secured All Rights Reserved
Hogsback Haven – African Influenced Trumpet Quartet
Hogsback Haven
For Trumpet Quartet
Hogsback Haven is a composition inspired by Eddie Lewis’ trip to the famous town in South Africa where J. R. R. Tolkien spent his childhood. It is said that much of the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings was inspired by Tolkien’s memories of his time growing up in Hogsback.
Eddie and his wife, Pearl, visited Hogsback with his mother-in-law, Milda, in the winter of 2016. The trumpet composition was begun on location, but completed almost a year later.
As quartets go, Hogsback Haven is probably Eddie Lewis’ most major work.
Copyright Year: 2017
Performance Rights Organization: BMI
Jesus, Lord and Savior – Easy Trumpet Quartet
Jesus, Lord and Savior
Easy Trumpet Quartet
Give your students an opportunity to use the cut-time time signature in a performance setting with this Jesus, Lord and Savior easy trumpet quartet.
The educational focus of Jesus, Lord and Savior is the cut-time time signature. We want our students to experience cut-time as a meter, not as a mathematical substitution for two-four time signature. We believe that students who perform such pieces, early in their development, grow to be more mature musicians.
There is also the added benefit of breaking the students’ minds out of the four-four trap. Once they are liberated from the “one beat quarter-note”, their minds are free to explore the fractal relationships between rhythmic values.
In our system, cut-time is the trumpet student’s introduction to this liberation. We teach them cut-time first, which leads to learning about eighth-notes in four-four. Once they are liberated this way, their minds are more open to learning how to play in six-eight.
Thematic Context
The title, “Jesus, Lord and Savior”, is blatantly Christian, as are many of my trumpet pieces. In fact, very few of my compositions over the past twenty years have been truly secular. Even those compositions with less obvious titles tend to have Christian themes behind them.
Jesus, Lord and Savior is a simple acknowledgment that Jesus is more than the source of our salvation. As a Christian, I strive to live with Christ as Lord in my life. I don’t always get that part right, so this acknowledgement is a reminder to continue to try to live that way.
Free Trumpet Play-Along Video
We have a free trumpet play-along video for this composition in our You Play First Chair video series. The series was created to give trumpet students an opportunity to practice sight reading and ensemble skills, but it also works well as a way to give you a chance to take the composition for a test drive. Click on the following button to access the trumpet play-along video for Jesus, Lord and Savior:
Copyright Year: 2022
Performance Rights Organization: BMI
Jingle Bells Jazz – Trumpet Quartet
Jingle Bells Jazz
Trumpet Quartet
Jazz up your trumpet Christmas program with Jingle Bells Jazz trumpet quartet. This is an arrangement of Jingle Bells over the chords for Cherokee.
Copyright Year: 2022
Performance Rights Organization: NA
The Joy of the Lord
The Joy of the Lord
For Trumpet Quartet
The Joy of the Lord is a trumpet quartet I composed during the infamous 2020 lockdowns. I had begun about half a dozen original compositions during those months, but focusing on writing and finishing this one brought me joy. Writing this composition helped me focus on God’s goodness instead of all the injury and harm the government was causing at the time.
We have a play along video of The Joy of the Lord that you can access with the following button:
I also posted a blog for The Joy of the Lord where you can read all about the composition and its background:
Copyright Year: 2020
Performance Rights Organization: BMI
Love All That’s Holy
Love All That’s Holy
Easy Trumpet Quartet
Lift your audience’s spirits with Love All That’s Holy easy trumpet quartet. This is an original hymn for four trumpets.
We have a play along video of Love All That’s Holy that you can access with the following button:
Copyright Year: 2023
Performance Rights Organization: BMI
A Maestro Moment – Beginner Trumpet Quartet
A Maestro Moment
For Beginner Trumpet Quartet
A Maestro Moment was composed to give absolute beginners a performance vehicle within the first few weeks of their experience on the trumpet. The composition is very easy. It is only sixteen measures long. The highest note is G in the staff (second line G), and the smallest rhythmic value is a quarter note. There are no accidentals. It really is a composition specifically designed for beginners.
For slightly more advanced trumpet students, A Maestro Moment makes a great sight reading piece.
Copyright Year: 2018
Performance Rights Organization: BMI
No Concession Blues – Jazzy Trumpet Quartet
No Concession Blues
For Trumpet Quartet
No Concessoin Blues began as a fake tune Eddie Lewis wrote for one of his Living Rhythms gigs at Cezanne Jazz Club. The title is supposed to be a little tongue-in-cheek because it’s not a blues. It’s actually based on altered I’ve Got Rhythm chord progressions.
No Concession Blues is by far our most popular trumpet quartet. It is also one of our best selling compositions, second only to Eddie’s arrangement of Amazing Grace for trumpet duet.
Copyright Year: 2016
Performance Rights Organization: BMI
Passion – Trumpet Quartet for Easter
Passion
For Trumpet Quartet
Passion is an epic trumpet quartet depicting the events of holy week, leading up to the resurrection of Jesus on Easter Sunday.
The composition is 15 minutes long with four movements:
- Last Supper
- Crucifixion
- Burial
- Resurrection
There is a blog post for Passion that you can read here:
We also have a free trumpet play along for this composition in our You Play First Chair video series. Click the following button to go to that video:
Copyright Year: 2016
Performance Rights Organization: BMI
Sir Duke (Stevie Wonder) – Jazzy Trumpet Quartet
Sir Duke
Stevie Wonder
Arr. Eddie Lewis
For Trumpet Quartet
I don’t do a lot of arrangements of pop songs for trumpet groups. I know that’s a popular idiom on YouTube but I only write what I feel. I rarely feel pop stuff. There are, of course, exceptions. Sir Duke is one of those infectious tunes that transcends genre boundaries.
Copyright © 1976 Jobete Music Co., Inc. and Black Bull Music
Copyright Renewed All Rights Administered by Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC,
424 Church Street, Suite 1200, Nashville, TN 37219
International Copyright Secured All Rights Reserved Used by Permission of Hal Leonard Corporation
Something’s Gonna Happen – Jazzy Trumpet Quartet
Something’s Gonna Happen
Cuz I Can Feel It
For Trumpet Quartet
Here’s something you don’t see every day, a Dixie-land styled trumpet quartet. This is a playful, fun swing piece that your trumpet group will love to practice and perform.
It’s not very high and there are plenty of rests for each player. So in a physical sense, Something’s Gonna Happen is not very difficult. There are, however, a few places in the composition where there’s a lot going on rhythmically. So this quartet will take some preparation time.
Copyright Year: 2017
Performance Rights Organization: BMI
Stardust (Hoagy Carmichael) – Jazzy Trumpet Quartet
Stardust
Hoagy Carmichael, Mitchell Parish
Arr. Eddie Lewis
For Trumpet Quartet
Here is my arrangement of Stardust. The goal here was to capture the heart and soul of the big band era, but to do it with only four trumpets (ie no rhythm section). I think the result turned out nicely.
Copyright © 1928, 1929 by Songs Of Peer, Ltd. and EMI Mills Music, Inc.
Copyrights Renewed All Rights outside the USA Controlled by EMI Mills Music, Inc.
(Publishing) and Alfred Music (Print) International Copyright Secured
All Rights Reserved Used by Permission of Hal Leonard Corporation
Still Small Voice – Easy Trumpet Quartet
Still Small Voice
Easy Trumpet Quartet
Still Small Voice is a trumpet quartet from our easy trumpet music series. This is a series dedicated to trumpet students in our second skill level. We call it the Trumpet Tyro Skill Level.
We have a blog article about this composition that you can read by clicking the following link:
Still Small Voice Easy Trumpet Quartet
We also have a You Play First Chair trumpet play along video for this song. You can use the play along video to take the piece for a test drive:
Still Small Voice Trumpet Play Along Video
Copyright Year: 2020
Performance Rights Organization: BMI
This is the Day – Latin Styled Trumpet Quartet
This is the Day
For Trumpet Quartet
This is the Day began as an idea for a new version of a Praise and Worship song, a new melody on the same Biblical text. The song was never given a chance as at our church at the time, so I decided to turn it into a trumpet quartet.
I’m glad I did. This piece has been very well received around the world. It has been a big hit since its first release.
The rhythms in this piece, like many of my other brass works, are derived from the clave, a rhythm that is prominent in salsa music. That’s what gives the composition the sense of excitement that everyone seems to enjoy.
Copyright Year: 2016
Performance Rights Organization: BMI
Three Spider Fanfares – Modern Trumpet Quartet
Three Spider Fanfares
For Trumpet Quartet
The Three Spider Fanfares are created using a harmonic language that I invented in the late 80’s called Spider Chords. Spider Chords are chord progressions based on twelve-tone serialism. The chords are created from a single twelve-tone row and the fanfares are based on those chords.
In this case, each of the individual trumpet fanfares is based on a different twelve-tone row.
To be clear, music based on Spider Chords is NOT traditional serialism. The chords themselves are based on serialism, but the music is not. One thing I do try to do, so that the music retains the 12 tone flavors is to use every note in the chord in each section (usually a single measure).
Copyright Year: 2003
Performance Rights Organization: BMI
Trumpet March Royale – Easy Trumpet Quartet
Trumpet March Royale
Easy Trumpet Quartet
Add some royalty to your trumpet program with Trumpet March Royale Trumpet Quartet. This is a trumpet quartet for students who have been playing trumpet for about a year.
Free Trumpet Play-Along
We have a free trumpet play-along video for Trumpet March Royale in our You Play First Chair video series. You can access that video by clicking here:
Copyright Year: 2022
Performance Rights Organization: BMI
Tyro Tykes – Easy Trumpet Quartet
Tyro Tykes
Easy Trumpet Quartet
Tyro Tykes is an easy trumpet quartet that uses some advanced harmonies without putting too much demand on the students. The idea is to expose them to chromatic harmonies through their ensemble experience without them having to understand the theory.
So this quartet is not chromatic in the horizontal sense. There are no chromatic scales in this piece. It is the circle of fifth harmonies, mostly in the inner parts, that make this piece more chromatic. I believe it’s important for earlier students to be exposed to the sound of these types of traditional chromatic harmonies.
I did write a blog about this piece that you can read here: https://eltigredo.com/?p=14937
Copyright Year: 2020
Performance Rights Organization: BMI
When the Joy of the Lord Kicks In – Trumpet Quartet
When the Joy of the Lord Kicks In
Trumpet Quartet
When the Joy of the Lord Kicks In is an experimental trumpet quartet, fourth in a series of pieces composed utilizing an original technique I invented in the 90’s. That technique was originally used for brass quintet and I never tried to use it in a smaller ensemble setting. I assumed it wouldn’t work.
2020 put me in a mood to test that theory. In the process of writing new works using this original technique, I found better ways to implement it. When the Joy of the Lord Kicks In is the first composition with that new implementation of the original technique.
The skill level is intermediate/advanced. If you are familiar with our seven skill level system, then the skill level for this piece is Trumpet Apprentice skill level. The top note in the first part is B flat above the staff. That said, there are over a dozen of those B flats. So if B flat is right at the edge of your range, this may be a bit of a challenge for you.
We do have a blog for the trumpet quartet that you can read by clicking the following button. This blog is a bit different from a lot of the others because I used it to journal the composition process. So maybe you might enjoy reading that. Here’s the link:
Free Trumpet Play Along Video
There is a free trumpet play along video for this composition in our You Play First Chair series. To take this trumpet quartet for a test drive, please click the following link:
Copyright Year: 2020
Performance Rights Organization: BMI