Band Arrangements from the Silver Screen Monday, March 17, 2014
Movie music can be familiar and fun to play, and is the only exposure to symphonic music for most of the general public, including your students. Besides sounding awesome, it is a great way to vary your programming with some style and texture, and since many arrangements are in medley or suite form, work with your band on style, tempo, meter, and key changes.
This year features several great new arrangements and well-known themes from some very popular movies. Alan Silvestri and Hans Zimmer are two of today’s most prolific film composers, and have scored some of the biggest blockbusters over the past few decades, including The Avengers, The Polar Express, The Dark Knight Trilogy, Man of Steel, Forrest Gump, and Back to the Future. The work of each of these composers’ is featured is medley-style arrangements that are sure to be hits with both your students, and especially, your audience. Alan Silvestri: A Night at the Movies is probably the best composer specific movie arrangement since Michael Brown’s Music for a Darkened Theatre featuring the music of Danny Elfman!
Hans Zimmer’s powerful score to Zack Snyder’s Superman reboot, Man of Steel, is featured in accessible arrangements for both middle school and high school. If you’re programming the suite (grade 3.5), better get your hornists ready, and rounding out the mix is a medley of some of the most popular James Bond themes, including the recent hit Skyfall, by Adele.
Keep following the Stanton’s Sheet Music blog for more new pop arrangements for concert band including Top 40 Hits, new Disney arrangements (including Frozen!), music from Broadway and television, and classic pop/rock hits.
Alan Silvestri: A Night at the Movies
arr. Michael Brown
Grade 3
Film composer Alan Silvestri has penned some of the most distinctive and memorable moments in recent cinema history. Sure to be a favorite year after year, this impressive setting includes music in a wide variety of styles with familiar themes from The Avengers, The Polar Express, Night at the Museum, Forrest Gump, and Back to the Future.
At the Movies with Hans Zimmer
arr. Justin Williams
Grade 3
Hans Zimmer’s film scores are bold and intense, and are notable for integrating electronic music sounds with traditional orchestral arrangements. This collection is less a medley of tunes, and more a portrait of his styles and moods. Incorporating selections from Man of Steel, Inception, and The Dark Knight Rises, this arrangement is a tour-de-force of dramatic and emotional cinematic textures.
Bond…James Bond
arr. Stephen Bulla
Grade 4
Over the past five decades music from the James Bond film franchise has become a part of our musical culture. This powerful setting of familiar film themes will appeal to all audiences. Includes: James Bond Theme, Skyfall, Nobody Does It Better, Goldfinger, and Live and Let Die.
Selections from Man of Steel
arr. Michael Story
Grade 2
Recreating the excitement from the blockbuster Hans Zimmer film score, this medley from Man of Steel includes Look to the Stars, If You Love These People, Goodbye My Son, Oil Rig, and What Are You Going to Do When You Are Not Saving the World?.
Suite from Man of Steel
arr. Ralph Ford
Grade 3.5
Capturing the vastness, beauty, conflict, and emotion of Man of Steel, Ralph Ford’s suite arrangement from Hans Zimmer’s powerful score includes Look to the Stars, DNA, Goodbye My Son, Launch, Krypton’s Last, If You Love These People, Flight, and What Are You Going to Do When You Are Not Saving the World?.