Mary Had A Little Lamb - Select Ensembles Sheet Music, Beginner

This Select Ensembles series of arrangements has been specifically designed by David Woodcock to meet the requirements of the ever-changing ensemble combinations that primary and secondary schools and other instrumental ensembles face.

Within the series there are arrangements of classical and traditional standards, alongside commissioned new works by New Zealand composers, thereby creating a selection of both old and new pieces. The series will initially consist of five levels: Beginner (Grade 1); Junior (Grades 2 & 3); Intermediate (Grades 4 & 5); Advanced Intermediate (Grade6); Advanced (Grades 7 & 8).

The most difficult instrumental Parts will be at the named grade level. Because certain instruments are more comfortable in playing in certain keys, each work will be offered in two keys. This should allow for the music director to choose the key most suitable for the instrumental combination.

Each piece consists of five core instrumental parts: 2 treble, 1 alto, tenor and bass. All parts will have a number of transpositions suitable for the instruments that are capable of playing those parts, eg, Part 2 will have parts for violin, B flat clarinet and trumpet, and E flat alto sax. (If there is a variant that has not been considered, this can be produced upon request!). This will save music directors' time in having to write out additional parts.

Optional parts are included for tuned and untuned percussion, guitar (chords) and bass guitar (notation and TAB), a keyboard part appropriate to the difficulty level, and a rehearsal piano part which is a fuller realisation of the piece and could be played by a more advanced student or the music director. If the numbers of players on each part allows, the music director can feel free to 'solo' instruments and vary the orchestration, especially on repeats, to create variety in instrumental colour.