Moonlight Bay
Brass Ensemble - Digital Sheet Music

Brass Ensemble - Level 3 - Digital Download

SKU: A0.808654

Composed by Percy Wenrich (1887–1952). Arranged by F. Leslie Smith. Holiday,Love,Pop,Traditional. Score and parts. 20 pages. Sweetwater Brass Press #1855055. Published by Sweetwater Brass Press (A0.808654).

The melody for "Moonlight Bay" was written by Percy Wenrich, with words by Edward Madden (1878–1952). Published in 1912, "Moonlight Bay" became a standard and, over the years, provided the musical hook for a number of motion picture and television productions. Perhaps most notable of these was the 1951 feature film, On Moonlight Bay, based loosely on stories by Booth Tarkington and starring Doris Day, Gordon MacRae and Jack Smith. Romantic and sentimental in both words and music, the song "Moonlight Bay" has been popular with all types of sing-along situations, from barbershop quartets to summer camp evenings to glee club and band concerts.

This brass quintet version retains the nostalgic, yet positive nature of the song with a straightforward melodic arrangement. It opens with an introductory statement of the familiar chorus. After a two-measure vamp the Horn in F takes the lead in playing the verse and the chorus. (And although not noted in the score, it is here-at the end of the verse-that the audience can be invited to sing along on the chorus.) The verse melody is featured a second time, first played as a variation by the Tuba, then as a duet by Horn and Trombone. The piece wraps up with a re-statement of the chorus melody by the entire group and, towards the end, just a hint of some swing.

Completed in 2013, this arrangement runs about 2 minutes, 39 seconds. The arranger, Les Smith, can be reached at lessmith@ufl.edu. For more arrangements by Les (such as "By the Light of the Silvery Moon"), enter "Sweetwater Brass Press" (without the quotation marks) in the SheetMusicPlus search box.