Product Description
Pura Alegria
Brass Sextet and
Keyboard
3 Trumpets, 3
Trombones and Keyboard
Composed for the
Stirling High School Brass Ensemble,
in East London, South Africa
MBR 3430
By Eddie Lewis
Spice up your brass program with this Latin tinged composition
for three trumpets, three trombones and keyboard. Pura Alegria is one of Eddie
Lewis "en clave" compositions, where every rhythm from every phrase in
the piece is derived from the clave.
The clave is a rhythm from west Africa that came to
the tropical islands with the slaves. From there, hundreds of years later, the
rhythm became the underlying groove for a number of modern Latin dance music
styles. Eddie Lewis was exposed to the clave rhythms during a period of
twenty years when he was making his living primarily as a salsa trumpet player.
While Eddies compositions are not salsa, his writing has
been forever influenced by that music and the people. And that influence is not
limited to only the rhythms. We are only emphasizing the rhythms here because
of the prominence of the clave in Pura Alegria.
Stirling High School, East London, South Africa
Eddie composed Pura Alegria for the students in the brass
ensemble at Stirling High School in East London, South Africa. The students
prepared it as part of a presentation and Eddie was honored to contribute
something for them to work on and perform.
The request came from Eddies good friend, Leonard Brandt.
Leonard is a professional trumpet player in South Africa and also teaches
applied brass at the high school. When Eddie was in South Africa for the jazz
festival in Grahamstown (2016), Leonard arranged a personal performance of Pura
Alegria for him in one of the empty classrooms. The composition was a smashing
success and the students and the audience all enjoyed it!
Skill Level
When Eddie does a commission, he goes to great lengths to
map out the skills of the individual players. Often times, his methods skill
levels dont apply. Please keep in mind that skill levels in published music
are not about how good the students are. Students will always have mixed skill
sets. Thats part of what it means to be human. We are good at some things and
bad at others.
So the skills of the individual parts in Pura Alegria are
varied, not only from part to part, but from skill to skill.
That said, the highest note in the first trumpet part is
written high C, and the rhythms are syncopated (because of the clave
influence). We would put most of that first part in our Trumpet Pro skill
level.
The highest note in the second part is written A above the
staff. The highest note in the third trumpet part is top line F.
Practice Recommendations
Pay special attention to the articulations, which can feel a
little awkward, but really make the piece. Sometimes the eighth-notes are long
and the quarter-notes are short. Other times the quarter-notes are long and the
eighth-notes are short.
Also be careful with the dynamics. There will be a tendency
to play the entire piece too loud. Because it feels like that kind of piece.
However, if you play it that way, it will ruin some of the compositional effects.
This is especially true for the keyboard. If you are performing with a
keyboard, not an acoustic piano, then whats the amplification that it doesnt
bury the rest of the ensemble. You cannot have the keyboard set to the same
volume as you would for a full jazz ensemble class.
Other than that, have fun with this piece. The name, Pura
Alegria, in English means "Pure Joy!" The rhythms are delightful and the
melodies are infectious.
This product was created by a member of ArrangeMe, Hal Leonard's global self-publishing community of independent composers, arrangers, and songwriters. ArrangeMe allows for the publication of unique arrangements of both popular titles and original compositions from a wide variety of voices and backgrounds.