Alexander's Ragtime Band (arr Yoder)
Irving Berlin (arr. Paul Yoder)
General Info
Year: 1911 / 1940
Duration: c. 3:30
Difficulty: (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: ABC Music
Cost: Score and Parts – Out of print.
For availability information, see Discussion tab, [1].
Instrumentation
Condensed Score
C Piccolo
Flute
Oboe
Bassoon
E-flat Soprano Clarinet
B-flat Soprano Clarinet I-II-III
E-flat Alto Saxophone I-II
B-flat Tenor Saxophone
E-flat Baritone Saxophone
B-flat Bass Saxophone
B-flat Cornet I-II-III
B-flat Trumpet I-II
Horn in F I-II-III-IV
Trombone I-II-III
Bass Trombone
Euphonium
Tuba
Timpani
Drums, including:
- Bass Drum
- Crash Cymbals
- Snare Drum
- Suspended Cymbal
Errata
None discovered thus far.
Program Notes
Berlin wrote this tune as a vehicle for his own appearance in the 1911 Friar's Club Frolics. He did not appear in the revue, however, and it was only after Emma Carus began using the song in her vaudeville act in Chicago that it climbed to the top. Within a few months, the song sold a million copies of sheet music and several hundred Thousand piano rolls. Although the title helped to popularize ragtime, this is not a ragtime tune. The "Alexander" in the title was reportedly Jack Alexander, a cornet-playing band leader who died in 1958.
- Program Note from Program Notes for Band
Alexander's Ragtime Band is a Tin Pan Alley song by American composer Irving Berlin released in 1911. Although not a traditional ragtime song, Berlin's jaunty melody nonetheless "sold a million copies of sheet music in 1911, then another million in 1912, and continued to sell for years afterward.
The song might be regarded as a narrative sequel to Alexander and His Clarinet, which Berlin wrote with Ted Snyder in 1910. The earlier song is mostly concerned with a reconciliation between an African-American musician named Alexander Adams and his flame Eliza Johnson, but also highlights Alexander's innovative musical style. The former character had been purportedly inspired by Jack Alexander, a cornet-playing African-American bandleader who was friends with Berlin.
- Program Note from Wikipedia
Media
(Needed - please join the WRP if you can help.)
State Ratings
None discovered thus far.
Performances
To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project
Works for Winds by This Composer
Adaptable Music
- God Bless America (Flex instrumentation) (arr. Vinson) (1939/2011)
- White Christmas (Flex instrumentation) (arr. Sweeney) (1940/2006)
All Wind Works
- Alexander's Ragtime Band (arr. Molenaar) (1911/1960)
- Alexander's Ragtime Band (arr. Nowak) (1911/2013)
- Alexander's Ragtime Band (arr. Yoder) (1911/1940)
- Count Your Blessings (arr. Nowlin) (1954)
- Easter Parade (arr. Bennett) (1933)
- Easter Parade (arr. Auken) (1973)
- God Bless America (arr. Cofield) (1939/1972)
- God Bless America (arr. Edmondson) (1939/1979)
- God Bless America (arr. U.S. Army Band) (1939)
- God Bless America (arr. Jennings) (1939)
- God Bless America (arr. Laurent) (1939)
- God Bless America (arr. Leidzen) (1939)
- God Bless America (arr. Moss and Christopher) (1939/1995)
- God Bless America (arr. Ringwald) (1939/1969)
- God Bless America (Flex instrumentation) (arr. Vinson) (1939/2011)
- Happy Holiday/White Christmas (arr. Ricketts) (2009)
- Irving Berlin: A Symphonic Portrait (arr. Ades) (1975)
- An Irving Berlin Christmas (arr. Barker) (2007)
- Irving Berlin: From Rags to Ritz (arr. Murtha and Snyder) (2011)
- Irving Berlin Showstoppers (arr. Higgins) (1994)
- Irving Berlin: The Early Years (arr. Barker) (1997)
- Irvining Berlin Waltz Medley (arr. Leidzen) (1940)
- Irving Berlin's Christmas (arr. Brown and Brymer) (2010)
- Irving Berlin's Songs for America (arr. Swearingen) (1986)
- Marie (arr. Ballenger III)
- No Biz Like Show Biz (arr. Hearshen)
- Oh, How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning (arr. Schulz) (1918)
- Oh! How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning (arr. Briegel) (1918)
- Say It with Music (arr. Yoder) (1921/1940)
- There's No Business Like Show Business (arr. Duthoit) (1946/1955)
- This is the Army, Mr. Jones (arr. Briegel) (1942)
- Tribute to Irving Berlin (arr. Barker) (1979)
- White Christmas (arr. Auken) (1940/1973)
- White Christmas (arr. Bennett) (1940/1948)
- White Christmas (arr. Edmondson) (1940/1979)
- White Christmas (arr. Huff and Moss) (1940/1995)
- White Christmas (arr. Leidzen) (1940/1942)
- White Christmas (arr. Moss) (1940/1998)
- White Christmas (arr. Skelly) (1940/?)
- White Christmas (Flex instrumentation) (arr. Sweeney) (1940/2006)
Resources
- Alexander's Ragtime Band, Wikipedia Accessed 15 August 2020
- Berlin, I.; Yoder, P. (1940). Alexander's Ragtime Band [score]. ABC Music: New York
- Smith, Norman E. (2002). Program Notes for Band. Chicago: GIA Publications, pp. 59.