Selections from "The Music Man" (arr Lang)

Meredith Willson

General Info

Year: 1957 / 1958
Duration: c. 6:50
Difficulty: (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Frank Music Corp.
Cost: Score and Parts – Out of print.

For availability information, see Discussion tab, above.

Instrumentation

Condensed Score
C Piccolo
D-flat Piccolo
Flute
Oboe
Bassoon
E-flat Soprano Clarinet
B-flat Soprano Clarinet I-II-III
E-flat Alto Clarinet
B-flat Bass Clarinet
E-flat Alto Saxophone I-II
B-flat Tenor Saxophone
E-flat Baritone Saxophone
B-flat Cornet I-II-III
E-flat Horn or Alto I-II-III
Horn in F I-II-III
Trombone I-II-III
Bass Trombone
Euphonium
Tuba
String Bass
Timpani
Percussion, including:

Bass Drum
Chimes
Crash Cymbals
Orchestra Bells
Snare Drum

Errata

In Parts:

Oboe, m.84, beat 3: A should read G.
E-flat Soprano Clarinet, m.136, beat 2: Add "3" underneath to clarify the triplet.
E-flat Alto Saxophone II, m.84, beat 3: B-flat should read B natural.

Program Notes

The Music Man was one of the most popular musicals ever written. As composer, lyricist, and librettist, Meredith Willson began working on the show in 1951. After 38 rewrites, it was finally produced in 1957, starring Robert Preston and Barbara Cook. During a Broadway run of 1,375 performances, it grossed above $10 million; won five Tony awards, three New York Critics Circle Awards, and a Grammy; had a national company touring for several years; and was made into a Warner Brothers film, starring Preston and Shirley Jones, in 1962. It was staged in Europe, including a London production, in 1961; revived on Broadway in 1965 and 1980; and in 1987 became the first American musical ever staged in China. The production, featuring an all-Chinese cast, was staged in Beijing to enthusiastic crowds.

The show is a sentimental comedy of small-town life in River City, Iowa, in 1912, with a plot which deals with the efforts of “music (con) man” Harold Hill to sell instruments for a band and skip town. He hadn’t counted on having his heart stolen by the local librarian. Some researchers believe that Willson’s model for Hill was the longtime salesman for C. G. Conn, Lynn L. Sams. Willson, however, said, “He’s so many people, I remember different ones every time I see the show.” Many other characters, places, and events may be traced directly to the composer’s hometown of Mason City, Iowa.

With tuneful music, jovial humor, and warm sentiment, he dramatized familiar scenes of his youth in a way that captured the hearts of millions and directed their attention to the interesting and wholesome role which band music has played in the cultural life of the towns and villages of America. The most popular songs in The Music Man range from the soulful Goodnight My Someone and Till There Was You to the rousing Seventy-Six Trombones by way of Gary, Indiana, It’s You, Lida Rose, Marian the Librarian, Pickalittle, The “Sadder-But-Wiser Girl, Shipoopi, Trouble, and The Wells Fargo Wagon.

- Program Note from Program Notes for Band

This medley by Philip J. Lang contains Seventy Six Trombones, Till There Was You, The Wells Fargo Wagon, and Marian the Librarian.

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

Northshore Concert Band (Evanston, Ill.) (Mallory Thompson, conductor) – 4 June 2023
Rutgers Symphonic Band (New Brunswick, N.J.) (Julia Baumanis, conductor) - 26 April 2023
Repasz Band (Williamsport, Penn.) (Arnald D. Gabriel, conductor) - 9 October 2022
Eastern Illinois University (Charleston) Concert Band (Alicia Neal, conductor) - 18 September 2020
Golden Gate Park Band (San Francisco, Calif.) (Robert Calonico, conductor) – 29 September 2019
Cary (N.C.) Town Band (Stuart Holoman, conductor) – 15 June 2019
Charlottesville (Va.) Municipal Band (Stephen R. Layman, conductor) - 14 August 2018
Atascadero (Calif.) Community Band (Randy Schwalbe, conductor)– 6 May 2018
Cupertino (Calif.) Symphonic Band (Jason McChristian, conductor) – 11 June 2017
Atascadero (Calif.) Community Band (Randy Schwalbe, conductor) – 30 October 2016
University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign) Summer Band (Larry Stoner, conductor) - 16 July 2015
Sequim (Wash.) City Band (Tyler Benedict, conductor) – 4 July 2012

Works for Winds by This Composer

Adaptable Music

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas (Flex instrumentation) (arr. Brown) (1951/1979/2019)

All Wind Works

76 Trombones (arr. Iwai) (1957/1992)
76 Trombones (arr Cable) (arr. Cable) (1957/)
76 Trombones (arr. Anderson, adapt. Bocook) (1997)
It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas (arr. Moss) (1951/2004)
It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas (Flex instrumentation) (arr. Brown) (1951/1979/2019)
May the Good Lord Bless and Keep You (arr. Leidzen) (1950/1951)
The Music Man (arr. Buckley) (1957/2002)
The Music Man: Highlights (arr. Reed) (1957/1959)
Selections from "The Music Man" (arr. Lang) (1957/1958)
Selections from "The Music Man" (arr. Vinson) (1957/2000)
Unsinkable Molly Brown, The: I Ain't Down Yet (arr. Yoder) (1961)

Resources

Pease, Andy. "The Music Man by Meredith Willson." Wind Band Literature, 11 December 2022. Web. Accessed 11 December 2022
Smith, Norman E. (2002). Program Notes for Band. Chicago: GIA Publications, pp. 651.
Willson, M.; Lang, P. (1958). Selections from the Music Man : For Concert Band [score]. Frank Music Corp.: New York.