JAZZ & ROCK & ROLL HORNS
A simple approach to arranging hor ns for your jazz or rock&roll band
JAZZ & ROCK & ROLL HORNS
I know there are many of you who would love to add horns to your band
or original music, and would like a simple, straight forward approach. After
looking around on the web for any information or tutorials on writing for specifically a “horn section”, I found very little, and what I did find was in bits
and pieces.
Having a horn section in your rock, r&b, or jazz group can really enhance
your music, and add to your live performance. How many times have I
heard, “I love horns ” when folks in the crowd see my trumpet and sax player
setting up their gear.
This tutorial will star t with writing a  part arrangement for trumpet and tenor
sax or flugelhorn and flute.
flute. We will then move
move on to 3 part writing for trumtrumpet, tenor sax, and trombone, and eventually 4 and 5 part writing. As we
move along, it will be necessary for us to get into a little more advanced
harmony.
We will also cover chart preparation. How to transpose for the
different instruments and the
best way to lay out your chart.
In addition we will cover dynamic markings, articulations, DSs,
Codas, and rehearsal marks.
These are all very important elements so that your arrangement
will get played properly without
wasting precious rehearsal or
studio time. Some knowledge
of chords and harmony will be
helpful and there are some websites out ther e that can help you
with this.
If you’re just starting out with reading and notating music, your horn players
can also help you get through this hurdle. Most horn players are brought up
reading music, and by working together you can make it happen.
My goal is to keep these tutorials l ean and to the point. We are going to only
cover material that is necessary for you to accomplish your goal as a band
leader or singer songwriter. My old teacher back in the day use to say, “it
ain’t rocket
rocket science.” And he was
was right, It ain’t.

WRITING FOR  PART HORNS
I currently have two hor ns in my jazz group, trumpet and tenor sax, and would
like to start there. Writing for  horns is much different then writing for 3, 4, or
5 horns and not for the obvious reasons. In some respects larger groups are
easier to write for depending on style. Your ideas for your arrangement will
be determined by how many horns you are writing for.
Before you start writing your arrangement, have your chord changes set on
what you want. The chords for your song will dictate your voicings. You will
first write the trumpet part since it is typically the top note of your voicing
for most situations. When writing for any combination of brass or wind instruments you always want to voice from the top down.
In many situations you will write for trumpet and tenor sax in octaves, particularly when the trumpet is playing in it’s higher register above the staff. If
you were to write a 3rd interval specifically with the tenor sax, it will sound
thin.
As the trumpet line dips into the staff or it’s middle register, you then have
opportunities to write a 3rd or 6th interval with the tenor sax. If your trumpet,
for most of the arrangeme nt is in the upper par t of it’s range and you woul d
like to use intervals, switch your sax to an alto or a soprano.
Don’t forget that 4th an d 5th intervals can be very nice an d have a specific
flavor and work well for both rock and jazz.
Trumpet and tenor sax can sound really fat in the staff playing octaves or
unison in the middle of their range. I heard a horn section that was trumpet,
trombone, and baritone sax, and the trumpet never played out of the staff.
With the bone and bari sax it sounded big and fat. High is not always better.
3
SUGAR
4ths
Octaves
4ths
EXAMPLE #1. This is a  part intro with Trumpet and Tenor Sax for the tune “Sugar,” and
is all over one chord, C7sus. With short burst, the trumpet in the staff, this is writen in
octaves, thirds and fourths . A very stark idea that woks well with this tune.
5nd Street NYC, July 1948
GREEN DOLPHIN ST.
EXAMPLE #. An arrangement I did for “Green Dolphin Street” using 5ths. Notice in
the last  bars it breaks into octaves for the quick 8th notes. This arrangment plays
at about 140 bpm.
4
GREEN DOLPHIN ST.
EXAMPLE #3. With quick 8ths and the trumpet above the staff, octaves work nicely.
The last  bars could work in 6ths, but I decided on Octaves. Either idea would
work.
GREEN DOLPHIN ST.
EXAMPLE #4. This idea is perfect for octaves with the trumpet popping those double
high C. This idea plays after the DS and fills around the vocal in the last A section.
An idea like this creates excitement.
NOTE: you will find the audio companion to these example on the FSM
website at: http://fredstickleymusic.com/music-tutorials/
5
SUGAR
EXAMPLE #5. A combination of octaves and intervals throughout this example of
SUGAR with chord changes on every bar with the horns filing around the vocal.
6
My trumpet player doubles on flugelhorn and my sax player doubles on
flute. Flute and flugelhorn work well together and will give you a whole new
color to use in your group.
First I write out what my flute will play since it’s usually the top voice in this
scenario and will write the flugelhorn under the flute in octaves or intervals.
Since the flute and flu gelhorn both have high er ranges than a tenor sax, you
could write 3rd and 6th interval a lot higher in the staff. Also, prime unison
and 3rds in the staff sound very nice with these  i nstruments.
Try mixing your unis ons and octaves with int ervals. We’ve all heard th is done
many times where the horns play a line in octaves or unis on and then at the
end of the phrase they will play a held note which is then voiced in 3rds, a
6th or a 5th. Mixing things up like this is very effective and sounds fantastic
with 4 and 5 horns bursting into a big fat voicing.
Lovely Day
EXAMPLE #6. Here’s an example of Flute and Flugel Horn on LOVELY DAY playing in
prime unison.
7
WRITING FOR 3 PART HORNS
Just adding an 3rd horn to your lineup opens up a whole new world of
possibilities.
You can now have triads instead of intervals, using closed and open
voicing. You can divide the horn section into  groups, working your 
tenor instruments against your trumpet, or, while one of you horns is soloing, the other two can comp in intervals.
With 3 horns you can mix up your orchestration a number of ways if you start
incorporating any of the rhythm section. Group your guitar or keyboard with
one of your horns as one section and have your other  horns as the other
section. Then have the  sections counter or play against each other.
Don’t forget that all 3 horns don’t always have to be playing. Your  tenor
instruments can be active while your trumpet is resting or tacit.
With 3 horns there are some nice linear or contrapuntal ideas you can incorporate. This can be a little bit more involved and we’ll have some examples
of that too.
If you’re writing a jazz arrangement with extended harmony, as in, A9(+11)
or A13, it can be more challenging with 3 horns than with 4 or 5. With 4 or 5
horns it’s obvious that you can cover more notes. This approach will be
easier to show using examples.
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THE ODD COUPLE
EXAMPLE #7. Three part writing with block or closed voicing for trumpet, tenor sax, and
trombone. With the trumpet (the top voice) being in the staff , this works well with two
tenor instruments playing the  lower voices. All three play the single note at the start of
each phrase.
THE ODD COUPLE ending/coda
EXAMPLE #8. With  part writing for 3 horns you c an put the treble line in prime unison or
octaves with your trumpet and sax and the trombone playing the bass clef, or you could
flip the sax and bone parts, depending on the sound you want.
9
3 Time Bluser, Elmer Bernstein
EXAMPLE #9. Three Time Blueser #1
This is an example of 3 voices that I transcribed from a big band album
by composer, Elmer Bernstein. On his original version the treble line was
played by trumpet and trombone and the bass clef was played by the
tenor and baritone saxes. When I was putting my sextet book together for
3 horns and piano trio, I copied the orchestration of the original version
with just one instrument on each note instead of the 4 or 5 in a typical
big band. Currently we are doing this tune with only trumpet and sax so I
had them play the treble line and the r hythm section plays the bass line.
You can actually orchestrate this example a multiple of ways.
3 Time Bluser, cont
EXAMPLE #10. Here’s a bluesy thing in 3/4 where the trumpet and sax
play a slightly varied idea in the treble staff with a little contrary motion.
In the bass clef the trombone is playing a 1 bar pattern with the rhythm
section. For a differ ent color you could flip the sax and trombone parts
and it would still work.
10
Bluesette, Toots Thieleman
 Passing - Cmin7
EXAMPLE #11. Bluesette for 3 horns.
This example is a 3 part cl osed or block voicing. W ith the top note bein g the
melody, you just voice down fallowing the intervals of the chord. Notice
the melody notes, G & C on the nd beats of bars 1 & . They are not in a
Bbmaj7 chord, but ar e in a Cmin7 chor d, the  chord i n the key of Bb major.
Using the  minor chord for your voicing is known as a “ Passing chord.”
11
WRITING FOR 4 & 5 PART HORNS
I think the most fun is writing for 4 and 5 parts. Maybe it’s because when I
first learned how to do this, I wrote for 5 saxes with a piano trio. This would
be a typical sax section in a Big Band.  altos,  tenors, and a baritone.
One of the challenges in writing for 5 horns is to keep the lower instruments,
in this case, the baritone sax, in a good part of it’s range. If you always
wrote in a block or closed voicing, your section would start to sound thin
as your top voice played higher. You’ll find that your voicing will open and
close slightly through out the phrase.
Let’s first talk about a closed or block voicing. Simply put, it’s voiced from
the top (the melody) down without skipping any of the notes in the chord
like we did in th e 3 part example. Wit h 5 parts the top and bottom voice wil l
mostly be in octaves. So a Fmaj7 chord, with the melody being the A, the
notes following would be, F, E, C and A again. Easy.
EXAMPLE #1. Block or Closed voicing.
All Of Me
1
You can open your voicin g to various degre es. Dependi ng on how high your
top voice goes, will depend on how much you open the voicing.
The smallest degree of “open” would be to drop the nd note from the top
down an octave and your lowest instrument will then play this note. In this
case our baritone sax. This technique is known as a “Drop ” or “A” voicing.
In bar 5 there is an “A” or “Drop ” voicing. The Bb moves down an octave,
and your bari sax will now blend much nicer. I did the same in bar  with the
Cmin or the “ passing chord,” dropping the G down an octave.
At bar 8 I used what we call a “C Voicing.” Si nce they are en ding the phrase
with a held note, it’s an opportunity to open the voicing up with the lowest
voice playing the root of the chord. Here we have a nice voicing of a Bb13
chord. A great, contemporary sound with the 5th intervals in the voicing.
A good rule of thumb for good “voice-leading,” is when the melody is moving, make sure the lower instruments are moving as well and aren’t repeating notes. There are exceptions to this rule, as with most.
EXAMPLE #13. Five part voicing.
Bluestte
 Passing
“Drop ”
“C Voicing”
13
This next technique is like the Drop , but now we are going to drop the
nd and 4th notes from the top down an octave. This technique is known
as a “Drop -4” or “B” voicing depending the school you went to. :)
A third technique is a “C Voicing” or “Root Position.” These work well on a
held note at the end of a phrase to give you a nice big open voicing with
the root on the bottom.
EXAMPLE #14 Drop -4 and C voicing.
Around For the Fall, by FS
#
Drop  & 4
C or Open
EXAMPLE #15 Here is a
quick review of our voicings simply laid out. Block
or Closed, Drop , Drop
&$, Open or C voicing.
Block or Closed Voicing
Drop -4 Voicing
Drop  Voicing
14
C or Open Voicing
PASSING CHORDS
There are a handful of techniques you can use for passing chords. You will use passing
chords when the note in the
melody your voicing is not in
the chord. For example, if the
chord is Cmaj7 (C, E, G, B, ) and
the note you are voicing is a
D, what chord would you us e to
harmonize this D?
EXAMPLE #16 You could use a Bbmaj9 chord, but your voice leading may become a problem, which will become more apparent as you continue to move
along to the next voicing. The easiest approach would be to use the  chord.
In this case a Cmin7 chord.
BLUSETTE
The  Passing Chord
EXAMPLE #17 Another passing chord is the Diminishe d Passing. The main
drawback is that diminished chords are a-tonal and don’t define a keycenter. They are ambiguous, but they work fine if they’re surrounded by
chords that do define the key center.
Compared to What
G minor
 Passing
G minor
 Passing
Diminish
Passing
15
Diminish
Passing
EXAMPLE #18 Half Step Slide.
is just what it implies. You move your voicing a half step up or down depending. This works great for blues as in this example.
B7
C7
B7 C7 C7
B6 C6
F9
E7 F6 E7
F7
E7 F7
Gb7 G7 Gb7 G7 Gb7 G7
16
EXAMPLE #19 Free Lead
This is an example of a “Free Lead” where the top voice plays the melody
while the lower voices comp the changes. This works great when there are
quick 8th or 16th note triplets that would be too heavy to voice for the whole
section. In this example we are just playing 8ths. Notice how its close voicing
in bar 1 and goes to a C voicing or open voicing in bars  & 4.
Free Lead
DOLPHIN DANCE
EXAMPLE #0. Six For Major 7th
When your root is in the melody and the chor d is a Major 7th or 1 chord, your
nd voice from the top would not play the major 7 because of the 1/ step
between the root and the major 7th. You would have your nd voice play
the 6th. For a dominant 7th chord this would be the 6th or 13th instead of
flat seven (b7).
Root & 6th
ALL OF ME
Root & 13th
17
I LOVE YOU MORE, by FS
DS
Repeats
Coda
Double Bar
Rehearsal Letters or Marks
1st & nd Endings
Repeats
DS al Coda
Repeats
1st & nd Endings
“Fermata” (bird’s eye)
the big note at the end :)
C H A R T L AY O U T
Just as important as voicings, is the “look & feel” of the chart or music you will
hand the horn player at the session or rehearsal.
To start, a good rule of thumb is to have 4 bars to a stave with the beginning of
a musical section starting at the left end of the staff. Notice in this chart there
seems to be more than 4 bars in a lot of places. That’s because this tune has musical sections that are 6 bars long instead of 4 or 8 bars. You can see in the intro
there are 8 bars with a pickup bar at the beginning. 8 bars can work great if it’s
easy to read with not a zillion notes cramed together.
The nd thing are the “rehearsal marks or letters.” These are vital in a rehearsal or
studio setting. You can also number your bars, especially good for larger groups. I
think it works best when the rehearsal marks are at the beginning of muscial sections.
So lets read through this song. First we play the intro straight through, then we’re
on to “Letter A” where you see the “Vocal In.” This is very important when working with singers. Sometimes vocalist, because they’re focusing on doing a show,
may not come in at “letter A.” If they don’t, you keep playing the intro until they
do. When the vocalist starts to sing, you are at letter “A.”
Letter A is the first verse and onto letter “B” for the chorus. We then see a repeat
at the end of the staff, so we GO BACK to letter “A” for the nd verse. Then when
we hit the “repeat” after “B” we continue on to the 4 bar interlude over an Amin7
chord.
Now we’ve arrive at letter “C” the bridge. The bridge is in  sections, each being
16 bars long. Letter C and letter D. Note the “1st and nd Ending” at the bottom
of the page. The first time you play letter D, you take the “1st Ending,” and the
second time you play letter D you take the “nd Ending.” You then move on to
letters E and F for the solo over Amin7 and the chorus.
The next sign post is the “DS al Coda.” This is short hand for something in Italian
that I can’t remember right now. Anyway, you then skip back to the “DS at letter
“A” for the last verse and chorus and proceed to the “Coda,” then jump to the
Coda on page . Then follow the repeats and endings and finally to the “Fermata” to end.
I picked this chart for this example because it had a lot of elements that you’ll
run into when writing a individual horn part.
Regarding the “DS al Coda.” You will also fi nd alternatives to this sign post. DC will
mean, go to the top and there will be no symbol for this. Sometimes you will see
“DC al Fine” which means go back to the top and play to the end. There are at
times a double Coda. So there are a few variations to this sign.
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TRANSPOSING & PRE PARING YOUR PARTS
I would first suggest writing your arrangement in concert pitch on a  stave
system, treble and bass clef. Like for piano. Most of your big composers and
conductors like to use a “transpose score,” but for starters it might be easier
for you to see and learn what you’re doing if you write out your arrangement in concert pitch. Most brass and wind instrument s are not written in
“Concert.” When someone speaks of “Concert” pitch, that’s the actual note
we hear. First, make sure to write out all your chord symbols above the bar
so you can see what you’re voicing to.
Key Signature.
When copying your charts, the first thing you need to do when transposing
your parts is to change the key signature. For example, if you’re transposing
for the Alto Sax and the key of your arrangement in is C (no sharps or flats)
you would first write the key signature for A major, which is 3 sharps and up
a 6th interval. Everything now should work out beautifully. If there are accidentals on the arrangement there will be on the transposed parts.
0
Trumpet
Practically all the trumpet s you’ll be writing for are in the key of Bb. Meaning,
that when the trumpet plays C on the horn, we actually hear a Bb. So if you
want to hear a Bb note, you writ e a C on the trumpet part. For trumpe t, write
everything up 1 whole step from the concert pitch and in the treble clef.
Written
#
#
Most Effective Range
Sounds/Concert
Total Range
Flugelhorn
Like the trumpet, the flugelhorn is in the key of Bb and their range is similar.
The strength of this instrument is in the staff. For flugelhorn, write everything
up 1 whole step from the concert pitch and in the treble clef.
Written
#
#
Sounds/Concert
Most Effective Range
Total Range
Trombone
is in Concert pitch. No transposing, and is written in the bass clef.
Written
Most Effective Range
Sounds/Concert
Total Range
Flute.
is in Concert. No transposing, and is written in the treble staff.
Written
Sounds/Concert
1
Soprano Saxophone.
Is in Bb, so you transpose up 1 whole step and in the treble staff.
Written
Most Effective Range
Sounds/Concert
#
#
Total Range
Alto Saxophone
Is in the key of Eb. That would be a major 6th down from C. When an Alto
Sax plays a C, we hear Eb. You transpose the Alto Sax up a major 6th from
the concert pitch, in the treble staff.
##
#
Written
Most Effective Range
Sounds/Concert
Total Range
Tenor Saxophone .
Is also in the key of Bb. You transpose your tenor sax up a whole step, and
since the tenor is written in treble staff you also need to compensate for this
so an additional oct ave up is require d. You transpose the Tenor Sax up a 9th
and in the treble clef.
Written
#
#
Most Effective Range
Sounds/Concert
Total Range

Baritone Saxophone.
Like the Alto sax, the baritone sax is in the key of Eb and since it is written
in treble clef you need to compensate an octave. So a major 6th and an
octave is a 13th. Baritone is transpose up 13th in the treble clef. When you
write your arrangement in concert, the baritone will be written in the bass
clef. When you go to transpos e that part, change the key si gnature and the
bass clef to a treble clef and you’re automatically up a 13th.
Written
##
#
Most Effective Range
Sounds/Concert
Total Range
3
Dynamics and Articulations.
If you just write a few notes on the page, this only tells the player the pitch
and the rhythm of the phrase. In addition, they need to know how loud the
note is played. Is it played short or long or accented, with a cresendo? Telling the musician how to play the notes is important and will make all the
difference in your music. Nuance is everything.
This handful of articulations are what I use 99% of the time and there are
many more.
At a session or rehearsal, articulations are easy to play around with and
your horn players can help you with this. Tweaking is cool, just like with your
rhythm secti on. In a rehearsal I wil l make minor adjustments to the score . Taking notes out, changing a short note for a long note. These kinds of adjustments are quick because you are using charts with rehearsal marks.
Marcato = with an accent, played long
Staccato = played short
Martellato = with an accent, played short
Tenuto = played long - it’s full value.
Crescendo = gradually increase volume
Decreascendo = gradually decrease volume
Legato = smooth and connected
Glissando = glide from one pitch to another.
Fall = a Jazz articulation meaning to play a note and
then a random selection of notes descending in pitch.
Fermata: held beyond the written value at the discretion of the performer.
Dynamic Marking = degrees of volume
Forzando: loud accent followed by a soft to loud crescendo.
4
I hope what you’ve learned in this tutorial
will be useful. These are only techniques.
The challenge is to make music. Keep in
mind to not OVER-WRITE and is so easy to
do. Most of my charts take a few tweaks
after the first run through with real players and I mostly take out notes. Hardly do I
ever add, unless I’ve changed the idea or
concept.
I would try not to first write your chart to a
midi track before hearing it with real players. Midi tracks can deceive you when writing your arrangeme nt. You will never get the
nuance of real players, playing real horns.
Midi can give you a general i dea, but some
parts that work, or don’t for midi, may, or
may not work with real horns. Expression,
dynamics, and nuance count for a lot in weather an idea you have works.
Without picking up an instrument, think about where and how the horns
would work in your song. Would you have the hor ns on the chorus for a nice
build, and maybe add something small to the nd or 3rd verse? If I add
horns to the bridge should it contrast the horns on the chorus? This is the
kind of stuff I think about when I wal k my dogs. I don’t know the exact note s,
but I Know the sound I want, and that will tell me the range the horn will be
played. Low and droning, or high a spicy?
This is the kind of thin g you can get good at with practice, and ther e’s nothing wrong with re-writing your chart. I think Mozart and maybe one other
Russia dude could get it right the first time. Beethoven re-wrote a ton. If
you’re consistently working with a couple horn players it can be a lot of fun.
Try different combinations. Remember the band, WAR? Their horn section
was harmonica and alto sax. What a great sound that was!
Please be in touch and let me know what’s going on with you or any feedback you may have.
Ok, let’s make music.
FS
FRED STICKLEY MUSIC
5