For Children - Flexible 5 Parts & Optional Percussion

World-renowned Hungarian composer Béla Bartók (1881-1945) made great achievements in the collection and analysis of Eastern European folk songs while incorporating them into his own works.
This "For Children" (BB53) was composed in 1908-09 based on Hungarian and Slovak folksongs and children's songs, used for learning piano.
Those simple folk melodies gained remarkable vitality due to Bartok's unique harmony and arrangement, and his handling also acquired high artistic worth.

Here, the following eight songs are extracted from the first collection of 40 songs based on Hungarian folk songs and arranged into a flex formation consisting of 5 parts for wind instruments and 3 parts for percussion.

1. Children at Play
27. Jest
26. Matchmaking Song
21. Drinking Song
28. Chorale
36. Drunkard's Song
37. Swine-herd's Song
38. Winter Solstice Song

These eight songs are included with the intention of being one suite for of concert band.
Given keys have also been altered in various ways for the sake of continuity and the range of the flex instrumentation.

In order to avoid the monotony of tone that often occurs in flex formations, by giving instructions such as "(if possible) woodwind only/brass only/solo", the flex formation can better maximize various colors of the original movements.
In addition, parts for stringed instruments are included for use by school orchestras, which tend to lack this type of repertoire for beginning and intermediate players.
(Keiichi Kurokawa)