Peter DeRose

A Marshmallow World

American Christmas song with catchy tune character.
Instrumentation: saxophone quartet s/a-a-a/t-t/b

This arrangement takes up a song by Peter de Rose, which he composed in 1949. The melody quickly catches the ear and the lyrics exuberantly describe what many people feel when it has snowed: Joy! Animals react, children are exuberant and even we adults let ourselves be infected. In fact, our usual colors are missing in nature.

I heard the title on 'Christmas Radio' last December. When something immediately sticks, I make a note of the titles. While researching, I saw that Dean Martin was very successful with the sung version. It couldn't have been the lyrics ...

In this quartet, every voice has its moment musically - no one is left out. The vocal line moves through all the voices so that everyone can enjoy this snowy day. Even the beginning makes it musically clear that it is snowing...

When I was arranging the music, I had a fat snowman in mind, like stacked marshmallows. At his feet, an imaginary snow bunny hopped happily across the snow-covered field. He accompanied me creatively, giving me valuable input and thus musically returning the colors to the arrangement.

It's a Marshmallow World!

Have fun making music! Feel like you're being watched by charcoal eyes winking at you from afar over a bitten carrot.

Undine Engel in September 2025