Peter Leitner

Funny Five

I composed this piece for my trumpet ensemble 'Funny Five' (Anton, Maximilian, Tobias, Fabian, Jonas), so they could play it at the 'Prima la musica' competition. Since it is generally difficult to find pieces at this level that are suitable for trumpet quintet, I simply composed one myself. The idea was to tailor the piece exactly to my students from the trumpet teacher's point of view. I also wanted to have the possibility of a quintet instrumentation in a way that each player has a bit of a break every now and then. Still, the movement is composed in at least four voices throughout.
As the word 'funny' suggests, the composition has a funny-cool character. In addition to the groovy melody, this also comes across well in the 'Funny Five' shout at the beginning and in the jazzy trumpet solo that almost asks for improvisation. The four-part harmony and the chorale-like middle section require good intonation. In addition, the big band articulation can be very well emphasised in this composition.
'Funny Five' is suitable for advanced beginners after about four to five years of learning and promises a lot of pleasure in playing - especially for young people.
Peter Leitner, Spring 2021