"I searched for classically based Christmas recordings done specifically by small ensembles and simply couldn't find much. That's why I decided to create a collection of fresh arrangements of classic Christmas carols and songs performed exclusively by small ensembles." –D.D.T. Brahms♬The Bio of D.D.T. BrahmsReferred to as “Terri” by most of his friends, D.D.T. is suspected to be 1/144th Brahms on his mother’s side. Without a DNA test it’s a bit speculative but there’s always a chance. You may be wondering how D.D.T. got his name. Well, you see, young Brahms’ mother, “Mrs. B” had done run sugarplum out of ideas as the time drew nigh for her 13th child to arrive so she asked her 5-year-old Lilly-by for a suggestion. D.D.T.’s older sister Lilly was named in honor of one of her great-to-the-eighth Uncle Johannes’s more familiar compositions but thanks to auto-correct Lullaby became Lilly-bye. Gotta love technology. Anyway, as Mrs. B grew increasingly frantic and the contractions transitioned from moderato to scherzo, Lilly was busily playing fetch with the family pet, Dinky Dynamo Terrier and so she blurted the beloved animal’s more common abbreviated moniker, “D.D.T.” and there you have it. As fate (or coincidence, whichever you prefer) would have it, Dinky Dynamo is a fair and fitting name for the Purveyor of small ensemble pieces since a small ensemble is, by its very nature, a small but fierce dynamo. As William Shakespeare wrote just before scratching the line out and writing it slightly differently: “Though they be but little, yet they are a dynamo!” Some of you are no doubt thinking, “Gee, it’s too bad that the initials D.D.T. also stand for Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, the highly toxic main ingredient in highly controversial mosquito spray, because one would think how tempting it would be for cruel classmates to fall over ‘dead’ when Terri walked within mosquito killing distance.” Not to worry. Terri was consoled by the fact that classmates as ridiculous as these are in fact peskier and quite a bit easier to swat than most actual mosquitoes. But we digress. The relative truth is that Terri developed an interest in music and very small ensembles in very large part because he tended to fall down repetitively when attempting to ski in Austria where he spent five and three quarters of his formative years. Several of his school teachers penned in diaries, written a century or so after their teaching careers had ended, that they had each, on many occasions, urged Terri to, “please refrain from rapping out that wretched rhythm” on his desk. Evidently D.D.T. suffered greatly as a youngster, “From a relentless and repetitive rhythm,” knocking about in his non-conformist noggin. With dogged determination (rather Terrier-like when you think about it) Terri organized small ensembles for talent shows at his schools, almost always requesting (or should we say demanding) that his fellow musicians wear hats decorated with Christmas ornaments. Though D.D.T. never made it big on The YouTube, he determined to produce a record album of his favorite Christmas tunes, having them painstakingly arranged by Clark Cothern for the dinky dynamo-like Quintets, Quartets, and one lonely (and extremely dinky) trio for Winds. D.D.T. hopes you enjoy the fun fact that he failed at skiing and that maybe, just maybe, you’ll listen to these small ensemble Christmas tunes and get one of those pesky incessant rhythms stuck in your own doggone musical noggin so you’ll know how it feels. ♬D.D.T. Brahms’ Small But Fierce Ensemble Personnel:Colton Hardcastle – Double Reeds And First Chair GlockenspielRocky Winston – Single Reeds, Upper Mallets And Nutella Expert Ellie Vaughan-Williams – Upper Brass And the Team BaristaSkye Hamiltonian – Lower Brass And Medium Rare Mallets Callandra Sassanista – Flutes And Floral ArrangementsAlexander Hamiltonian – No relationship to Skye – French Horn And Synths Colin Reid – Recording Engineer And Aspiring Train EngineerClark Cothern – Arranger of Chairs, Music And Lower Mallets♬Sheet music for almost every arrangement on this album (with the sad and lonely exception of Frosty the Snowman Music Box – It’s a long story) is available either at sheetmusicplus dot com or musicforbrass dot com. At those two sites you can purchase and download the score and parts for each of your favorite arrangements for your very own ensemble rehearsal and performance pleasure. For those of you who are interested, all the tracks on this album were composed in Finale and the quality instrumental sounds you hear are thanks to the Garritan Virtual Orchestra. All tracks are registered with BMI.