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Second Suite in F for Military Band

Gustav Holst (1874–1934) · sheet music

  • Key F major
  • Time 2/2
  • Levels 7–9
  • Passages 44

Your turn · both hands

 

 

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Gustav Holst, English modern (1874–1934). The reading release has 44 passages from this piece at levels 7–9; the reader above opens on the easiest, bars 41–44 for both hands together.

Practice the hard bars →

The hardest stretch is bars 17–24 at level 9.

Your practice path

Learn it the way teachers do: each hand on its own, then together, then the hard bars. Each step is a real graded passage of Second Suite in F for Military Band.

  1. Hands together · bars 41–44 level 7
  2. The hardest bars · bars 17–24 level 9

How to play Second Suite in F for Military Band

  1. Tempo:Holst marks the march at half note = 100, two beats to the bar. Learn it well below that and think in two, since a steady pulse matters more than reaching the marked speed.
  2. Right hand:Most of the tunes sit in the right hand and are simple folk melodies. Sing each one first so you know where the phrases breathe, then play it with a connected touch.
  3. Left hand:The left hand supplies the band's bass line and off-beat chords. Play the bass notes short and firm in the march, and keep them quieter than the tune.
  4. Hands together:Practice the hands together in short phrases, with the left hand a shade softer. In the 6/8 trio, keep the hands locked on the two big beats before adding any speed.
  5. Rhythm:Where the Blacksmith passages shift between 4/4 and 3/4, tap the beat with one hand and clap the written rhythm with the other before you play.
  6. Dynamics:A band score changes color by changing instruments, and on piano you have to do that with volume. Give each new folk tune its own dynamic level so the entrances are audible.
  7. Practice:Pick the one tune you can already hum and learn that passage first. Add the harmony one hand at a time before combining.
  8. Reading:Check the key signature before each passage, since the movements shift between major, minor, and modal sounds. A flat or sharp that does not belong to F major is usually a clue to a modal or minor turn.

Common mistakes

  • Rushing the march because the bass line feels simple. Fix: Set a metronome at a moderate walking tempo and keep it there until both hands feel unhurried.
  • Playing every note at the same volume so the folk tune gets buried in the accompaniment. Fix: Practice the accompaniment alone very softly, then add the tune on top so it clearly leads.
  • Counting the 6/8 trio in six even beats so it loses its lilt. Fix: Feel two dotted-quarter beats to the bar and let the groups of three eighths subdivide each one.
  • Losing the shape of a slow tune by stopping after each phrase. Fix: Connect phrase ends to the next entry by listening to the note you are leaving and planning the next breath.

Structure: four-movement suite of folk-song settings

The suite has no single large form. It is four contrasting movements, each built on English folk tunes, running from a march through a slow song and a blacksmith scene to a fast, looping finale. The passages on this page come from the first three movements.

I · March (F major)
A march with a half-note pulse that strings together three folk tunes, then a trio in B-flat minor that changes to 6/8. Expect steady march phrases first and a five-flat key signature in the trio.
II · Song Without Words, I'll Love My Love (F Dorian)
A slow, singing movement in F Dorian over a gentle accompaniment. On the page it carries a four-flat signature with D naturals, which is what gives it the modal color, so it rewards smooth legato and careful voicing.
III · Song of the Blacksmith (F major)
A rhythmic movement that alternates 4/4 and 3/4, with off-beat chords standing in for the brass and the anvil. Counting the changing meter is the main reading challenge.
IV · Fantasia on the Dargason (F major)
A fast 6/8 finale built on a tune that keeps repeating while Greensleeves is woven over it in 3/4. It is not among the passages on this page.

About Second Suite in F for Military Band

Gustav Holst wrote the Second Suite in 1911, two years after he had written piano accompaniments for Folk Songs from Hampshire, a set of songs collected by George Gardiner, and seven traditional tunes run through its four movements. He dedicated it to James Causley Windram. It was not published until 1922, and it is longer and harder to play than his First Suite in E-flat.

The first movement is a march that weaves together a Morris dance tune called Glorishears with the songs Swansea Town and Claudy Banks. The second is a song without words on the ballad I'll Love My Love, passed between clarinet, oboe, and trumpet. The third imitates a working forge, with an anvil written into the score, and the last is the Fantasia on the Dargason.

That finale is the best-known movement. The Dargason is a dance tune from Playford's Dancing Master of 1651, and Holst lets Greensleeves enter on top of it while the Dargason keeps running underneath. He reused the idea, in string-orchestra dress, as the closing movement of his St. Paul's Suite.

  • Holst wrote an anvil into the score of the third movement, Song of the Blacksmith, which closes on a D major chord that leads straight into the finale.
  • The trio of the opening march turns to B-flat minor and switches to 6/8, a dark and lilting contrast in the middle of a march.
  • In the Dargason finale the Dargason tune moves in 6/8 while Greensleeves is heard in 3/4, so the two tunes fight each other rhythmically on purpose.
  • Gordon Jacob arranged the suite for full orchestra in the 1940s under the title A Hampshire Suite.

Why the first passage is level 7

That passage is level 7 rather than 6 because its chords stretch wide.

This is a reduction of a wind-band score, so lines that different instruments played are gathered into two hands. Expect melodies that jump between registers and chords that would normally be spread across the band.

Questions about Second Suite in F for Military Band

How hard is Second Suite in F for Military Band to play?
Its passages grade from level 7 to level 9 on Real Sight Reader's ten-level reading scale, so the full piece is intermediate to advanced reading. The hardest stretch is bars 17–24 at level 9.
Is there an easy part of Second Suite in F for Military Band for beginners?
Its easiest passage is level 7, so it suits a reader past the beginner stage. Start with bars 41–44 for both hands together, the level-7 passage in the reader at the top of this page; it is level 7 because its chords stretch wide.
What key and time signature is Second Suite in F for Military Band in?
Second Suite in F for Military Band is in F major, 1 flat. The engraving on this page is in 2/2 time.
Who composed Second Suite in F for Military Band?
Gustav Holst, English modern (1874–1934). Gustav Holst wrote the Second Suite in 1911, two years after he had written piano accompaniments for Folk Songs from Hampshire, a set of songs collected by George Gardiner, and seven traditional tunes run through its four movements.
Can I practice Second Suite in F for Military Band online for free?
Yes. The reader on this page plays any of the 44 graded passages from Second Suite in F for Military Band in your browser, with an on-screen keyboard or a MIDI keyboard, and marks every note as you play. No signup.
What are the folk songs in Holst's Second Suite?
The first movement uses Glorishears, Swansea Town, and Claudy Banks. The second is built on I'll Love My Love, the third on A Blacksmith Courted Me, and the finale on the Dargason with Greensleeves.
Is this a band piece or a piano piece?
It is a work for military (wind) band, and the page shows a piano reduction so you can read the lines a band would share between instruments.
What is the Dargason?
It is an old English country dance tune that appears in Playford's Dancing Master of 1651. Holst turns it into a looping tune that other melodies are layered over.

Every passage, easiest first

The reading release grades 44 distinct passages of this piece. Open any of them in the reader:

Level 7
bars 41–44 both hands · bars 85–88 both hands · bars 89–92 both hands · bars 89–96 both hands · bars 101–104 both hands · bars 169–172 both hands · bars 169–176 both hands · bars 173–176 both hands
Level 8
bars 5–8 both hands · bars 9–12 both hands · bars 9–16 both hands · bars 13–16 both hands · bars 28–35 both hands · bars 81–84 both hands · bars 97–100 both hands · bars 97–104 both hands · bars 105–108 both hands
Level 9
bars 17–24 both hands · bars 17–20 both hands · bars 28–51 both hands · bars 41–48 both hands · bars 45–48 both hands · bars 105–112 both hands · bars 109–116 both hands · bars 109–112 both hands · bars 113–116 both hands · bars 113–120 both hands · bars 117–120 both hands · bars 121–128 both hands · bars 121–124 both hands · bars 125–128 both hands · bars 129–132 both hands · bars 129–136 both hands · bars 133–136 both hands · bars 137–140 both hands · bars 137–144 both hands · bars 141–144 both hands · bars 145–148 both hands · bars 145–152 both hands · bars 149–152 both hands · bars 153–156 both hands · bars 153–160 both hands · bars 157–160 both hands · bars 197–200 both hands

More pieces to sight-read

Score: public-domain engraving from the corpus (pdmx), graded by the piano-reading-v2-20261023-identity-audit reading release.

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