Katie O'Hara LaBrie
Composer • Conductor • Clinician
Academic Festival March
​
Carl Fischer (2022)
Grade 2
A stately march perfect for assessment season. Homophonic rhythms will keep your students together, while a repeated dotted quarter - eighth note motif provides forward energy. Though primarily written in the key of G, this piece touches on several different modes for added color and advancement. Academic Festival March also provides moments of legato playing and section features making it the perfect well-rounded contest piece.
​
*J.W. Pepper Editor's Choice
Music For String Orchestra
Grade 0.5 - 1.5 Grade 2 - 2.5 Grade 3 - 3.5 Grade 4+ Multi-level
A New Adventure
​
Randall Standridge (2025)
Grade 2.5
Embark on A New Adventure with this exhilarating intermediate string orchestra piece by Katie O’Hara LaBrie! Bursting with bright melodies and driven by energetic motor rhythms, this piece captures the excitement of setting out into the unknown. Syncopation sprinkled throughout keeps both performers and audiences on the edge of their seat in anticipation of what’s next. Perfect for concerts or festival performances, A New Adventure will inspire your ensemble to play with enthusiasm and confidence as melodies get passed around all sections. Get ready to explore new musical horizons!​
Bow Olympics
​
Alfred/SmartMusic PerformancePlus+ (2022)
Grade 2.5
Become an Olympian in the Bow Olympics! Learn new bowing techniques and gear up for the excitement of the games with this original composition by Katie O'Hara LaBrie! Dive in with your passion, train hard, and go for the Gold!
Available through SmartMusic and in e-Print from TotalSheetMusic.com and many of your standard distributors
Using a standard SmartMusic Subscription you can access, assign, record, perform and even print this music. As part of the "plus+" factor, you will also find exercises that go along with the piece and educational tips and tricks.
Calm and Bright (Silent Night)
​
FJH Music (2020)
Grade 2.5
​
Lush and rich harmonies surround this inventive arrangement of Franz Gruber’s Silent Night. Phrasing and balance play an important role in this mature work for intermediate players. Sure to enhance your winter concert, each instrument is featured through interwoven melodies and changing time signatures in the contrasting calm and bright sections.
​
*J.W. Pepper Editor's Choice
Dynamic Forces
​
Wingert - Jones (2023)
Grade 2
​
Dynamic Forces explodes into the air with exciting kinetic energy from the start. Throughout the work, students will explore a wide range of dynamics including forte-piano, hairpins, and subito changes, while maintaining a spirited motor rhythm of eighth notes and eighth rests. Sections get equal time performing melodies and active rhythmic motives. A great opener or closer to any concert!
*J.W. Pepper Editor's Choice​
Goblins & Ghouls
​
Randall Standridge Music (2023)
Grade 2
​
Goblins and Ghouls is a suspenseful tune, reminiscent of a horror movie soundtrack. Students will perform extended techniques such as harmonic glissando, playing behind the bridge, ponticello, and more! Optional percussion parts will enhance the spooky spirit with haunting sounds and leave you wondering what’s lurking around the corner.
​
*J.W. Pepper Editor's Choice
Performed at the 2023 Midwest Clinic
Lift Thine Eyes
(Mendelssohn)
​
Kjos (2023)
Grade 2
​
Newly arranged for String Orchestra, "Lift Thine Eyes" from Mendelssohn’s Elijah is a glorious masterpiece. While the notes and rhythms have a sense of beautiful simplicity, you will find this piece perfect for inspiring and developing musicianship in your students. The rich phrasing, dynamic contrast, and rubato will bring your musicians to a new level of maturity.
​
Performed at the 2024 Midwest Clinic
Morning Star
​
MakeMusic Publications (2025)
Grade 2​
​
Morning Star is a musical reflection that reminds listeners to take a brief pause each day to appreciate the beauty that surrounds us. Katie O'Hara LaBrie showcases delicate legato, tenuto, and portato playing, with her flowing melodies gracefully passed between sections. An optional independent piano part enhances the shimmer and provides an opportunity for a student to shine.
Perpetuoso
​
Make Music Publications (2024)
Grade 2.5
This high energy yet playful work utilizes driving, constant eighth notes passed around from section to section. Though it outlines common scale and arpeggio patterns, Perpetuoso is quite unique. Subito dynamics, roaring crescendi, and memorable melodies make this an ideal choice for any program! (2:00)
River Valley Waltz ​
​
Alfred: Belwin (2024)
Grade 2.5
Inspired by a drive through Shenandoah National Park in late autumn, River Valley Waltz is the perfect piece to help your ensembles grow musically. The flowing, memorable melodies, dynamics, and attention to phrasing will inspire your students to perform with expression and grace while developing bow control and tone. Playable entirely in first position (up to third position in bass). Optional fingerings specifically meant to teach cellists how to avoid open A are provided. (2:50)
River Valley Waltz
​
Alfred: Belwin (2024)
Grade 2.5
​
Inspired by a drive through Shenandoah National Park in late autumn, River Valley Waltz, by Katie O'Hara LaBrie, is the perfect piece to help your ensembles grow musically. The flowing, memorable melodies, dynamics, and attention to phrasing will inspire your students to perform with expression and grace while developing bow control and tone. Playable entirely in first position (up to third position in bass). Optional fingerings specifically meant to teach cellists how to avoid open A are provided. (2:50)
​​
Performed at the 2024 Midwest Clinic
River Valley Waltz ​
​
Alfred: Belwin (2024)
Grade 2.5
Inspired by a drive through Shenandoah National Park in late autumn, River Valley Waltz is the perfect piece to help your ensembles grow musically. The flowing, memorable melodies, dynamics, and attention to phrasing will inspire your students to perform with expression and grace while developing bow control and tone. Playable entirely in first position (up to third position in bass). Optional fingerings specifically meant to teach cellists how to avoid open A are provided. (2:50)
Skeleton Waltz
​
Wingert Jones (2021)
Grade 2.5
​
This expertly written and educationally sound programmatic work incorporates chromatic harmony and special effects to create a fun and spooky setting that is reminiscent of the orchestrations of Berlioz and Saint-Saens. This work offers an excellent opportunity to teach multiple bowing techniques, chromaticism, and finger patterns. Play at the written tempo for intermediate orchestras, or speed it up to challenge advanced players.
​
*J.W. Pepper Editor's Choice
TakaTiki​
Excelcia Music Publishing (2022)
Grade 2.5
​
Get ready to be transported to your own little tropical paradise. TakaTiki celebrates the joy of sixteenth notes. All variations of 8th note/16th note combinations are explored while students get to practice counting using “takatiki” syllables (or whichever counting system you prefer). Optional claves & guiro add to the island feel of this entertaining work. Complete with rhythm guides, this piece will get your students into the groove of counting in no time!
Thundersnow!
​
Excelcia Music Publishing (2022)
Grade 2.5
Imagine being in the midst of a blizzard. Snow swirling and blowing everywhere! Then suddenly, out of nowhere… BOOM! It’s Thundersnow! This meteorologic phenomenon that mixes thunder and lightning during a snowstorm has captured the excitement of many weather enthusiasts. In Thundersnow! constant running eight notes enhance the feel of electricity in the air. The turbulent nature of the storm is emulated by the rise and fall of dynamics, while pops of accents explode like thunder.
​
Performed at the 2022 Midwest Clinic
*J.W. Pepper Editor's Choice
To B or Not To B
​
FJH (2022)
Grade 2.5
Major or Minor? Natural or Harmonic? Bâ™® or Bb? These are the questions posed in To B, or Not To B. This jaunty 6/8 tune explores contrasting D Major and D minor modalities while teaching advanced finger patterns that will provide students a solid understanding of the fingerboard and accidentals. The lively spirt of the piece is sure to keep your students and audience engaged and entertained.
​
*J.W. Pepper Editor's Choice
Voyage of Odysseus
​
Randall Standridge Music (2024)
Grade 2.5
Embark on a musical odyssey as we take to the seas in the Voyage of Odysseus! This engaging theme and variations brings to life the epic adventures of Odysseus and his crew by seamlessly weaving Greek mythology and music together through different modes, time signatures and styles.
​
Waltz Macabre​
​
MakeMusic Publications (2025)
Grade 2
In a haunted, moonlit ballroom, ghosts emerge from the shadows to dance a mysterious waltz. Waltz Macabre by Katie O'Hara LaBrie captures the eerie elegance and playful mischief of this ghostly dance in a unique work for strings alone, also designed to work seamlessly with the concert band version to create your very own full orchestra!
