“Heavenly Descants for Trumpet is a fantastic and comprehensive new resource for trumpeters everywhere. Every trumpet player, from students to professionals, will find these wonderful new descants useful in their church performances. Congratulations Susan on a tremendous project that all trumpeters should have in their library!”

“No church musician should be without this collection of well thought-out, beautifully printed descants. Conveniently cross-referenced for hymnals of five different denominations, trumpeters of intermediate through professional skill levels will find artistic descants for any occasion.”

“Susan Messersmith has utilized her considerable talents as a player, liturgical musician and detail-oriented person to provide a very useful compendium of descants from the most standard hymn tunes. In this convenient collection, she offers a wonderful service to music directors, churches and trumpeters alike: playable, idiomatic descants that are at the same time respectful to the text and, with the C and Bb parts, helpful to all genres of trumpeters. This thorough and practical publication goes to great lengths to lessen the weekly workload of organists and trumpeters everywhere by referencing and including multiple descant versions of the same hymn melody for the different harmonizations. Heavenly Descants for Trumpet is a handy and valuable addition to every trumpeter’s library.”

“Susan Messersmith has created a wonderful collection of descants, that will resonate meaningfully for accomplished trumpeters who are regularly asked – sometimes impromptu – to supply descants on the final (or perhaps other) verse. Through her well-constructed obligato lines for these well-known hymns, it is very clear that Mrs. Messersmith knows these hymns, and understands the needs for organists and choirs/congregations very well, supplying added punch when desired, or retreating when called for by the text. On a practical basis, the collection is well constructed and clearly delineated (including multiple versions of Ein feste Burg, for example), while always allowing the player to choose Bb or C trumpet. This will make a nice edition for any professional or well-trained amateur trumpeter.”