Guitar Ensemble
The ensemble pieces below were written or arranged specifically for my high school students, keeping both their technical ability and aesthetic enjoyment in mind. Since I have first through fourth-year students in my program, you should be able to find pieces to match the skill level of your particular high school or college guitar ensemble.

Almost all of my students enter the guitar program with no guitar or music-reading skills. Therefore, in addition to teaching fundamental technique in both pop and classical guitar, the first semester of the first year is spent building reading skills in the context of learning guitar duets. A few of these duets are listed below. The rest are in the beginning book.  By the second semester, students start learning the beginning quartets below. These can be played as student quartets or as a large ensemble. I've listed them in the order they are presented in the book. The intermediate and advanced duets and quartets are for my second through fourth-year students. These are not  listed in any progressive order or level of difficulty.

Below, you can listen to a recording of the pieces and download the score and parts to fit your needs. All gratis.*
​If you are a guitar educator, keep in mind that the beginning quartets and duets are already contained in the beginning book, which can be downloaded or viewed on the eBook, both on the Curriculum page.  

*You are free to download these scores and parts and are encouraged to perform these works. However, like any of the material on this website, you are strictly forbidden to repost, publish and/or sell this music in any form or context.  You are also free to share your recorded performance of this music on social media, such as Facebook, YouTube or your school's website, but you are strictly prohibited from selling that performance or receiving compensation in any form or context. This includes, but not limited to selling your audio and/or video recordings of my compositions or arrangements in CD format or on digital platforms and streaming media services, such as Spotify or iTunes. If you are interested in recording any of this music for the purpose of commercially distributing and selling it, please contact me and I will be happy to send you a license agreement. Thank you. 

Guitar Ensemble Library

Click on the + sign next to the title to listen to a recording of the piece and download a pdf of the score and parts.
(🎄While being appropriate for any concert setting, these pieces also work well in a Christmas/Winter concert)

BEGINNING QUARTETS​ 

Ode To Joy (beethoven)
arr. Lou Warde
Finale (Saint-Saens)
Finlandia (Sibelius)
Be thou my vision (Trad. Irish)
Here is love (TRAD. welsh)
yosemite (Lou WardE)

BEGINNING  DUETS

ARIETTA (D. Turk)
In this duet, the key signature is introduced.
Bouree (j.s. bach)
The rhythmic independence of each part can be a challenge for my first-semester students.
Allegro (Mozart)
An introduction to 16th notes.
Four-string melody (Warde)
As part of the beginning book curriculum, this duet is a uses a melody played on the first four string of the guitar only.

​INTERMEDIATE - ADVANCED DUETS & TRIOS

GYMNOPÉDIE NO. 1 (SATIE)
TWO-PART INVENTION NO. 1 (J.S. BACH)
Cibel (Jean Baptiste Loeillet)
ORIENTAL (ENRIQUE GRANADOS)
Recording coming soon...
A LITTLE FUGUE (Lou WARDE)
A short and relatively simple little fugue. 
Suite for two (Lou Warde) 2019
​The three pieces that make up this suite were intended to be performed together, as a set.  Below is a pdf of  the set. However, for those who wish to perform individual pieces from the set, I've made separate scores, for your convenience, which will be in the corresponding cells.
          1. Suave
          2. You are me
          3. cirCUS PARADE
ave maria (F. schubert)
Below are two versions of this arrangement. The "1st Position" version, is perhaps slightly easier since it incorporates open strings, but as a result, it is less warm and expressive than the other version. 

ARRANGEMENTS FOR QUARTET

three Songs from Great Britain

The three pieces that make up this collection,  Dacw 'Ngharia, The Water is Wide and Scarborough Fair, were intended to be performed together, as a set.  For your convenience, I've made a singe pdf of the three scores with  parts. For those who wish to perform individual pieces from the set, you can download (and listen to) these pieces below.

        1. Dacw 'Nghariad (Wales)​
         2. The Water is Wide (Scotland)​
        3. Scarborough Fair​ (England)
CAROL OF THE BELLS (M. LEONTOVYCH)🎄

Trad. Carol by Mykola Leontovych, arr. Lou Warde

CHORALE (J.S. BACH)🎄

from St. Matthew Passion, BWV 244, arr. Lou Warde

AIR (J.S. BACH)

from Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D Major, BWV 1068

IL EST BEL ET BON (PIERRE PASSEREAU)🎄
HABANERA (GEORGES BIZET)

​from Carmen, Act I, arr. Lou Warde

IN THE HALL OF THE MOUNTAIN KING (GRIEG)
GYMONOPÉDIE (SATIE)

​from Peer Gynt, Suite I, Op. 46, No. 4, arr. Lou Warde

​NEW INTERMEDIATE – ADVANCED QUARTETS  (Warde)

bella (2016)🎄

South Carolina Music Educators Association
2020-2021 All-State virtual Guitar Orchestra 

 France Guitar Ensemble
of Francis Poulenc Conservatory,
Rosny sous Bois, France

first snow (2016)🎄
"I love how subtle First Snow begins and then increases in complexity like wind throwing the snow around."   – J. Petri
tango for four (2016)
The musical content between the two versions is identical. The only difference between the two is that in Version 2, Guitar 3 and 4 switch parts at the repeat of the first section (mm. 9-24).
Étude (2016)
This piece works well towards the beginning of the second year as a study focusing on two areas:
1.) Playing a melody note (with a rest stroke) and bass note  at the same time. This can be technically  challenging at first.
2.) An introduction to playing out of first position.
long road home (2016)
This performance was a collaboration with Wilson High School's Dance and Guitar Departments, for the Grand Re-Opening of Wilson's School auditorium, October 11, 2018. Choreography by Brook Sudock-Baxter.
​Michelle Jusionis, Director of Dance.
spanish garden (2016)
november (2016)🎄
Moon rising (2016)
GESTURES suite (2018)
Gestures is a collection of four miniatures for guitar quartet, each less than two minutes long. The imagery and feelings each piece evokes in me are very poignant, and I was going to title each piece accordingly. However, in the end, I didn't want to influence the listener's own response, so, I kept the titles neutral.

Obviously, being a suite, these four pieces are intended to be performed together. Of course, you have the option not to. To accommodate that, I provided the score and parts for each piece, rather than one file with all four pieces.​
      1. march
      2. Passacaglia (2016)🎄
      3. Waltz
      4. Rhapsody
Sunset paradise (2019)
Six Bells (2019)🎄
Technical ​Levels:
​Guitar 1 & 2: Intermediate/Advanced
Guitar 3: Intermediate
Guitar 4: Beginning/Intermediate
Wind & Willows (2020)
Dance de montebello (2021)

In Memory of Bob Croghan

Shades of Green (2021)
she dreams of argentina (2021)
A thanksgiving (2021)
Blue Mango (2022)
volo (2022)
galya's dance (2022)

GUITAR QUARTET & STRINGS (Warde)

MAMA'S LULLABY (2017)
GUITAR QUARTET & VIOLIN or cell0
MUSIC FOR A LOONIE (2018)
GUITAR ENSEMBLE AND STRING SYMPHONY
Commissioned by the
Vancouver Symphony Orchestra School of Music
for its Orpheum Showcase Concert, June 24, 2018
This commission was written specifically for a beginning to intermediate string and guitar ensemble. Therefore, from a technical perspective, this piece should be manageable for 2nd – 3rd year a high school string and guitar ensemble.
The performance in the above video was taken at a much slower tempo than I intended. Below is a recording with guitar quartet and sampled strings at the appropriate tempo.