Welcome to our podcast, Band BFFs.
The podcast where we make your music selection less complicated.
On today's episode, we're going to be discussing Bazaar by Randall Standridge.
Cheers to starting the conversation!
Alright so this piece is marked as a grade 1 plus and it is definitely emphasis on the
plus.
So while the it's in the key of concert E flat or C minor, 4-4 throughout, it's only
two minutes in length, but two clarinet parts, two trumpet parts, but there are lots of accidentals,
stylistic considerations, percussion parts, lots of things that make this a little bit
beefier grade 1.
For sure.
So at the very beginning, your low brass and low reeds are going to start you off and
it's really important to set up your style now at the beginning of the piece because
it's going to be copy paste for the rest of those songs.
So make sure that it's short, short, long, long, short, short, long, long, short, short,
and then when the clarinets enter at 3, your low brass are going to come down in dynamic
and your bells are going to take over with the cool melodic part underneath.
One of the best ways I think to teach something like that is by teaching it on a concert F.
Yep.
So just get it all out of the way and just have the band play that rhythm with the style
markings on a concert F so you can unify that across the ensemble before you even worry
about the notes.
For sure.
And looking at percussion, I know Laura already mentioned it, but oh my gosh, there is so
much on this piece and actually they're really all pretty important.
So it would be pretty difficult to say goodbye to a part just because they kind of all have
an important little, I don't know, part at some point during the piece, which I'll point
out.
It has so much color and texture.
For sure.
The bongos are very important at the very beginning and they make it sound like a bizarre
and then when the bells come in at 3, that adds a new little melodic part.
You can kind of go with the hard acrylic melts that it says or you can play around and see
if you want something a little lighter.
It kind of just depends on the instrumentation of your band.
Then you have the flutes coming in with the melody at pick up to five.
So it's pretty important to have a good flute section.
But if you don't, you could always have the alto saxophones play the cues there.
Also again, tapering in the clarinets playing softer at five underneath the flutes.
So I always talk about how it should sound like people are going away every two measures
so that we don't have to have the flutes play louder and louder and louder.
Just make everybody else play underneath them.
Your alto saxophones, when they do come in at nine, they can be on B flat on their instrument
all the way until measure 42.
So that's a good thing as you're going through your parts.
Laura and I both believe in marking students parts before we play them.
So we'll take a set of the parts and we'll go through them and study them.
Make sure that we've got accidentals written in if that's necessary, telling flutes which
side of the flute to be on, if there's any oboe pinky considerations or for clarinet.
That way we're doing as much work ahead of time as possible.
So when we're teaching it, we already know that the kids have it marked on their part.
Plus it also helps you just when you look at the students part individually separate
from your score, it gives you a way better idea of what the kids are dealing with and
how to approach it and how to teach it to them.
For sure.
Then we have at measure eight, big moment for the French horn and the oboe.
But I always let horn lead here and oboe colors them.
Then when low brass enter at nine, like trombone, euphonium, bassoon, they always like to come
in really loud.
And so they'll end up covering up the flute part.
So I always ask them to make sure that they cross out the M and just make a B piano.
At 11, the layering in the trumpet, they get to come in pretty strong.
Then crescendo up into 12.
And then the whole band is going to day crescendo going into 13.
There's also a finger symbol part, which a lot of times people like forget about it.
So just make sure you bring that out because that does add to the cool colors and textures
of the piece.
Accidentals everywhere.
So make sure that your students understand the accidental rule that they're carrying
that through the measure if you have not pre marked that in their parts for them.
And then where we have these double parts like in clarinet, making sure one of the parts
changes notes, one of them stays the same, making sure that we're bringing out the notes
that change.
Once we get to 13, we have kind of a new idea.
Now you've got this three measures in a row of straight eighth notes and the flutes in
the clarinet part.
And that is for younger players, their tendency is going to be for those to be very compressed
for them to rush.
So as I'm teaching it, I would teach it tongued.
I would have them play it all tongued at the very beginning and then add the slurs and
as you get going, just to ensure that their fingers are moving really evenly.
You may even consider for some of your players, you may need to have them tongue it all the
way up until, you know, just before the performance, you know, be covered up by the slur probably.
So just just know that that's a teaching technique for that.
It says here on the part, it has crescendo written in.
I always have my students physically draw that in.
We ignore the text.
So if you don't mark that in their parts for them, have them write that in so that we all
see that this horn line horn and alto and tenor line is the is the lead melody until
trumpets come in when trumpets come in at measure 15.
They're kind of leading the charge on the crescendo going into measure 17.
Now we've got this trill thing happening at 16.
Katie and I both agree.
We feel pretty strongly about trills.
They are in effect.
They're really cool.
Well Katie says she doesn't really like it.
Just don't really love trills.
I will.
On this piece, actually, it is pretty fun.
I'm not a flute player.
I love trills.
But definitely when students play trills, they don't always sound great when you put
all of your kids on those trills.
So I would audition that for one or two players to play the trill.
Everybody else just hold the sustained note out.
Find the best kid, the kids that can move their fingers the best and make the trill.
What it's intended to be, which is an effect.
Also, yeah, it should not cover up the sax and horn line because that's the important
part leading up along with the timpani leading up into 17.
And with the flutes on that C above the staff, like, I mean, yeah, that's going to be loud
and sharp.
It is.
It's going to be really shrill.
We have China cymbal.
And China cymbal is such an important effect in this piece.
For sure.
But the tendency for China cymbal is to be way too loud.
Right.
So make sure that's it.
Yeah, calm down a little bit.
There's one volume.
Yeah, one volume.
And then timpani leads into 18 and we're doing kind of the same forte piano effect that
we had back from the trumpets at 15.
So ask them to make sure that they get softer and then lead up.
And you can obviously see that in their stick heights here at 19.
We're going to continue making sure that we match style.
Yeah.
So this is like this idea, this da, da, da, da, da, da.
This happens several times throughout the piece.
This is one of those things we've talked about in one of our previous episodes, a melody
studies or doing a melody sheet.
This would be like take common themes, melodic themes that happen in a piece, write them out
for everyone in the band.
And that really helps you to teach it more efficiently, more effectively.
And it gives people who may not have a part that moves around a lot an opportunity to
play something kind of fun.
That is a great way to approach this section to ensure that you get the style right.
We even did it like when we play it, we do it on our daily drill, doing it on a Remington
exercise.
F, F, F, F, F, F.
And then we'd go to E, E, E, E, E, but doing the same style.
So just find different creative ways that you can really, really incorporate that style
to drill it into the kids ears.
Clarinets and altos are really important in this conversation, along with the mallet percussion.
They get the cool one and two and three and four and the response to the rest of the band.
So making sure fingers are moving evenly, we're getting all the right notes, all of that.
And digging into the low notes too.
Da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da.
Yes, yes, yes.
I always talk about leading more as you go down.
Gosh, you've just really got to know your percussion parts super well on this piece,
too, because there's so much.
It's all really cool effects.
Like you've got a big timpani moment going into 23 here.
You know, just really don't forget to look at the bottom part of your score as you're
studying.
As we go into 27 and leading into 30, we have more accents here.
You have a big trumpet two moment where they're changing pitches and you want to make sure
the students that are moving on the quarter notes, that they bring their notes out more
than the half notes.
Well, and right here before measure 32, that measure of rest, right, that is a measure that
can kind of catch kids off guard.
That's a percussion solo, a little percussion break there.
They lead into that 27 and 28.
And then all of a sudden it's like this effect where you have, yeah, and kids will miss that.
Yeah, because they're like, da, da, da, da, da.
Oh, there should be another note, but there's not.
So they need to circle that rest and write silence or percussion or whatever, timpani
get to do that cool forte piano leading in again.
And then at 30, we're kind of back to what we had at the beginning, except now we're
adding in these little trill effects, which are fun.
Like I said, this is a piece I kind of like the trill, but you get to trill and the start
loud and get softer.
So a good way to teach this would be to play just the trill first without the dynamic to
make sure that they're actually making it all the way to beat one of 33 because they
pass it off.
It's the high trill and then the medium trill with alto sax and tenor sax.
So making sure that they go all the way to the next voice is important.
Then you can add in the day crescendo as you go lower.
And we have a lot of beat four pickups in this section.
First it starts with the trumpets.
And I have had trumpets like miss this entrance a lot of times when I've played this piece.
So I will train my trumpets to verbally count in the rest.
One, two, three, four, one, two.
So that way they're coming in with confidence and not missing that pickup note and getting
off with the melody since they're all alone on it.
And the technique and the trumpets.
I know.
Yeah, they have to do a lot of different stuff at 36.
So again, like Laura mentioned, taking the slurs out and just tonguing it to start is
important just so that way they don't rush their fingers.
The shaker is very important here at 34.
This is the rhythmic part.
This is the metronome.
So make sure you have a really confident player on the shaker who can shake correctly and
not get faster and faster.
Low brass needs to come way out of the way here so the trumpets get to take the lead.
We have that trill effect come back in the flutes, but this time only with them and tenor
sax.
So that's kind of cool and we want to make sure that they continue that on.
But then horn, alto and oboe get to bring out their little conversational part with
the trumpets at 37.
I will always have my trumpets draw in a breath market 37 so that way they can come in again
confidently on the pickup note into 38 on the melody and now flutes get to join them
so they need to make sure that they play really confidently.
This time we have accents on one, two, three, four.
So making sure we bring that out in the melody and then again 40 and 41 are real tricky in
the trumpet part and there's split trumpet parts here.
So making sure the kids all know how high they're going to jump up and I would do one
note at a time to make sure that aligns really well for them and then we're off right on
three and 41 so that low brass get to take over.
So now low brass take the lead and right there this would be a place that even if your trombones
are playing on trigger horns I would have them do that C in sixth position.
It makes more sense going from sixth to fifth that C to D flat.
I would have that marked in their part so that they do that.
That's way easier technique than going from trigger one all the way out to fifth.
They're going to be less likely to miss that D flat if they do that in sixth position.
Then at 42 a couple of other instrument specific things.
The flutes need to be prepared.
They have been on the B flat thumb up to this point.
They now need to it needs to be marked in their part at 42 just to shift to the natural
side of the flute and as Katie mentioned earlier the altos need to go to the regular B key
here as well as they prepare for this little section at 42.
So a little bit different idea but again low brass have the melody.
All of this stays in the same little range.
The technique for the low brass isn't terribly difficult because of where the notes lay but
you just need to make sure that articulation is spot on for them and tuning is spot on.
And then again when we add in the upper woodwinds the flute and the oboe making sure that those
flutes are on the natural side of the flute.
When we get to 46 it's soft.
Hold on real quick back at 44.
Also flutes tend to see that B natural and then they'll miss the A flat in 45.
Weirdly enough that happens every single time I play this piece so make sure flute and oboe
have the A flat marked.
Same thing down.
Nope.
Just those two.
And then 44 also is a great moment where low brass love to breathe there because they
just did their one.
Yeah do that we'll have to.
Dah, dah, dah, dah, dah, dah...
Take a breath.
Dah, but they don't want to do that.
Do not let them do that.
They need to put a no breath there in an arrow because if they breathe there then it's super
awkward before the flutes and oboes have entered coming into 45.
make sure they draw a no breath there. Now go ahead on the piano. Right at 46,
yeah, so now we've changed dynamics. This is going to be piano for the whole
ensemble and percussion need to be real intentional about changing their dynamic
level here as well. Alright, so piano, but it's piano, it's still bell tone, so
there still needs to be intense air and a firm articulation at the start of those
notes, but dropping our volume down. Now we have these eighth notes that are
moving back and forth. Trumpets obviously have the lead on the melody, but then the
woodwinds are echoing them on beat three. So just making sure that we're
matching as best we can. Firm articulation in the low brass, and once again this is
another place where we have the word crescendo written out. I would physically
draw the cymbal in, but then I would have the kids save the bulk of the crescendo
for the last two measures. Let's stay soft for a couple of measures, and then we
like to use a number system. So then I would say in the third measure, this is
measure 48, we would start crescendoing there. Now we're going to go from like a
three to a four to a five. By the time we get to measure 49, now we're at a five
and a six and a seven, so that we land at 50, and now here we go. This is our big
impact moment. And that cool flute oboe trumpet scale coming upward, you want to
make sure that that is the focal point leading into 49, so again you don't want
everybody to crescendo too much to cover that up. Then there is a crunchy note at
49 dissonance between like the flute split and the trumpet one and two
split, so make sure they lean into that. And you've got a horn trill and
everything, so this is a cool part. Yeah, it's really making it be super fun going
into 50. And then just making sure again that we're matching style here, this is a
lot like what we had before. Percussion again gets to have the conversation
with the band. Then we have another little miniature percussion break. This
part is super important. At 57, tambourine comes in all alone on this really neat
tambourine part that we haven't had before, adding to the cool effects of the
bizarre. And I have had tambourines, tambourine players before feel that they
come in at 58 because that's where the band comes in, so I always make sure I
cue my tambourine players and tell the kids, tambourine and timpani and snare
are gonna lead us in and then we all come back in at 58. And then horns get to be
important here. Tambourine is as visual as it is aural. For sure. This is like a
cool tambourine thing, so forte piano roll, shake roll. We need to like strike it
and then get the tambourine down and shake roll as they're they should raise
the tambourine up as they're doing that. And every one of these rolls in this
section, in my opinion, I would strike it every time when they are starting the
roll and when they release the roll every time. Absolutely. So then we've got
again a real similar accompaniment here but now horns and trumpet has the
main melody with clarinet, but horn gets this really cool counter melody. They
need to play a little softer on the long note horn in sax, but saxophone is
coloring the horn and then they need to bring out the eighth notes. So it's a
conversation again. So make sure that they bring that part out because that's
super fun. They keep doing it over and over at 62. We want to make sure the
half notes come down out of the way and don't overplay 64, keeping those nice
tenutoes leading into 65 and we're day crescendoing. And that's hard for low
brass players to do here because we have da da da da da da da da da. So make sure
that they're not like getting longer with their articulation just because
they're day crescendoing. And then we're gonna do the same build up that we had
before where we start piano and build it up and try not to let the the forte
pianos cover up all the moving parts throughout here. 71, another percussion
break, big timpani moment at 71. Have written in on your kids parts to look up
at the end so that way we can all enter together at 71 for that last little bit
of style. Yeah and then this end you want to make sure on the percussion part
everything needs to ring at the end. So the band and percussion do not end
together. Da da da da da da. Cha cha cha. In the percussion section everything needs
to ring. So that's an opportunity we don't dampen the timpani. We don't dampen
the china cymbal. We want to hear that cool effect of that china cymbal ring
at the end. This is such a cool piece. Kids love this piece. Because it sounds like a
movie soundtrack and I just I have played it a lot of times because I really
think it's so much fun. So I hope that this has helped and that you will
consider programming Bazaar in your next concert. Thank you for joining us on this
episode of Band BFFs.