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 our Kingsland Spring by Sam Hazo.
Cheers to starting the conversation.
This piece, oh my gosh, I love this piece.
Me too, it's one of my favorites.
It's an oldie but a goodie.
This one was published in 2005.
And personally, this was my first experience with Samuel Hazo's music and I love his writing.
I love the way he writes.
This piece is an E-flat, concert E-flat throughout.
It's about three and a half minutes long.
And while it's in three, four most of the time, it does go to a half time, four, four
feel a couple of times throughout.
I love this piece too.
And Laura and I both agree.
It's one of my favorites.
It's come back in my repertoire many times throughout my career as a band director.
And I just think it's beautiful.
It has so many great moments for many different instruments.
So I just wanted to say all that before we started.
The piece starts off very thinly scored with your vibraphone player getting to be the pulse
of the band.
You want to make sure you have them on the right kind of mallets.
You can experiment here.
Last time I played it, they were on like maroon mallets.
I remember that.
I don't know what that means.
But we tried different ones to make sure it was the right vibraphone mallets for us.
You want to make sure it's articulate enough that you hear the rhythm.
Yes.
Then the low reeds are playing.
You can talk about some stagger breathing, A's and B's.
You're going to breathe on odd measures.
You're going to breathe on even measures.
So that way it just kind of sounds like a drone throughout.
You also want to make sure your flutes just sound so beautiful here.
It could be a flute solo or solo if you needed it to be since they're all alone at the beginning
on this beautiful melody, making sure that they're using lots of vibrato as they're leading
into the rest each time as they play the melody over and over.
It's a really fast three.
I mean, it almost at moments feels like it's in one.
It's easy for them to make a four bar phrase, but I always have my flutes.
We put a little mini crescendo at the end of every one of those dotted half notes so
that the note does not end softer than it started.
Then right here where the flute takes over again at nine.
Then lows, bottom.
Make sure that they have a big crescendo going into 13.
They tone that quarter note firmly.
They tone the quarter note firmly so you can hear that.
Then the flutes take over again.
Then you've got the low reeds moving on their low part line here.
That's really cool.
I will always have my low or I'll draw in for them a crescendo from 14 to 18 because
that's a cool moment for your low reeds.
Then you have a suspended ride cymbal with a stick here and it adds a really cool little
color.
Your timpani gets to enter with the rest of the band.
This is definitely not a very percussive piece.
If you don't have very many percussionists, this would be a good one for your group for
sure.
But you want to make sure the players that you do have on the parts are confident.
That vibe part is major, major important.
The suspended cymbal part is really important.
At 21, we add the oboes in.
Now we have the oboes with the same melodic line that the flutes have.
It's a new color.
The alto saxophones and French horns come in with a counter melody which is really, really
important.
That's beautiful.
It is beautiful.
We want to make sure that we're passing that conversation back and forth from those flute
and obo to the alto sax horn line.
The support underneath in the tuba and the low reeds is not covering any of that.
We add in the clarinets for the first time with another little idea at 27.
Horns are now doubling the second clarinets, or second clarinets are now doubling horn,
and we get a little bit different ideas.
So we have a clarinet saxophone color here.
At 29, we come back with that same idea in the flute and obo.
All of these dotted half note chords that are happening underneath are so important.
And anytime something changes, whether it's a quarter note like you see in some of the
lower voices before 29, we add a quarter note leading in.
Whether it's a quarter note or whether their white note is changing, it's always important.
When that note changes, it's always important.
When I've played this before, I've bopped a lot of this piece to make sure that the kids
can hear when the parts are changing and hear the chords changing.
That's really important to do on any of these three, four sections throughout this piece,
just so they can hear it.
And then I know she just said this, but I remember last time I performed this, my first
clarinet was having trouble playing this part at 28 sounding beautiful, like the C was popping
out really loud.
So just make sure that you work on that, not sticking out of the mix there.
Using their right hand down on that A or using the resonant fingering for that A is going
to help that transition to that C as well.
I'm going to need it down for B flat in the next measure, so just keep that right hand
down.
And in fact, where possible, and it's not always possible, especially because this goes
by really fast, but when those clarinets are sitting on a third line B flat for a long
time, I would have them use the...
Versus the A too.
Exactly, exactly.
I would have them use the A key and third side key from the bottom.
It is a way prettier sound on clarinet.
Now technique-wise, it doesn't always work out.
They may not be able to get to that note or to get to that fingering, but where possible
I would do that.
Now when we transition into 35, this is our first half-time feel.
So it is so important, first of all, suspended cymbal leading into 36 is where the full band
comes in, but flute, oboe, first clarinet, and trumpet have pickups, and three and one,
and that is so important.
They need to be...
The tuning needs to be solid.
They need to feel comfortable with exactly how that...
I mean, the tempo changes immediately at 35, immediately.
And always talking to these kids about this part, keeping everything long and full value.
They're gonna wanna go one, two, three, four, a one, and it's four, a one.
You need to make sure that it's longer there, and then two E and a three.
So just making sure...
Not compressing those 16th notes.
Yeah, yeah, don't let it go too fast.
It's just a beautiful little counter melody.
It's cool that the euphonium sound gets to be featured here along with your other mids
like horn and clarinet.
When flute two gets to have that part, so on this piece before, I've had one player on
flute one, maybe two, and then all the rest of my flutes will play the flute two part,
just so that that way we're not constantly saying, okay, flute's too much, flute's too
much.
Yeah, back off, take it down.
Because it is written up really high range-wise for flute and first trumpet on this piece.
So just be aware of that when you're thinking about who you wanna place, can your first
trumpets all sound really good over and over and over up that high F high G.
Yup.
Yeah, and I would make sure that we're using, like Katie mentioned, long-valued notes, but
also firm articulations so that we clearly hear, da, da, da, we wanna hear those note
changes.
On those 16th notes to keep them from compressing, I tell my woodwinds especially to think like
they have Mickey Mouse fingers with those big thick white gloves where they have fat
fingers to help kinda slow their finger speed down.
And like, just don't slur when you first learn it.
Right.
Make sure that they're tonguing it, and then you can add in the slur so that way they don't
compress it.
Each time also the half note needs to drop down here at 37 on the horn and mid-register
instruments so that you can hear flute and trumpet one going into 38 again.
Any time your tubas can play the lower split notes, I would highly suggest it.
Definitely.
It just makes it sound so much more full when you've got your tubas going down that low
on their instruments.
Now I would be, this half-time part comes back a couple of times in this, in measure
38, when the flutes and the first flutes and first trumpets have, and four and one and
two, three, that note jumps out all the time.
I hear da, da, da.
So you wanna make sure that, I hope that wasn't terribly loud.
You wanna make sure that they're floating.
Band and clarinet.
That's all right.
Yeah, and I mean, trumpet can tongue it too if that would help.
If they can't get the G very easily without pushing it out, I don't know.
It's a tough part.
You really have to be careful about who you program on different parts for this piece.
You have a really cool trumpet two and clarinet two feature here at 39 along with euphonium,
so just make sure that they know that they're important, especially trumpet two.
They get to play a different part from trumpet one and they're really important.
Then we have another da, da, da, where they have to make sure that that A to C sounds
really nice in the trumpet section.
And it is this, as we get ready to transition back into the double time at 42, everyone
who has this dotted half note has to go to the rest.
I make them go all the way to the ride cymbal sound.
So the ride cymbal comes back in, the ride cymbal becomes the motor.
Now we don't have the vibes, the ride cymbal becomes the motor while the flutes come back
in with the same melodic idea they had at the beginning.
But this transition, both the transition into the halftime and out of the halftime is something
you are going to have to practice a lot to get the kids feeling really comfortable.
The flute part right here where they do the grace notes, you want to make sure that they
don't rush that.
Da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da.
Not da, da, da, da.
Make sure that they don't rush the grace notes.
They take their time.
The timpani part also is really cool here and important.
Make sure that your timpani are very...
It's functioning as your bass.
Yes, so make sure that they're in tune
so that that way it doesn't detract
from the other sounds happening here.
And again, make sure you have assigned
some sort of breathing system for your flutes
where they're not all trying to take a breath
from 49 to 50.
You've got some students breathing maybe in 47, some in 48,
and then everybody leading into 50,
whatever you need to do so that there's not a gap there.
They're the only instrument other than percussion
that's leading into a full band moment.
And on that timpani, just remember,
because they're functioning as your bass,
there's no wind player playing here as the bass.
It is the bass line.
It's going to be really important
that they're using good technique when they're playing.
They're in the right place on the head of the drum
and they're pulling the sound out of the drum
and not doing a down stroke.
So just really work with your timpani player
to make sure that they understand
the proper way to play that.
Then at 50, this mallet part is really cool
and it gets missed a lot.
It's like a scale coming up underneath the band
and I love it and it's in the bassoon line
and in the euphonium line sort of,
except they have to come down
because of the range of their instrument
not going up too high.
But man, that part really drives the tempo forward.
Just make your kids aware of it.
It's a cool part that is different
from the first time that we've heard this little melody part.
And then you've got the melody line in flute oboe and trumpet.
Again, the counter melody in clarinet one
and trumpet two here.
Everything is very full value
making sure that you're really working hard
to make sure kids don't breathe every four measures
and have a big gap in the sound.
That's going to be the tendency
because they're young players.
So making sure that you again,
assign breathing so that we don't have big gaps
on the bar lines.
And second clarinet gets the melody here
and because of where they are in their range,
like I would have the second clarinets
being really like playing out big and full.
That's going to be the lowest sounding octave
that you have of anyone who's actually on the melody.
So tell those second clarinets
don't shy away from that.
And then the horn part up here does go a little bit higher.
So just make sure you're really listening to the tuning
in 53 of the horn versus the alto part.
And then the trombone get to have this,
get to have the cool little conversational part
along with tenor sax here at 54.
So just bringing that little moment out
is neat along with the horn.
And again, making sure you hear all these different
like one, two, three parts like 55,
you have a different part on every single beat.
And again, leading into 57
because we're coming back up on another halftime moment.
Really overdoing every single time
you have a crescendo coming into the halftime too.
Again, your trumpet one and your flute one
have to be right on time
and your oboe right on beat three
so that that way it moves right together.
And sometimes kids will try to take a breath right there
and just be like, oh, if I just come in on the downbeat of 58,
it's fine, it's not.
That pickup note is a part of the melodic line.
And draw a breath mark between the half note
and the quarter note.
So students know that are on those couple parts
that that's where they're gonna take their breath
so that that way it leads into 58.
That's how everyone else can carry the crescendo
so that they can take a breath
and be ready to come in on the pickup note.
This is exactly like the first time.
So all those same considerations,
you wanna make sure that you do here as well.
And then we get a really fun moment at 64.
This is one of my favorite parts of the whole piece.
It's a bit, now you obviously,
because it's a saxophone choir feature,
it's a little eight bar phrase.
It's not a lot, but it's really important.
It's the only thing going on.
There is no percussion,
there is nothing else going on to support this.
So your saxophones, alto, tenor and barry,
have to sound really good.
And a fun story from a long time ago for me,
back before the eligibility rolls,
my barry player became ineligible before UIL
and I was so stressed out
because I was like, oh my gosh, I picked this for you guys.
And so I ended up having to have my bass clarinet play
and it was fine, it sounded beautiful as well.
But keep that in mind if you're playing this
for like a spring festival or something like that,
where eligibility rolls may not come into play.
Make sure you program appropriately.
That's right.
Or have a backup system, you know,
okay, if our barry sax player is not available,
bass clarinet's gonna play or whatever it might be.
And of course the tenor and barry are cued
in clarinet and bass clarinet,
but the alto part isn't cued anywhere.
So it really is supposed to be a saxophone lead.
So even if you need to thicken it up,
if you need to thicken it up with some clarinet
to support the tenor-barry part, that's fine.
But we definitely wanna make sure
that we have that saxophone color.
And I would have my saxophones
like smother this section with vibrato and shaping.
For sure, and I was gonna say 67 to 68
is such a big, beautiful moment in the alto one part,
making sure that they have a crescendo written in
on their part, leading us in and barry sax
every single time that they have the quarter note
slurring down, make sure that they really bring that
out of the mix, and then it ends
with just a beautiful note going into 72.
And again, make sure-
Seamless sound.
Seamless sound, like make sure that they've got
a breathing plan so that they don't take a breath
right before 72.
Then your band has to creep in here.
I know it's marked mezzo forte.
I think I have told all of the times I've played this piece.
We come back in at a mezzo piano,
because it's a piano moment in the saxes
and we sneak in on this long note and then crescendo.
And it's an opportunity for them because the whole ensemble,
except for the saxophone choir, is coming off of a rest.
It's an opportunity for at least a two-count breath.
And so I would write that into the music,
and of course, as you're conducting this,
I would breathe with the players
as they're getting ready to enter.
And that will help make that entrance a little bit more
secure and help to align it as well.
This is a lot like the beginning.
Again, now we're up in the higher register, in the flute,
clarinet one, trumpet one part.
So again, just make sure that you're-
It's just like what the sax choir played,
that now we get to fill it out with the ensemble.
And just make sure that everybody sounds really in tune.
There's a lot of moments for it to sound a little scary here.
So don't be afraid to say, OK, we're
going to play and hold the first note of measure 78
and make sure it's good.
And then now we're going to play and hold the second note of 78.
I know that I've had to do that a lot here,
because it is more thickly scored,
just making sure that you can hear the voices that you want
to hear.
And then we get another little suspended cymbal roll coming
into 80, and these little bell tone features here.
First time we've seen an accent.
Yep, and I love this little part.
And then they have to back out of the way at 82.
And I call these notes, like this is a Lynn Jackson thing,
but we ping those notes.
We want to make sure they're like bell tones,
so we want to make sure that we are pinging the start of every
one of those notes.
And then they back out of the way at 82,
so you hear the smooth.
Da, da, da, da, da.
And the flute trill in the oboe trill
needs to be not very loud.
I mean, it's written on a high E flat for flutes,
for goodness sake, which is already a sharp note and trill.
Just make it be a solo player, and then your little other
rest of your flutes can play the regular fourth space
E flat with the oboe.
That's fine.
And that trill needs to be fast, and it
needs to go a full six beats all the way to the downbeat,
both times that it happens.
And then your suspended cymbal here
is the main rhythm on the bell tones here at 80 and 84.
So just make sure that your player on the ride cymbal, sorry,
is right with you on the beat.
And then.
And that's the conversation.
We're doing this two measures of wins,
two measures of percussion, two measures.
And then at 88, you get to have the upper wood wins taking
over the melody.
Again, we do have some upper C's here in the low brass at 89
that are usually out of tune and flat.
So make sure you talk about that tendency.
Then we have the trumpets coming in, the upper trumpet,
on one part on a high D. So again,
talking about the tuning versus the C and the oboe and the flute.
And then we're passing around this little waterfall effect.
One and two, one and two.
And then the low tone, tone, tone, tone, tone.
It's just this is such cool writing.
I just love it.
And then making sure that, again, we're really
going all the way through every single bar line.
Again, we're going to lead up into 96
for our next little halftime moment.
But the first trumpet is a little different here.
Now the first trumpet.
And the first flute.
And this, yes, first flute and first trumpet.
And I love this part.
But their part, they need to be strong.
It is like the cherry that sits on top of the Sunday.
But it's got to be strong.
And it needs to be heard because it's new.
It's something, it's a different way
that we've heard this before.
But it cannot be shrill.
It has to be, I mean, it has to be complementary to what
is going on to the rest of the ensemble.
And then again, they're leading with the and for and going
into 98 each time.
As you just mentioned, making sure
that we're still in tune on that long note.
Again, helpful if your low tubas can go down the octave there
to kind of fill that out.
And then 99 to 102.
We're kind of getting softer going into this double time
again.
And then we have the same thing we just had one and two,
one and two.
Little conversational when you don't have the moving eighth
notes, you want to bring your volume down so that we can hear
the moving notes.
Then we have this cool horn and sax and clarinet feature.
One, two, three, one and two.
And it's so important.
Yeah, and you want to make sure that they do the accents
and that they crescendo into 108.
One time when I played this piece,
my mentor told me to do quite a bit of retardando here
starting at 108.
So we did each measure just really
got to have a full moment.
I treat it like I start the retardando where it's written.
But then at 108, I treat it like every measure is basically
a fermata.
So, and then we start at 108 a little softer
and kind of build to the end, making sure
that the kids know if your note changes.
It's more important that if your note stays the same.
So I think it's kind of the same idea.
And starting at 110, we added a timpani roll there.
And on the last three notes, the timpani's
rolling to kind of make that just sound really extra final.
And the timpani is strong at the end.
Like, I think it sounds really cool
when you can teach the kids to play it that way.
Just a big, beautiful chord at the end
and restructure that chord however you need to.
Like, again, I would not have my a bunch of first flute
screaming on the high E flat.
I do love that he wrote the trumpet part down the octave
here.
Thank you so much.
So that way they're ending in a more normal range
for their instrument.
But just really bringing out the low line here at 108,
not letting the flutes scream, scream, scream.
And clarinet too.
Like looking at clarinet on the very last note,
this is an E flat major chord.
And the clarinet is playing an F throat tone A,
which is a crazy sharp note on their instrument.
And they're the third of the chord.
So that would be something, what I've done
is I've had my clarinets take it down an octave
because they have a lot more pitch control on a low A.
So they can still play that note and get the third of the chord.
But we're not having to fight the tuning tendencies of an A
when we really want the third of the chord to be a little flat.
Well, we just both really love this piece.
I love heizo.
I love this piece.
So hopefully you can find a way to program it
into one of your future concerts.
And we just love it so much.
Thank you so much for joining us on this episode of Band BFFs.