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Welcome to our podcast, Band BFFs!

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The podcast where we make your music selection less complicated.

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On today's episode, we're going to be discussing Donza de Espana by Carol Britton Chambers.

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Cheers to starting the conversation!

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Alright this piece is such a great piece.

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It is in 3 4, it's in the key of F or D minor all the way through.

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It's about a minute and 45 seconds long.

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It is all about style.

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It has split clarinet parts.

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The first clarinet part does cross the break and it has split trumpet parts as well.

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Trumbone, euphonium, bassoon are all doubling each other which is nice.

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That gives you a little bit of flexibility in your low brass and low reeds and obviously

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lots of percussion which because this is very Spanish, all the percussion parts are going

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to be really important.

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This piece on the Texas PML is a grade 2.

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It's extremely popular in our state and a lot of bands can sound really great playing

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this piece all the way throughout.

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So I just wanted to say that I've heard it done very very well at many different festivals

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that I've adjudicated before.

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Coming out at the very beginning as it's marked it's a lively little Spanish piece and you're

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going to have your percussion not playing too loud.

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It's supposed to start kind of stately, just a nice easy mezzo forte and the timpani gets

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to be important.

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They're setting up the 3 4 groove for you at the beginning.

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I put in a little de crescendo going into 5 whenever I've played this before and then

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when the band comes in.

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On the percussion entrance a couple of things.

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So I would even have this snare player give just a little bit of an accent on beat 1 to

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really give the feeling of the 3 4 in this.

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It doesn't have to be dramatic.

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And then with your timpani player it's real easy for if we're splitting right hand and

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left hand which most of the time that's what they'll be doing for their left their A in

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this case to be significantly softer than the note that's in their right hand.

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And so you want to make sure because this is functioning like the melody that's right.

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Three needs to go to one and so we need to make sure this is functioning as the melody

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for the first four measures.

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So it needs to be equal volume in both hands.

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As the wind players come in at measure five you want to make sure that the melody is very

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well presented in flute, first clarinet and first trumpet.

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Do not let the accompaniment line be too short.

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You don't want it to sound one, three, one, two, one, three, one, two, one, two.

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So you want to make sure that everything is very again leading all the way through.

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I do think all of the eighth note articulation should be really crispy in this.

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A little bit more lifted for sure.

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I do think that it adds to the style whenever you do lift a little bit more on the eighth

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notes like in measure eight when it goes from one, two and three, one, two, three, one,

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two and three, da, da, da, da, da.

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So the more you can really make sure that the slurs are long and you don't clip them,

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especially going from eight to nine, it leads into it.

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A lot of students will sometimes make that note a little bit lifted.

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So make sure that it's not lifted.

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In the accompaniment part that has the half notes when they have one, three, one, two,

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making sure that those white notes don't end softer, then they begin.

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Make sure that they have direction.

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Even though they're half notes, three still needs to lead to one.

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Yep.

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And then here at 12, the whole band has a release on beat three.

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So make sure that that happens exactly together.

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And then 13, we still have the same melodic voices, but we've added in a different accompaniment

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line.

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So make sure that they're not too loud, but they're adding a fun new element in here.

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And then again, making sure that we're keeping it a little bit more light in style on the

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eighth notes.

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And again, this is why this piece comes together really well, because it's well written.

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And I don't really think that we have to do too much to make sure you can hear the melodic

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voice.

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Same release here at measure 20.

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Make sure you're off right on three.

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And you can use the percussion to help with that.

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The percussion plays, and the band should release right at the same time that the percussion

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plays on that quarter note in beat three.

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In measure 21, we go to a little woodwind feature.

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So we change the percussive element here.

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We go from snare to castanets, and that should be really seamless.

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You want that transition from snare to castanets to sound like there was no pause, because

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there really shouldn't be.

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I know it says optional woodblock, but I have never heard it with woodblock.

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It's always been castanets.

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Yeah, castanets if you have them for sure.

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You have to own them, please use them, because it sounds really cool.

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Well, I mean, obviously that's where you get that Spanish flair, right?

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This part at 21, I do think this can be a little deceptively hard here.

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You want to make sure that the flutes and oboes, if your oboes are comfortable with

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vibrato, that they are making sure to put some vibrato on that dotted quarter note.

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That's going to really help to make that note shimmer.

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And then everybody having a half note on beat two in measure 22, it is imperative that we

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lead across the bar line and do not take a breath there.

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Same really even with the dotted quarter notes.

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Those are almost functioning like half notes with the eighth note part of it being a pickup

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note into the next measure.

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So you want to make sure that I would be very intentional about marking and breathing for

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my students here.

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So we didn't have any gaps in the sounds after dotted quarter notes or after half notes.

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This is where a skid is assigned breathing.

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You're going to breathe on the half note, you're going to breathe on the dotted quarter,

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whatever it is.

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And then that accent makes it sound really cool if you do that really well at 21.

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Short.

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Ta ta ta ta ta ta ta ta ta ta ta ta ta ta ta ta ta ta ta.

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And that's another area where that vibrato is because they can use that vibrato to kind

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of give the emphasis on the next.

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It just makes it sound really, really pretty.

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Again, style is everything on this piece.

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So in measure 28 as we transition to 29, first of all, you'll notice that it's a dotted half

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note at the end of the phrase and not a half note like it has been in some other places.

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So making sure that there is seamless sound from woodwind choir to brass choir as the

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brass takeover this melodic line.

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Another way I've taught this, it's sorry to interrupt you, but I think it's kind of fun.

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It's like 21 is like the girl dancer.

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And then 29 is the guy dancer.

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He's coming in and it changes to Maracas.

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And so it's fun for the kids when you have a story like that.

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Yeah, a little, it's a different sound and it should sound different.

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It should.

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Yeah.

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So there are same rules apply in terms of breathing with the half notes and the dotted

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quarter notes, making sure that you're really intentional about that.

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At 35, when we add the full ensemble back in, we have unison rhythm in here and we want

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to make sure that that crescendo really builds.

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So start that crescendo softly and then give it somewhere to go, making sure that we articulate

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like because it's the same unison rhythm, articulation and style are going to be majorly,

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majorly important.

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But 37 is an arrival point, we want that note to be full value, da and a statement in the

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percussion, do, do, do, do, do, do, one and, and making sure that both of those eighth

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notes and measure 38 are of equal length with each other.

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Don't make the first note longer than the da, da, da, that's what young musicians will

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want to do.

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Yep.

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And then the xylophone part here is really important.

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It's so fun.

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It is so great, but it's really important as we transition into 41.

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This is where I say the dancers came together at 35 and you know, you can have so much fun

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with it.

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And then it's like dee dee dee dee dee in the little mallet part at 39.

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It's just, it's an adorable piece.

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It's so well written.

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And then again, coming in soft at 40 to build up that drama again.

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So then at 41, we're only at a mezzo forte.

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We're back to having the flute and the first clarinet and the first trumpet as the melodic

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sound along with, with the xylophone and we're back to the same style we had before.

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So everything we said carries over from the beginning.

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There's not a lot of like tuning things in this piece, in my opinion.

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One of the harder things is actually the trumpet two part all the way throughout.

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I know that sounds really weird, but they have to play lower on their trumpet a lot

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of times and they have to do fingering combinations from two to six.

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I teach positions or two to one and three, like B to D.

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And that's kind of a tricky like fingering pattern to get and they have to do that over

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and over.

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So just really making sure that your, your second trumpet sound just as like easy and

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suave as the first trumpet parts with their finger patterns.

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I don't know.

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It's just caused me some issues before because there are a lot of concert D's in this.

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The one thing and I, you've heard us talk about this before.

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If you've listened to the podcast, but on horn with those A's, they might be more in

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tune without the trigger.

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So because they're doubling some of the low brass right here, I would just, you may have

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to go player to player, but don't be afraid to experiment with, with different fingerings

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like that to make sure that the tuning is appropriate.

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Yep.

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We're coming back to that same arrival point at 48 where we're going to lead all the way

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to the rest on B three and then 49.

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This is more like a, an exciting moment.

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Again, we're going back and forth between the, the two dancers, if you will, with a

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little bit of change here instead of it being woodwind brass, it's more highs versus lows.

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So just making sure that that sounds really cool and we're matching the same energy and

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the same volume and style.

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And then we, this like low part from 52 leading into all the way into 55 is really neat.

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Again, don't try to lead too quickly, but make sure that we're doing a good effective push

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all the way to there.

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54, as it mentioned, as, as you can see is mezzo piano leading into 55.

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And now we're back to a really cool maracas part.

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Don't like kids get lazy with articulation leading into that 54.

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Some of the students will want to score those eighth notes.

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They'll get lazy with that.

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So make sure they do.

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They do.

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Yeah.

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And then like the, the more like crisp style here for sure.

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And then just a little percussion feature for two measures.

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Just really have fun with that and make sure those maracas shine at 57.

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So we're getting closer to the end here.

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This again, same concept like what we had at the beginning.

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So making sure that the in the accompaniment part that quarter notes followed by a rest

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are full value.

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They touch the rest eighth notes, maintain that same crispy style that we've had throughout.

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This is all just a recap of exactly the same type of thing that we did at the beginning.

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63, we start building a little bit to the end.

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There is this weird little hemiola type rhythm that happens over two measures.

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And this takes a while to make it sound good.

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It's important to like focus in on it.

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Yeah, absolutely.

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So you, and, and I think if you just make sure that they tongue the start of each one

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of those notes really firmly, almost like there's an accent on them, it will help them

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feel that one, three, two, one.

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So just every note at every note getting a little bit louder and having a little bit

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of an accent on it.

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And that's a good opportunity to, to teach like a number system for dynamics.

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Like say the first note is a level three, the next note is a level five, the next is

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a seven and with an eight or something like that.

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So that it doesn't sound too crazy at the very end.

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And then this last two measures here being unison rhythm with everybody percussion included

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or except for timpani.

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But most everybody unison rhythm here, making sure that that is really articulate, really

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aligned and again, a full body of sound on your last note.

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De-de-de-de-de-da.

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Yup.

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Full value lesson.

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And we have the timpani kind of coming back as a feature just like they were at the beginning

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here from 65 to 67.

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So just again, I really encourage my timpani player to just play it up a little bit so

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it's not like what's happening here.

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I'm not really sure.

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They're the melody part.

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So bringing that out more is even, even more important and cool just as a little recap

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from the beginning.

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So this piece is so fun.

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It's so easy to put together.

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It makes bands sound really great when you dig into the details.

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It's scored well.

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It's a great introduction to three, four.

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Yes.

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Spanish style.

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Yes.

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With articulation.

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And kids love it.

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It's, and you know, it's written so well.

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Every band sounds great.

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For sure.

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We hope you will consider using this on your next program.

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And thank you for joining us on this episode of Band BFFs.