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 Japanese pictures by Kevin Mixon.
Cheers to starting the conversation!
Alright let's dive in.
So this piece is in the key of Concert B Flat.
It remains in the key of Concert B Flat and in 4x4 time throughout.
It has a pretty upbeat tempo all the way throughout.
There are two clarinet parts that are split, two split trumpet parts.
The trombone and euphonium part are split though often they double each other through
the piece.
Every piece of percussion equipment in this is important to pulling off the effect of
this piece.
So you want to make sure that you have a healthy percussion section.
Yeah, this piece is so cool and kids love it because it is, as it says at the beginning,
dramatico.
And it starts off very fanfare-ish with the cool low brass accented part.
It's a conversation between highs and lows.
That's how I always teach it.
You want to make sure that the style is very firm and almost like a little hairline of
space between the dotted quarter and eighth at the beginning.
Ta, ta, ta, ta, ta, ta, ta, ta, maybe not quite that short.
But you want to make sure that you can hear a tiny, tiny bit of space between them just
because that goes with the style.
There is a part for a taiko drum at the beginning and I have played it before with them which
is really cool.
But if you don't have that, of course, you can just use a regular tom or a clarinet.
When we've played this before, we did not have taiko drums and so we took old marching
bass drums and turned them on their side and we were able to tune them in a way that they
sounded pretty darn close to taiko drums.
So that was kind of a cool experience for the kids.
It elevated it a little bit more than just traditional concert toms.
Though certainly those are effective too.
And if you're playing this not for a big old contest, maybe for a spring concert or festival
or something like that, it would be cool to put, I've seen it done where they put a taiko
drum on either side of the stage and kind of do a double style.
And teach the kids, show them some taiko drumming.
They can do some of the arm movements and make it dramatic.
Yeah, anything you can do.
One cool thing that Mr. Mixon does on this piece too is if you look with me on the trumpet
one part in measure three, you can see that he does have the trumpet one part going up
to the E but if your trumpets don't feel comfortable with that, they can just play the C. And he
does that a few times throughout this piece.
So I think that's pretty smart just to kind of keep it where it's not too difficult for
your trumpet players as they're growing.
Most of the range considerations are totally appropriate for a traditional grade two piece.
The low brass part sits right within an octave range going up to a concert B flat.
The upper woodwind part, flutes go up to high D in this and then of course you have the
optional split for some of those brass players.
Horns, do horns are really important in this and they do go up to a D as well.
As we're getting into the piece, like I mentioned, it's a conversation for a while and then
we have all of us having accents together at measure seven.
Again, keeping a very firm articulation in eight and nine and then you have this low
brass crescendo into 10 and then a day crescendo into 12.
Make sure that your students do not crescendo past their best sounds.
And I always say crescendo from your low brass voice is your tuba more than anything else.
Don't let it get too reedy where like the low reeds are doing the most crescendoing.
It'll just make your band sound more mature and more full.
These accents here in the percussion part from 10 to forever are really important to
get the one and then the other and a four.
That's really important to keep the groove going the whole time.
So back to that crescendo and day crescendo.
One thing, it's going to be really important especially because some of this sits just
in the low brass and low reeds that your kids are educated about the fact that volume changes
on reed instruments function the opposite as they do on brass instruments.
So they have to make sure that they are really, really listening for those tuning tendencies
when they're changing dynamics.
Yeah, like a bassoon G.
Also echoing what Katie said.
So the biggest way, even though it is marked fortissimo right here for percussion, the
biggest way to make that contrast in the accents is they need to make their taps really low.
So the unaccented notes are what they need to focus on.
If the unaccented notes are really low and they treat them like taps, it's going to make
this section really, really effective and establish that groove like Katie was saying
that remains in effect for the whole piece.
When you get to measure 14, so now we start a little woodwind feature.
This starts off with just flute and oboe and we add a cool little clave effect in the percussion.
It's real important here.
This is not too loud.
You don't need every one of your flute and oboe players on it if they don't all sound
good and match each other really well.
But one of the biggest things that I hear bands do my own band included when we've played
this before is clip the second note of the slur.
I'm really short.
So we want to make sure that we're getting da, di, ah, da, di, ah, da, di, ah, da, and
not da, di, ah, da, di, ah, da.
They'll kind of compress that eighth note pattern and clip that second eighth note.
One other thing I've done at 14 to help because these octaves immediately every single time
in the B-flat for flute and oboe can get pretty shrill is I've only had one flute player play
the upper B-flat and the rest of the flute players play the bottom B-flat like the oboe.
So it's easier to match.
It's way easier tuning that way.
Clarinets come in with the melody at measure 18 and though it is cued in euphonium, if
you have a healthy low reed section, we really like the way that sounds when we can keep
that in the woodwind choir.
And because of where the clarinets are down here, I personally like balancing to that
low clarinet sound so making the alto sax color the clarinet sound in this section.
When we get to 22, we add in that upper woodwind back again and we get kind of this cool almost
little counter melody thing that happens in some of the low reeds with their moving half
notes.
But it's the same concept.
Now you want to make sure when the flutes and oboes come in that they are not covering
up what's happening in the clarinets as well.
And the clarinet one part changes to what the flute and oboe have.
So now you just hear people on the melody.
Yeah, and maybe when you assign your parts on this piece, keep that in mind.
Maybe you only want like two first clarinets and like four second clarinets.
Beef up that second one.
Yeah, I think that'll just make you sound darker.
You have these moving eighth notes from measure 25 into 26 that are really, really important.
Then when we land at 26, now horns and altos kind of are featured as the melody here.
But there are a ton of people on this syncopated ostinato rhythmic pattern that's happening
underneath it.
It's real important that the eighth note in that syncopated pattern be really lifted.
De-da, de-da, de-da, de-da.
I talk to my kids about making the eighth note sound softer than the quarter note and
the half note.
So if they almost think about just a little bit of an accent on the quarter note or in
the half note, it's going to really make that style effective in this section.
But there are so many people on that part.
It's easy to cover up.
The trumpet melody.
Yeah.
The alto horn counter melody and what's going on in the trumpet part.
So you want to make sure that you're working to balance that.
And this trumpet part here is really easy to make sound good if you spend time on it.
Like making sure that the students push through, measure 27 and 28.
27, no breath after that half note.
Yeah.
But then you have the D versus the B in 29.
And I've heard that when I've adjudicated lots of times.
Be like really, like not in tune.
It sticks out as a really bad part.
It doesn't sound super great.
So again, this might be another part where maybe you only have two kids on the first
trumpet part and a few more on the second trumpet part, just to make sure that the tuning
is there all the way throughout because they have this over and over and over in the trumpet.
And don't be afraid to use alternate fingerings for a couple of those players up there.
If we need to, I mean, we have that C in the horns and, you know, and the D in the trumpets
and the B in the trumpets like Katie said.
So don't be afraid to use some alternate fingerings on any of those to kind of help
with some of that pitch.
And then as we're kind of just leading, like we said, try to balance to the trumpet here
and then you're like layering in more voices again with the flute.
Clarinet two is now with the oboe and the other clarinets.
So just try to make sure you don't lose that trumpet melody as you're layering in.
Then we've got a crescendo into 34.
You don't overdo it.
Yep.
And the timpani has to change pitches.
So that's just good to make sure you have somebody good on that part that you can trust
to do that in the middle of the piece.
And I want to say real quick on that crescendo, especially crescendo like this that's leading
into an arrival point.
Like I teach my students that a crescendo does not just mean to gradually get louder.
It means to start softer and gradually get louder.
So when they see that crescendo, they need to back their volume off at the beginning
to give themselves somewhere to grow so that they don't end up outside of their best sound
at that arrival point at 34.
And then we're back to the percussion groove here at 34.
And we're going to change here in a moment stylistically.
Be sure that your percussion do the dynamic de crescendo from 37 to 38 makes them sound
really mature when they actually follow that and do it like more than just down to mezzo-forte
like all the way down to piano.
You get this really pretty horn line that comes in at 38 and it's very mellow because
now the piece is kind of changing style.
You want to make sure that the altos again are coloring the horns and not playing louder
than the horn here.
And we definitely don't want space in this part here.
No, this is more likely.
But you do want to make sure it is firmly articulated so it's, it's, there's really clear
starts to the notes but no space.
Right.
And this is a conversation between horn and trumpet one in particular.
So just making sure that your students understand that especially with all these low brass parts
underneath, you want to make sure they're not covering up the moving parts.
And then at 41 it literally says more tranquil so I mean when you're teaching this to your
students make sure that they understand that now we're adding in some slurs.
We now want to make sure that everything is very connected.
Make sure that whenever the flutes are going up above the staff that they're trying to
place softer up above and stronger when they're in the staff.
So that way it's same with clarinet one to make sure that it just sounds really nice
and peaceful here.
And also in those accompaniment parts that are half notes and dotted half notes and whole
notes here.
It's real easy for them to start that day crescendo right at 41 because of those long sustained
notes.
So while they obviously do not need to cover up the moving part, they need to also remember
that they need to use good follow through through those longer notes so that we, that
day crescendo can start at 43 where it should.
Right.
And they're kind of taking over the conversation there at 43 too.
So they don't want to day crescendo too quickly because that is the conversational part between
the flute and clarinet.
And then it goes to the low brass there and a little bit of trumpet at the very end going
into 45.
And then it's definitely very flowing here.
You have no percussion anymore.
So that's important that students know how important it is to get the pulse in there.
Just like internalize the pulse and also to watch the director really well.
You have a little tiny triangle for effect here, but that's about it.
And a little bells make sure that they're not too loud, but they do have a different
part.
They're not doubling.
That's right.
They're not doubling.
So it is an important part to have.
But again, not like brass mallets or anything, something just really nice and light.
And then here, whenever I've played this before, I'll sometimes have like, I will for sure
assign breathing parts here.
So like you're either having an odd breather or an even breather where they're breathing
on a bar line if they have to.
But then that way you don't have people playing where they're like all breathing in the same
spots.
So I think that's really important just to make it again sound really mature.
Then you've got the horn and alto melody again here at 50.
And this is where we're going up way higher on the horn.
So it's okay.
You don't want it to sound strange.
So again, if you have one player that can play that beautifully great, that's fine.
But it doesn't, it doesn't need to be pinched or strained.
And if that means that you have to cut a few students out or like take turns with this
flute and the Ogo and Clarinet part that starts at 46, you may want to say like you two play
46 and 47 and then you two play 48 and 49.
That way it's not like so loud because I have heard it.
Yes, mother in the blue ends where you can't hear the horn and then you're like, Oh, more
horn, more horn.
Well, the horn might be playing as loud as they can with a good sound and in tune.
So see what you can do to kind of layer down the other parts as needed.
When the timpani comes in at 52, that's a really cool effect along with the tuba.
So just make sure that they're rolling nice and lightly underneath.
They're just building the momentum as we're going through this part.
And it continues to be this horn and trombone euphonium conversation like we had before.
Again, make sure that the low reeds understand their role that they're not as important as
trombone and euphonium.
So we get that really pretty mellow color.
I think that's really cool that Mr. Mixon does that.
To me, it's like a horn and euphonium duet.
And I think that that sounds really pretty.
And then we get a little slight crescendo going into 57, but it's all leading up to
a part later.
So we don't want to get like too excited too soon.
I've heard some bands get like really strong on every crescendo and it sounds kind of like
out of style when they do that.
So just make sure it's obvious that it's there, but it's not like too much.
And I mean, this crescendo just goes to mezzo-piano.
Use this suspended cymbal to really help fulfill that.
That percussive element can really give the illusion of more of a crescendo than the wind
players.
And the low brass have an A natural here at 57 with the crescendo and a bassoon A. So
be sure that that's really in tune when you're doing that.
As again, it's leading in and we don't want students to go past their best sounds either.
Same exact thing here at 58, except now we kind of all have the melody together.
The woodwinds are joining in with the horns.
And this again, you're keeping it very long and legato tongue here for a long time.
Then we're going to go into 64.
We've got some of the lower voices that are getting like kind of a little conversational
part at the end.
We're doing a little day crescendo and we're loo...
And then this is again where I've cut students down at 66, where I've only had like one
flute, one clarinet, one on each...
Sorry, one on each clarinet part, one oboe, just so that it's not like too loud because
this is supposed to be a very soft part going into 74.
You're losing again all that percussion.
Now we're down to just the bells and the triangle again.
So for effect, you want this to be very bass clarinet heavy because they're the tuba of
this little like woodwind choir.
When we get to 74, we're kind of changing ideas here.
One thing about the percussion part in this that we haven't mentioned, there are a lot
of roles in the percussion part.
So you want to make sure that the kids that are on those instruments have good quality
roles.
Otherwise, it can become a big distraction to the sound of the ensemble.
So here at 74, it says with growing intensity.
So we're starting to build, but we start metzopiano.
It's really important that those dotted half notes do not end softer than they begin.
That way we are adding to that growing intensity, you know, the idea through all of this.
Again, percussion can help.
We add in more instruments, more instruments until we arrive at 78.
And by the time we get to 78, it's almost full band here.
We go back to the same type of idea that we had earlier in the piece.
We still went the same stylistic considerations here with the articulation on the syncopated
ostinato, knowing that trumpets are the primary voice and horns and altos are the counter
melody.
If you chose to feature the trumpets more prominently earlier, this might be a part
that you want to feature the horn and alto a little bit more since it is an idea, a melodic
idea that we've already heard.
I like that idea.
That's pretty cool.
I was going to say also at 77, make sure that that timpani entrance is a little fuller than
it's marked because it's again, it's leading us in and growing in anticipation into the
78 section.
And then please note that like the Xylo and Matt and Bell's player goes back and forth
a few times.
So now they're back on the Xylophone at 82.
And those Xylophone roles, once again, those roles are really important.
You want to make sure that that you're working with your percussion student on, on having
a role base for what those roles are going to be on Xylophone so that it's consistent
and it sounds good every single solitary time.
Don't let your flutes scream out at 85 when they go up to that upper D. That can sometimes
be a little bit jarring, especially with the first clarinet trill writing.
So just be careful to make sure that everybody's got, you know, just their, their place in
mind again.
Now we're kind of back to the more accented style at 86 for sure.
Yes.
With the little bit of space between the dotted quarters and the trumpet again.
When we get to 93, like we have all of this.
Do you usually do this trill in the mallets just out of curiosity?
Yes.
Yes, I do.
So in 86, there's a trill in the mallet, just make sure that it's not like crazy sounding,
I guess.
Yeah.
And it's easy for it to sound really obnoxious.
Yeah.
And especially if you have a student playing that who has one hand that is dominant over
the other, then it, then obviously that becomes really apparent.
So I think last time I played it, I actually told the mallet player not to do it because
it was obnoxious to me, but that's just a personal preference.
So yeah, that's why I asked if you did that or not.
Yes.
So if you have trills, I think they can be really like overtaking.
So just make sure again that you find somebody who can do it the right way.
It's meant to be an effect.
So it needs to be effective.
Not taken over the world.
That's right.
It doesn't need to, it's not meant to be the primary thing.
So we have, again, this is like it was in the beginning.
We have this accented style.
We have a little bit of, starting at 93 where we're kind of thinning out a little bit and
entrances on beat one, entrances on beat three.
I teach my students to treat those like forte pianos or forte mezzo pianos so that they
know they strike the note like a bell tone and get out of the way, make room for the
new entrance, especially when we have the upper voices that come in in 94 on beat three.
Another good way to teach this, like I've recently done this in my own band hall, not
this piece, but this idea is at 93 have them raise their hands for which beat they enter
on one, three, one or three and have them look around the band hall and notice like,
oh, there's all the low brasses on beat one.
That's like 25 kids or whatever low brass low reads.
And then look at how many people come in on beat two or sorry, beat three of 93.
It's like seven children.
So you want to like make sure that you give them visual elements.
Yeah, I think that that opens their eyes up to it because they're like, oh, whoa, that's
why we can't hear that entrance because there's only five people playing that one or one or
whatever.
So I don't know.
It worked in my band hall is a little bit eyeopening like Laura said at 95 when the full band comes
in here and this is an arrival point one and two, they need to make sure that they're I
always make the wind players match the articulation of the percussion here.
So like have the percussion play it get that sound in their ear and then the woodwind or
the winds rather need to match that same firmness of articulation.
The good little crescendo from 95 to 96 is really nice right there too.
One and two, one, two and three because that's the ending portion for sure.
And then the very end, this is real nice again, kind of like what we just talked about.
You've got people with staggered entrances.
Yep, you want to make sure everybody gets heard there and you're landing with some G's
in the trombone part.
So just make sure that that's my least favorite note on me too.
I don't know why fourth position is such a mystery.
I don't know.
But also like G on bassoon, make sure they're adding their pinky.
Like, you know, there's a lot to make sure that you're checking on this pitch.
So just make sure that it's nice and in tune at the very end.
And again, that kids aren't going beyond their best sounds.
Trumpets aren't an E. Make sure they kick their thumb slide if they need to.
And again, no breathing right before 99.
Make sure it leads into the very end.
Yeah, so that last measure, I mean, this is unison.
Everybody's on a concert G in that very last measure.
So that like Katie said, that tuning is going to be really important here.
And percussion is super important driving into the end.
Absolutely.
And then that last note, making sure that the last note is a full body of sound note,
the sound to silence, making that note touch the rest.
I always have my kids write the word tone over it when in tone.
Like we need to make sure that it's long enough that we can say the word tone.
And maybe like your taiko drum can be like more prominent on the last measure.
I don't want you to go crazy, especially if it's for like a big adjudicated festival.
But well, and that is something that is.
So I guess final closing remarks on this one.
The percussion is so cool in this piece, but it can take over the entire ensemble, especially
if you were on a stage with shells.
So I would make sure that if you have the opportunity to let your percussion play around
a little bit before you perform this on a stage, especially if it does have shells,
it honestly can make or break things on this piece.
So just just making sure and even just the staging of that equipment can help a lot.
So if you have the ability to move those taiko drums or whatever you're using as taiko drums,
maybe not right up next to shells, anything like that can can certainly help keep the
percussion from overbalancing.
But it's such a cool piece.
This is such a cool piece to program for your band.
All right.
Thanks for joining us on this episode of Band BFFs.