Welcome to our podcast, Band BFFs.
The podcast where we make your music selection less complicated.
On today's episode, we are going to be discussing Mystery Ride by Terry White.
Cheers to starting the conversation!
Alright, this piece is in 4-4 time throughout.
It's in the key of concert, E flat, or really C minor, and it's only about a minute and
45 seconds long.
I love this piece.
It is a grade one on the Texas PML and in the publisher grade list as well.
One of my favorite things about this piece is it's a great tool for teaching style.
There are two clarinet parts, two trumpet parts, percussion parts.
There are five percussion parts.
The bells part doubles the flute throughout, so if you are limited on your percussionists,
that is a part that you could do without.
The triangle and cabasa part could be played by one player if you mount the triangle.
If you have a limited number of percussionists, this is still a piece that can work really
well for your band.
I think that that's a really great thing to keep in mind for sure because a lot of times
you've got to have a lot of percussionists, so this is a good piece for that.
The timpani part is really important and you will notice that the snare part starts off
with the snares off for a color effect.
The cabasa part is also really important.
You want to have a strong player on the cabasa part that can make the cabasa sound good,
can play it in time, and that it's a very dry sound to the cabasa because it's the
only thing playing many times throughout the piece.
It's like the interim voice between parts.
It should be really crisp sounding.
Yes.
You can audition your children and see who has the most natural cabasa technique.
I have even had sometimes when a student had trouble making it as dry as I wanted it, I
have removed some of the beads from the cabasa and that can help them give a little more
control over that sound.
Awesome.
At measure five where the winds enter, again, timpani can really help beef up that color
and you're going to want to teach your timpani player to dampen to make sure that the style
matches what the wind players are playing here.
Again, like Laura said, this is a great piece for different articulations and it is very
differing throughout.
You're going to want to make sure that your kids are tonguing firm soft, firm soft on
this rhythm and you will want to make sure that you have the kids say that to you and
then you can just practice doing it on a concert at first for just a practice technique and
then they can play it in the chord as written in the piece.
It does come back.
This ostinato part comes back often throughout the piece.
Making sure that you teach your kids that and really making a big difference on the
accent versus the staccato is super important in this piece.
Again, like I mentioned, you've got the little cabasa part being the interim at measure eight
and then at nine where more of the band comes in, this piece sounds like a mysterious ride.
That's kind of the fun part of it.
So now we're getting a little bit stronger in sound.
When we're adding in more voices, the ostinato will want to back off.
Probably have them mark in mezzo piano at most instead of mezzo forte.
And then the euphonium trombone tuba horn part comes in along with the low reeds and
they're going to be going back and forth between G and A flat and trombone.
So we want to...
I hate G on trombone.
I do too.
It's horrible.
So you want to make sure that you really talk about ways to be successful, use your tuners,
make sure that they're in tune on those two notes.
But on the flip side is written in a really nice zone of the horn here where horns can
sound really pretty with them and kind of make that beautiful color just come alive.
Lots of ties in this section too, just making sure that everyone counts carefully through
all of those sustained long notes.
And Mr. White has done a good job of marking breath marks.
I love that.
Yes.
Where he wants students to take a breath.
So having the students follow that plan is really important and an easy thing that's
already written for you.
Make sure whenever you cut, they do come in here at nine that they're keeping their articulation
really long and flowing and very long slurs, don't clip anything, not da, da, da, ta, make
sure everything is very, very long.
And even the note before a breath mark, teach the students to make that still be a long
note, a quick breath and then a re-entrance.
The upper woodwinds come in with a trill at 12 and it should not be very loud if you've
listened to any of our podcast episodes so far.
You know how Katie feels about trills.
They're not trills.
They're not really my favorite thing.
And I usually try to cut it down to like one on a part if that, just so that it doesn't
take away from, it's an effect, it's not meant to be something really loud.
Even with the crescendo written underneath it, I would tell students to play it pretty
soft and I would cut down for sure on that.
When we get to measure 13, now we get the first statement of this melody that we're
going to hear several times in this piece.
So a couple of things here, first of all, I would strongly advise you consider putting
together what I reference as a melody sheet where you take most of the time this piece
is written in three parts.
And that makes it really great for teaching younger bands.
That's right.
Or any band.
So before flex band was as popular as it is, melody sheets would allow, it would allow
you to transform a piece into a flex band piece, right?
So you write out the main melody, you write out the counter melody, you write out the
motor part or the baseline part and teach it to everyone in the ensemble at the same
time.
It allows you to really focus on style, it allows you to focus on note accuracy and it
gives some of those players, you might have a hotshot tuba player that is never really
going to get to move his or her fingers very fast and now we're putting the melody in their
hands and giving them an opportunity to extend their learning.
So I think a melody sheet is really important.
Now when we get to 13, the flute oboe clarinet are the ones who have the melody.
Like Katie stated before, the slurs needing to be really long is important here.
We want to hear da, da, da, da, da, da, not clipping any of those slurs.
Lots of good air follow through on all of that.
Articulation is so important and I'm not talking about staccato accent but is it tongueed
or is it slurred?
Because there is a lot of variation in this melody throughout here.
We have a counter melody going on in the alto saxophone and horn.
Now on your horns, they are coming from an E-flat in measure 12 and going to a B-flat
in measure 13.
That's a big jump.
So that is a big jump.
You're going to want to make sure that you spend some time working on that interval leap
and if you only have one or two kids that can make that leap, then that's okay.
That's totally okay.
Now this part here with the alto saxophone and the French horn counter melody, it's
really cool but it can often smother what's happening because of the range of where it's
written.
Yeah and I told Laura when we were talking through this piece that a lot of times when
I've adjudicated it, this part will kind of be a do or die moment in my mind because
you're sitting on a really long note and if you are not 100% in tune, it will distract
you from the melody that's happening.
And so it's really important to make sure that they're not only balanced but they're
also in tune with each other.
That's right.
So a lot of alto and horn work on this.
In the bass line part here, we want to make sure that the eighth notes are tongueed firmly
enough.
It does not need to be staccato but it needs to be a clear firm articulation so that it
doesn't sound muddy and the actual rhythm of the part can be discerned with the players.
Now Katie already mentioned that he has marked breath marks in here which I think is great
and if you find measure 18, you will see that he has intentionally marked a no breath here
which I think is really, really smart.
Everything leading up to this point, he's been marking the breaths between beat two and
three and now he's saying, hey, this is a place I do not want you to take a breath.
As we continue on, trumpets enter with the melody.
Today at the beginning had that statement with the little rhythmic piece but at 21,
they get to come in with the melody for the very first time.
So it's the new color, it's the new sound.
Everything else stays the same.
I would bring that trumpet color out and have your woodwinds get a little bit underneath
that so that we're hearing something different that time.
You may also choose, now I would choose to favor the trumpet color.
You may also choose to bring the alto horn part out here because we've heard the melody
for a phrase already and certainly that is an option.
I really think that would probably depend on the strength of your ensemble.
I totally agree with that.
And I think that is a fun idea but only if you're like, wow, my horns and saxes are
rocking this.
They sound really good.
And again, if you've listened to any of our podcast episodes, we always talk about coloring,
alto sax should always color the horn part.
Absolutely.
It's really important to make sure it happens here too and you're not having just like huge
alto sax sounds in this piece.
We finish out the little melody again, some more tied notes across the bar line.
So opportunities to make sure that your kids are really comfortable counting those notes.
And when you're writing your parts for your students, that is a great opportunity to make
sure you write three, four, one underneath your tie from 25 to 26.
Counting those rhythms will help in rehearsal to go faster because they already have that
help from you.
And I teach my students, I know that there's a lot of different ideas about this, but I
teach my students that like when we have a tied note like that, I want them to think
about it in two plus one.
I don't want them to necessarily think three when it goes across the bar line.
I want them to think two plus one so that they're understanding that.
And then we get to 27 where we have the ostinato come back.
So now we're back to like, we like we've been on the ride and now we're back to the mysterious
part where it's like back and forth again with the ostinato and the cabasa.
So the and again, we mentioned before that you could have the same kid play triangle
cabasa, but this is one moment where the triangle would have to be mounted where, you know,
ding and then you quickly are using both hands on the cabasa.
So it would be difficult, but it could happen.
Then going back to using the same verbiage with firm and soft here with the accents and
staccatos, then you have the upper woodwinds coming in with a nice accent.
It's a little punctuation.
Yeah.
And so you want to make sure they're not holding the long note loudly, but that they're just
hitting and then coming down at 30 for the low, low people to have their moment in the
sunshine here again.
Alignment of articulation is really important in 30, making sure that everybody sounds exactly
the same to make sure that that style comes out.
I, you know, you do see that there is some accents and some staccatos.
So you want to make sure that the accent is more strong of like more prominent as the
voice to be heard, like the tuba and everything.
At 31, you will see that, you know, saxphones as they're continuing, they are marked to
get softer here.
And I agree with that.
You want to make sure that the upper woodwinds are more of the melodic voice and they are
playing a new articulation here with the tenuto and the, and the lifted staccato under the
slur, but make sure that it's not too lifted.
You don't want to think, ta, ta, it's going to be ta, ta, very open throat.
And yes, that, that is like almost the same, but it's not, you know, you want to make sure
that there's just a little bit of a float instead of a hard release.
Then it's very smooth and 32 to 33.
You will probably want to address the flute and oboe tuning in 33 on the C.
I think that C is a very difficult note to play and tune on, on oboe with young players.
So it might be that maybe your oboe doesn't play the C and just your flutes do or find
one oboe if you have more, more than one that can play it in tune.
And then they're going to play it softer because then you've got the ostinato again coming
from the, the middle and low voices.
So you want to make sure that the call and response is very obvious here, woodwinds start
and then the brass.
And then at 35.
Oh, also while I'm thinking about it, the timpani part is so cool in this piece because
it does usually beef up the brass parts.
So make sure that your timpani player is doing the same accents and following along with
the brass at 35.
The lows finally get their moment and they get the melody and they will want to make
sure that they are really in tune here using the wrist instead of an arm motion for trombone
here going from four to three.
And then, you know, if you don't have a very strong trombone section, it's okay to doctor
their parts.
Maybe they don't come in there and it's just euphonium low reed tuba that are playing and
they come in instead at 36.
Or if you have one great trombone player that can play four and three really well, then
they play the whole thing.
So feel free to doctor it however you need to to make sure that everybody sounds like
one voice here.
I also tuning voice.
I think with trombone and I, and I like what Katie's saying about, you know, wanting to
modify the parts if you need to do that.
But also with trombone, because this is supposed to be slurred and everything that we have
done up to this point has been very, you know, lengthy connected, slur smooth sounds.
You run the risk trombone having to articulate there of it messing up the flow that you want.
So, you know, I would utilize that as well.
Experiment and see what works for your group for sure.
And then with the ostinato is now in the upper woodwind part.
And so they just need to play it lightly, but still with the same articulation.
And then making sure that the alto and horn part as it comes in pickups to 39 is very
confident on their pickups as it's taking over this little counter melody part again.
The upper woodwinds will be very soft here and maybe cut this down to one on a part.
It's written up especially in flu.
Yeah.
So that tuning is going to be an issue.
And then clarinets are going to be in the, you know, the bad range on their instrument
where you need to add some fingers to make sure that the G's and the B flats are better
in tune on their throat tones.
So that is just a consideration for you.
And then when the altos and horns come in here, as I mentioned, sometimes the altos
and horns have given me scary vibes when I've adjudicated this piece.
But here, at least the horn part is written in a better range, it's lower.
So hopefully that will help them, you know, sound even better, but just be aware that
they do need to kind of sound the same saxes coloring the horn part here for sure.
And then we've got a nice firm articulation coming into 43 in the low people part.
You really want to bring that out, make sure they're tonguing firmly.
And again, way less on the trill and the upper person part.
And when we get to 43, it's basically a recap of exactly what we had back at measure 13.
So the same people playing the same parts.
You want to again, give the same attention to the balance, making sure that you have
prioritized to the parts that you want to hear.
As we start to build towards the ending, again, we have more of the accent, a little punctuated
statements from the upper woodwinds leading into 49.
Now right here at the end in the last three measures, the articulation is different from
what they've had before.
Well, most of this piece, we hear firm soft, firm soft.
And here we have a firm soft, firm, firm.
We have two firms in a row.
That is going to be something you will have to spend some time on because the kids will
have gotten it in their ear the other way.
You will have beaten them over the head with it the one way.
And now you want them to do it differently here.
All right.
But they are still going to do a forte piano.
Exactly.
So we want to, again, if they are defaulting to the accent staccato, accent staccato, you're
going to lose that forte piano effect.
So you want to make sure that you spend some time on this.
And then at the end, the last note for end one and two, and making sure that it is a
full body resonant note, but that we match articulation throughout the rest of the ensemble.
And I would have all the percussion dampen here at the end so that we get a clear cessation
of sound from the full ensemble.
I love this piece.
Kids like it.
It is very, the name is very appropriate.
For sure.
It is very mysterious.
Yes.
It's a great teaching tool.
It's fun for kids to play.
I think there's a lot of good learning opportunities for young bands.
Yeah.
And the fact that it's written so well with just basically three parts all the time makes
it easy to teach to younger bands.
And we really hope that you will consider programming Mystery Ride in the future for
your group.
Thank you so much for joining us on this episode of Band BFFs.