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 Looking Up by Robert Sheldon.
Cheers to starting the conversation!
Alright, this piece is in four four time throughout Concert B Flat and it's only about two minutes
long. The tempo is marked pretty brisk throughout this, but if you have trouble, if your ensemble
has trouble, don't feel like you need to go, it's marked at 138. You don't need to go fully
at 138 if the ensemble isn't ready for it. It's a pretty active snare part and it's hard to do that.
All of the clarinet parts are split, trumpet parts are split, clarinet never crosses the break.
So that's nice. The first trumpet never plays above a C. Now where you really need to be
concerned about your players in this piece is on your horns. There is an extended horn range in this.
The horn part goes up to an E flat in the staff and the horn part has a lot of importance in this.
So you want to make sure that you have good horns. As far as all of the percussion, all of the parts
are important. Now the snare part, you need to make sure you have a snare and tambourine and timpani.
I would prioritize in this. Making sure you've got strong players that are rhythmically solid and pulse
solid because those instruments are going to be really important. Yes. So this piece in Texas is a PML
grade two, but it is in my opinion really well written and on the easier side of some of the other
pieces on the PML. So I get a nice first introduction in the grade two. Yes, I think so. And it's a joyful
piece. It has fun style markings in it. The kids love it because it just has a good energy to it.
So starting right off the bat, you get the like Laura said, the horn and sax melody at the beginning.
You always teach the saxphones to color the horn. So the horn should be the focal sound here.
Everybody has the same rhythm, but it's the horn part that's moving. Da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da.
And you really want to make sure everybody aligns that style because it comes back over and over and
over in this piece, the whole piece. So learning it on a concert f first with the whole band is a
great idea. Then they can just, you know, copy paste into their memory for all the other times
it's going to come back in the piece. And you might consider like having your students, because
this style is so important and unison in the beginning, having them verbalize it either on
DAWs and Ds or sizzle it if you like to do that. That way you're really working to match that clarity.
So it is a little bit of a conversation here at the beginning between the winds and the
percussion too. That's why Laura mentioned like the timpani and the snare are really important
here in tambourine later. They just need to be really good players because they have to have
good pulse. The snare part is very active. There are a lot of 16th notes in this piece.
And accents. And accents in the 16th notes too. So it's really important that you have a good
player who's not going to rush out of things and rush the band in general just for tempo and pulse.
Make sure you're teaching kids not to breathe on the bar line between two and three. Then at three
we have the same thing. We're just changing it up a little bit. And then at five we get low brass
kind of descending here and a big jump in the tuba part from low B flat to high B flat. So if
your kids don't feel confident doing that, you can have tubas just play regular upper B flat to A
flat. If they can play this part great, makes your band sound bigger and more full. But it's just
something to think about. We have two chords here at six that just need a little attention
to make sure that they sound really good together. And again the active snare part. Timpani can help
by rolling really confidently into the big final finish here at seven. This is the intro. And then
the timpani has a big moment along with snare. But I like the timpani part to be a little bit more
present here. Then you've got a cool little like ride symbol type part here with clarinets. And
each one of these quarter notes going into nine they get softer and softer on. So we used like a
number system with our students like five, four, three, two, one, one, one, one, just to kind of
like know how much to get softer. Bells, like Laura said, all the progression parts are pretty
important. The bells part really helps color this flute solely at nine. And you do have to have really
good flutes too because they are the only ones on this melody. And they come back and back and back
with a flute nobo later on with the melody. But it's written in a really easy range on the flute.
So they should be able to shine. Make sure that they're doing great style from the beginning
because this melody is passed around. So make sure that they're doing the accents and the staccatos.
And then at 11, they're going to get softer so that the more active percussion can kind of come
out and then the clarinets get to have a little response. Again, with that style. And stagger
breathing on that like they're having to hold that long. If they can't hold it all the way through.
Absolutely. And then at 13, we're going to have the trumpet to add in with the flutes. So now that's
the new color. So you can have them kind of play out a little bit more and project. And then we add
in some more voices on a long note. Just make sure that they sneak in. They're not overpowering the
band. But again, they help with those accents with their little one, two, four, one, two, and
so just like keep working on making sure that the style is really, really brought out on this piece.
Again, making sure your sound goes all the way to 17. So the pickup notes and the low voices can be
prominent. So when we get to 17, now the low brass and tenor sax take over a new melodic idea.
This low brass part, because it's doubled trombone, euphonium, bassoon, and it's in tenor sax,
depending on the instrumentation of your band and the number of students that you have, it might be
that you thin that out a little bit. Hey, this time we're just going to have trombones play it. This
time we're just going to have euphonium. So whatever works for your ensemble to make sure that the
balance is right. Now the horn and alto have a nice little counter melody. And then at 17,
the trumpets come in with this little rhythmic ostinato. No, it's the same, the same type of,
it should be the same type of style that you had in the introduction. In the introduction,
it was marked with an accent and a staccato. It's not marked here, but I would still treat it the
exact same way. And Katie and I are big proponents of before you distribute music to your students,
going through and looking at the individual parts, marking in things that can help them
learn the music faster and be more successful quickly. This is an example of a part where I
would mark the accent and the staccato for the trumpets, so that we ensure they are doing that
style correctly from the beginning. Now tambourine enters here as well, and tambourine is really
important. It's essentially the pulse and the heartbeat of what is happening here. And when
you have that syncopated pattern one, two, and four, the tendency is going to be to rush, to
compress that silence and to rush. So you want to make sure that the student that you have on that
part has really good timing and aligns all of that really well. Counter melody, like I said,
in the alto and in the horn. When we get to measure 20, now we're adding in the oboe and
bells on melody, and we have this new idea in the clarinets. It is not the melody here. I would
consider this more of a counter melody, but it's written in a really great range for the instrument,
so your students should be able to sound great on this part. Be real mindful about not breathing
after every half note. And I would even consider, since this kind of stair steps up, I would consider
just a little bit of a crescendo as they're going through this. Absolutely. One and two and three,
one and two and three, just kind of build a little bit. And then I think also here in the
trombone, euphonium bassoon part, it is not supposed to be very loud, but it's not, you know,
it's not the most favorable instrument choice notes, like D and G in trombone. So if you maybe
make this like Laura mentioned earlier, this could be a euphonium moment, or if you have a really
great bassoon, it could be kind of like a woodwind, a woodwind feature. That's right. Yeah. So just
play around with it and see what works for your group. But I think that might be a nice little
thing to do to make sure that you're not distracted from the flute and oboe and bells melody. Now as
we transition into 25, you'll notice a crescendo in the upper woodwinds, but they are on a whole
note. So I would really minimize what you tell your students to do with that crescendo and let
the moving note parts, which is happening in trumpets, make that be the dominant voice that's
coming through and helping to lead that crescendo. When we get to 25, trumpets and clarinets now
have the melody, but we have added in like we have the alto and the tenor and the horn that are on
that little ostinato that stays on one note for a long time. So you want to make sure that the
tendency, it can smother the melody part. So you need to make sure that that balance, you spend
some time working on the balance of that. Same with the low brass, low reed part. And again,
style is going to be really important here. Don't have that be too loud. As many, I mean,
when I'm thinking about my own band, tuba, trombone, euphonia, bassoon, bass clarinet,
very nice. I mean, that's a lot of bodies playing the same part there. And what I would consider
the least important part priority wise. Right. On that whole note too, at the melody at 27 and 28
for the trumpet and the clarinet, it teach the kids to come way down in volume at the end of their
melody right there so that you can bring out the alto and horn parts kind of like a little
call and response. And their parts moving. One, two, three, four, one, two and just like at the
beginning. So have them bring that part out and the whole note part comes down. Now percussion
here is really important. The percussion kicks up in activity here as well. So again, that's
another opportunity that you know you're going to need to work on balance to make sure that we
hear the melody and percussion doesn't get too loud. For sure. And we continue to build here.
We're aiming at the arrival point of 32 before we transition into this new section. Yep. And again,
timpani and snare drum have another moment here where this is like a little percussion feature
before clarinets come in with this new idea before we get to what I think is one of the more
challenging parts of the piece. So at 33, you have kind of like a repeat from before where the
clarinets have that one, two, three, four, but this time it's not going away. They're they're
going to continue going. So I wrote in a day crescendo on my kids parts, just like the beginning.
And then they we cut it down to one on a part at 34. So on one first clarinet, one second clarinet,
you don't have to do that, whatever works for your group. But this part goes on and on and on
and on. You could even have people play two measures, this person plays two measures, this
person plays to trade it off so that kids aren't sitting there for a long time. But this is at
35. This is a sax and horn feature. And this is where it gets really tricky if you don't have a
good horn section or a strong section because it is so exposed. And it's not the easiest of
melodies because you got to be able to do that big jump to the E flat with ease. Because the whole
piece is like sounds very upbeat, light and energetic. Tambourine here again is is keeping
the pulse for us. So very important again to have a good tambourine player. But I would work on this
horn part, making sure that you find if you have a large horn section, you don't have to have them
all play. It could just be one or two kids on the part that make it sound really good and shine,
because it would really detract if you were being adjudicated on this part. If your horn players
were cracking and not able to get the upper E flat out with a good sound. But it's a really cool
little line by the way. And that little syncopated rhythm that you have is going to require a firm
articulation for both horns and altos to make sure that we feel that syncopation. Yes. And of
course, it's going to go out of tune up high on the horn. So it's really important just to really
focus on this part. Good sectional work can be done there. At 39, the Fluton Oboe come in with a new
idea. So the horn and alto part can come down in volume here. We're layering groups in. So teaching
kids that when I would write on their parts at 35, it would say mids. That's what I always write for
like alto and horn part. And then at 39, we would write flobo so that that way the kids know who to
listen for and who to balance to in this piece. And you want to be consistent stylistically like
the flutes coming in with this again, we still want that first eight note to be looked at.
Yes. So it should still have that like fun upbeat feel to it for sure. Then at 43, we're adding in
even more people with the trumpets. And now they get to play a new theme. So you're going to teach
the flutes and the oboes to back off here at 43. So again, you've layered in you started with clarinet
only, then you layered in horn and alto, then you layered in fluton oboe, niolary and trumpet.
So it can get really noisy really fast if you don't teach the kids properly how to layer this part.
So you can always hear the most important part. I do like that the dynamics are written in the
individual parts. Like that it says mezzo forte for you know, oftentimes that's one of my biggest
things that that frustrates me when you have blanket dynamics across all parts, but
Robert Scheldt and that's right. That needs to be the stronger volume. Yeah, right here,
both trumpet parts are very important. And you know, they're not the same same rhythm,
but not the same notes, of course. And there's a lot of D's and E's in the second trumpet part.
So just making sure you're really thinking about what you can do to play those better in tune,
lots of kicking. And then we're still continuing on that fun horn part at 47. Now the trumpets
are continuing on their little part, but the low people enter for the first time. And now they're
the new voice that's going to come in. And it's kind of like, it's like the melody, what's the
word for like the melody being elongated? Augmented. Augmentation. Yeah, it's kind of like that. So
they're going to have the little melodic part. So everybody else is going to come down as they're
leading us into the next section at 50. They've got big quarter notes with accents coming in.
And then the full band does the same chordal structure that we've already done two other
times in the piece. And then of course, with the percussion response there as well,
transitioning into 53. Again, this is like what we had earlier in the piece. But those the low brass
coming in off of that rest right on a G doubling with the tenor sax, just make sure that that is
set. And they're really secure on that there's nobody to hide behind there and making sure that
that sounds really musical that whole, yes, the whole theme that they yes, and you also need to
make sure the horns don't like project too much on their upper notes here, because then it'll take
it'll detract from the person. Yeah, they can stick out and end up covering up the the low voices.
Right. Now we get to combine we're bringing back in that that clarinet counter melody that we saw
earlier, just kind of building to to the big, the big finish here 61. Again, we've seen this before,
this is exactly like what we had earlier in the piece of the same stylistic and balance
considerations across all parts. When we get to being mindful about making sure like looking at
the horn tenor and alto part, and I'm at measure 63-64, that that half note they play goes all the
way across the bar. Their tendency is going to want to be to clip that especially since clarinet
the long take a breath there and then you end up with a huge gap in your sound because we've got
rests and other parts. That's right. Yeah, so it's super important. And then right here at measure 67.
Okay, now we've got this chord. This is going to be something you have to spend some time on tuning.
First of all, this note lasts for four solid beats. So it's obviously tuning is really important.
We have a concert G flat in the low brass and most of the low reeds. So that that's going to take
time to make sure that they feel secure on that. I would consider, you know, coming from beat three
and four before three, four, one and making them land and freeze on that note and making it in tune.
I think it's really cool that this is scored so smartly. There are only two instruments that play
the third of the chord here, and it's the tenor sax and the oboe. So that helps. The bulk of the
band is in an open fifth, which is way easier to work with. But of course, we're talking about it
being a concert G flat chord. So that's no fun. When I have my students, if we have a particular note
that they 100% need to make sure their eyeballs get up and on the tuner on that one note. And this
is a great example because it's four beats long. We highlight the note. So if they don't have a
highlighter, I pass a highlighter down the row and everybody highlights that one note. And then they
know when they get to that highlighted note eyeballs on your tuner. That's a good idea. I just have the
kids write tuner, but I kind of like that idea. I like the visual and that their music gets so
marked up by the by the by the end that anything to make it look a little different. It's a great
great idea. And then these last four measures, this is very it's just it's very much like the opening.
So you want to treat it the same way. Now the last measure is a little different. Several of the
instruments, flute, low brass, trumpet, first trumpet, we have a big octave leap at the end. So
that is definitely I would have the students hold those notes out and really practice good tone
quality. Like really, really, and that was terrible tone quality, but you know, really work on that
to get that how you want how you want that to sound. Yep. And making sure that everybody dampens
at the end too. It's a big another big timpani and snare finish, but mainly timpani. Make sure
they're the last thing that is important here. And then yeah, everybody choking, dampen at the very
end to make it sound super final. So we hope that you have loved this piece just like our students
and we do. It's so fun, so energetic. I like that it's new. It's yeah, it's got a fun rhythm, good
style, and you know, it's pretty repetitive in certain moments. So it's an easy teaching piece.
So we hope you will consider it. Thank you so much for joining us on this episode of Band BFFs.