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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 Looking Up by Robert Sheldon.

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Cheers to starting the conversation!

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Alright, this piece is in four four time throughout Concert B Flat and it's only about two minutes

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long. The tempo is marked pretty brisk throughout this, but if you have trouble, if your ensemble

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has trouble, don't feel like you need to go, it's marked at 138. You don't need to go fully

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at 138 if the ensemble isn't ready for it. It's a pretty active snare part and it's hard to do that.

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All of the clarinet parts are split, trumpet parts are split, clarinet never crosses the break.

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So that's nice. The first trumpet never plays above a C. Now where you really need to be

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concerned about your players in this piece is on your horns. There is an extended horn range in this.

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The horn part goes up to an E flat in the staff and the horn part has a lot of importance in this.

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So you want to make sure that you have good horns. As far as all of the percussion, all of the parts

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are important. Now the snare part, you need to make sure you have a snare and tambourine and timpani.

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I would prioritize in this. Making sure you've got strong players that are rhythmically solid and pulse

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solid because those instruments are going to be really important. Yes. So this piece in Texas is a PML

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grade two, but it is in my opinion really well written and on the easier side of some of the other

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pieces on the PML. So I get a nice first introduction in the grade two. Yes, I think so. And it's a joyful

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piece. It has fun style markings in it. The kids love it because it just has a good energy to it.

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So starting right off the bat, you get the like Laura said, the horn and sax melody at the beginning.

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You always teach the saxphones to color the horn. So the horn should be the focal sound here.

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Everybody has the same rhythm, but it's the horn part that's moving. Da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da.

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And you really want to make sure everybody aligns that style because it comes back over and over and

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over in this piece, the whole piece. So learning it on a concert f first with the whole band is a

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great idea. Then they can just, you know, copy paste into their memory for all the other times

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it's going to come back in the piece. And you might consider like having your students, because

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this style is so important and unison in the beginning, having them verbalize it either on

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DAWs and Ds or sizzle it if you like to do that. That way you're really working to match that clarity.

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So it is a little bit of a conversation here at the beginning between the winds and the

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percussion too. That's why Laura mentioned like the timpani and the snare are really important

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here in tambourine later. They just need to be really good players because they have to have

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good pulse. The snare part is very active. There are a lot of 16th notes in this piece.

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And accents. And accents in the 16th notes too. So it's really important that you have a good

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player who's not going to rush out of things and rush the band in general just for tempo and pulse.

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Make sure you're teaching kids not to breathe on the bar line between two and three. Then at three

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we have the same thing. We're just changing it up a little bit. And then at five we get low brass

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kind of descending here and a big jump in the tuba part from low B flat to high B flat. So if

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your kids don't feel confident doing that, you can have tubas just play regular upper B flat to A

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flat. If they can play this part great, makes your band sound bigger and more full. But it's just

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something to think about. We have two chords here at six that just need a little attention

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to make sure that they sound really good together. And again the active snare part. Timpani can help

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by rolling really confidently into the big final finish here at seven. This is the intro. And then

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the timpani has a big moment along with snare. But I like the timpani part to be a little bit more

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present here. Then you've got a cool little like ride symbol type part here with clarinets. And

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each one of these quarter notes going into nine they get softer and softer on. So we used like a

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number system with our students like five, four, three, two, one, one, one, one, just to kind of

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like know how much to get softer. Bells, like Laura said, all the progression parts are pretty

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important. The bells part really helps color this flute solely at nine. And you do have to have really

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good flutes too because they are the only ones on this melody. And they come back and back and back

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with a flute nobo later on with the melody. But it's written in a really easy range on the flute.

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So they should be able to shine. Make sure that they're doing great style from the beginning

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because this melody is passed around. So make sure that they're doing the accents and the staccatos.

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And then at 11, they're going to get softer so that the more active percussion can kind of come

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out and then the clarinets get to have a little response. Again, with that style. And stagger

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breathing on that like they're having to hold that long. If they can't hold it all the way through.

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Absolutely. And then at 13, we're going to have the trumpet to add in with the flutes. So now that's

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the new color. So you can have them kind of play out a little bit more and project. And then we add

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in some more voices on a long note. Just make sure that they sneak in. They're not overpowering the

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band. But again, they help with those accents with their little one, two, four, one, two, and

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so just like keep working on making sure that the style is really, really brought out on this piece.

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Again, making sure your sound goes all the way to 17. So the pickup notes and the low voices can be

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prominent. So when we get to 17, now the low brass and tenor sax take over a new melodic idea.

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This low brass part, because it's doubled trombone, euphonium, bassoon, and it's in tenor sax,

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depending on the instrumentation of your band and the number of students that you have, it might be

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that you thin that out a little bit. Hey, this time we're just going to have trombones play it. This

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time we're just going to have euphonium. So whatever works for your ensemble to make sure that the

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balance is right. Now the horn and alto have a nice little counter melody. And then at 17,

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the trumpets come in with this little rhythmic ostinato. No, it's the same, the same type of,

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it should be the same type of style that you had in the introduction. In the introduction,

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it was marked with an accent and a staccato. It's not marked here, but I would still treat it the

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exact same way. And Katie and I are big proponents of before you distribute music to your students,

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going through and looking at the individual parts, marking in things that can help them

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learn the music faster and be more successful quickly. This is an example of a part where I

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would mark the accent and the staccato for the trumpets, so that we ensure they are doing that

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style correctly from the beginning. Now tambourine enters here as well, and tambourine is really

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important. It's essentially the pulse and the heartbeat of what is happening here. And when

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you have that syncopated pattern one, two, and four, the tendency is going to be to rush, to

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compress that silence and to rush. So you want to make sure that the student that you have on that

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part has really good timing and aligns all of that really well. Counter melody, like I said,

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in the alto and in the horn. When we get to measure 20, now we're adding in the oboe and

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bells on melody, and we have this new idea in the clarinets. It is not the melody here. I would

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consider this more of a counter melody, but it's written in a really great range for the instrument,

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so your students should be able to sound great on this part. Be real mindful about not breathing

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after every half note. And I would even consider, since this kind of stair steps up, I would consider

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just a little bit of a crescendo as they're going through this. Absolutely. One and two and three,

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one and two and three, just kind of build a little bit. And then I think also here in the

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trombone, euphonium bassoon part, it is not supposed to be very loud, but it's not, you know,

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it's not the most favorable instrument choice notes, like D and G in trombone. So if you maybe

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make this like Laura mentioned earlier, this could be a euphonium moment, or if you have a really

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great bassoon, it could be kind of like a woodwind, a woodwind feature. That's right. Yeah. So just

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play around with it and see what works for your group. But I think that might be a nice little

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thing to do to make sure that you're not distracted from the flute and oboe and bells melody. Now as

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we transition into 25, you'll notice a crescendo in the upper woodwinds, but they are on a whole

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note. So I would really minimize what you tell your students to do with that crescendo and let

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the moving note parts, which is happening in trumpets, make that be the dominant voice that's

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coming through and helping to lead that crescendo. When we get to 25, trumpets and clarinets now

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have the melody, but we have added in like we have the alto and the tenor and the horn that are on

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that little ostinato that stays on one note for a long time. So you want to make sure that the

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tendency, it can smother the melody part. So you need to make sure that that balance, you spend

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some time working on the balance of that. Same with the low brass, low reed part. And again,

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style is going to be really important here. Don't have that be too loud. As many, I mean,

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when I'm thinking about my own band, tuba, trombone, euphonia, bassoon, bass clarinet,

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very nice. I mean, that's a lot of bodies playing the same part there. And what I would consider

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the least important part priority wise. Right. On that whole note too, at the melody at 27 and 28

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for the trumpet and the clarinet, it teach the kids to come way down in volume at the end of their

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melody right there so that you can bring out the alto and horn parts kind of like a little

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call and response. And their parts moving. One, two, three, four, one, two and just like at the

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beginning. So have them bring that part out and the whole note part comes down. Now percussion

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here is really important. The percussion kicks up in activity here as well. So again, that's

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another opportunity that you know you're going to need to work on balance to make sure that we

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hear the melody and percussion doesn't get too loud. For sure. And we continue to build here.

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We're aiming at the arrival point of 32 before we transition into this new section. Yep. And again,

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timpani and snare drum have another moment here where this is like a little percussion feature

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before clarinets come in with this new idea before we get to what I think is one of the more

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challenging parts of the piece. So at 33, you have kind of like a repeat from before where the

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clarinets have that one, two, three, four, but this time it's not going away. They're they're

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going to continue going. So I wrote in a day crescendo on my kids parts, just like the beginning.

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And then they we cut it down to one on a part at 34. So on one first clarinet, one second clarinet,

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you don't have to do that, whatever works for your group. But this part goes on and on and on

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and on. You could even have people play two measures, this person plays two measures, this

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person plays to trade it off so that kids aren't sitting there for a long time. But this is at

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35. This is a sax and horn feature. And this is where it gets really tricky if you don't have a

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good horn section or a strong section because it is so exposed. And it's not the easiest of

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melodies because you got to be able to do that big jump to the E flat with ease. Because the whole

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piece is like sounds very upbeat, light and energetic. Tambourine here again is is keeping

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the pulse for us. So very important again to have a good tambourine player. But I would work on this

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horn part, making sure that you find if you have a large horn section, you don't have to have them

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all play. It could just be one or two kids on the part that make it sound really good and shine,

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because it would really detract if you were being adjudicated on this part. If your horn players

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were cracking and not able to get the upper E flat out with a good sound. But it's a really cool

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little line by the way. And that little syncopated rhythm that you have is going to require a firm

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articulation for both horns and altos to make sure that we feel that syncopation. Yes. And of

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course, it's going to go out of tune up high on the horn. So it's really important just to really

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focus on this part. Good sectional work can be done there. At 39, the Fluton Oboe come in with a new

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idea. So the horn and alto part can come down in volume here. We're layering groups in. So teaching

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kids that when I would write on their parts at 35, it would say mids. That's what I always write for

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like alto and horn part. And then at 39, we would write flobo so that that way the kids know who to

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listen for and who to balance to in this piece. And you want to be consistent stylistically like

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the flutes coming in with this again, we still want that first eight note to be looked at.

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Yes. So it should still have that like fun upbeat feel to it for sure. Then at 43, we're adding in

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even more people with the trumpets. And now they get to play a new theme. So you're going to teach

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the flutes and the oboes to back off here at 43. So again, you've layered in you started with clarinet

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only, then you layered in horn and alto, then you layered in fluton oboe, niolary and trumpet.

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So it can get really noisy really fast if you don't teach the kids properly how to layer this part.

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So you can always hear the most important part. I do like that the dynamics are written in the

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individual parts. Like that it says mezzo forte for you know, oftentimes that's one of my biggest

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things that that frustrates me when you have blanket dynamics across all parts, but

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Robert Scheldt and that's right. That needs to be the stronger volume. Yeah, right here,

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both trumpet parts are very important. And you know, they're not the same same rhythm,

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but not the same notes, of course. And there's a lot of D's and E's in the second trumpet part.

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So just making sure you're really thinking about what you can do to play those better in tune,

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lots of kicking. And then we're still continuing on that fun horn part at 47. Now the trumpets

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are continuing on their little part, but the low people enter for the first time. And now they're

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the new voice that's going to come in. And it's kind of like, it's like the melody, what's the

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word for like the melody being elongated? Augmented. Augmentation. Yeah, it's kind of like that. So

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they're going to have the little melodic part. So everybody else is going to come down as they're

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leading us into the next section at 50. They've got big quarter notes with accents coming in.

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And then the full band does the same chordal structure that we've already done two other

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times in the piece. And then of course, with the percussion response there as well,

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transitioning into 53. Again, this is like what we had earlier in the piece. But those the low brass

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coming in off of that rest right on a G doubling with the tenor sax, just make sure that that is

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set. And they're really secure on that there's nobody to hide behind there and making sure that

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that sounds really musical that whole, yes, the whole theme that they yes, and you also need to

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make sure the horns don't like project too much on their upper notes here, because then it'll take

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it'll detract from the person. Yeah, they can stick out and end up covering up the the low voices.

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Right. Now we get to combine we're bringing back in that that clarinet counter melody that we saw

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earlier, just kind of building to to the big, the big finish here 61. Again, we've seen this before,

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this is exactly like what we had earlier in the piece of the same stylistic and balance

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considerations across all parts. When we get to being mindful about making sure like looking at

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the horn tenor and alto part, and I'm at measure 63-64, that that half note they play goes all the

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way across the bar. Their tendency is going to want to be to clip that especially since clarinet

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the long take a breath there and then you end up with a huge gap in your sound because we've got

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rests and other parts. That's right. Yeah, so it's super important. And then right here at measure 67.

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Okay, now we've got this chord. This is going to be something you have to spend some time on tuning.

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First of all, this note lasts for four solid beats. So it's obviously tuning is really important.

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We have a concert G flat in the low brass and most of the low reeds. So that that's going to take

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time to make sure that they feel secure on that. I would consider, you know, coming from beat three

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and four before three, four, one and making them land and freeze on that note and making it in tune.

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I think it's really cool that this is scored so smartly. There are only two instruments that play

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the third of the chord here, and it's the tenor sax and the oboe. So that helps. The bulk of the

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band is in an open fifth, which is way easier to work with. But of course, we're talking about it

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being a concert G flat chord. So that's no fun. When I have my students, if we have a particular note

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that they 100% need to make sure their eyeballs get up and on the tuner on that one note. And this

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is a great example because it's four beats long. We highlight the note. So if they don't have a

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highlighter, I pass a highlighter down the row and everybody highlights that one note. And then they

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know when they get to that highlighted note eyeballs on your tuner. That's a good idea. I just have the

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kids write tuner, but I kind of like that idea. I like the visual and that their music gets so

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marked up by the by the by the end that anything to make it look a little different. It's a great

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great idea. And then these last four measures, this is very it's just it's very much like the opening.

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So you want to treat it the same way. Now the last measure is a little different. Several of the

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instruments, flute, low brass, trumpet, first trumpet, we have a big octave leap at the end. So

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that is definitely I would have the students hold those notes out and really practice good tone

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quality. Like really, really, and that was terrible tone quality, but you know, really work on that

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to get that how you want how you want that to sound. Yep. And making sure that everybody dampens

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at the end too. It's a big another big timpani and snare finish, but mainly timpani. Make sure

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they're the last thing that is important here. And then yeah, everybody choking, dampen at the very

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end to make it sound super final. So we hope that you have loved this piece just like our students

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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

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style, and you know, it's pretty repetitive in certain moments. So it's an easy teaching piece.

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So we hope you will consider it. Thank you so much for joining us on this episode of Band BFFs.