1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:10,160 Welcome to our podcast, Band BFFs! 2 00:00:10,160 --> 00:00:13,680 The podcast where we make your music selection less complicated. 3 00:00:13,680 --> 00:00:19,560 This is our second special episode where we're going to be discussing fall pieces that you 4 00:00:19,560 --> 00:00:22,360 could use for your concert. 5 00:00:22,360 --> 00:00:28,260 And these pieces are more of the medium easy slash medium range in our opinion. 6 00:00:28,260 --> 00:00:34,360 Today we're going to be discussing Count Rockula by Timothy Loist, Dark Adventure by Ralph Ford, 7 00:00:34,360 --> 00:00:37,200 and Pit in the Pendulum by Michael Story. 8 00:00:37,200 --> 00:00:39,680 Cheers to starting the conversation! 9 00:00:39,680 --> 00:00:43,720 Alright, Count Rockula by Timothy Loist. 10 00:00:43,720 --> 00:00:47,160 This is in the key of E-flat or C-minor. 11 00:00:47,160 --> 00:00:49,720 It's 4-4 throughout. 12 00:00:49,720 --> 00:00:52,480 It is about a minute and 40 seconds long. 13 00:00:52,480 --> 00:00:59,320 It does have split clarinet parts and two trumpet parts, but they often double each other. 14 00:00:59,320 --> 00:01:02,640 The range is not super crazy on this piece. 15 00:01:02,640 --> 00:01:05,920 It has an optional drum set part, which is really cool. 16 00:01:05,920 --> 00:01:12,360 If you have a strong drum set player and lots of other little accessory instruments that 17 00:01:12,360 --> 00:01:15,040 make it sound really cool. 18 00:01:15,040 --> 00:01:17,320 I love this piece. 19 00:01:17,320 --> 00:01:18,320 It's very cute. 20 00:01:18,320 --> 00:01:20,280 In the title, I mean it says Count Rockula. 21 00:01:20,280 --> 00:01:21,880 It's very rock based. 22 00:01:21,880 --> 00:01:25,800 It sounds like the Munsters TV show theme to me. 23 00:01:25,800 --> 00:01:29,560 It has a little Adams family theme in the middle too. 24 00:01:29,560 --> 00:01:36,440 It would be really fun to play if you were going to try to have young 4th, 5th, 6th graders 25 00:01:36,440 --> 00:01:42,920 coming to your concert in hopes of capturing their love for band as they're making their 26 00:01:42,920 --> 00:01:47,800 choices for electives for middle school or junior high because again of the drum set 27 00:01:47,800 --> 00:01:48,800 part. 28 00:01:48,800 --> 00:01:53,160 You just think anytime you can do that, it makes kids think it's really fun. 29 00:01:53,160 --> 00:01:56,120 It's very active in all the percussion parts. 30 00:01:56,120 --> 00:02:02,200 At the very beginning, we have flute and trumpet melody along with actually trumpet 31 00:02:02,200 --> 00:02:04,120 one melody. 32 00:02:04,120 --> 00:02:09,520 Not very much like style, but it comes back and back one, two and three and four and one, 33 00:02:09,520 --> 00:02:11,160 two and three. 34 00:02:11,160 --> 00:02:16,040 Just teaching the kids to do the right articulation from the up, from the front and making sure 35 00:02:16,040 --> 00:02:19,120 that everybody continues that as it comes into other parts. 36 00:02:19,120 --> 00:02:20,200 It repeats itself. 37 00:02:20,200 --> 00:02:23,200 This piece is really repetitive. 38 00:02:23,200 --> 00:02:28,480 Once they get that little idea down, then it's really easy to copy and paste. 39 00:02:28,480 --> 00:02:33,880 This is a piece that you might just consider teaching the melody to everybody in the ensemble. 40 00:02:33,880 --> 00:02:35,160 It's got some technique. 41 00:02:35,160 --> 00:02:38,480 You want to make sure the trumpets playing G-sharps and things, they'll need to work 42 00:02:38,480 --> 00:02:42,360 on their finger technique to move their fingers quickly and together make sure that the tongues 43 00:02:42,360 --> 00:02:43,920 and slurs are lining up. 44 00:02:43,920 --> 00:02:50,920 My clarinets have G-sharp to A a lot, so just talking about all that technique as well. 45 00:02:50,920 --> 00:02:54,400 Talking about proper articulation, it's not all tongued. 46 00:02:54,400 --> 00:03:00,000 It has some slurs thrown in there and making sure that the students really pay attention 47 00:03:00,000 --> 00:03:02,160 to the differing rhythms as well. 48 00:03:02,160 --> 00:03:07,080 Not breathing after half notes at the end of bar lines, so it's a good phrasing as well. 49 00:03:07,080 --> 00:03:08,880 There aren't many parts at once. 50 00:03:08,880 --> 00:03:11,240 You basically have the melody line. 51 00:03:11,240 --> 00:03:15,000 Like here at measure five, it's the clarinets have the melody. 52 00:03:15,000 --> 00:03:20,320 Horn and alto has a little counter melody, and then you have the low people on a bass 53 00:03:20,320 --> 00:03:21,600 line. 54 00:03:21,600 --> 00:03:26,160 Little interceptions with like vibroslap here and there, or fun, slapstick, things like 55 00:03:26,160 --> 00:03:27,480 that. 56 00:03:27,480 --> 00:03:31,560 It makes it just sound even cuter and more rocky and feel. 57 00:03:31,560 --> 00:03:33,800 Again, it's real repetitive. 58 00:03:33,800 --> 00:03:34,800 Once they get the idea. 59 00:03:34,800 --> 00:03:39,120 It always has the one and two and three, and then some sort of thing like slapstick or 60 00:03:39,120 --> 00:03:42,240 shaker or whatever, that's a slapstick again. 61 00:03:42,240 --> 00:03:44,480 At the end of each phrase. 62 00:03:44,480 --> 00:03:48,920 We get a little bit different musical idea at 13 where the low voices get to take over 63 00:03:48,920 --> 00:03:50,560 a different melody. 64 00:03:50,560 --> 00:03:53,680 It's staccato, so we want to make sure everything is kind of light and lifted. 65 00:03:53,680 --> 00:03:57,200 Then we have that syncopation, one and and three. 66 00:03:57,200 --> 00:03:59,960 Make sure stylistically everything is really good there. 67 00:03:59,960 --> 00:04:04,280 The woodwinds echo what happens in the low brass and low reeds. 68 00:04:04,280 --> 00:04:06,880 Again, percussion, interjecting, all of the fun stuff. 69 00:04:06,880 --> 00:04:09,760 Then we get some really cool effects, which I like. 70 00:04:09,760 --> 00:04:11,720 First of all, there's a flexitone in percussion. 71 00:04:11,720 --> 00:04:15,000 I mean, let's be honest, how often do you get to play a flexitone? 72 00:04:15,000 --> 00:04:16,000 Not very often. 73 00:04:16,000 --> 00:04:17,000 Not very often. 74 00:04:17,000 --> 00:04:18,000 So that's kind of cool. 75 00:04:18,000 --> 00:04:21,520 The clarinet players get to take off the mouthpiece and barrel, play on mouthpiece and 76 00:04:21,520 --> 00:04:25,240 barrel, and they kind of wiggle their hand at the end. 77 00:04:25,240 --> 00:04:27,760 So we get a little wah, wah, wah, wah, wah, wah sound. 78 00:04:27,760 --> 00:04:28,760 It's really cool. 79 00:04:28,760 --> 00:04:29,760 It's an effect. 80 00:04:29,760 --> 00:04:31,920 We know how Katie feels about the effects. 81 00:04:31,920 --> 00:04:33,040 These are not horrible. 82 00:04:33,040 --> 00:04:34,040 It doesn't stand out. 83 00:04:34,040 --> 00:04:39,840 So yeah, and then it's the same rhythm or the melody again at 17, except now it's the 84 00:04:39,840 --> 00:04:41,960 low people with the melody with the cueable effect. 85 00:04:41,960 --> 00:04:43,760 So everybody gets the melody at some point. 86 00:04:43,760 --> 00:04:46,040 Yep, and that's really fun. 87 00:04:46,040 --> 00:04:47,960 And then we're continuing these effects. 88 00:04:47,960 --> 00:04:54,040 And then again, we have the one and two and three at 24 with another slapstick. 89 00:04:54,040 --> 00:04:58,440 So that's fun because again, like Laura mentioned, it's very repetitive. 90 00:04:58,440 --> 00:05:00,880 Then we have a new section at 25 though. 91 00:05:00,880 --> 00:05:02,080 So this is the lows. 92 00:05:02,080 --> 00:05:07,200 Like the lows had before, but now the trumpets get to add in with a little chromaticism with 93 00:05:07,200 --> 00:05:08,600 the xylophone. 94 00:05:08,600 --> 00:05:10,520 And that's pretty fun and cute. 95 00:05:10,520 --> 00:05:15,320 And then the clarinets get to do it next with the altos. 96 00:05:15,320 --> 00:05:21,800 And then at 29, we go back to the same melody with flute, oboe and trumpet. 97 00:05:21,800 --> 00:05:25,720 Lots of accidentals, lots of like some finger technique things that will need to be worked 98 00:05:25,720 --> 00:05:27,800 out and trumpet and clarinet especially. 99 00:05:27,800 --> 00:05:28,800 Yep. 100 00:05:28,800 --> 00:05:31,440 And then same little deal here at 32. 101 00:05:31,440 --> 00:05:36,960 Then we start the little Adams family theme with the clarinets doing triple at one, snap, 102 00:05:36,960 --> 00:05:39,880 snap, triple at one, snap, snap. 103 00:05:39,880 --> 00:05:44,880 So that's fun because the kids of course get to snap and they are familiar with this theme, 104 00:05:44,880 --> 00:05:46,600 I'm sure. 105 00:05:46,600 --> 00:05:54,200 Then the lows get to come in with like an accented part on top of that at 37. 106 00:05:54,200 --> 00:05:56,120 Then we still have some snaps going on. 107 00:05:56,120 --> 00:06:00,400 And then at 41, we're back to the same melody again. 108 00:06:00,400 --> 00:06:03,200 Same people that's the higher people again. 109 00:06:03,200 --> 00:06:09,720 And then we're doing the one and two and three except it's quarter notes this time at 48. 110 00:06:09,720 --> 00:06:10,720 And then the drum set. 111 00:06:10,720 --> 00:06:11,720 Little drum set fill. 112 00:06:11,720 --> 00:06:12,720 Yep. 113 00:06:12,720 --> 00:06:16,200 It gets to a little fill and then the whole piece ends and everybody gets to say boo, 114 00:06:16,200 --> 00:06:17,200 which is fun. 115 00:06:17,200 --> 00:06:18,200 It's cute. 116 00:06:18,200 --> 00:06:19,200 Yeah, it's really cute. 117 00:06:19,200 --> 00:06:20,200 This is a really fun piece. 118 00:06:20,200 --> 00:06:21,200 Kids like it. 119 00:06:21,200 --> 00:06:26,640 And like I said, it's relatively simple but there is some technique and some chromaticism 120 00:06:26,640 --> 00:06:30,000 that we have to be aware of in order to make this piece really successful. 121 00:06:30,000 --> 00:06:35,480 And again, drum set is optional, but really cool if you have a solid player for that. 122 00:06:35,480 --> 00:06:36,640 Absolutely. 123 00:06:36,640 --> 00:06:41,640 So our next piece is Dark Adventure by Ralph Ford. 124 00:06:41,640 --> 00:06:42,840 And Laura's going to tell us about it. 125 00:06:42,840 --> 00:06:44,680 This piece is in 4-4 throughout. 126 00:06:44,680 --> 00:06:46,840 It's in B-flat or G-minor. 127 00:06:46,840 --> 00:06:49,960 It's a little over three minutes long, so it is a little bit longer. 128 00:06:49,960 --> 00:06:52,920 There's a little bit more endurance in this. 129 00:06:52,920 --> 00:06:55,960 And we have some tempo changes in this. 130 00:06:55,960 --> 00:06:58,920 This one features horn a lot. 131 00:06:58,920 --> 00:07:00,440 Set bass clarinet and horn. 132 00:07:00,440 --> 00:07:06,360 So while those parts aren't necessarily super challenging in this, they will be isolated 133 00:07:06,360 --> 00:07:10,000 and featured, so you want to make sure that you have strong players in those sections. 134 00:07:10,000 --> 00:07:12,800 So it starts off a little bit slower, mysterious. 135 00:07:12,800 --> 00:07:18,680 So 4-4 at the beginning, it's kind of pretty and flowy with like a little system and a 136 00:07:18,680 --> 00:07:23,120 simple scrape in there, which kids think that's really fun. 137 00:07:23,120 --> 00:07:28,360 And then we're going into 8 where the full band is going to crescendo in to 9. 138 00:07:28,360 --> 00:07:32,200 And at the beginning, it does bass clarinet. 139 00:07:32,200 --> 00:07:34,680 Like bass clarinet is not optional in this. 140 00:07:34,680 --> 00:07:39,640 And I personally, I know it's cute and very sax and saxophone, and if you did not have 141 00:07:39,640 --> 00:07:43,280 a strong clarinet section, you could make this more of a saxophone feature. 142 00:07:43,280 --> 00:07:48,520 But that clarinet color, that woody color of the clarinet and the bass clarinet being 143 00:07:48,520 --> 00:07:52,480 the dominant voice is a really cool sound at the beginning of this. 144 00:07:52,480 --> 00:07:53,480 For sure. 145 00:07:53,480 --> 00:07:58,800 So we're going to achelorando from 8 to 9, which is nice because there's not like anything 146 00:07:58,800 --> 00:08:01,400 active, they just have to watch the conductor. 147 00:08:01,400 --> 00:08:05,520 And then we're going 144 at measure 9, so a lot quicker. 148 00:08:05,520 --> 00:08:11,200 The style changes, now we've got accents, the percussion gets more active, but these rhythms 149 00:08:11,200 --> 00:08:12,760 are not difficult. 150 00:08:12,760 --> 00:08:17,320 We're going to see this come back over and over again where the full band has mezzo-piano 151 00:08:17,320 --> 00:08:20,440 going to forte as a dynamic effect. 152 00:08:20,440 --> 00:08:24,520 Again, you just have like a really active snare drum part, so make sure you put someone 153 00:08:24,520 --> 00:08:31,560 there that can do it evenly and not loudly at a fast tempo, all the 16th stuff. 154 00:08:31,560 --> 00:08:37,840 Then we have some like accidentals coming in at measure 17. 155 00:08:37,840 --> 00:08:40,980 And this is important because we've got some A-flats, so you want to make sure when you're 156 00:08:40,980 --> 00:08:44,720 marking your parts that you like make that obvious that we're going to third position 157 00:08:44,720 --> 00:08:46,160 in the low brass. 158 00:08:46,160 --> 00:08:51,760 We're crescendoing and the percussion get this cool part along with the upper woodwinds 159 00:08:51,760 --> 00:08:52,880 and bells. 160 00:08:52,880 --> 00:08:58,120 And then snare drum again is kind of adding the excitement going into 19. 161 00:08:58,120 --> 00:09:02,240 And suspended cymbal here is also really important to give that really cool effect. 162 00:09:02,240 --> 00:09:03,240 Absolutely. 163 00:09:03,240 --> 00:09:05,320 Then we're a little bit different at 20. 164 00:09:05,320 --> 00:09:11,520 It says optional vibes, which it sounds really cool if you have vibes, so I would try to 165 00:09:11,520 --> 00:09:13,040 include that if possible. 166 00:09:13,040 --> 00:09:15,040 Yeah, definitely. 167 00:09:15,040 --> 00:09:17,080 And then it's got some upper woodwind parts. 168 00:09:17,080 --> 00:09:22,080 This melody that you hear at 21 is stated first by vibes if you have that, and then 169 00:09:22,080 --> 00:09:24,160 flute and oboe. 170 00:09:24,160 --> 00:09:26,560 And this melody comes back several times. 171 00:09:26,560 --> 00:09:29,160 Many people end up playing the melody. 172 00:09:29,160 --> 00:09:33,240 It's not terribly difficult, but it has a lot of skips. 173 00:09:33,240 --> 00:09:35,760 For the woodwind players, that's not really that big of a deal. 174 00:09:35,760 --> 00:09:36,760 Right. 175 00:09:36,760 --> 00:09:40,520 For the brass players, when we start to add this into the brass players, the skips do 176 00:09:40,520 --> 00:09:43,000 become a little bit bigger issue. 177 00:09:43,000 --> 00:09:44,320 You just have to be aware of that. 178 00:09:44,320 --> 00:09:46,040 But that is the melody. 179 00:09:46,040 --> 00:09:49,840 And I like this congas part here too, because it just gives it a little bit of a different 180 00:09:49,840 --> 00:09:53,240 vibe just in the percussion. 181 00:09:53,240 --> 00:09:54,560 It's a little bit more mellow, which I like. 182 00:09:54,560 --> 00:09:56,040 And then the light little cabasa. 183 00:09:56,040 --> 00:09:57,040 And it's just woodwinds. 184 00:09:57,040 --> 00:09:58,040 It's a woodwind feature. 185 00:09:58,040 --> 00:09:59,040 It is. 186 00:09:59,040 --> 00:10:01,440 This is a woodwind feature right here, and I would definitely have it just be woodwinds 187 00:10:01,440 --> 00:10:03,480 if you can, if your woodwinds are strong enough. 188 00:10:03,480 --> 00:10:07,240 And the little light accompaniment style that's taking place in the clarinet and saxophones 189 00:10:07,240 --> 00:10:10,720 and low reeds, I tell my students that they need to listen to what's happening in the 190 00:10:10,720 --> 00:10:11,720 cabasa. 191 00:10:11,720 --> 00:10:16,960 So that light staccato stuff needs to match what's happening in the cabasa. 192 00:10:16,960 --> 00:10:24,040 Then we get to measure 29, and now we add the brass in, but it's still just the flute 193 00:10:24,040 --> 00:10:30,400 oboe and now clarinet playing that same little spooky melody that we heard before. 194 00:10:30,400 --> 00:10:33,000 But the same accompaniment parts, there's basically three parts. 195 00:10:33,000 --> 00:10:34,440 So basically three parts here. 196 00:10:34,440 --> 00:10:36,840 And I like the bass line throughout this piece too. 197 00:10:36,840 --> 00:10:38,160 It's just kind of fun. 198 00:10:38,160 --> 00:10:40,600 It's got little cute chromatics in it. 199 00:10:40,600 --> 00:10:42,040 But it's not difficult. 200 00:10:42,040 --> 00:10:45,560 You just have to know who to listen for and how to prioritize the melody. 201 00:10:45,560 --> 00:10:46,560 That's right. 202 00:10:46,560 --> 00:10:47,560 Yep. 203 00:10:47,560 --> 00:10:48,960 So it's just continuing on. 204 00:10:48,960 --> 00:10:54,040 And then as we're continuing on, we have now some more accents and a crescendo, but 205 00:10:54,040 --> 00:10:55,440 it's the same thing we had before. 206 00:10:55,440 --> 00:10:56,440 One and two. 207 00:10:56,440 --> 00:10:57,440 Yeah, back to that same statement. 208 00:10:57,440 --> 00:10:59,160 One, two, three, four, one and two. 209 00:10:59,160 --> 00:11:00,160 Yep. 210 00:11:00,160 --> 00:11:03,960 Then we've got the mezzo piano going into the forte again. 211 00:11:03,960 --> 00:11:08,480 Some real active percussion at 41, 42. 212 00:11:08,480 --> 00:11:12,840 This is what Laura was talking about, the alto and the horn take over that spooky melody. 213 00:11:12,840 --> 00:11:15,680 But this is a little bit tricky for horns. 214 00:11:15,680 --> 00:11:20,200 You probably want to check that out before you definitely program this piece because 215 00:11:20,200 --> 00:11:25,320 now we're going to go up to from a low D all the way up to a high D to a C sharp. 216 00:11:25,320 --> 00:11:29,160 These are not the easiest pitches to get on on a horn on a good day. 217 00:11:29,160 --> 00:11:32,320 And if you have a younger section, this might be a lot for them. 218 00:11:32,320 --> 00:11:34,800 Or you could even make it be a solo if you wanted to. 219 00:11:34,800 --> 00:11:39,280 We even have an octave jump from D to D in the middle of it. 220 00:11:39,280 --> 00:11:44,520 It's not horribly difficult, but it will take some time to make sure that they can be accurate. 221 00:11:44,520 --> 00:11:48,520 It really is one of those things that they need to get the melody in their ear. 222 00:11:48,520 --> 00:11:53,360 When they get the melody in their ear and they really understand how it's, yeah, then 223 00:11:53,360 --> 00:11:55,280 it makes it way easier. 224 00:11:55,280 --> 00:11:59,640 And then we go back to the flute oboe, having the same melody, except now we've added in 225 00:11:59,640 --> 00:12:05,400 the trumpet and they continue on with that spooky melody. 226 00:12:05,400 --> 00:12:12,040 Just be careful when we land finally at 57 that we're kicking on the trumpet D and flute 227 00:12:12,040 --> 00:12:16,600 and oboe C that we really get that in tune because they're going to hold that for a while. 228 00:12:16,600 --> 00:12:19,760 And we're retardant doing going into 59. 229 00:12:19,760 --> 00:12:24,320 Which is another time where here we are, we have a tempo change, but there is no time 230 00:12:24,320 --> 00:12:25,320 keeping. 231 00:12:25,320 --> 00:12:26,320 So it's really nice. 232 00:12:26,320 --> 00:12:28,120 Just watch the conductor, right? 233 00:12:28,120 --> 00:12:33,440 And we're back to the original tempo again with horn and sax, having the melody. 234 00:12:33,440 --> 00:12:37,080 Same thing like we had at the very beginning, right? 235 00:12:37,080 --> 00:12:40,600 And this is the B section, so totally different. 236 00:12:40,600 --> 00:12:45,720 Harder to, even though it's not technically as demeaning, I think this section is harder 237 00:12:45,720 --> 00:12:48,400 to make it sound seamless. 238 00:12:48,400 --> 00:12:53,600 And there's even a trumpet solo in here and you could play it as a solo if you didn't 239 00:12:53,600 --> 00:12:58,920 have somebody just totally ready to do that, but it's featured back and forth with the 240 00:12:58,920 --> 00:13:03,200 trumpet and then the horn and the alto continuing on. 241 00:13:03,200 --> 00:13:08,840 Even the lows are getting some cool moments going down, down, down into low, a flat and 242 00:13:08,840 --> 00:13:10,800 tuba. 243 00:13:10,800 --> 00:13:14,720 Trumpet continues on and as Laura said, it just needs to be very seamless. 244 00:13:14,720 --> 00:13:18,040 All the half notes have to go all the way the bar line. 245 00:13:18,040 --> 00:13:23,120 Kids are just trying to make sure that it sounds really smooth, connected and pretty. 246 00:13:23,120 --> 00:13:27,840 So this is good because it's kind of like a lyrical section in a piece. 247 00:13:27,840 --> 00:13:30,000 And no percussion, virtually no percussion. 248 00:13:30,000 --> 00:13:32,800 There's some suspended cymbal and things, but virtually no percussion here. 249 00:13:32,800 --> 00:13:34,120 Not like a pulse, right? 250 00:13:34,120 --> 00:13:38,920 So watching is going to be important, subdividing so that we can stay together. 251 00:13:38,920 --> 00:13:43,880 Lows get to come in on beat four and take over a little bit for a moment and then upper 252 00:13:43,880 --> 00:13:45,920 flutin' oboe again. 253 00:13:45,920 --> 00:13:53,160 Now we're going to slow down even more and then go straight into a nacella rondo. 254 00:13:53,160 --> 00:13:58,000 So this is the first time that we have had to like move together, but everybody has kind 255 00:13:58,000 --> 00:14:01,080 of the same thing, one and two and three and four and one. 256 00:14:01,080 --> 00:14:06,560 Then we're back to the original faster tempo from the beginning. 257 00:14:06,560 --> 00:14:11,240 So I would work on that transition quite a bit to make sure that it lines up. 258 00:14:11,240 --> 00:14:13,920 And then we have the spooky melody again. 259 00:14:13,920 --> 00:14:18,560 This is a woodwind feature again with no brass. 260 00:14:18,560 --> 00:14:20,360 And of course bells are playing along with them. 261 00:14:20,360 --> 00:14:22,880 It's very much copy-paste like what we had at the beginning. 262 00:14:22,880 --> 00:14:26,120 83, the trumpets take over again along with the upper people. 263 00:14:26,120 --> 00:14:33,120 And now we've added in xylophone just as a different flavor and color in there. 264 00:14:33,120 --> 00:14:38,320 It's just going to continue on doing the same thing, crescendoing, same deal we had here 265 00:14:38,320 --> 00:14:40,600 at 91. 266 00:14:40,600 --> 00:14:46,360 So piano going to forte again and then we're going to crescendo, do a sports sando piano. 267 00:14:46,360 --> 00:14:52,080 And each one will get louder and louder as you get higher up here. 268 00:14:52,080 --> 00:14:53,560 This is one of my favorite sections. 269 00:14:53,560 --> 00:14:57,440 I love this big, this effect section where we have all of the half notes. 270 00:14:57,440 --> 00:15:00,840 We have the eighth note wiggles at the top that just really need to get out of the way. 271 00:15:00,840 --> 00:15:02,600 They should just not crescendo. 272 00:15:02,600 --> 00:15:03,600 Absolutely. 273 00:15:03,600 --> 00:15:06,120 Just be quiet, move your fingers in time and get out of the way. 274 00:15:06,120 --> 00:15:10,580 And we're building one, three, one, three, one. 275 00:15:10,580 --> 00:15:13,480 Just layering in all of these different parts. 276 00:15:13,480 --> 00:15:14,480 It's really cool. 277 00:15:14,480 --> 00:15:15,480 It kind of makes for a big climactic ending. 278 00:15:15,480 --> 00:15:16,480 Yep. 279 00:15:16,480 --> 00:15:17,480 It sounds really neat. 280 00:15:17,480 --> 00:15:22,520 And then we're just, obviously we're leading into the percussion break and then the whole 281 00:15:22,520 --> 00:15:25,880 piece ends with that same rhythm from before. 282 00:15:25,880 --> 00:15:32,240 So this piece is great because it does challenge your students a little bit more with the lyrical 283 00:15:32,240 --> 00:15:35,000 and the tempo shifts and things like that. 284 00:15:35,000 --> 00:15:39,360 The range and the melody, the skips, that type of stuff, the duration. 285 00:15:39,360 --> 00:15:40,360 Right. 286 00:15:40,360 --> 00:15:43,720 It's quite as simplified as Count Rockula. 287 00:15:43,720 --> 00:15:46,600 So it's a little bit more challenging. 288 00:15:46,600 --> 00:15:51,720 And then our last piece is The Pit in the Pendulum by Michael Story. 289 00:15:51,720 --> 00:15:55,720 This is one of my absolute favorite pieces to program for fall concerts. 290 00:15:55,720 --> 00:15:59,600 It works for a wide variety of levels of bands. 291 00:15:59,600 --> 00:16:03,000 It is in the key of B-flat or G-minor. 292 00:16:03,000 --> 00:16:08,240 It is in 4-4 and this one is about three minutes in length as well. 293 00:16:08,240 --> 00:16:13,120 Now fun, I'm going to just share a little bit about this piece before we start talking 294 00:16:13,120 --> 00:16:14,680 about the music itself. 295 00:16:14,680 --> 00:16:21,680 Michael Story actually wrote a series of pieces on Edgar Allan Poe's short stories. 296 00:16:21,680 --> 00:16:24,320 The Pit in the Pendulum is an Edgar Allan Poe short story. 297 00:16:24,320 --> 00:16:25,320 This is one of them. 298 00:16:25,320 --> 00:16:29,720 He also did The Telltale Heart and one other one, I think Annabelle Lee. 299 00:16:29,720 --> 00:16:30,720 I think that's what it is. 300 00:16:30,720 --> 00:16:31,720 You can look those up. 301 00:16:31,720 --> 00:16:32,840 Those are also great pieces. 302 00:16:32,840 --> 00:16:36,640 This is just my favorite one in this particular series. 303 00:16:36,640 --> 00:16:40,840 If you have ever read the short story, The Pit in the Pendulum, I think this is a great 304 00:16:40,840 --> 00:16:46,640 cross-curricular opportunity for your students. 305 00:16:46,640 --> 00:16:47,640 T-Tas. 306 00:16:47,640 --> 00:16:48,640 That's exactly right. 307 00:16:48,640 --> 00:16:49,640 That's exactly right. 308 00:16:49,640 --> 00:16:56,440 So having them read the short story and understand what the music is trying to convey, just very 309 00:16:56,440 --> 00:17:00,560 briefly, the story is about a prisoner that is in a cell. 310 00:17:00,560 --> 00:17:01,560 The cell is dark. 311 00:17:01,560 --> 00:17:04,920 There is a pit in the middle of the cell and he can't see anything. 312 00:17:04,920 --> 00:17:10,480 His arms are bound and he determines that the walls of the pit are closing in on him. 313 00:17:10,480 --> 00:17:14,480 So eventually he is going to fall down in the pit where there are spikes at the bottom 314 00:17:14,480 --> 00:17:15,480 of the pit. 315 00:17:15,480 --> 00:17:21,320 Meanwhile, from the ceiling, a big swinging pendulum with a blade on it is coming down 316 00:17:21,320 --> 00:17:23,520 on him, closing in on him. 317 00:17:23,520 --> 00:17:26,760 So he's trying to escape, but he's bound. 318 00:17:26,760 --> 00:17:27,760 It's dark. 319 00:17:27,760 --> 00:17:28,760 He can't see. 320 00:17:28,760 --> 00:17:32,480 He ends up taking some of his food crumbs and getting them on his ropes and trying to 321 00:17:32,480 --> 00:17:38,400 get a rat in the cell to eat his ropes, to chew his ropes apart, which he does and ends 322 00:17:38,400 --> 00:17:42,480 up, he does end up escaping, which I think the music absolutely conveys. 323 00:17:42,480 --> 00:17:48,240 But the intensity of all of that, I think Michael's story does a really incredible job 324 00:17:48,240 --> 00:17:50,680 of conveying that musically. 325 00:17:50,680 --> 00:17:53,960 I've played this several times with lots of different groups. 326 00:17:53,960 --> 00:18:00,040 One year we even did it with our theater department and our theater department actually constructed 327 00:18:00,040 --> 00:18:05,280 the whole scene and performed it while we played the music. 328 00:18:05,280 --> 00:18:06,960 It was really, really cool. 329 00:18:06,960 --> 00:18:08,080 That is so cool. 330 00:18:08,080 --> 00:18:12,080 There are lots of really cool cross-curricular things that you can do with this, but let's 331 00:18:12,080 --> 00:18:14,760 get into it and talk about the piece. 332 00:18:14,760 --> 00:18:20,560 So it starts out accented with some marcotto accents and house top accents. 333 00:18:20,560 --> 00:18:25,800 And then we've got big timpani and snare drum throughout this piece, conversing back and 334 00:18:25,800 --> 00:18:27,320 forth with the band. 335 00:18:27,320 --> 00:18:29,880 Make sure you pick a good timpani player. 336 00:18:29,880 --> 00:18:35,560 And then we've got upper woodwind melody, a little softer but smooth and connected and 337 00:18:35,560 --> 00:18:38,320 slurred throughout here. 338 00:18:38,320 --> 00:18:42,760 And then we're leading into ten where it's a brass choir and it's really pretty. 339 00:18:42,760 --> 00:18:47,200 And it does have a lot of chromaticism in it, but it has a cool sound to it. 340 00:18:47,200 --> 00:18:49,480 Yeah, you want to be real mindful of the accidentals. 341 00:18:49,480 --> 00:18:54,840 This whole introduction section here, this slower section to me, reminds me, like I envisioned 342 00:18:54,840 --> 00:18:57,560 the prisoner being marched to his prison cell. 343 00:18:57,560 --> 00:18:59,440 Like he's just been sentenced. 344 00:18:59,440 --> 00:19:00,720 So it's a little slower. 345 00:19:00,720 --> 00:19:03,000 It's kind of, it's very heavy. 346 00:19:03,000 --> 00:19:04,000 Yeah. 347 00:19:04,000 --> 00:19:05,000 Yeah. 348 00:19:05,000 --> 00:19:11,960 At 14, the low or kind of like the middle voices have this one, two and a three, one 349 00:19:11,960 --> 00:19:13,760 and a two. 350 00:19:13,760 --> 00:19:16,560 That's kind of like, I feel like it was like kind of dread. 351 00:19:16,560 --> 00:19:20,000 Like he feels the dread in the pit of his stomach, which was kind of cool. 352 00:19:20,000 --> 00:19:21,480 I just think it's well written. 353 00:19:21,480 --> 00:19:22,480 It sounds fun. 354 00:19:22,480 --> 00:19:23,680 The kids will like it. 355 00:19:23,680 --> 00:19:27,600 Then we're going to have a retardando going into 17. 356 00:19:27,600 --> 00:19:30,600 You know, the students do have to follow us on this one. 357 00:19:30,600 --> 00:19:37,400 And then we're going to go faster at immediately at 17, a little quicker at 130. 358 00:19:37,400 --> 00:19:41,040 And the clarinets get the melody, which is really fun and it's not difficult. 359 00:19:41,040 --> 00:19:42,640 It's below the break. 360 00:19:42,640 --> 00:19:46,240 It's really, it lays easy in your fingers as long as they play B natural. 361 00:19:46,240 --> 00:19:47,240 Right. 362 00:19:47,240 --> 00:19:51,400 And then you just have these cute little interspersed low people. 363 00:19:51,400 --> 00:19:56,160 And then the trumpets get to come in with this new melody and it sounds really pretty. 364 00:19:56,160 --> 00:20:00,640 You do have to make sure your trumpets sound great here because it's just trumpets on the 365 00:20:00,640 --> 00:20:03,360 melody and that's it. 366 00:20:03,360 --> 00:20:05,880 And very trumpets one and two. 367 00:20:05,880 --> 00:20:08,120 So you don't want cracks or anything like that. 368 00:20:08,120 --> 00:20:11,200 So you know, you'll have to work on that to make sure it's really good. 369 00:20:11,200 --> 00:20:12,920 And it keeps going forever and ever and ever. 370 00:20:12,920 --> 00:20:17,440 You got like little low people things going into 29, but we're still having the trumpet 371 00:20:17,440 --> 00:20:22,440 melody with clarinet just moving underneath them until we get to measure 35. 372 00:20:22,440 --> 00:20:26,480 And that first trumpet goes all the way up to an E flat and it needs to sound easy. 373 00:20:26,480 --> 00:20:28,240 It need none of this should be forced. 374 00:20:28,240 --> 00:20:31,400 This isn't aggressive at all. 375 00:20:31,400 --> 00:20:37,040 And then we're at 35 and we have more accents now instead of being as mysterious. 376 00:20:37,040 --> 00:20:40,160 Now it's like a little bit more forceful in the low person part. 377 00:20:40,160 --> 00:20:42,440 Maybe this is where the pendulum comes in. 378 00:20:42,440 --> 00:20:45,600 One or three, four and one. 379 00:20:45,600 --> 00:20:46,600 I don't know. 380 00:20:46,600 --> 00:20:47,920 That sounds like a little pendulum part. 381 00:20:47,920 --> 00:20:51,640 You can talk to your kids about whatever they think it sounds like. 382 00:20:51,640 --> 00:20:57,080 It's easy for bass drum and timpani to play way too loud here. 383 00:20:57,080 --> 00:20:58,800 They have these big quarter notes. 384 00:20:58,800 --> 00:21:00,640 Boom, boom, boom. 385 00:21:00,640 --> 00:21:02,600 And it's real easy for that to be too loud. 386 00:21:02,600 --> 00:21:04,200 So just make sure that they're balancing. 387 00:21:04,200 --> 00:21:07,920 I tell my tuba and timpani player you don't play louder than the tubas. 388 00:21:07,920 --> 00:21:08,920 Yep. 389 00:21:08,920 --> 00:21:14,480 At 39 we're getting a new rhythm here in the low people and I think it's really fun. 390 00:21:14,480 --> 00:21:20,680 One, two and and, two and and and it's always accent on the and. 391 00:21:20,680 --> 00:21:22,760 And so just sounds that anticipation. 392 00:21:22,760 --> 00:21:24,480 It sounds really cool. 393 00:21:24,480 --> 00:21:26,520 Clarinets are still continuing to doodle. 394 00:21:26,520 --> 00:21:30,920 Trumpets are still on the same melody, but now we've added flute and oboe along with 395 00:21:30,920 --> 00:21:34,120 them and mallets on that melody part. 396 00:21:34,120 --> 00:21:36,280 Saxophones are along with the clarinets now. 397 00:21:36,280 --> 00:21:37,280 Yep. 398 00:21:37,280 --> 00:21:38,280 Yep. 399 00:21:38,280 --> 00:21:39,280 And so everybody's just building up the suspense. 400 00:21:39,280 --> 00:21:42,680 We're playing this part 47 same thing. 401 00:21:42,680 --> 00:21:43,960 Literally it's the same people. 402 00:21:43,960 --> 00:21:46,600 So it's just the same melody. 403 00:21:46,600 --> 00:21:53,200 And then we're going to do our little, the pendulum part, I guess, from 53 to 54, crescendoing 404 00:21:53,200 --> 00:21:54,200 to 55. 405 00:21:54,200 --> 00:21:58,280 Now, when we get to 55, we have trumpets and octaves on octave E. 406 00:21:58,280 --> 00:21:59,280 And clarinet. 407 00:21:59,280 --> 00:22:00,280 Yeah. 408 00:22:00,280 --> 00:22:04,760 And clarinet and that is a, I mean, this is a tough section to make sound good. 409 00:22:04,760 --> 00:22:08,720 So make sure that you're putting the right kids on the higher notes and we're really focusing 410 00:22:08,720 --> 00:22:10,960 on it. 411 00:22:10,960 --> 00:22:13,040 This is, this really is building tension. 412 00:22:13,040 --> 00:22:16,920 This is where I imagine that he's like escaping from the ropes. 413 00:22:16,920 --> 00:22:19,960 One, two, three and four, one and two. 414 00:22:19,960 --> 00:22:24,760 You really want to emphasize the difference between the accents and the staccatos in this 415 00:22:24,760 --> 00:22:27,880 section to really help build that intensity. 416 00:22:27,880 --> 00:22:32,080 Then the low middle and lower voices kind of punctuate in between. 417 00:22:32,080 --> 00:22:36,320 So this is just again, a tension building section, but it's easy to make this sound 418 00:22:36,320 --> 00:22:40,920 really bad if that tuning, that cross tuning is not very good. 419 00:22:40,920 --> 00:22:41,920 Yep. 420 00:22:41,920 --> 00:22:46,560 And then we're building or getting a little softer going into 63. 421 00:22:46,560 --> 00:22:52,160 And then we have some like doodly parts again in the mid sections. 422 00:22:52,160 --> 00:22:54,680 There's no percussion pulse here. 423 00:22:54,680 --> 00:23:00,120 So making sure that all those eighth notes are watching to make sure we all move together. 424 00:23:00,120 --> 00:23:04,240 And then it's even softer as we go into 66. 425 00:23:04,240 --> 00:23:08,600 This seems like it would be building up in the tension too, because it's going to crescendo 426 00:23:08,600 --> 00:23:10,160 from this point on. 427 00:23:10,160 --> 00:23:14,280 And continuing to build and build and build. 428 00:23:14,280 --> 00:23:17,240 And then 70, this is my favorite part of the whole piece. 429 00:23:17,240 --> 00:23:19,600 70 immediately gets faster. 430 00:23:19,600 --> 00:23:21,560 There is no achillorando. 431 00:23:21,560 --> 00:23:27,360 So we hit 70 and everybody is playing the same type of part that they had before, only 432 00:23:27,360 --> 00:23:30,040 faster except the snare. 433 00:23:30,040 --> 00:23:32,360 The snare is the only part that has changed. 434 00:23:32,360 --> 00:23:37,440 And it's real easy for this snare part to be way too loud here because they're excited. 435 00:23:37,440 --> 00:23:41,960 And the snare part changing and the tempo going faster are literally what makes the 436 00:23:41,960 --> 00:23:43,560 intensity build here. 437 00:23:43,560 --> 00:23:44,560 Right. 438 00:23:44,560 --> 00:23:49,240 But as Laura said, it's basically the same music, same parts happening at once as we 439 00:23:49,240 --> 00:23:52,960 go into this ending portion. 440 00:23:52,960 --> 00:23:55,520 You just want to continue to make sure you can always hear the melody. 441 00:23:55,520 --> 00:24:01,040 Now we're going to drop down in volume at 84 again and build it up just like before. 442 00:24:01,040 --> 00:24:03,960 And then a nice crescendo into the ending. 443 00:24:03,960 --> 00:24:09,240 Making sure that the clarinet and altos are leading in those eighth notes in the last 444 00:24:09,240 --> 00:24:10,440 two measures. 445 00:24:10,440 --> 00:24:15,240 Everybody ending one end, altogether choking and dampening all percussion at the end. 446 00:24:15,240 --> 00:24:20,960 This is always a kid favorite and a crowd favorite and a really cool opportunity for 447 00:24:20,960 --> 00:24:25,520 you to teach your kids something other than just the music. 448 00:24:25,520 --> 00:24:28,200 Learn a little bit about Edgar Allan Poe and his writing as well. 449 00:24:28,200 --> 00:24:30,040 I think that sounds awesome. 450 00:24:30,040 --> 00:24:44,880 Thank you for joining us on this episode of Band BFFs.