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 continuing on in our winter concert series with our next
installment of pieces that we consider to be medium easy to medium for your program.
Those pieces are Bell Carol Rock by Ryan Fraley, Santa the Barbarian by Randall Standridge,
Santa on Parade by Jean Milford, and Secret Agent Sugar Plum arranged by Scott Watson.
Cheers to starting the conversation.
Okay, our very first piece, Bell Carol Rock.
This is about a minute 45 in length.
It's in the key of concert B flat.
I absolutely love this piece and your kids will love this piece.
It has an optional drum set part which is really cool.
It is a blend of 25 or 6 to 4, the Chicago tune, and the Carol of the Bells.
So it kind of meshes.
It's like a mashup of those two tunes and it's really, really, really cool.
The kids love it.
So obviously the bass line is really groovy because it's that 25 or 6 to 4 groove and
then the upper voices get the melody that everybody recognizes.
Lots of percussion equipment in this and all of the percussion equipment is important to
really give it that rock feel.
So it starts out just with percussion at the beginning, a lot like she said with lots of
drum set and the bells get the beginning melody because it's Carol of the Bells.
Then the upper people come in with the same melody with the bass line coming in underneath
it.
So it's kind of cool because of course there's a little bit of chromaticism here and there
in the bass line.
So the kids are getting a little bit of an introduction to that but the rhythms aren't
overly difficult at the very beginning, just quarters and eighth notes with some half notes
of course.
We start to get some accents as we get a little bit further into it with the Carol of the
Bells melody.
Just giving it a little bit of extra oomph.
And then at 13 we take over with a new section that's a little bit more thinned out.
So I love this, the upper voices, this is kind of a different melody here.
It's not really either one of the melodies that they have started at the beginning with
the Carol of the Bells or the 25 or 64, it's a little bit different here.
Softer, way more thinned out but you still have kind of that thumping tuba line, boom,
boom, boom, which continues on.
Then we build in, add more of the band coming in, adding everybody to come in.
You have some tied syncopated rhythms here.
Yeah.
But they're...
And this is the Carol of the Bells melody again but it's syncopated.
One and four and one and four and one.
So that's pretty cool because it's just giving it a different flavor to our favorite Carol
of the Bells.
The bass line at this part is different than the tenor line and the bass line has kind
of some funky, I mean it is, think like a rock bass player.
It is very much a rock bass line.
So the rhythms look a little more complicated than they are, making sure that your students
just can differentiate between the ties and the slurs.
Yep.
That continues on for quite a while.
Then we get to 25.
Some cool hi-hat stuff, open and closed hi-hat.
We get a cool little feature in mallet percussion as well as clarinet, flute and oboe.
They get to have the melody and then the bass line kind of gets to come in underneath them
but it's not anything that's ridiculous.
Just a lot of ties in the bass line here so you do need to make sure, especially if you
do mark your parts like Laura and I love to do, you would probably want to write one,
two, three, four, one, two so that way the kids are coming off the tie correctly and
then it's got an eighth note, quarter note, eighth note, syncopated rhythm.
That's just a little bit more involved and complicated than a normal, I guess, winter
concert piece would be at this point in the year.
And it only happens in this one little section.
Then we recap and we go back to the same theme that we had at the beginning of the piece.
Now at measure 33 we have kind of this little waterfall effect here, one, two, and three,
four, and one, two, and three and it kind of goes through the whole band.
This I will tell you I think is the most challenging part of the piece to put together because
it's just harmonically it's a little bit different, sounds a little different to their ear and
then it's a counting game and making sure everybody understands where to enter.
So this part can sometimes be a little challenging to put together but again once you've got
it it's a breeze.
Yep, does it twice in a row.
You can teach forte pianos getting out of the way when you don't have that waterfall
effect.
So it's a good teaching tool as well.
Then everybody comes back in again with the same thing that we had at the very beginning
at 40 and it just finishes out literally with another like recap of every single section
again to the very end.
It has a cool little baseline ending and then a little fermata with a cool drum set fill
at the end if you're having a drum set player play which if you have a kiddo that can do
it it's a cool effect to have.
I also like using this because a lot of our students don't know about Chicago and it's
a great way to expose them to a really, really cool band too so we always make sure to play
them the original 25 or 64 as well.
So fun.
Our next piece is Santa the Barbarian and this one is a really fun fan favorite of all
the students and audience members.
So it's about three minutes in length.
It's the longest of all of the medium level pieces that we're talking about today.
It's in the key of E flat at the beginning and then it changes to the key of F so it
does have a key change.
It is 4-4 throughout a little bit more rangy in the upper voices in this but still very
playable and like typical standard lots of percussion.
But super fun because it's got just all kinds of percussion but the kids really enjoy playing
it.
We play this piece in our band, my band, every single winter when we go to the elementary
schools and on our tour for some different festivals during that time of year just because
it's really fun and easy to put together even differing levels of band can all play most
of this piece.
So it starts off slow and mysterious at the beginning with low people and then it has
a little like jingle bells part but it's in minor mode so it's just kind of like you know
mysterious.
It is a narration part at the beginning and I think at the end of this piece I have never
played with the narration on top of it but you absolutely can.
It's fun and then there's a ritardando and a quick change to a little bit of a quicker
tempo twice as fast.
It's got some staccato parts and it builds up into the first little melody part you know
in the trumpet section one two and three four one two three.
It's up on the house top but it's minor mode so it's really fun because it sounds dark
and of course I don't know why but kids love all music that sounds dark.
So it's super fun.
And then the low brass.
I like some of the stylistic stuff that happens in the low brass here.
And they get to play staccatos and accents and really bring out different like effects.
There's first and second endings too so it's a great teaching tool for just teaching students
about that if you haven't had a chance to do that yet.
There is a really cool and important marimba part where the band plays it's like the ho
ho ho and then the marimba gets a little solo and then the band who wouldn't know and then
marimba again.
So you have to have a marimba player or a bells player or something of that sort with
this piece.
So just kind of keep that in mind if you don't have a ton of percussion in your group.
Then we have more accents.
Same thing back and forth.
Then we have at thirty seven a new section with lots of percussion a big timpani feature
which is really fun.
The kids get to chant which is really fun.
And of course you know when you're playing this for a younger audience they think it's
really cool.
You know yeah I have it up because like our other friends that are playing at the same
time hopefully you guys understand what I mean.
They're not playing dark like fun exciting music and so it's fun for us.
Then it moves on to the key of F concert and then it's more chanting and then the low brass
get the melody which they love this part and again it's up on the house top but minor mode
and then the trumpet gets this little like minor second thing that starts piano and gets
to mezzo forte against each other.
It kind of sounds like a warning which is really fun.
It trades off with percussion there which is cool.
And no crazy yes I forgot about that with the anvil and stuff it's so fun.
There's no crazy rhythms though.
It's just eighth notes quarter notes you just and half notes like all the way through.
So students just have to have a limited range of rhythmic knowledge I guess.
Then it's a kind of a recap of the very beginning more chanting back and forth with percussion
and that's the end of the piece.
So it's just a fun and I think easy piece to put together and as I mentioned we put
it together with all of our bands at Moss which is cool because it's it's allowing
everybody to get a chance to play the same piece.
It's attainable by multiple levels.
Absolutely.
Our next piece is Santa on Parade by Jean Milford.
It's about a minute and 45 seconds long.
It's in 2-4.
It's in the key of concert B flat and I cannot tell you how much I love this piece.
I think it is so cute.
Adorable.
It is so cute.
So it takes famous marches and puts mixes some holiday tunes some recognizable carols
with famous marches.
So some things that you need to consider for this one.
It has a lot of stylistic and rhythmic demands on your ensemble.
One of the things I love about using this piece is it is a great way to introduce march
style before contest season.
I have played this piece with some of our non-varsity bands a handful of times and I
think it's also really cool if the march that you play at UIL can be one of the marches
that is coded in here.
That is cute.
I think that is a good idea.
I have played that a couple of times which the kids really love because they recognize
the melody.
I remember that.
They have a connection there.
Pretty traditional percussion on this as far as a march goes.
It's like traditional march percussion in this and then like I said range for the first
players is a little bit higher.
For sure.
So it starts off with melody in the upper woodwinds and trumpet.
As she mentioned it goes up to an E in the first trumpet part right away.
So you definitely need to make sure that the kids can have that range possible for themselves.
Some dotted eight sixteenth rhythms right away and coming in on the and, and two, and,
and two, and.
So making sure that students feel comfortable with eighth rest rhythms.
So that's good just for teaching them that sort of stuff coming into the school year.
When you get to measure nine we get to our first little carol statement.
One and two and one and two.
Jolly old St. Nicholas here.
I love that you get some of these little pops of flute and trumpet and a two.
It's a little more common.
Yeah and a two and one and two and.
So all of these little things but it is a little bit more rhythmically demanding and
some of those entrances on the ands or the tays that I know can be kind of challenging
sometimes for younger players.
Right.
After that section it changes key signature to concert E flat and now we have full 2D
group together again like a march style with dotted quarter notes with eighth notes a little
chromaticism and then the low lows get the melody followed again by the upper woodwinds
having some more and a two and one and a two rhythms back and forth.
So it's just very fanfare pops by the trumpets which are cute.
That goes on for quite a while and then at 41 we're 2D again and we get a chance to just
play like matched up style matched up rhythms which is really nice and then we have a little
cool slurry section here.
So leading into our what I think is our little final melody if I remember correctly.
So starting at measure 49 we have all of these single eighth notes with marcato accents on
them looks harder than it is but just aligning and making sure that the style alignment is
good there and then your low brass get to take over the melody here to one a two to
one a two because of the weird ties across the bar lines.
This I think is actually the most challenging section.
Yeah for the low voices to put together to make sure that they just count through those
ties really carefully.
And then that same melody goes into the trumpets and the alto saxes actually and so that continues
on and then we get another little recap.
So I lied it's not the last melody.
That's okay.
Then we go back to the little melody from the beginning but then with the little fanfare
flourishes and the upper woodwinds and it's getting a little bit busier at towards the
end so you'll just have to work on making sure that you identify you know who's going
to have the melody and where and it kind of has the same thing again but this time the
trumpets get the bum bum bum bum bum again but this time with upper woodwinds and then
at 83 we get another little slurry section.
Alright so this is our final little closing out the piece here.
I also think it's fun it's again it's written really well.
I think it's fun to let your kids go explore what marchers are quoted in this.
It's a great way to get them like out there and listening to some really famous marches
and seeing if they can find which ones which ones are quoted.
We did that with one of the groups that we played this with.
Just an adorable piece lots of style demands and some rhythmic demands in this one but
it's a great teaching tool before you teach your march during contest season so I love
this one.
And our last piece is Secret Agent Sugar Plum arranged by Scott Watson.
Another absolutely adorable piece.
This one is about two minutes and 20 seconds long it's in 4-4 and in the key of E flat
I think this one it does not change keys.
I thought it changed keys I apologize.
But this is a it is meant to sound just like the title indicates it is Dance of the Sugar
Plum Fairies but it has like this almost oh gosh what is it?
Mission Impossible type feel.
Yeah what is the 007 type of James Bond.
Thank you.
Or Mission Impossible.
Whatever whatever.
But this one it is very very cute.
So it starts off with like that like literally the James Bond theme.
It's got some style markings but it's not like insane like some accents and staccatos
here and there.
The rhythms are a little bit easier on this piece.
But some of them look complicated like you can see right there where we have the single
eighth notes followed by the eighth rest.
I mean you know kids are going to see a single eighth note and they're going to want to play
it on an upbeat.
Right.
So that's where pre-marking those parts and maybe putting down arrows on all of those
rhythms to just ensure that they understand these are all downbeat notes.
Yep.
At seven the upper people come in with the Sugar Plum Fairy melody.
So lots of accidentals.
It's good to just teach them about full value staccato notes and not making them too short.
So again a little bit of a teaching tool there.
Some alternate fingerings in this that like I would go through those upper woodwind parts
and make sure that you know like when are they playing thumb B flat.
When are they not.
When do they need to move on the flutes.
If you need any alternate fingerings in the clarinets because it does cross the break.
Yep.
And then there's like a little fun ratchet part that's supposed to make it I guess sound
like the secret agent.
And then every once in a while in this piece you get the four E and a one part that comes
in.
And the students will look at that and go oh I get some sixteenth notes.
And it lays pretty easy.
It happens several times.
So once they kind of get it and they you know get it under their fingers it's not it should
not be intimidating.
The upper woodwinds again have the melody quite often in the piece and then every once
in a while trumpet may join in with them.
And then at 27 we have a new section with some slurs added in.
So it's been accents and staccatos till now.
And lots of accidentals throughout this one of course.
So again you know I can't stress enough I think the importance of kind of pre marking
this music for them.
You do get a little more complicated sixteenth note rhythms with some eighth note and two
sixteenths.
But it happens across the ensemble.
So it's good to teach those as a full ensemble and and like you can count them together clap
them together articulate them together.
Nothing too difficult but again and it's all on one note or most of it is on one note.
The thing I like about that obviously that makes it a little bit easier.
It basically just becomes an articulation exercise at that point.
But I like that kids see it and go oh I get to play something a little harder.
Then we go back to the same like James Bond melody from the beginning with the upper woodwinds
again having the sugar plum fairy.
Then we get a waterfall effect towards the end at 56 starting off with the low people
and kind of the middle voices and then the upper people join in with some accents.
So another good teaching tool there.
And then we have the exact same thing again.
So it's extremely repetitive but fun because they recognize both sugar plum fairy and the
double on.
Yes theme for sure all the way throughout.
So we hope that you have gotten some good ideas for some medium to medium easy pieces
for your winter concert.
Thank you so much for joining us on this episode of Banned BFFs.