1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:13,280 Welcome to our podcast, Band BFFs. The podcast where we make your music selection less complicated. 2 00:00:13,280 --> 00:00:18,160 On today's episode, we're going to be discussing Spania by David Schaefer. Cheers to starting 3 00:00:18,160 --> 00:00:24,520 the conversation. Spania is a fantastic Spanish style march. 4 00:00:24,520 --> 00:00:28,960 It's about two minutes in length. It's in the key of concert, E-flat and 4-4 throughout 5 00:00:28,960 --> 00:00:34,360 though it is riddled with accidentals. It has split clarinet parts, two clarinet parts, 6 00:00:34,360 --> 00:00:41,720 two alto parts, two trumpet parts. The low brass part is combined, which is nice. It 7 00:00:41,720 --> 00:00:46,240 requires about five to six percussionist minimum though you can split some parts if you have 8 00:00:46,240 --> 00:00:52,680 a larger percussion section. You need a really strong shaker player on this and it has some 9 00:00:52,680 --> 00:00:56,520 timpani feature. You need the snare player to have good timing. 10 00:00:56,520 --> 00:01:04,240 If you have to leave anything out, the xylophone would be a part that you could leave out though 11 00:01:04,240 --> 00:01:08,480 we definitely like the color that it adds to the Spanish style. 12 00:01:08,480 --> 00:01:14,280 This piece is called a medium easy online. We both feel it's about a grade two, like a 13 00:01:14,280 --> 00:01:20,120 pretty easy grade two. But it's so fun and the kids love playing this piece because it 14 00:01:20,120 --> 00:01:25,000 is a Spanish style. It's very strong. It's got a fun achelorando at the end, which we'll 15 00:01:25,000 --> 00:01:31,000 get to in a minute. It starts out like Laura said in 4-4 and very bold. It's not a fast 16 00:01:31,000 --> 00:01:37,800 tempo. Everybody has accents. I teach the students to have a little bit of daylight 17 00:01:37,800 --> 00:01:44,880 between the dotted quarter note and the eighth note. Ta, ta, ta, ta, ta, ta, ta, ta, to keep 18 00:01:44,880 --> 00:01:53,440 it really lifted in style. The kids just find this so fun. It's got a cool little alto and 19 00:01:53,440 --> 00:01:59,880 trumpet two part at measure four where it resolves along with first clarinet. And then 20 00:01:59,880 --> 00:02:04,680 it kind of repeats. Lows come in on beat two each time and it's like really impactful and 21 00:02:04,680 --> 00:02:09,800 the kids think that's really fun too. The scoring of this is really blocked throughout. 22 00:02:09,800 --> 00:02:14,240 So this is a piece that I think lends itself really well. You've heard us talk before about 23 00:02:14,240 --> 00:02:19,320 doing a melody sheet where you take some of the most common themes that happen in the 24 00:02:19,320 --> 00:02:24,240 piece and write them out for everyone in the band so that you're teaching it to everyone. 25 00:02:24,240 --> 00:02:29,800 And this piece is scored in a way that I think really lends itself to that teaching tool. 26 00:02:29,800 --> 00:02:34,120 When I've heard this piece performed before, a lot of times bands don't make a concerted 27 00:02:34,120 --> 00:02:39,560 effort to hold from measure four to measure five when the main melody repeats again. So 28 00:02:39,560 --> 00:02:44,440 making sure that that is something that always happens is important. And then everybody ends 29 00:02:44,440 --> 00:02:50,080 together at eight and there's an immediate tempo change. Like Laura mentioned, it's 30 00:02:50,080 --> 00:02:55,160 driven by the shaker and the clave as well as the snare drum and the timpani. So it's 31 00:02:55,160 --> 00:03:00,880 like a percussion feature. The shaker part here, Katie and I were discussing when we 32 00:03:00,880 --> 00:03:06,760 have played this before, the shaker part is so important and it needs to be as dry as 33 00:03:06,760 --> 00:03:11,920 possible. So a larger shaker really does not lend itself to make that happen. So when we 34 00:03:11,920 --> 00:03:15,840 have played this, I like an egg shaker. I think that's a great way to make that happen, 35 00:03:15,840 --> 00:03:23,400 but you could even use, you could substitute a cabasa and take some of the beads off so 36 00:03:23,400 --> 00:03:27,040 that you can make it that dry, crisp sound that it needs to be. 37 00:03:27,040 --> 00:03:32,040 I mean, it's written at 142 and it's in eighth notes. So it's like really, really difficult 38 00:03:32,040 --> 00:03:38,280 to keep it sounding exact if you don't think about the shaker part. So that is important. 39 00:03:38,280 --> 00:03:44,960 The lows come in at 12 with this like really fun syncopated part and the beat four is marked 40 00:03:44,960 --> 00:03:52,400 staccato and it should be short and not connected to the next part. One and four, one and four, 41 00:03:52,400 --> 00:03:59,720 one and four, one and then a big four, Tapeano along with big timpani and woodwinds leading 42 00:03:59,720 --> 00:04:02,960 into 16. So the timpani is super important. 43 00:04:02,960 --> 00:04:06,960 Definitely. When I hear groups play this, one of the things that I hear a lot of groups 44 00:04:06,960 --> 00:04:15,000 do is overly accent that staccato. You'll hear one and four, one and four and it needs 45 00:04:15,000 --> 00:04:19,080 to be really light. It needs to be really light. I even taught out to our kids, we would 46 00:04:19,080 --> 00:04:24,880 say firm, firm, soft, firm, firm, soft so that they really get it in their ear that 47 00:04:24,880 --> 00:04:27,240 it is not accented. It needs to be light. 48 00:04:27,240 --> 00:04:32,880 Good. At 16, the woodwinds come in with their little melody and the, all the lows need to 49 00:04:32,880 --> 00:04:39,200 back off in volume along with French horn there, saxophone. There's not as many of the 50 00:04:39,200 --> 00:04:43,400 woodwinds playing the melody so really like mark it in the parts ahead of time. At this 51 00:04:43,400 --> 00:04:46,520 section everybody's going to taper down to piano level. 52 00:04:46,520 --> 00:04:49,320 And it's in the lower tessitura for the glutes and the clarinet. 53 00:04:49,320 --> 00:04:54,200 Right. It's not up above the staff or anything so you want to make sure they can be heard. 54 00:04:54,200 --> 00:04:57,400 Talking to students about the rule of accidentals and how they carry through the measure is 55 00:04:57,400 --> 00:05:02,840 very important. Trumpets come in with a little feature at pickups to 20 with everybody 56 00:05:02,840 --> 00:05:08,160 doing a forte piano and the big timpani again going into that section. They should start 57 00:05:08,160 --> 00:05:13,400 that very confidently. It has a crescendo marked underneath it, but we taught our students 58 00:05:13,400 --> 00:05:18,880 to start strong and then just keep strong all the way into 20 just to make sure that 59 00:05:18,880 --> 00:05:23,880 they can be heard on the melody because now they're the lonesome new part that needs to 60 00:05:23,880 --> 00:05:29,000 be featured. So then you have to teach your upper woodwinds to taper down along with 61 00:05:29,000 --> 00:05:33,600 the low brass and everybody to make sure that just the trumpets can be heard. Like Laura 62 00:05:33,600 --> 00:05:39,880 said it's very thickly scored so making sure you can hear the trumpets over everybody else 63 00:05:39,880 --> 00:05:45,520 can be a challenge. And that trumpet Katie was talking about that separated style in 64 00:05:45,520 --> 00:05:49,960 the rhythmic ostinato that's happening in the lower voices, but the trumpets do not 65 00:05:49,960 --> 00:05:56,200 need to do that. This is way more connected one and three, four, one and two, no space 66 00:05:56,200 --> 00:06:00,960 in the trumpet melody. Yep. And teaching them to not all breathe in the same spot is important 67 00:06:00,960 --> 00:06:05,480 as well because they're going to be very like they're going to want to breathe in 21. They're 68 00:06:05,480 --> 00:06:09,680 going to want to all breathe together and maybe after half notes and after the forte 69 00:06:09,680 --> 00:06:14,800 piano, but we can't breathe there. We need a lead into 24. So just teaching kids how 70 00:06:14,800 --> 00:06:20,600 to like stagger breathe. I know I've done like a B breathing like two or three kids 71 00:06:20,600 --> 00:06:24,800 are in a and two or three kids are a B. As are going to breathe on odd measures. B's 72 00:06:24,800 --> 00:06:28,880 are going to breathe on Eva measures, whatever you want to do, but talking to the kids about 73 00:06:28,880 --> 00:06:33,040 a breathing plan is important. So that way there's not big gaps in the sound. And I would 74 00:06:33,040 --> 00:06:37,160 talk about that breathing plan earlier rather than later. Oh, for sure. Even though I know 75 00:06:37,160 --> 00:06:40,760 obviously sometimes where students are taking a breath is going to change depending on the 76 00:06:40,760 --> 00:06:47,320 speed of the piece, but that they need a plan and it needs to be practiced. Yep. At 24, 77 00:06:47,320 --> 00:06:52,560 we still have the important part happening in the trumpet, but then the horns and altos 78 00:06:52,560 --> 00:06:57,800 kind of change and have a neat little part that's a really cool character. And it's not 79 00:06:57,800 --> 00:07:02,880 very high on the French horn, which is great. So they can sound really pretty, make sure 80 00:07:02,880 --> 00:07:09,600 that the horns are featured more than the altos just color wise. But again, now we're 81 00:07:09,600 --> 00:07:14,120 now we're layering the trumpet part down. So I think that that's actually the biggest 82 00:07:14,120 --> 00:07:18,120 challenge that we found when we've played this in the past is that everybody gets tired 83 00:07:18,120 --> 00:07:22,840 of kind of like layering down and playing quieter, but they have to in order to hear the next 84 00:07:22,840 --> 00:07:29,800 new section that gets to be featured. Everybody has a big forte piano with again, a huge snare 85 00:07:29,800 --> 00:07:36,760 and timpani moment going into 28 and then an immediate, what's the word for not a cello 86 00:07:36,760 --> 00:07:41,320 rato? I mean, immediately slower. I thought maybe there was a word for it. There might 87 00:07:41,320 --> 00:07:46,920 not. It just changes. It's just way slower. Yes. So it goes all the way down to 86. So 88 00:07:46,920 --> 00:07:51,880 almost half time. And then we're going to build it back up. And this is difficult for 89 00:07:51,880 --> 00:07:57,520 kids. It's very difficult because you have to practice every single human playing the 90 00:07:57,520 --> 00:08:03,000 exact same style and rhythm together without people going too fast or too slow. And the 91 00:08:03,000 --> 00:08:07,160 way that we have found to make this the most successful, you can find think all our marching 92 00:08:07,160 --> 00:08:13,440 band director. You can program like tonal energy. You can put in a click track on tonal 93 00:08:13,440 --> 00:08:18,400 energy that will build in the cello rondo. And that's what we did. So we were able to 94 00:08:18,400 --> 00:08:25,040 practice with that a lot until it was ingrained in the kids. And then we took it away just 95 00:08:25,040 --> 00:08:28,880 like you would with, you know, any metronome that you're using. And that really helps them 96 00:08:28,880 --> 00:08:33,040 to internalize what that cello rondo is going to feel like and helps it to be consistent 97 00:08:33,040 --> 00:08:37,600 not only for the kids, but for the director as well. Yep. We also worked on just counting 98 00:08:37,600 --> 00:08:42,880 it like with no instruments and watching the conductor and learning how it was going to 99 00:08:42,880 --> 00:08:49,040 happen. And then we just played it on a concert F for a long time. Then we added in the true 100 00:08:49,040 --> 00:08:54,800 notes. But just keeping the consistent style is really important too. Kids like to get 101 00:08:54,800 --> 00:09:01,520 longer the longer they go. That's right. So just keeping it short is important. At 32, 102 00:09:01,520 --> 00:09:06,240 most of the band keeps going with the same rhythm, but the saxes and the clarinets and 103 00:09:06,240 --> 00:09:10,720 the flutes take over with this really cool little melody part. And everybody else in 104 00:09:10,720 --> 00:09:16,720 the band has to like really back off. We in fact, when we played this in the past, we cut players 105 00:09:16,720 --> 00:09:22,560 there at 32 just so that it wasn't overwhelming and we could hear the little featured woodwind 106 00:09:22,560 --> 00:09:26,800 part because again, it's not written above the staff. It's in the staff or below the 107 00:09:26,800 --> 00:09:31,680 staff and clarinet. Right. So it's hard to hear if everybody isn't making it like a really good 108 00:09:31,680 --> 00:09:38,240 effort to hear it. And that continues until you build back up to the original fast tempo at 36. 109 00:09:38,240 --> 00:09:46,240 But we have a new idea. So I have found here that oftentimes kids want to go faster than you were 110 00:09:46,240 --> 00:09:52,080 going before. Right. And then it gets out of control. Yes, it absolutely does. So there is this moment 111 00:09:52,080 --> 00:09:57,280 where the upper woodwinds and the lower voices or upper voices and lower voices are playing off 112 00:09:57,280 --> 00:10:02,560 of each other. One and two, three, four and one, two, three and four. So this conversation that 113 00:10:02,560 --> 00:10:07,280 they're having together and articulation here is really important. You're going to find that most 114 00:10:07,280 --> 00:10:13,520 of the students want to slur. Ta, ta, but it's written to be tongue slur, tongue, which will 115 00:10:13,520 --> 00:10:18,640 really help the clarity lining up that rhythm if you insist that they do that correctly. Our kids 116 00:10:18,640 --> 00:10:26,560 also tried to make the ta, ta too short. Yes. So they would go ta, ta, ta, ta, but it's marked in 117 00:10:26,560 --> 00:10:34,320 accent. So we tried to like really ingrain in them to make it a little longer. Ta, ta, ta, ta, ta, 118 00:10:34,320 --> 00:10:39,680 ta, ta, so that way it wasn't like staccato. It's an accent. And again, this like all these 119 00:10:39,680 --> 00:10:44,960 little stylistic things Laura and I are talking about are really important because it goes throughout 120 00:10:44,960 --> 00:10:49,760 the whole band at some point. So it's important to get it, you know, solid the first time you have it. 121 00:10:49,760 --> 00:10:53,920 And an exercise like what Katie's talking about, making that accent, making sure that it touches 122 00:10:53,920 --> 00:10:58,880 the rest and is a little bit longer. Put that on, do that in your daily drill, right? Do it just on 123 00:10:58,880 --> 00:11:04,080 a concert F or do it on a Remington exercise so that you're using your daily drill and can transfer 124 00:11:04,080 --> 00:11:09,920 that skill to your music. Then the whole band leads into 40. And then we have another little 125 00:11:09,920 --> 00:11:16,880 tiny percussion break. And then at 40, which features timpani and snare. And at 42, the lows 126 00:11:16,880 --> 00:11:22,160 come in again. And it's just like the beginning. So it's like a total recap. Yes. And then the 127 00:11:22,160 --> 00:11:26,640 woodwinds come in again, and the lows have to back off. And then the trumpets come in and everybody 128 00:11:26,640 --> 00:11:32,000 else has to back off. It's literally the exact same as the beginning. It's ABA. It's ABA. Which is 129 00:11:32,000 --> 00:11:37,680 nice because if you want something that you can spend a lot of time working on style and tempo, 130 00:11:37,680 --> 00:11:41,440 this is a great one because you don't have to spend a lot of time talking about like differing, 131 00:11:42,000 --> 00:11:47,120 you know, rhythms and notes and things like that. And I think what's the most difficult rhythm, 132 00:11:47,120 --> 00:11:52,320 a dotted quarter note? Yes. It's the syncopated part one and four. That's the most difficult 133 00:11:52,320 --> 00:11:58,720 rhythm in the winds, at least. And then at 57, we start to have an achelorando. So now it's like 134 00:11:58,720 --> 00:12:03,280 before where we slowed down, it's the exact same rhythm, but we're not slowing down. We're speeding 135 00:12:03,280 --> 00:12:09,920 up from 142. And they really like to see it. Yeah, they do. Yep. And then like, and then it's 136 00:12:09,920 --> 00:12:15,280 important because the tambourine comes in halfway through the achelorando. And they have to really 137 00:12:15,280 --> 00:12:20,480 be right with you because that can either help your group or hinder your group if they're too slow 138 00:12:20,480 --> 00:12:24,720 when they come in, or if they're trying to push the tempo too much. So make sure you have a solid 139 00:12:24,720 --> 00:12:30,720 kid on that. You again, you have to layer down the lows and mids so you can hear the high woodwind 140 00:12:30,720 --> 00:12:37,680 part again. And we have we did end up cutting kids here again. But then we let them join back in at 141 00:12:37,680 --> 00:12:43,760 64 when they're when the lows have kind of a cool little part, then it all ends together the same way 142 00:12:43,760 --> 00:12:49,680 one and two four, or sorry, three, four and one, two, three and four and one, then there's big 143 00:12:49,680 --> 00:12:55,840 forte piano, big timpani moment. And then the woodwinds build up to the very end. And it's 144 00:12:55,840 --> 00:13:02,320 short short long short. That's how we taught the last measure. So it's fun. And it's like the kids 145 00:13:02,320 --> 00:13:06,480 get to go fast. So like what kid doesn't like doing that, which they love that it's great for 146 00:13:06,480 --> 00:13:10,640 teaching different these different styles like Katie mentioned the different tempo opportunities 147 00:13:10,640 --> 00:13:16,480 that you have to explore with us. We didn't talk a lot about the accidentals, but there are a lot 148 00:13:16,480 --> 00:13:22,800 of accidentals in this. So as you go through the parts and pre mark them, you know, find the areas 149 00:13:22,800 --> 00:13:29,680 in there where like your flutes need to maybe move there. It happens a lot. In fact, I had to like 150 00:13:29,680 --> 00:13:35,040 pull our flutes when we play this and teach them like here, we're going to be on single thumb or 151 00:13:35,040 --> 00:13:39,600 you know, bottom thumb here, we're going to be on top them. It most of the piece actually is on 152 00:13:39,600 --> 00:13:45,360 bottom thumb. Yes. And it's easier to use lever when you need to. But I agree with Laura whole 153 00:13:45,360 --> 00:13:52,480 heartedly this piece is like crazy town with all the accidentals and making sure that kids sound good 154 00:13:52,480 --> 00:13:58,160 on all the accidentals. There's a lot of e naturals in the low brass. A lot of concert C 155 00:13:58,160 --> 00:14:05,520 sharps or D flats in here as well. Yes. G flats too. Yes. So yeah, for sure. Tuning was something 156 00:14:05,520 --> 00:14:11,280 that we spent some time on. I would definitely say style was like a big part of when we taught this. 157 00:14:11,280 --> 00:14:16,560 I agree completely. I think style was the biggest thing. Of course, notes, you can do a lot of that 158 00:14:16,560 --> 00:14:21,680 balancing and making it be more transparent where you can hear the melodic lines that you need to 159 00:14:21,680 --> 00:14:27,440 hear. And a couple of times in here, I recall like big chord hits where the full band is together. 160 00:14:27,440 --> 00:14:32,880 We re scored some of the way that the like, you know, we had too many people on the third, 161 00:14:32,880 --> 00:14:37,280 which made the balance of it sound really weird. So just, you know, and that of course depends 162 00:14:37,280 --> 00:14:42,960 largely on the instrumentation of your ensemble. So don't be afraid to make some changes like that 163 00:14:42,960 --> 00:14:49,840 so that the balance is appropriate. But kids love this piece. Teachers love this piece. It's a great 164 00:14:49,840 --> 00:14:55,680 teaching tool and a fun march that you can add to your repertoire. You can program at any time of 165 00:14:55,680 --> 00:15:00,640 the year. Definitely. For sure. Definitely. Well, we hope you guys will consider programming Spania 166 00:15:00,640 --> 00:15:16,560 in the future. And thank you for joining us on this episode of Band BFFs.