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Welcome to our podcast, Band BFFs. The podcast where we make your music selection less complicated.

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On today's episode, we're going to be discussing Apex Predator by Michael Oare. Cheers to starting

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the conversation. This is a new piece that we discussed very briefly in a previous episode

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on a new to the PML episode. So we wanted to dive a little deeper. This is a grade two

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on the Texas PML this year. It's just under four minutes in length. It's in the key of

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concert B flat. The time signature goes back and forth between 4-4 and 3-4 frequently. It

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has split clarinet parts, alto parts, trumpet parts. This is definitely something you would

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want to consider programming for a more mature, young band, non-Varsity band, or certainly a

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varsity band. This would be appropriate for that as well. Lots of percussion parts and the

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percussion parts are really important. They're actually five separate percussion parts and you

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really need every one of them. Katie has played this piece and was able to make it work with six

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percussionists, but they had to do a little bit of moving around to make sure that all parts were

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covered. So you could do it with a minimum of six. You would not want to do it with less than six.

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And certainly if you had more than six, they could share parts for sure. So this piece is super fun.

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My students really enjoyed playing it. We played it for our fall concert this year. And it starts

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off with a very mysterious, slow portion. Later it gets faster and it stays the same tempo for the

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rest of the piece, although the slow, quote unquote slower lyrical style does come back at the end.

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So it has a nice little bookend. But it starts off with a flute solo. When I played it, of course,

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it was not for UIL, but I let my entire flute section play it. And so they had a good time with

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that. But I would probably program it to be a solo if anybody's playing it for UIL or for a contest.

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It is very, very slow. So probably your flute player cannot make four measures in a breath. But

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it's possible if they cannot, though, they can breathe on any tied note. So it's written where

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that would be an easy spot to take a breath as they continue to move on. Percussion is very

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important here at the beginning. There is no timekeeping. So they come in and they have these

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little interspersed moments where they're just like an effect. When I started teaching this piece

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to my band, we actually talked about what is an apex predator. So I asked them for some examples

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they knew way more than I knew. So we got Wolf and Tiger and Polar Bear, which I didn't know that

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was one. And they were like, there's definitely one in the ocean. It's the orca. So we decided

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that we wanted to focus on the lion as our apex predator. And we decided that the piece was a

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lion hunting its prey, which in our case is an antelope. We didn't want a little prey because we

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wanted it to be equal because there's a fight scene later on where they kind of seem equally

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matched. But it's fun to give kids like a programmatic like scene to set the mood. And I just wanted

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to comment on that. I think that's that's one thing that Katie does really, really well. And I

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think that like, it's it's an important part of teaching. It will really help the kids, I think,

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grasp on to the music and buy into the to the story that the music is trying to tell, right? All

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music is trying to tell a story. And I think anytime that you can make that real for students,

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there's not, you know, necessarily program notes that come, you know, this is about a specific

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apex predator, you have a little bit more freedom. And I think it's really cool. Yeah, like, let your

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kids decide exactly and they can help you paint the scene. So we talked about that this opening

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section is kind of like, maybe it's the antelope, but maybe not, it might just be like surveying the

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like, Saharan desert, like, or like the African landscape, and it's just beautiful. And, and

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we're just trying to set a beautiful lyrical scene at the beginning. So again, we've got a little

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like percussion, vibraphone comes in, and then claves come in, loudly, and then get softer, kind

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of like your like, maybe it's it adds to the moment, it sounds like little sneaky, a little

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mysterious. Then the clarinets get to come in and one, and a two, and a three, and a four. So

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really overdoing that because this is setting the scene for like, Oh, something might be happening.

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The trombone gets to do a little gliss again, adding to that like, uncomfortable ability. The

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bass drum comes in, and we said this is the heartbeat throughout the piece. So the bass drum

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comes in, and then the bass drum keeps going later and later and later, it gets faster to at many

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moments. So we kind of talked about that. And that was what I told the kids. There's a cool

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cabasa part that's really important. The vibe part is super duper important to so make all the

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mallet. Yeah, make sure you pick somebody who's okay to like play out. The flute solo is continuing

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on into nine. We have another little clarinet thing, the bass drum heartbeat picks up a little bit.

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And then everybody comes in at measure 12. It's marked mezzo piano, it needs to be played mezzo

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piano or under. Otherwise, it's like very jarring when the whole band just like comes in. So we

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talked about just like, you're going to breathe really like in for a whole measure. And then

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you're just going to sneak in. But all together at the same time, we had to practice that quite a

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bit. And then it changes to three, four, and it goes 152. So it's basically double tempo.

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And then the percussion get to have a really cool part. Now this percussion section right here,

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it is establishing the feel of the hunt, right? And it's laying the groundwork for some of the

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melodies that you're going to hear appearing later in the piece. It's very syncopated, very

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syncopated throughout. I would treat this section, marimba is really, really important. All the mallet

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parts here are super important. I would treat this like a percussion ensemble. The percussion and I

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know sometimes non percussion band directors are a little bit scared and timid of approaching

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their percussion section. Treat it just like you would treat a band. Like when you're in your

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percussion sectional and working on this stuff, it needs to sound balanced. You need to have

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appropriate balance between the melody and the counter melody and the bass or the motor section.

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And what is intended for color or effect, it's no different than how you would treat your wind

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section. So I think if you approach this as a percussion ensemble and they get really secure

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in those parts, that's only going to help the wind players. And this part comes back a lot of

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times throughout the piece. So it is important to be really good. It's a groove and you want to make

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sure they feel the groove. Yes. The vibraphone gets the first moment of melody with a little

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syncopated one and and one and and one two three one and and and one two three. Then the toms come

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in. So we layer down the vibraphones like Laura said and they're coming in and then everybody

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gets softer in percussion because now we get the flute again. And this is I believe all in at this

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point. Yes. So everybody was again, my band played the whole thing. But at 25, it should be the whole

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flute section. And this was where we painted. This is for sure the the little antelope. So we're

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listening to the sweet little prey, just like chilling in the Saharan desert. Now this is a

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this is obviously this is a pretty lengthy piece at almost four minutes long, right? But here we

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are at measure 25 and most of the ensemble has not played yet other than like a whole yeah,

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maybe a little effect moment or whatever. But the vast majority of the ensemble hasn't played yet.

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Yep. So the flutes are playing. It's very important not to breathe on the bar line between

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measure 26 and 27. You want to teach the kids to find other spots to breathe if they need to,

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perhaps in 28 after the any of the three quarter notes, or if they can make it all the way to 29,

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that's even better. They need to tongue really firmly when they have the syncopated style. One,

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two and and one, two, three. So we taught the flutes to just really, really tongue firmly so

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you can hear that different rhythmic shift. Then the band comes in finally at 33. And they have

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impact hits. So this is like the lion. Now finally the lion is making his first one and one and and

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two, three. So it's like that he's finally like kind of cornered in on the antelope he wants to get.

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It is marked mezzo forte. I took it down a level to be more like mysteriously starting. So we went,

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we did mezzo piano here. And then we got a little bit louder as we got a little bit more excited,

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like in 35, 36, 37, then the kids did like one level higher, just made it sound more like, oh,

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what's going to happen next? There's tension in the chords in the way that it's written and

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marcotto accent. So you know, I think if you're being really aggressive with the articulation,

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you don't have to be overly aggressive with the volume, right? And then the clarinets get another

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little one and two and three and four. And this time though, it's a split clarinet part. And it's

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very important you can hear the second clarinet just because it makes it sound even more mysterious

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and fun. Then the clarinets and the oboes join in with the flute. Just to beef up that melody part,

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it's still the same sort of thing, grooving underneath in percussion and the low people. Again,

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you don't want the low people to be too loud. And then at 49, we get our first time signature

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change. So we changed to four four. So we had been in 34, we changed to four four at measure 49,

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percussion completely changes the feel here, all of the mallet percussion drop out and we go to

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this ride symbol accompaniment, everything is really soft. Here it's marked mezzo piano, everyone

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is playing, but it's longer valued notes here. So it feels a little more flowy. And, and it does not

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need to be too loud. Like I feel like even listening to some recordings of this piece that it can be,

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it's easy to get a little too loud too soon in this section, I think. The style changes here as

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well. Now it's very, it's very lyrical in nature. And we, in my group, when we were talking about

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the story, we said that this was where the like movie camera has pulled away from the predators

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and is now just surveying the landscape. So it's just real pretty. And it's like, you know, oh,

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look at the desert. You know, it's like, we're just now we're just imagining, we're looking all over

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at the beauty of Africa. The trumpets do come in with some pickups as well as flute, clarinet,

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and oboe. And the trumpets are under the staff on their pickups. It's really hard to hear them

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if everybody isn't aware of those. So when you're writing in your parts, like things that kids can

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think about, I would literally write T P T here so that that way the band is is understanding who

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to listen to. Now the trumpets have the harmony to the melody, but it's still important to be able

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to hear them. And again, there's written really low, so it's kind of hard to always hear the horns

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have a really pretty counter. They have the melody here. Sorry, starting at 49 horns do. And then

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the trumpets and the flutes have the counter melody. But again, you've got to be able to hear

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both of those parts interplaying. And the horn part is beautiful. It's not difficult. It's well

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written. But it does have some different articulations. So you want to make sure that the kids are

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playing the correct ones in the low brass low read accompaniment here, we have this kind of repeated

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ostinato rhythm one, two, four, one, two, and it stays on the same note every measure. So making

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sure that they do not play too loud because they don't want to cover up what's happening in the

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melody and the counter melody, but that the articulation is firm enough that the rhythm is

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clearly defined. Yep. Right. We want we want to hear the quarter half quarter rhythm. There's a lot

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of points in this piece where the tuba part goes a little bit lower than I guess I would consider to

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be a super comfortable range for most kids like it goes down to low a flat. So just making sure

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you also work with your tubas to sound really beautiful on that note. It's an important it happens

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a couple different times. It's important to lead into the next section. So just making sure that

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they're in tune and that they can help really drive that home. A big timpani moment leading into

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this section too. So everything's leading up. And then we have a long note from everybody in the band.

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Percussion goes back to their little like groove like section. Timpani is pretty important here.

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And then everybody is getting softer and softer to 61 60 to 61 is like 61 is a new moment. We

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change back into three four and the style goes back to what we had before. So the students

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carrying the note all the way from 60 to 61 is important. I told my kids not to breathe there.

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So it's a little awkward because like the trombones have the long note and then they take over the

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melody. So I trained my students to instead stagger breathe in either 58 or 59 so that they would have

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enough air in 60 to continue on into the new section. It's almost like a scene change immediately.

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That's what I kind of told them. And then we have the melody here in trombone horn euphonium and

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alto. So it's like the mid voices and back to that original ID. Yeah. That original syncopated thing.

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We've limited a little bit more of the percussion percussion is back in with a little bit of a

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groove but they are not accompanying the brass and altos with the melody. Yeah. They're just kind

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of timekeeping for sure. And then the trombones get to be kind of the king here and just making

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sure that tuning is really locked in a lot of beautiful chords but you'll you'll have to work

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on making sure that everybody can really sink in everybody moves together. It doesn't rush because

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of the pulse going away and like toms and things like that. The the mallets can play out a little

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stronger so that you can hear that that groove. I think that's pretty important. Teaching them again

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not to breathe like the flutes before. Don't breathe after just two measures. Make sure you

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lead into the next section. And at this tempo and the fact that this particular section is in three

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four it should not be an issue for your students to play in four bar phrases. And then the trumpets

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and flutes and oboes and clarinets have some eighth note pickups again just like before going

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into measure 69 which is a full 2d moment. It is difficult to hear those eighth notes if everybody's

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not thinking about it because again the trumpets start below the staff. So teaching students that

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as the notes go higher you start stronger so that you can hear those lower notes and flutes are

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going to float as they go up above the staff and not get louder as they go higher. There's like this

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little overlapping moment where the horn and alto are finishing their phrase and trumpet flute and

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clarinet are starting the phrase of this new moment and those overlap for one measure. So I

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think finding the sweet spot of what the balance is there. Yes absolutely. And then the first trumpet

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goes up to an E here and the flute up to a upper D above the staff. So just making sure that the

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tuning in your upper parts is really really pretty is important. Flutes go all the way up to high F2

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so making sure that they either add finger 6 to make it be better in tune or don't play the high

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note like just a couple kids play the upper note and everybody else plays the lower note. So like I

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have more eighth graders in my group than seventh graders so I remember I told like two of the eighth

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graders play the high note everybody else played the lower note. And then it stays split like that

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for a while in the flute part so just making sure that it's not screaming at us. It is the melody

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but we don't want the antelope doesn't need to be like screaming at you in the foreground. Like

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it's it's there but you don't want it to like take over. We've added more percussion back in so now

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it's more the same feel that we had had earlier in the percussion section. We are back to the

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four four groove where the style changes and it's more lyrical. Horns have the melody again. Same

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exact thing before trumpets come in and they're below the staff they have to play out more.

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Flutes and trumpets have an interplay part with the horn and alto. It's literally the exact same

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thing we had before. Then 85 it's like Laura said like kind of like a like a halftime rhythm sort of

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like half note half note half note half note we're leading up we're pretty loud here and there's no

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percussion. So the kids really have to watch to make sure that they move together we just have some

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suspended cymbal rolls for effect. There's a little moment where the trumpets have an interplay with

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the horns the horns just finished playing something then the trumpets have a response with flute

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nobo and clarinet one making sure that the kids don't jump out there it goes two three four one

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making sure that's two three three doesn't jump out and get louder just because it's higher

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making sure that it's evened out and then measure 92 leads into 93. So we change back 93 now here we

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are again with this same statement the syncopated three four time one and two and one all percussion

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are back in we're building you can tell this is like approaching a climax here I don't know if this

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is what you recall we're coming up to the we're coming up to the fight scene but we're still not

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there so still intensifying okay I'm anticipating the fight scene I can't wait yes but it's all very

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much like what we had earlier but we are building so the volume is coming up a little bit and here

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you want to make sure it doesn't get it doesn't get too loud and you're appropriately balanced

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like Katie and I were talking this is pretty it's pretty thickly textured lots of different parts in

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here so you have to be able to prioritize and tell your kids what what you want to be the level 10

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strongest who's the accompaniment at level seven you know whatever system you use like that at one

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on one it goes back to four four in the horns and alto two have an important part that's leading us

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into the fight scene low brass again just have the same note over and over need a tongue firm

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but then low brass and low reeds do get a little moment of glory with some accents on two three

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four one and then the whole band gets out of the way and percussion can start their groove again

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it's a new groove this time but it's important and marimba part and vibraphone part and then the

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fight scene is at 109 so this is like the two predators have seen the predator and the prey

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have seen each other and now like we made this like a really big deal so it's like they're equally

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matched though like they're important so the first voice at 109 is the lion the lion and then there's

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a glissando and the trombone and a big sport sando hit and all the low reeds and low brass and then

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flute trumpet and upper voices like clarinet and sax have a little response three and so they're the

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antelope so the lion one three and lion one and then the antelope gets all scared and there's a rip

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so that's really fun and the horns and trumpets and altos get to do that in the woodwinds and the

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range is pretty high up here like for the horns their their rip is from a d to a top line at yeah

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and flutes again are up this above the staff on a g so just making sure you know it's not too crazy

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then the lion keeps going one three one three and the uppers have one and and two three one and sweet

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little angel up trying to get away yeah so it's like it's just the two parts are interplaying

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here but they both have to be equal so i talked to the kids about making sure that one voice is not

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louder than the other this is both predator and prey then at 117 it all comes together the whole

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band has accents on one and three all the way throughout again percussion removing all over

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with eighth notes yep and then the horn and trumpet two alto two and clarinet two get a little

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ascending quarter note line that's accented one two three four everybody joins in eighth notes in

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the upper woodwinds and then fight scene one and two the whole band including percussion

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and everybody has the same thing so this part you have to really have it aligned perfectly to

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where nobody even like a tiny bit plays in the rest yeah like not like they know how to count it

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it's not hard with counting but it's the alignment of the articulation and the style that's real

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important um and then we've hit the client like i told the kids it's like the two you guys can't

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see me because i'm on a microphone but like the two animals are like at each other's throats at

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this point and now they've dropped to the ground and we're about to find out like who won so at 127

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it goes back to they pegged predator for a reason i think we know who wins but okay calm down you

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got to spoil it for you no you gotta listen to the imagery so at 127 everybody's getting softer the

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the percussion is still grooving but they're quiet and everybody's getting quieter and

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quieter and quieter then they all stop and the percussion keeps grooving we're back to that same

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thing from the very big same thing established at the beginning except much softer right so much

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more control and then the whole piece ends with another flute solo at 139 but now it's in 34 instead

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of 4 4 like at the beginning so my flutes just like had lots of moments where they just didn't

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want to count this correctly so making sure you either write in the counts for them and remind

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them it's different than the beginning um again you have a soloist probably at this point not

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your whole section but just making sure it's counted well the little clarinet thing again

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little trombone gliss again to end it and then everybody enters at 147 for a last chord the

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chord gets louder in the middle and then gets softer and i told the kids that was the last breath

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that the antelope took so you're saying the lion the lion one yeah but this piece was super fun

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the kids loved it and they just really love practicing it so this is a great new pml piece

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that people should definitely be looking at and lots of little fun elements in here for kids

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definitely you want to make sure you have a strong percussion section uh for this and flute section

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since it features flute so much yes are there any other sections that you would say are okay

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everybody's important yeah yeah so fun what a fun piece well we hope that you will consider

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programming apex predator for a festival coming up or one of your future contests we are glad

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you got to join us today on our episode of band bfs