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 discussing Apex Predator by Michael Oare. Cheers to starting
the conversation. This is a new piece that we discussed very briefly in a previous episode
on a new to the PML episode. So we wanted to dive a little deeper. This is a grade two
on the Texas PML this year. It's just under four minutes in length. It's in the key of
concert B flat. The time signature goes back and forth between 4-4 and 3-4 frequently. It
has split clarinet parts, alto parts, trumpet parts. This is definitely something you would
want to consider programming for a more mature, young band, non-Varsity band, or certainly a
varsity band. This would be appropriate for that as well. Lots of percussion parts and the
percussion parts are really important. They're actually five separate percussion parts and you
really need every one of them. Katie has played this piece and was able to make it work with six
percussionists, but they had to do a little bit of moving around to make sure that all parts were
covered. So you could do it with a minimum of six. You would not want to do it with less than six.
And certainly if you had more than six, they could share parts for sure. So this piece is super fun.
My students really enjoyed playing it. We played it for our fall concert this year. And it starts
off with a very mysterious, slow portion. Later it gets faster and it stays the same tempo for the
rest of the piece, although the slow, quote unquote slower lyrical style does come back at the end.
So it has a nice little bookend. But it starts off with a flute solo. When I played it, of course,
it was not for UIL, but I let my entire flute section play it. And so they had a good time with
that. But I would probably program it to be a solo if anybody's playing it for UIL or for a contest.
It is very, very slow. So probably your flute player cannot make four measures in a breath. But
it's possible if they cannot, though, they can breathe on any tied note. So it's written where
that would be an easy spot to take a breath as they continue to move on. Percussion is very
important here at the beginning. There is no timekeeping. So they come in and they have these
little interspersed moments where they're just like an effect. When I started teaching this piece
to my band, we actually talked about what is an apex predator. So I asked them for some examples
they knew way more than I knew. So we got Wolf and Tiger and Polar Bear, which I didn't know that
was one. And they were like, there's definitely one in the ocean. It's the orca. So we decided
that we wanted to focus on the lion as our apex predator. And we decided that the piece was a
lion hunting its prey, which in our case is an antelope. We didn't want a little prey because we
wanted it to be equal because there's a fight scene later on where they kind of seem equally
matched. But it's fun to give kids like a programmatic like scene to set the mood. And I just wanted
to comment on that. I think that's that's one thing that Katie does really, really well. And I
think that like, it's it's an important part of teaching. It will really help the kids, I think,
grasp on to the music and buy into the to the story that the music is trying to tell, right? All
music is trying to tell a story. And I think anytime that you can make that real for students,
there's not, you know, necessarily program notes that come, you know, this is about a specific
apex predator, you have a little bit more freedom. And I think it's really cool. Yeah, like, let your
kids decide exactly and they can help you paint the scene. So we talked about that this opening
section is kind of like, maybe it's the antelope, but maybe not, it might just be like surveying the
like, Saharan desert, like, or like the African landscape, and it's just beautiful. And, and
we're just trying to set a beautiful lyrical scene at the beginning. So again, we've got a little
like percussion, vibraphone comes in, and then claves come in, loudly, and then get softer, kind
of like your like, maybe it's it adds to the moment, it sounds like little sneaky, a little
mysterious. Then the clarinets get to come in and one, and a two, and a three, and a four. So
really overdoing that because this is setting the scene for like, Oh, something might be happening.
The trombone gets to do a little gliss again, adding to that like, uncomfortable ability. The
bass drum comes in, and we said this is the heartbeat throughout the piece. So the bass drum
comes in, and then the bass drum keeps going later and later and later, it gets faster to at many
moments. So we kind of talked about that. And that was what I told the kids. There's a cool
cabasa part that's really important. The vibe part is super duper important to so make all the
mallet. Yeah, make sure you pick somebody who's okay to like play out. The flute solo is continuing
on into nine. We have another little clarinet thing, the bass drum heartbeat picks up a little bit.
And then everybody comes in at measure 12. It's marked mezzo piano, it needs to be played mezzo
piano or under. Otherwise, it's like very jarring when the whole band just like comes in. So we
talked about just like, you're going to breathe really like in for a whole measure. And then
you're just going to sneak in. But all together at the same time, we had to practice that quite a
bit. And then it changes to three, four, and it goes 152. So it's basically double tempo.
And then the percussion get to have a really cool part. Now this percussion section right here,
it is establishing the feel of the hunt, right? And it's laying the groundwork for some of the
melodies that you're going to hear appearing later in the piece. It's very syncopated, very
syncopated throughout. I would treat this section, marimba is really, really important. All the mallet
parts here are super important. I would treat this like a percussion ensemble. The percussion and I
know sometimes non percussion band directors are a little bit scared and timid of approaching
their percussion section. Treat it just like you would treat a band. Like when you're in your
percussion sectional and working on this stuff, it needs to sound balanced. You need to have
appropriate balance between the melody and the counter melody and the bass or the motor section.
And what is intended for color or effect, it's no different than how you would treat your wind
section. So I think if you approach this as a percussion ensemble and they get really secure
in those parts, that's only going to help the wind players. And this part comes back a lot of
times throughout the piece. So it is important to be really good. It's a groove and you want to make
sure they feel the groove. Yes. The vibraphone gets the first moment of melody with a little
syncopated one and and one and and one two three one and and and one two three. Then the toms come
in. So we layer down the vibraphones like Laura said and they're coming in and then everybody
gets softer in percussion because now we get the flute again. And this is I believe all in at this
point. Yes. So everybody was again, my band played the whole thing. But at 25, it should be the whole
flute section. And this was where we painted. This is for sure the the little antelope. So we're
listening to the sweet little prey, just like chilling in the Saharan desert. Now this is a
this is obviously this is a pretty lengthy piece at almost four minutes long, right? But here we
are at measure 25 and most of the ensemble has not played yet other than like a whole yeah,
maybe a little effect moment or whatever. But the vast majority of the ensemble hasn't played yet.
Yep. So the flutes are playing. It's very important not to breathe on the bar line between
measure 26 and 27. You want to teach the kids to find other spots to breathe if they need to,
perhaps in 28 after the any of the three quarter notes, or if they can make it all the way to 29,
that's even better. They need to tongue really firmly when they have the syncopated style. One,
two and and one, two, three. So we taught the flutes to just really, really tongue firmly so
you can hear that different rhythmic shift. Then the band comes in finally at 33. And they have
impact hits. So this is like the lion. Now finally the lion is making his first one and one and and
two, three. So it's like that he's finally like kind of cornered in on the antelope he wants to get.
It is marked mezzo forte. I took it down a level to be more like mysteriously starting. So we went,
we did mezzo piano here. And then we got a little bit louder as we got a little bit more excited,
like in 35, 36, 37, then the kids did like one level higher, just made it sound more like, oh,
what's going to happen next? There's tension in the chords in the way that it's written and
marcotto accent. So you know, I think if you're being really aggressive with the articulation,
you don't have to be overly aggressive with the volume, right? And then the clarinets get another
little one and two and three and four. And this time though, it's a split clarinet part. And it's
very important you can hear the second clarinet just because it makes it sound even more mysterious
and fun. Then the clarinets and the oboes join in with the flute. Just to beef up that melody part,
it's still the same sort of thing, grooving underneath in percussion and the low people. Again,
you don't want the low people to be too loud. And then at 49, we get our first time signature
change. So we changed to four four. So we had been in 34, we changed to four four at measure 49,
percussion completely changes the feel here, all of the mallet percussion drop out and we go to
this ride symbol accompaniment, everything is really soft. Here it's marked mezzo piano, everyone
is playing, but it's longer valued notes here. So it feels a little more flowy. And, and it does not
need to be too loud. Like I feel like even listening to some recordings of this piece that it can be,
it's easy to get a little too loud too soon in this section, I think. The style changes here as
well. Now it's very, it's very lyrical in nature. And we, in my group, when we were talking about
the story, we said that this was where the like movie camera has pulled away from the predators
and is now just surveying the landscape. So it's just real pretty. And it's like, you know, oh,
look at the desert. You know, it's like, we're just now we're just imagining, we're looking all over
at the beauty of Africa. The trumpets do come in with some pickups as well as flute, clarinet,
and oboe. And the trumpets are under the staff on their pickups. It's really hard to hear them
if everybody isn't aware of those. So when you're writing in your parts, like things that kids can
think about, I would literally write T P T here so that that way the band is is understanding who
to listen to. Now the trumpets have the harmony to the melody, but it's still important to be able
to hear them. And again, there's written really low, so it's kind of hard to always hear the horns
have a really pretty counter. They have the melody here. Sorry, starting at 49 horns do. And then
the trumpets and the flutes have the counter melody. But again, you've got to be able to hear
both of those parts interplaying. And the horn part is beautiful. It's not difficult. It's well
written. But it does have some different articulations. So you want to make sure that the kids are
playing the correct ones in the low brass low read accompaniment here, we have this kind of repeated
ostinato rhythm one, two, four, one, two, and it stays on the same note every measure. So making
sure that they do not play too loud because they don't want to cover up what's happening in the
melody and the counter melody, but that the articulation is firm enough that the rhythm is
clearly defined. Yep. Right. We want we want to hear the quarter half quarter rhythm. There's a lot
of points in this piece where the tuba part goes a little bit lower than I guess I would consider to
be a super comfortable range for most kids like it goes down to low a flat. So just making sure
you also work with your tubas to sound really beautiful on that note. It's an important it happens
a couple different times. It's important to lead into the next section. So just making sure that
they're in tune and that they can help really drive that home. A big timpani moment leading into
this section too. So everything's leading up. And then we have a long note from everybody in the band.
Percussion goes back to their little like groove like section. Timpani is pretty important here.
And then everybody is getting softer and softer to 61 60 to 61 is like 61 is a new moment. We
change back into three four and the style goes back to what we had before. So the students
carrying the note all the way from 60 to 61 is important. I told my kids not to breathe there.
So it's a little awkward because like the trombones have the long note and then they take over the
melody. So I trained my students to instead stagger breathe in either 58 or 59 so that they would have
enough air in 60 to continue on into the new section. It's almost like a scene change immediately.
That's what I kind of told them. And then we have the melody here in trombone horn euphonium and
alto. So it's like the mid voices and back to that original ID. Yeah. That original syncopated thing.
We've limited a little bit more of the percussion percussion is back in with a little bit of a
groove but they are not accompanying the brass and altos with the melody. Yeah. They're just kind
of timekeeping for sure. And then the trombones get to be kind of the king here and just making
sure that tuning is really locked in a lot of beautiful chords but you'll you'll have to work
on making sure that everybody can really sink in everybody moves together. It doesn't rush because
of the pulse going away and like toms and things like that. The the mallets can play out a little
stronger so that you can hear that that groove. I think that's pretty important. Teaching them again
not to breathe like the flutes before. Don't breathe after just two measures. Make sure you
lead into the next section. And at this tempo and the fact that this particular section is in three
four it should not be an issue for your students to play in four bar phrases. And then the trumpets
and flutes and oboes and clarinets have some eighth note pickups again just like before going
into measure 69 which is a full 2d moment. It is difficult to hear those eighth notes if everybody's
not thinking about it because again the trumpets start below the staff. So teaching students that
as the notes go higher you start stronger so that you can hear those lower notes and flutes are
going to float as they go up above the staff and not get louder as they go higher. There's like this
little overlapping moment where the horn and alto are finishing their phrase and trumpet flute and
clarinet are starting the phrase of this new moment and those overlap for one measure. So I
think finding the sweet spot of what the balance is there. Yes absolutely. And then the first trumpet
goes up to an E here and the flute up to a upper D above the staff. So just making sure that the
tuning in your upper parts is really really pretty is important. Flutes go all the way up to high F2
so making sure that they either add finger 6 to make it be better in tune or don't play the high
note like just a couple kids play the upper note and everybody else plays the lower note. So like I
have more eighth graders in my group than seventh graders so I remember I told like two of the eighth
graders play the high note everybody else played the lower note. And then it stays split like that
for a while in the flute part so just making sure that it's not screaming at us. It is the melody
but we don't want the antelope doesn't need to be like screaming at you in the foreground. Like
it's it's there but you don't want it to like take over. We've added more percussion back in so now
it's more the same feel that we had had earlier in the percussion section. We are back to the
four four groove where the style changes and it's more lyrical. Horns have the melody again. Same
exact thing before trumpets come in and they're below the staff they have to play out more.
Flutes and trumpets have an interplay part with the horn and alto. It's literally the exact same
thing we had before. Then 85 it's like Laura said like kind of like a like a halftime rhythm sort of
like half note half note half note half note we're leading up we're pretty loud here and there's no
percussion. So the kids really have to watch to make sure that they move together we just have some
suspended cymbal rolls for effect. There's a little moment where the trumpets have an interplay with
the horns the horns just finished playing something then the trumpets have a response with flute
nobo and clarinet one making sure that the kids don't jump out there it goes two three four one
making sure that's two three three doesn't jump out and get louder just because it's higher
making sure that it's evened out and then measure 92 leads into 93. So we change back 93 now here we
are again with this same statement the syncopated three four time one and two and one all percussion
are back in we're building you can tell this is like approaching a climax here I don't know if this
is what you recall we're coming up to the we're coming up to the fight scene but we're still not
there so still intensifying okay I'm anticipating the fight scene I can't wait yes but it's all very
much like what we had earlier but we are building so the volume is coming up a little bit and here
you want to make sure it doesn't get it doesn't get too loud and you're appropriately balanced
like Katie and I were talking this is pretty it's pretty thickly textured lots of different parts in
here so you have to be able to prioritize and tell your kids what what you want to be the level 10
strongest who's the accompaniment at level seven you know whatever system you use like that at one
on one it goes back to four four in the horns and alto two have an important part that's leading us
into the fight scene low brass again just have the same note over and over need a tongue firm
but then low brass and low reeds do get a little moment of glory with some accents on two three
four one and then the whole band gets out of the way and percussion can start their groove again
it's a new groove this time but it's important and marimba part and vibraphone part and then the
fight scene is at 109 so this is like the two predators have seen the predator and the prey
have seen each other and now like we made this like a really big deal so it's like they're equally
matched though like they're important so the first voice at 109 is the lion the lion and then there's
a glissando and the trombone and a big sport sando hit and all the low reeds and low brass and then
flute trumpet and upper voices like clarinet and sax have a little response three and so they're the
antelope so the lion one three and lion one and then the antelope gets all scared and there's a rip
so that's really fun and the horns and trumpets and altos get to do that in the woodwinds and the
range is pretty high up here like for the horns their their rip is from a d to a top line at yeah
and flutes again are up this above the staff on a g so just making sure you know it's not too crazy
then the lion keeps going one three one three and the uppers have one and and two three one and sweet
little angel up trying to get away yeah so it's like it's just the two parts are interplaying
here but they both have to be equal so i talked to the kids about making sure that one voice is not
louder than the other this is both predator and prey then at 117 it all comes together the whole
band has accents on one and three all the way throughout again percussion removing all over
with eighth notes yep and then the horn and trumpet two alto two and clarinet two get a little
ascending quarter note line that's accented one two three four everybody joins in eighth notes in
the upper woodwinds and then fight scene one and two the whole band including percussion
and everybody has the same thing so this part you have to really have it aligned perfectly to
where nobody even like a tiny bit plays in the rest yeah like not like they know how to count it
it's not hard with counting but it's the alignment of the articulation and the style that's real
important um and then we've hit the client like i told the kids it's like the two you guys can't
see me because i'm on a microphone but like the two animals are like at each other's throats at
this point and now they've dropped to the ground and we're about to find out like who won so at 127
it goes back to they pegged predator for a reason i think we know who wins but okay calm down you
got to spoil it for you no you gotta listen to the imagery so at 127 everybody's getting softer the
the percussion is still grooving but they're quiet and everybody's getting quieter and
quieter and quieter then they all stop and the percussion keeps grooving we're back to that same
thing from the very big same thing established at the beginning except much softer right so much
more control and then the whole piece ends with another flute solo at 139 but now it's in 34 instead
of 4 4 like at the beginning so my flutes just like had lots of moments where they just didn't
want to count this correctly so making sure you either write in the counts for them and remind
them it's different than the beginning um again you have a soloist probably at this point not
your whole section but just making sure it's counted well the little clarinet thing again
little trombone gliss again to end it and then everybody enters at 147 for a last chord the
chord gets louder in the middle and then gets softer and i told the kids that was the last breath
that the antelope took so you're saying the lion the lion one yeah but this piece was super fun
the kids loved it and they just really love practicing it so this is a great new pml piece
that people should definitely be looking at and lots of little fun elements in here for kids
definitely you want to make sure you have a strong percussion section uh for this and flute section
since it features flute so much yes are there any other sections that you would say are okay
everybody's important yeah yeah so fun what a fun piece well we hope that you will consider
programming apex predator for a festival coming up or one of your future contests we are glad
you got to join us today on our episode of band bfs