Welcome to our podcast, Band BFFs. The podcast where we make your music selection less complicated.
On today's episode, we will be discussing Fortis by Gary Gasly. Cheers to starting the conversation.
All right, this piece is, Kids Will Love It. You May...
High energy.
It is. It is in the key of concert E flat. It's about two minutes and 40 seconds in length.
It stays in the key of concert E flat or C minor throughout. It is in 4-4 at the beginning and the end.
And then it has a 3-4 section in the middle that's pretty short and it changes tempo.
It's ABA. The A section is really fast and energetic. The B section is more moderate.
There are not split clarinet parts or split trumpet parts in this, which is nice, but there is a lot of percussion.
And you are going to want to make sure that you have a pretty decent percussion section.
Because they are going to be responsible for really to help me kind of drive the pulse and the energy level in this piece.
The snare part especially.
Yeah, you need at least six players it looks like for sure.
Snare bass and tambourine, some cymbal effects, of course timpani and bells as well.
Yes, and I think Bell's part does double flute most of the time.
So if you didn't have enough players you could do without bells for sure.
So this piece is a lot. It's a lot of articulation. It starts out. It's fast. It's 144. It's Allegro.
The lows don't have a lot of the multiple tonguing till later.
And I'm sorry to interrupt, Katie. I just wanted to say, Katie and I both agree this is a grade one on the Texas PML.
But we feel like it has some challenges in it that definitely make it a more like a 1.5.
Yeah, even though it is a grade one on the PML.
Yeah. So it starts off with the melody one, two and three and four and two and three and four.
One and two and three, one and two and three, four. And that melody is throughout the whole piece basically except for the middle section.
So anytime the students have it, it's a lot of multiple tonguing on the same note.
Trying to make sure it sounds good without cracking, without like hitting a different note, that sort of thing.
Everybody in the ensemble is going to have an opportunity to play that line,
whether it's the melody or the harmony to it at some point in the piece.
It is a perfect opportunity for a melody sheet.
Yes.
Right? Writing that melody and or harmony part out and teaching it to your entire ensemble at the same time.
It's going to help you hear clarity of articulation, which I think is one of the biggest challenges in this piece.
Matching articulation and then phrasing.
So before we started this episode, we were we were re listening to it.
It's been a hot minute since either of us have played this piece and I go,
oh my gosh, I'm having flashbacks of teaching it.
And so I taught literally when I was teaching it, singing it for the kids, I would do
one, two and three and four and two and three and four, one and two and three.
Don't breathe one and two and three four.
So I still like remembered one and two and three.
Don't breathe because like that is the place all where they all want to take a breath
and it's going to sound so immature and don't let them do it.
And so that's why the melody sheet would be good because you can teach the kids.
You're going to take a sneak full breath and measure two with the eighth rest,
but then you're not going to breathe between three and four and any other time that you
have the melody like that.
So it's definitely a good opportunity to teach how to play more, more musically to some of your students.
The lows just have like beat one entrances and then one, four, one, three, four, one.
So nothing ridiculously hard.
And coming up the lows will end up playing on one rest, rest, four, one as quarter notes.
I recall having a difficult time with some of our players with them not wanting to play those
notes as equal length.
They'll play a beat one short and beat four long, one rest, rest, long, short, rest,
rest, long, short and they should be equal length.
Now, I mean, it's nice that they have kind of internalized that beat four leads to be one.
Right? So yay for them, but you have to make sure that those notes are equal length.
That's something that sticks out.
Yep. This melody continues on very, very active snare part underneath.
We have a long tied whole note at measures nine and 10.
On a concert sheet.
To finish out, kick on the Ds for sure, little trumpets.
And then at 11, the flute oboe clarinet add in on the melody
and the horn and alto continue on with the trumpets.
Bells come in here if you have a Bells player and they have the same thing.
Lows are continuing to do their thing.
Nothing's getting more complicated in their area.
We've just thickened up the texture and this is an area where I would like,
depending on the instrumentation of your band, you might need to thin down like we added the
woodwinds in here.
So now maybe we thin down the brass a little bit so that we hear
that woodwind color and it doesn't become overwhelming because the low reads and low
brass are doing the same thing and we haven't added any more.
Yep. Yep. Yep.
Then same long note and then at measure 20, we're about to get kind of a new idea.
And the melody is off on beat four here with a decrescendo and the low people have one,
two, three and they're ending the measure on a half note and it's a G in trombone.
And I remember last time I played this, that note was always like out of tune and it was so weird
because the melody was going away and they were supposed to be leading into the next section
and it was always like kind of a puny sound and I mean it might have just been my low brass,
I don't know.
But like that's a hard note to sound beautiful on on the trombone.
The fourth position is my least favorite position.
Like people talk about fifth and seventh.
I'm like no, no, no.
Fourth, I hate it.
No, it's hard.
It's hard for the kids.
But I would ignore the decrescendo in that low brass part so they cannot like don't under
support the note or whatever just to lead into the next section.
And then to make it to make it even more challenging, the flute oboe and clarinet
have a pickup note.
And they're on a C.
Their pickup note into the next phrase which overlaps with that low brass is a G.
So they are coming in on a unison note there and you know that could contribute to those
egregious tuning issues right there.
At 21 the upper woodwinds take over with a new melody, flute oboe and clarinet.
And we've changed styles.
Trumpets have laid out, yes.
Now it says legato in the part.
There's no, it's no marcado.
It was March marcado.
So really firm articulation in the first section here.
Now we're legato.
Yep.
The snare part has gone away as well.
So it's just a totally different vibe here.
At measure 24 the clarinet flute oboe have a dotted half note.
I would mark no breath there and have the kids push through the phrase into beat four
and instead teach them other spots to take sneaky breaths.
Or breathe.
Yep.
Where they can continue on in their melody.
And the horns get to come in on a really pretty counter melody here with alto saxophone as well.
Now this section since we have completely changed styles because you will spend,
you will need to spend a while on the marcado melody and aligning articulation.
And then I found that it was a little challenging to get to this legato section
after you spend so much time hammering that marcado style.
So I had my students when we learned this legato section slur the whole thing at the beginning.
And then we went back and added our tongue and talked about wanting to just dent the air
instead of fully separating the air.
And that really helped them to get in their ear the difference in that style to make it a little more connected.
The after this alto and horn calender melody at 25 and 26.
The trumpets come in and they add in on the melody.
And then the horns get this little moment and altos where they have like two, three, four, one.
And they're leading back into the melody, but there's a lot of accidentals.
So just making sure I think this part is like a little bit challenging for French horns.
So make sure that they really know like what their notes sound like and that way they feel confident
in what they're playing because it's not a traditional like it's just they're doing a lot of cool
melodic type things and it's not something easy on the ear for sure.
At 29 the horn and trumpet come back with the melody and the alto saxes.
Lowe's go back to that easier part with active snare.
And in this section, I feel like this is a one thing we haven't addressed.
It's Mark to Markado again.
It's back to Markado.
One thing we haven't addressed that I do recall being an issue when we very first started learning
and it didn't take long to break them up the habit, but they wanted beat four in the melody,
the first measure of the melody to be short.
One, two, and three, and four, and two, and three, and four, one, and two.
And so we had to spend time saying no, no, no.
That note's going to touch the rest.
Sound to silence.
One, two, and three, and four, and two, and three, and four, one, and two, and three.
Making sure that all of those beat four.
Yeah, don't breathe exactly.
So be intentional about that.
One thing I recall about this section at 29 when the horns are more prominently featured
here and they are playing like harmony to what is happening in the trumpets.
Just the nature of the conical brass instrument and facing a different direction and it being
super exposed with it being trumpet horn and alto.
The articulation was really challenging to make the horn articulation match everybody else.
So you might even need to think about telling your horns to think when they're articulating
about bringing their tongue a little lower to feel the enamel of their teeth when they
articulate to make it a little crispier so it can match what's happening in the trumpet
and the alto here.
Side note, that's how I teach French horn all the time actually.
Yeah.
So I think that the further down you can tongue on your teeth on French horn,
the easier articulation like this can come across to an audience member for exactly the
same reasons you just said.
So little pedagogical tidbit right there.
They're continuing on.
The flutes and the oboes join in with the melody again with the bells.
Lows are still doing the same thing on the long note this time.
The trumpets don't have the long note and they have like a little with the flutes.
One, two, three, four, one.
And we have a ritternando and a fermata.
And then we all cut off and now it's materato, 88 marked in three, four.
And this fermata, I love, I think he was so smart.
This is written in open fifths.
So there's no third anywhere here, which is really nice because it makes it
so much easier to tune when you don't have to worry about the third here.
And then we get to the pretty three, four section.
This is not very long, but I think it's one of the more challenging parts of the piece.
Mm-hmm.
It is just, I mean, a typical three, four section.
The flute and the clarinet have the melody one, three, one, three, one.
So you're wanting to teach kids about follow through on half notes,
making sure quarter notes are, are tongued very long and legato style.
The lows have one, two, one, two.
So the tuba is on beat one along with the super low reeds like bass clarinet,
berry, and then the, the tenor sax, trombone, nephonium have the two.
So just this little motor all year.
Yeah.
Making sure it almost sounds like one on a part because they're underneath the
delicate woodwind melody. And it's, you know, it's kind of challenging to sound soft.
It is. And into sound in control.
And then shape this. There are so, the melody, there's no phrasing in terms of crescendo,
day crescendo in this little section.
There's no percussion, not even bells.
Not at all.
Yeah.
So you can do so much musically in this section, I think to make it sound, to make it sound really pretty.
As we get into 47, the horns come in, horns and trombone, nephonium, and then the
horns come in horns and trombone, nephonium and middle voices come in on two, three, one,
and then all land with us together at measure 47.
Trumpets are still out.
So this whole section, trumpets have been just resting while other sections are getting
a chance to be featured.
Now this is the first time as we get ready to come out of this section where we see a
written in crescendo leading into measure 51.
Yeah, as we're getting close to wrapping up this section, trumpets come in for the first
time in this section.
And now it's a little more, I feel like the section, the eight measures are so prior to
this are a little more independent and exposed.
Now the full ensemble is in.
The melody is playing 2D rhythms.
The accompaniment is playing 2D rhythms.
Yep.
And then it kind of just ends with everybody again playing like one, two, three, one, and
then a fermata with a decrescendo.
There's also this one measure that stuck out to me in measure 57.
The trombones have F, G, F, E flat, and then the trumpets in the next measure and flutes
have the response to that.
I just remember that G being very exposed and out of tune again.
Again, I must, maybe I just had a really, really not so great trombone section that
year, but I remember Gs being an issue.
So just take that with a grain of salt.
Maybe your Gs are not so great in your trombone section too, but look out for those moments
to make it be better in tune so it doesn't make an adjudicator go, huh, that wasn't right.
This fermata is another, I know if you've listened to our podcast at all, you've heard
Katie and I talk about this type of thing before.
This fermata, there is a root fifth and third written into the chord.
And if you look at how it's structured, the third is pretty prevalent.
You have the third of the chord.
It's a B flat major chord and you have a third in the trumpet.
You have a third in the flute.
You have a third in the oboe and you have a third in the clarinet.
That is a lot of third happening.
So you may get to that chord and find that it is not balanced.
The tuning is not happening.
An easy fix for that would be to split your flute, trumpet, and clarinet section and have,
you know, put some on the root and fifth and only keep a couple of them on the third because
there are a lot of people written on the third there.
Yep.
There's a little triangle hit on beat three and that's the last thing in the section.
Then cut off and you're back to the 144, 4, 4 section.
It starts off thankfully, which is great with a whole note so everybody can watch.
And no percussion.
Yeah.
And then percussion comes in on the second measure with tambourine and timpani.
Then the band goes back in with the active snare drum part and the one, two, and three,
and four.
So it keeps going.
It's literally recap from the very beginning.
Yes.
Trumpets and horns have that same thing with altos at 72.
This time the upper woodwinds have this long note.
They play an eight count note and then they go one, and two, and three, four, one, and
two, and three.
And that lines up with the trumpet and the horn part.
But the long note can be overwhelming.
Absolutely.
You can, yeah.
If you don't talk to the kids about not playing that very loud, it's marked forte.
It's definitely not supposed to be forte.
And it's a G in clarinet, a G above the staff and flute.
So just talking about playing softly, you're just there for a special effect.
And tuning.
And then you get to come in.
Your flutes and oboes need to use vibrato.
Vibrato.
And your clarinets are probably, if they're not taught to automatically use resonant fingerings
on that throat tone A, you're probably going to need to do that to make sure that the tuning
is solid.
And then obo is on an octave G, which I would probably take the oboes down to the same octave
as the clarinets instead of being in the same octave as the flutes.
And then we have another similar section to the very beginning.
It's literally just like a recap.
It really is almost a copy paste.
At 87, we're finishing up the piece.
We have trumpets and upper woodwinds on beat one, lows on beat three, and then lows again,
one, two, three, horn and sax on four, and then 89 ends with a pickety third.
And then the whole piece ends on beat three.
And with a big little snare drum finish.
And you need to spend some time on that pickety third.
Right.
And make sure that it sounds good and sounds in tune.
Oh yeah.
You have the altos on a C sharp there in the staff C sharp, which is a horrible note on
alto.
It's a really flat note.
And another pedagogical tidbit.
I teach my students to play C sharp as an alternate fingering, even in sixth grade.
So instead of an open C sharp, I teach my kids to finger it third finger and octave key.
That is easy to do like D to C sharp whenever you're doing like long tone, A or Remington.
And then on this, this would be a perfect opportunity where I would say you're going
to use the alternate fingering for C sharp there and it is coming from a D. So then they're
just lifting off all the fingers except third and octave key.
And you can even leave the entire right hand down as well.
You can do third finger and right hand.
But I like Katie, I also teach that covered C sharp right from the beginning in sixth
grade.
And you may even have to go student by student because some instrument models respond to
the right hand down better along with the third finger and some do not.
So you want to make sure that you find the right thing that's going to work for you.
For each student's instrument.
Yep.
But this piece can come together pretty easily.
Your kids will love it.
You're going to have some time on it.
Your kids will love it.
Yeah.
It's just a catchy little song.
So they will.
Well, we hope that you will consider programming for us in the future.
And thank you for joining us on this episode of Band BFF.