Welcome to our podcast. Band BFFs. The podcast
where we make your music selection less complicated.
On today's episode, we are going to be doing
a cool little deviation from what we normally
do and we are now going to be reviewing a couple
of what we consider to be great beginner band
spring concert pieces or possibly like a sub
-non -varsity or non -varsity things that you
can do in the spring. I've had a couple of band
directors reach out recently and ask for some
ideas and so we're going to give you a couple
of ideas on this episode today that you could
use either for spring concert music or even fall
concert music. for next year that are just really
good kid pieces that they really enjoy. So today
we're going to be discussing Tambora by William
Owens and Alpha Squadron by Greg Hillis. Cheers
to starting the conversation. Okay, Tambora.
This is a favorite of mine to do with beginners
at the spring concert. It's in the key of concert
B flat. It's about a minute and a half long,
so that's perfect. It does not have split clarinet
or trumpet parts. It has a ton of percussion.
A ton of percussion. And all the percussion is
really important to add to the musical effect.
So toms, snare bass, bells. tambourine, wind
chimes, vibra slap, crash cymbals, sway bells,
I mean it's got a ton of stuff. So you need several
percussionists which is why I think it's appropriate
for a beginning band where you usually have a
little more. It starts in a slower tempo, it's
marked ponderous, and then it has a tempo change
and then it will stay at the fast tempo once
we kind of get going. So this piece starts off,
like Laura said, slow and ponderous, but it does
have accents marked at the very beginning, like
a strong entrance, forceful entrance. One, two,
and three, low, slow, one. Then it's not accented.
So then you teach students the difference between
an accented note and a non -accented note. So
they're gonna play with a little bit more lyrical
style type tonguing. for the rest of the slow
part. Typical melody people have the melody like
flute, oboe, clarinet, trumpet. But the low voices,
their response is really important. It requires
super firm articulation and they're moving. Lots
of little mini scales. One, two, and three, four,
one, two, three, four. So lots of little mini
scales. And then that's it. It's like a four
measure slow. And then I like, we will add, if
the band can take it, we'll add a little, a ritardando
in that measure for one, two, and three four
boom and then fast tempo when you get to measure
five this is fierce and it is a percussion break
this is something it's a two measure percussion
break the winds come in at measure seven you
will have to practice that tempo transition ad
nauseum until the percussion feel really really
comfortable with what that new tempo is going
to be one and three and and one two and three
and four it's really fast yeah and it's active
lots of percussion parts going on yep and then
it measures Seven we come in with the full melody
and it's clarinet and trumpet with the melody
the percussion also still have pretty active
parts But they now need to layer down. Yes, so
that they're not just like covering up the band
then the the band comes in and like we Willie
Owens did a great job of marking in that the
lows are mezzo forte and the melody is forte
so that's good it's already kind of done for
you clarinet and trumpet have the melody and
again the range is very doable you know less
than an octave range so that's pretty nice for
a beginner band where they're not having to go
up super duper high low voices are still moving
around so it's fast but you know but they're
still they're not like staying on One note, rest,
two, and three, four. So they're having to move,
move their fingers, move their tongue. I like
that it's fun and a little more meat for the
low voices too. That's true. Then the flutes
come in with the pickup and they add in on the
melody with clarinet and trumpet, along with
oboe. And we now get to have these little accents
together as a full band at 13. One, two, and
three, four, and one, two, three, four, and lows
have accents. So it's fun because the kids get
to do different articulations, which when you're
at the beginning of the year, you're really just
like, oh gosh, let's just play the right notes
and rhythms. Full body of sound. Don't change
anything. Don't change anything. Now you get
to teach them about all this cool stuff that
they're going to get to see in seventh and eighth
grade. Then at 15, we go to the lows having the
melody. and the uppers have it marked at mezzo
forte but they may want to play even softer.
Well and I love this at 15 the flute and the
oboe have a counter melody along with the bells
and it's really cool. It's the lows moment and
they need to play the melody that needs to be
the lead voice but after that I love the flute
oboe and bell part being the next one layered
in the texture. It's a really cool counter melody.
Yeah and they are not marked mezzo forte but
everybody else in the band is marked. Right.
Yep. And then you have this third part going
on in mid -voices like clarinet, horn, and alto,
tenor sax, and they are equally, like it's still
a really important part, rest, two, four, one,
and three, and so their part is still really
important too. But I think it's just written
so well, it's written layered really, really
well, but you'll have to spend time balancing
it and making sure that the kids understand their
priorities. And that the lows get to be the important
part. That's right. Then the whole band at 21
comes down to piano dynamics we have this cool
little bell part where it's like an octaves bing
dong ding dong and the triangles play on two
and four along with the low brass and then the
flute clarinet sax get to do this one two and
three four and one So it's like it's kind of
thinned out and got real quiet then we add in
the horns on the same thing with tenor sax and
then we crescendo up into 24. And this is a part
you will have to spend time on every single time
I play this piece. We have to work on some of
the people go one and two three and four and
some of the people respond one two and three
and their tendency is gonna be to clip the eighth
note. Don't let that happen make them like we
talk about it's It's whole note air, even though
your tongue is interjecting every once in a while.
Yep, yep. Building up to 24, the full band has
one, two, three, and then percussion gets moment.
And then this part's so fun at 25, they get to
do some foot stomps and some hand clapping. So
the kids love it. You could do whatever you want.
If you were playing this on a spring concert,
you could literally have like the back row stand
up and clap. you know, only or like the front
row, you know, you could do so many things with
this. And but you do have to practice this because
their foot stomps like hand claps are not really
tough to be in time. They're going to be so slow.
I know. Oh, my gosh. The kids think they need
to lift their leg, you know, like, oh, they're
just so excited. Poor babies. But you you have
to work on this. But it this all this foot stomp
and hand clap stuff is is adding to what the
percussion are doing. The percussion are playing
throughout this. Yep. And it's fun. And like
take time. make it be fun for the kids, because
they think it's neat. And it's just a percussion
break with band. Yeah, body percussion, I love
it. At 29, it is soft. The bells are playing
like it drops to just percussion. Bells are going
ding, dong, ding, dong. We add wind chimes and
sleigh bells here. And then it's getting us ready
for the wind players to come back in. So the
percussion are starting and then layering down
and decrescendoing. And then when we get to measure
31, the winds come back in, but it's soft. The
clarinets are playing the same thing that the
bells had. this part right here you have some
dotted half note you have some quarter note you
have some whole note even though it's soft it's
real important to make sure that the students
are tonguing firmly so that there's real clear
rhythmic articulation exactly and then they're
they're slurring more here too so it's a little
bit more lyrical and then we're building up into
34 where they have accents again one two and
three so we're always building up then there's
a cool rim shot and all the percussion play on
beat four where nobody else plays so it's like
a fun moment again. Then we kind of start go
back to the same melody melody with the flute
counter melody before and that continues to 41.
41 we now all have accents the lows get to do
this cool little one two and three one two and
three four and then the uppers are the response
to them and then the last little melodic parts
in the uppers and then one foot stomp, and then
tell everybody what you do, because this is adorable.
I love this, and the kids love it. You would
be shocked at how excited they get about this.
So the piece ends with one foot stomp, two foot
stomps on beat two and three, and we mark in
our part, stomp stand. So they will stomp on
beat two, stomp on beat three, but they kind
of use that stomp to push their body up, and
then they stand. So we always do this as a concert
closer, and it's super effective and the kids
get so intense about making their face serious
and stoic so they're like boom stop stand and
they're frozen and they're just like intense
it looks like a little mini marching band Precious
they love it. They get so excited about it. Yeah,
and I'm sure the parents think that's what they
do They love that too. Yeah, this is a piece
that I like with both pieces that we're talking
about in this episode You know Katie and I've
talked about this before but one of the things
I love to do is to program music on my sixth
grade concert That we will play for pep music
in seventh and eighth grade So you're not having
to reteach that to those kids So this is a piece
that even though it's got a lot of percussion
My percussion directors are awesome. They have
written out marching percussion parts for it.
So you can teach this at a spring concert for
your beginners and then of course your eighth
graders will sight read it super easily the next
year. Play it as a pet band piece. We do this
for both of the pieces that we are talking about
today in this episode. Oh that's so smart. I
do that too for crunch time but that's already
written out. Yeah. And it comes with a musical
jump start. Of course which we love how Willie
Owens does that but love love love I love Tambora,
it's lots of fun, very programmatic. Okay, the
next piece we're gonna talk about is Alpha Squadron.
This one is in the key of E flat, it's two minutes
long, it's four four, and this is one of my absolute
favorite beginner pieces to do. It's simple,
but it sounds harder than it is. And again, it's
very transferable to the pet band scene, so I
love that. And this piece does have split parts.
It has split clarinet, split alto, split trumpet.
But they only split, yeah, very little bit. Right,
it's like one divisi note here and there. But
it's still, it's fun, because then they feel
like it's a big person song. So, at the beginning
it's marked 144, so it's very quick. And it's
a hit by the whole band. One, two, three. four
one two three four one and the percussion is
active especially snare you don't need a lot
of percussionists for this piece you can get
by with really three or four yeah so that's something
that is good if you're looking at doing this
maybe with like one where you don't have as many
percussionists in your band I love the articulation
that he is marked in here so this long short
exactly when you play four one it's written tenuto
marcato which is what they would do anyway so
So it's nice that that's written in. Hey, you
played it exactly the way it's marked. That's
correct, we don't have to re -teach that. At
measure four, the whole band has another hit
on beat three. And then at five, the trumpets
get to have the melody first. Everybody continues
on the hits, but they're gonna layer down so
we can hear the trumpets. They do need to kick
out. It's a D. D, D, D, D, D, F, D, G. Yeah,
and so everybody else still has those same hits
in the background, even per. so it's like a little
trumpet feature here and then the flutes get
to add in with them and the trumpet split when
the flutes add in at measure 11 and then they
finish all together the whole band one two at
measure 12. This melody right here everyone in
the band gets the melody at some point so it's
great like we talk a lot about melody studies
or melody sheets this is a great one that you
can utilize that on because everyone in the band
has that melody. at some point. At measure 13,
now the trumpets continue and the low and mid
voices continue with the hits, but we add in
a counter melody in flute, oboe, and alto that
is really, really cool. Again, for our purposes
today, we're talking about beginners, but this
can be used for any young band. I love that it's
a perfect opportunity for these beginners to
see, hey, vibrato is really, really important
right here in the flute. alto and oboe for all
of the instruments. So I like the trumpets to
come down. We let the flobo and alto be the more
important thing. Clarinets add in with the trumpets
here, by the way. This is a really, really great
point. Show layering. Hey, this is a new idea.
Now, there is a rhythm. Every time we play this,
we have issues here. Most of the time... They're
playing one and two, three, four, one and two,
three, four, and then in measure 18, it flips
one, two, and three, four, and that's the only
place where the eighth note is on beat two and
it will. eat their lunch every time. Sweet little
babies. Yes. Not that bad, but you gotta think
about it, yeah. And I like that always at the
end of each phrase you get those little house
top accents, one, two, the whole band together.
Then at 21 we get softer, the altos have the
melody with the clarinets only and bells playing
underneath. So it's very thinned out for four
measures. This is a great moment to teach beginners
about phrase shaping. Amen. Yeah, because this
is not hard, but it's a good way to say, hey,
you know what? We cannot breathe between measures
22 and 23. That's a two measure phrase. We don't
wanna do that. And in fact, we're not even gonna
breathe between 24 and 25. Instead, we're gonna
find those sneaky places to take a breath. You're
gonna breathe in measure 22 between the quarter
note and the half note. And you're gonna breathe
between the half note and the two quarter notes
in 23. So we kinda do a little bit of like pre
-teaching how to do phrasing. beginner band,
you know, and you may not do it with everybody,
but you can at least do it with the melodic instruments
that like are gonna have to do that the most
like flute, clarinet, alto, whatever. So that's
just a little side note. This is also this section
right here and this comes back later in the piece
with this alto clarinet feature. You need to
make sure that your clarinets are using resonant
fingerings. Oh for sure. They're sitting right
here in this third tone area. Yeah so they need
to be using resonant fingerings in order to make
the blend with the saxophones really nice. Then
the band comes in four measures later also at
a piano dynamic and we have like the typical
melodic instruments. of building it up on a little
mini scale. The low people come in on three,
four, but we're still, we're all crescendoing
up. Then the whole band has one, two, three.
Then we've got more lyrical style and we're crescendoing
up even more to 29. So we're just kind of building
and building and building the excitement. Snares
end up adding, or snare adds in leading into
29 again. And there's like, of course a cool
sax and horn like one, three. I love when you
get that and the kids think that's fun too. So
at 29, the melody goes to the low voices, altos
and horns. So it's nice, it's the exact same
melody we had before, so now the upper voices
are doing the hits, right? But same melody, so
it's great, like practice this together. Then
we add in the upper voices all on the melody,
and this is where the... split parts comes in.
For clarinet and alto, that's it. This is the
different rhythm. That's right. It's just harmony.
That's it. And this is the only place where those
divices take place. We end up with those two
accents again. The way we end every phrase. And
then it's like the beginning again. We got more
hits at 37. The percussion's a little active.
This part at 37, this is a, like we talk about,
this is a brain moment because the whole band
is playing the exact same thing. and the hits
are not happening on the same beat as always.
So they have to make sure it is a counting game.
We talk about like, I bet you start that, right?
Like you have them count at first. That's exactly
right. Like you don't even play. One, two, three.
One, yes, absolutely. We do that. And we talk
about it being a game, like as the director,
I'm gonna do my best to help you, but you have
to use your own brain, right? We can't just depend.
But this part can be tricky, and then you'll
get - You'll always get the trombone - Two, four,
one. Yep, yep, yep. Yeah, that's always fun.
It's basically like the percussion get the melody
one, two, and three, four. Right. You know, they
have like a really cool little part here, but
this is the only section that requires like major,
major focus. Yep. And then 45, we're back. Yep,
it's back to the clarinet and sax melody. Everybody's
coming in softer and building up again to 53.
53 is the trumpet and the clarinet with the melody
again with the cool little counter melody and
sax and flute. Just like we had it for 13. It's
exactly the same. 61, the trumpets and the flutes
and the clarinets and saxes get the melody. We
get a little harmony coming in. We start to build.
We're layering. Yeah, we're layering and then
we're getting louder and louder too. And then
the piece ends with a chord. With a picardy third.
With a picardy third. Yeah. You have to work
on that. Yep. And then the whole piece ends with
two and three. So that's always fun. Yes. Kids
love it. It's precious. It sounds like this is
my kids almost every year, their favorite one
that we do at the spring concert. And like I
said, I think it's great for a pet band piece
too. So it's super easy. Sounds really cool.
Very effective. Love Alpha Squadron. Sounds like
movie music. Yes. Well, we hope you will consider
programming Tambora or Alpha Squadron in the
future. And thank you for joining. us on this
episode of Banned BFFs.