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
two pieces that you can do with a beginner band,
possibly a sub -non -varsity or non -varsity
group for your spring concert, or whatever fall
concert next year whatever might work for you.
We have been reached out to by many groups like
asking what are some of your favorite things
to do for your spring concert and these are some
like a little bit more difficult on the scale
maybe like a 1 .5 to do with your beginners.
So today we're going to be discussing Mama Paquita
arranged by Michael Storey and the Dragon Lord
written by Randall Standridge. Cheers to starting
the conversation. Okay, so this Mama Pequita
is... It's precious. It is absolutely adorable.
Shout out to my friend Brad Smith for giving
me this idea many years ago because my kids love
this piece. Okay, now listen, this is new to
me. I had not heard of this before, but it is
absolutely adorable. It is less than two minutes,
about a minute and 45 seconds, concert B flat,
four four flute throughout, no split. trumpet
or clarinet, parts at all, easy low brass. Now
it's Brazilian, so it's got a lot of kind of
Latin percussion in it. You need a decent number
of percussionists to play this. I'd say five
to six. But you can add more. Like if you have
some other fun percussion equipment stuff that
you want to add to it to spice it up a little
bit more, this Brazilian theme, you can do that.
This is so adorable. So this is a traditional
Brazilian folk song. and I always start teaching
this piece to the beginners by playing this cute
little YouTube video. It reminds me of like little
Einsteins, you know, and it's like our Mary had
a little lamb, but for Brazil, it's Mama Paquita.
And it's this cute little song that talks about
Mama Paquita has papayas and bananas, and it
actually gets a little dark in like the third
verse where Mama Paquita can't afford to buy
anymore fruit. So like, my beginners are always
like, that poor mom. It's it's fun. It's like
just a cute little theme, you know, but it's
it's adorable So show show the little video get
the kids excited They walk around singing that
dang song like the entire time we play it. It
is catchy But just like Mary had a little lamb
is catchy, you know, it's just this is their
this is their version. So It comes, starts off
with everybody having like a little introduction.
It is a little bit trickier with rhythms. So
everybody in the melody has one and, and three,
four, one and, and three, four, and the range
is a little bit more tricky on this piece too.
One and. three four one and two yeah cha -cha
-cha it literally sounds just like that and and
it's so it sounds real Brazilian and then it
starts off the whole piece with a flute feature
so you might want to program this piece on a
year where your beginner flute class is rocking
it or like if you have a lot of flutes in your
concert band or your third band or your second
band and you are looking for a good piece to
do at the beginning of the year where you can
feature them and really get their like you know
skills like to be elevated at the beginning And
they're confidence built, right? Yeah, that's
what I mean, confidence built. This is a great
piece to program. So percussion has this little
like fun groove behind them. There's little shakers
going, maracas, the wero. And then it's so fun.
It's a great wero sound, Katie. That was excellent.
I know, right? I've been working on it. And then
the lows literally do have a real easy part.
three four one and then the flutes have the melody
and they come in on the pickups to measure five
this pickup part is what makes it kind of tricky
because every time the different voices have
the melody they come in on the and of three so
you have to teach them about breathing on three
that's right one two and four and one and two
and four and one and two and four and one two
three and four and one and so like breathing
on three is a thing on this piece and everybody
at some point or another besides the clarinets
and the horns gets to have the melody so teaching
them about that breathing on three is really
critical and important. And we've talked about
that in a previous episode right making sure
that you're teaching your kids how to take those
quick breaths and practicing them in your daily
drill so that when they get to the music it is
really clear. Yep. This is this eighth note thing
I think it is really cute and then it does a
lot of just one and rest and four and one and
yeah so that I mean making sure that they're
articulating that correctly oh yeah I gotta be
really short yeah it's pretty tricky yeah and
then the clarinets get what I call blown in the
wind part so they're just going one three Three
and I wrote in their part to do a one measure
crescendo and a one measure decrescendo So they're
already learning those musical phrase shaping
skills and beginner bands to just like take it
up a notch a little bit Then the flutes finish
their melody one two three and four and one and
then the lows have and two and three and then
the Trumpets and the saxes come in with the melody
with the flute and four and so it's really tricky
Yeah, like aligning the rhythm where everybody
understands I come in on the eight of one but
I come in on the and of three and not letting
the the tempo slow down or like letting their
style get longer as they pass this part around
because they're gonna wait to react right here
right and you have to teach them no don't react
you do it right in time exactly luckily the tuba
and the low reed part is one and two and three
they don't have an up entrance but the the Bassoon
euphonium trombones. They do have an up entrance
and then so do the melody people So then the
melody now is in flute oboe sax and trumpet They
keep going and now the horns have added in with
the clarinets on the blowing in the wind part
And then the low brass have like oh, it's so
cute So it's just so fun. But like everybody
has kind of the same thing. We're continuing
to move along and then the There's a pickup in
the trumpet and flute and oboe going into 21
and we have a new moment. Four, one, and, and
three, four, don't breathe here. One, and, and
three, four, one. So teaching them about, again,
phrasing. You're not gonna breathe on the bar
line. Instead, you have a rest in the next measure.
That's where you get to take your breath. So
that's something, again, that's a little bit
tricky, but it's good to teach in beginner bands
so that they're familiar with it in seventh and
eighth grade. And then the horns have a dotted
half note with alto, but the lows have a half
note with two quarter notes. So just getting
all these differing rhythms, it can be a little
bit tricky together, but nothing ridiculous.
What I love is that it's like, I think it is...
The parts, the balance, the layering is not overly
complicated. What makes it tricky is the rhythms.
The ranges are not overly complicated, right?
And then as we're finishing out this four bar
phrase that we had at 21, the altos and horns
get a cool little one, two, three, four. A little
chromaticism part, which is kind of cool. It
is. It's fun. Then we get this moment where we
have like a little bell tones part. Lows come
in on beat one. Alto comes in on two. Clarinet
and oboe come in on three. And then flute and
trumpet come in on four. One, two, three, four,
one and two. And the whole band has that together.
And then percussion. And then the lows get to
have the melody. And four and one and so then
they get to have the important part. So literally
it's like it's passed around and everybody has
to learn how to play something that's a little
bit beefier, a little bit more rhythmically difficult
and challenging. And then the trumpets get to
have a cool little counter melody part. I love
the trumpet part here. I think this is really
cool. So in the upper woodwinds, they're just
kind of like harmonic. Yeah, they're just providing
harmonic foundation with some whole note support.
But the trumpets are getting a cool little counter
melody. Now we've heard the melody mama paquita
several times and now the trumpets are da da
da da da two and three off two and three Yeah,
it's it's really it's cute dotted quarter note
rhythm one and three and the trumpet part lows
are about to have a dotted quarter note part
too so there again the rhythms are a little bit
more challenging but nothing that they probably
shouldn't be exposed to before they go to seventh
and eighth grade. Then we're crescendoing down
on a little like mini scale on the lows and then
the lows are done with their little melody and
now we're back to the high people having the
mama paquita rhythm. We've got the blowing in
the wind again. It's literally just a repeat
from before. Yep and then we end the piece with
the lows having the melody and four and one and
and four and one and and then it goes back to
flute trumpet and four and one and Three four
one and two and the whole band has that rhythm
together to measure is unison rhythm Yep, and
just aligning that style again There's not a
lot of style written in but just like there are
some staccatos. There are some house top accents
So just teaching the kids about those is really
important But this piece is just precious and
the kid the students love it because it's cute
and it's catchy They're gonna be singing it,
you know, it gets stuck in their head. And in
fact, they're always like cursing me for it getting
stuck Yeah, it's gotten stuck in my head. So
all right, and then so the next piece that could
be considered for like a beginner band or possibly
like a sub non -varsity non -varsity situation.
Or a beginner honors band if you do something
like that like we, you know, we'll do that with
our beginners where they earn their way into
an art. A little bit harder. Yeah, exactly. This
one is is called a 1 .5 and it's part of a different
of a Series series. Thank you that mr. Standridge
has done called tales from the Darklands So there's
like Darkland March I think is one of them and
then there's another one and this is the Dragon
Lord This is part one. So that I think because
it's for beginners so or younger students But
this piece is really cool and typical Standridge.
You got to have a lot of percussion So it's in
the key of concert e -flat. It's a little over
two minutes long about two minutes and 15 seconds
it has The clarinet part is not split, but it
does have an optional clarinet part that doubles
the horn, which is great. So if you don't have
strong horns, or if you have a ton of clarinets,
you can split that. It does have split trumpet
parts in typical standards fashion. Lots and
lots of percussion that's really, really cool.
Like a lot. Yeah, a lot, and a lot of effective
percussion. So you definitely want to make sure
you've got the percussion parts covered, and
then the cool like... background sound or whatever.
So the piece comes with a sound effect that's
a dragon roar so if you want to you can even
like hook up your sound system and have the dragon
roar happen. I have never done it because I'm
just so lazy and the kids always keep telling
me to do it but maybe this year I'll finally
get on it. But we play this like every year like
the kids would absolutely revolt if I didn't
play Dragon Lord because it's this one's what
what they would call a banger for sure and it
starts off mysterious at The tempo is 72, and
I'm just gonna say this is probably my third
year of playing it with my beginner band, and
we try to typically rotate and do other pieces,
but this is one that we really like with the
kids. This is the first year I've done this,
so I'm just telling you guys because this worked
for me this year. This is a piece that's also
on Make Music, so if you are a Make Music group,
you could play this. But the reason I taught
it this way was because of Make Music. because
it doesn't go slow at the beginning and then
go slower when the tempo changes. It goes straight
into cut time feel. So I taught my kids to learn
it that way from the beginning this year and
it hasn't been an issue. So we kept our foot,
our foot tap is the same the whole time. So we
set it at 72. We practice counting one, two,
three. four one two three four and we and we
just practiced counting in the cut time. but
keeping our foot tap the same the whole time.
And it's been really good because they got it.
I was actually shocked at how quickly they understood
that. Kids were popping their hands up and saying,
oh, so that's like eighth notes. And I was like,
mm -hmm, that's right. Yeah. So that's just a
little side note. So it does have this mysterious
opening for about six measures. And then after
that, it goes to be a little bit faster. the
cut time section. So here at the very beginning
it starts off mysterious, as I mentioned, and
the slower speed of 72. Timpani starts off the
piece with one, two, and three, low. One and
there's a little flute trail and then the bells
get this cool part three and four and one So
it's very mysterious and then the horns and the
clarinets and the altos get to have the melody
in measure three And it's just this like smooth
piano soft moment It's very chromatic II in this
piece, which the kids think is really fun makes
it sound dark and mysterious The lows are continuing
with what they have then they kind of join us
and we go one One, two, three, long tongue, flute.
trumpet they get a little DSC ray for one measure
and the mallet percussion the bells are still
going yep and they go one and two and three and
four and and then right away at seven it's marked
aggressive and it's 144 so you got to practice
the students going one two three four one two
three four one two so they count one two three
four in their brain and but their foot tap keeps
going at 72 That way they're really understanding
this cut time feel. So the full band has a whole
note, and then the timpani and the snare comes
in with one and two and three and four and, and
then this is the banger part. Everybody goes
bump, bump, bump, bump. except the melody, which
is the dragon stomping, that's what I call it.
So it's in like horn and clarinet, it's still
in sax. One, three, one, three, one, three, one.
So they're just doing that little part. Full
band has staccato staccato accent. One and two,
three and four, one and two, snare drum. Then
a little trill and a forte piano. one and two
and four, one. So it starts off just so exciting
and fun and the kids love it because everybody
gets to do cool things. Yeah, lots and lots of
energy in this. And just making sure, I love
the idea of treating it like it's in cut time.
I think that that's really, really cool. And
making sure that their eighth note articulation
matches. There's cool, the timpani gets like,
Katie was talking about. Yeah, when the winds
are playing one and two and three and four and
one and two and three and four and. And there's
an anvil part. You know break drum part. So I
mean there it's just really fun like the kids
like love this piece That's not hard though.
Like the eighth notes are the same note So it's
not like they're articulating right quick and
changing pictures. It's GG GG F sharp F sharp
F sharp F sharp in the flute part So but the
you know, the smart kids are like, oh, I'm tonguing
sixteenth notes Because that's what they are
doing when you're in cut time, you know So just
kind of talking about that is pretty neat And
then when we get to 17, the sleigh bells come
in with the tempo. One and two and three and
four and then the mallet percussion has this
cool part. So you've got to have a really good
player on your mallets. One and two and three
and four and one and two and then the low people
go three, four, one. And then that's where the
dragon roar would happen if you wanted to use
it. So it's like the dragon is like coming out
of its cage. the sleigh bells and I know we've
talked about this before but this is fast and
it's 8th notes or 16th notes and that is super
hard to keep it nice and steady so you might
consider if your sleigh bell player is having
trouble doing that and doing it in time turning
the sleigh bells on their side and shaking them
that that motion is sometimes a little bit easier
for young players or I know we've talked about
before a mounted flat set of sleigh bells which
I have used before that you can play with a mallet
or a stick to, obviously that transfers, that
skill transfers really easily because they're
used to doing that. But anyway, you might consider
just turning the sleigh bells sideways if the
kids are having trouble playing in time. Cool.
And then 21, the low people now get the dragon
part. One, three, one, three. Yep. And then the
uppers are either resting or just have one, in,
two, in. one and two and so they're just the
background. Then we have these really cool effects
that he writes in where you start piano and crescendo
up to like mezzo forte or forte throughout the
piece one and two and three and four and it comes
back over and over and over throughout the piece
so it's just a fun effect for the kids to do.
the melody ends up on the lows in measure 28
and then timpani and mallet are still going snare
drum leads us in to 29 now the trumpets have
the melody and then there's this really cute
cool mysterious counter melody and the flute
oboe clarinet and saxophone part so they're playing
the one three one and flutes go one two three
four one Little chromatic sounding for one. So
it's like a little it's a fun little part But
it is a little trickier because it's got some
accidentals written in and things like that.
Then the full group kind of ends with one and
two, three and four, and then a forte piano,
one, two, three, off. And then the lows get one
and two and three and four. So that's a fun little
part. Again, timpani gets to be kind of featured
again. It's like a nice little phrase ending.
And he writes in, this happens a couple of times
in here, he writes in these written releases,
right? Where it's a half note tied to an eighth
note or a dotted half note tied to an eighth.
So teaching kids because younger players will
sometimes try to do the math in there. So I have
to release when my foot is up? No, that's actually
a written release. He's just telling you go all
the way here. Except... I'm glad you brought
that up that is tricky for kids because Since
this is in cut time. They actually are releasing
on an up foot tap because we're in cut time So
they're going bump bump bump bump bump one two
three off and that is a bit tricky and we did
have to go through and teach that a little bit
because that That's like kind of strange, you
know, but it's been neat to get to teach like
cut time concepts with beginners Well, and one
of the things I like about it like the piece
wolf it will the inner you will be different
if the kids are thinking of it and cut time then
it will if they are going one two three four
their foot taps like crazy right so I mean it
really makes it feel better to approach I totally
agree with that and it has so far at 37 we kind
of chill out a little bit the lows get a piano
part with just some like chords the flute clarinet
and oboe have the melody with a little wind chime
effect behind them then two measures later we
get another one of those piano crescendos with
a decrescendo one and two and three and four
and one and two and three and four. So it's cool
to teach the kids how to do those dynamics without
slowing down their articulation as they kind
of go through that. The wind chime part, I want
to say something about this real quick. The wind
chime part goes on forever underneath this and
it's not written to be directional. So like up
and then down. So I would just have them, we've
talked about this before, I would just have them
take their hands and stay on the bottom of the
bar. and just kind of make it sound more like
wind chimes that would be hanging from your front
porch. Yes, not getting a... Exactly, so just
kind of twinkling the chimes from the bottom.
Yep, and then the trumpets come in with like
a little, the same little one and two, three
and four apart. The flutes, oboes, and clarinets
keep going. And then we've got more of those
little piano to forte moments going into 45.
45! now the trumpets get the melody but they
are alone on the melody so this part's a little
tougher to balance out because it's just them
tambourine and ride cymbal go one two three four
so they're keeping like mr. standards just goes
back and forth with all these different like
effects and the percussion different colors different
sounds which I think is super fun so the trumpets
get the melody everybody else is gonna be a little
bit behind them Sorry, low people get a moment
where they're kind of in response. One, two,
three, four, one, two, three, four, one, two,
three, four, lows, boom, boom, boom. So that's
kind of cool. They get a little moment. And the
upper woodwinds are still playing quarter notes,
but theirs are marked staccato. Yeah, and they're
definitely not important. They're like percussion
here. Exactly. So I was going to say they need
to be like that cymbal part, right? They just
need to be just an effect in the background.
Whereas the trumpets, when they have their quarter
notes, it's full value quarter notes. So they
need... to make sure they're playing through.
Yep, at 50 the full band has accented quarter
notes except for those higher people Laura was
just talking about. One, two, three, four, forte
piano. And then clarinet and sax and flute have
two, three, four, one. So it's another little
like DSE Ray -esque type part. Then it's a little
percussion break for two measures with the little
dragon's roar in there if you want to use that
effect. 55, now we're back to the dragon theme
with the trumpets having the dragon theme. Everybody
else is doing the little counter melody again
in the flute oboe clarinet just like before.
Then we have the full band kind of ending together
one end to end. one and two in, and then the
DSE Ray part again, four, everybody's soft. And
that one and two in, that is tough. The kids
will want to add an extra one and two and three.
Yeah, they do, three. Nope, nope, no three, yeah.
Don't do it! yeah and then everybody kind of
builds up again one and two three and four one
and two three and four eanda in the snare then
percussion gets to go nutso for two measures
bum bum bum bum bum bum bum four eanda at that
tempo at that tempo yeah it's hard yeah um then
the whole band has another two three one three
and it ends with the dragon's roar if you use
it. So this piece is just so much fun and the
kids every single time, I'm like, let's play
Dragon Lord today. Yes, you know, they all love
this piece. Well, and Katie talks a lot about,
you know, music is always telling a story, right?
And the more you can get kids to latch onto that,
the more they're gonna buy into the music. And
I mean, my gosh, what a... like a dragon come
on yeah it's always fun yeah so this is another
great piece to play for a spring concert or fall
concert or all region band or you know whatever
all of the above yeah well we hope you will consider
playing um mama paquita or dragon lord in the
future and thank you for joining us on this episode
of band bffs