Welcome to our podcast, Band BFFs. The podcast
where we make your music selection less complicated.
On today's episode, we will be talking about
the Jester's Gallop by Jack Wilds. Cheers to
starting the conversation. Okay, this piece.
I have heard this a lot, specifically this contest
season. I love it because I think it's a piece
that it's on the Texas PML as a grade one, but
you can use it as a march if you don't want to
use it as your traditional piece. It's in the
key of concert B flat. It's in 4 -4. It is less
than two minutes long. Thank you, Jack Wilds.
It does not have split clarinet or split trumpet
parts. It has lots of Percussion I love that
it's kind of differentiated. They have an advanced
percussion part and a regular percussion part
so you can kind of use that to You know work
with your kids But it does have lots of percussion
timpani bells xylo all are needed snare bass
and then the accessory equipment But and there's
three different accessory parts, but and we'll
talk about as we kind of get in you can even
add more stuff if you want. That's one of the
things I love about like a gallop and marches
especially. For sure. So this piece is super
fun. Kids love it and the dynamic contrasts are
so fun to do and it's like a typical march type
thing to like have the like terrorist dynamics
where you get really soft and build it up. So
teaching that to the kids is something that I
think is really beneficial educationally. So
I think this piece would be amazing. to do any
time in the future. I think it's written well
enough that it looks simple on the page and it
is relatively speaking but adding all those things
like Katie's talking about can make it sound
way more difficult than it is, right? Just really
spice it up a little. So it starts off with three
notes that are slow so and it has a fermata so
it just goes one two three then it has a grand
pause and then you start and it's uh 144 it starts
with the melody in the upper woodwinds and in
the trumpet um and like Laura mentioned with
the advanced percussion part the snare part goes
really fast and has 16th notes at the end of
a measure so if you choose to do the advanced
part make sure you put a really really good light
percussionist on that snare part so it's not
overwhelming yeah like Laura mentioned we've
both judged this piece I've actually also lived
it in my band hall for a UIL season so that's
just speaking from experience something that
you want to make sure you find a really good
player that can play Time and light and and there's
some syncopation right one in three in and one
in it so all of that Yeah, that upbeat stuff
is just so important for timing. Yep So that
like she said the range is not difficult You
know, they have this real easy little rhythm.
There's only three parts There's the bass line
the mid middle part and the high part. So it's
easy to like balance for sure they have the melody
and we crescendo up to ten and then And what
I like about the way Mr. Wilds wrote this is
that, you know, it's building and it sounds like
it's a cool melody. And then we get these moments
where everybody gets these big hits with accents.
So 10 is the first moment. One, two, three, and
everybody has those like really firm articulated
accents. And then the horns come in with like
a long note and the flutes continue the melody.
Four and one, two and three, four. And then the
full band again. One, two, three. So it's kind
of cool because it's like very easy to teach
the kids about these little conversations. That's
right and I would isolate them right like I would
just isolate those accented moments and really
work the ensemble on a concert F okay can we
make it sound the same on a concert F okay now
put it on your notes and really make make those
impactful because they're meant to be effects
in this right and then all the little interjections
like Katie's talking about a lot of times they
end with a half note. So making sure that they
don't breathe going into the... It's got to be
seamless. Yeah. I call accident quarter notes
air darts in my band hall and that seems to resonate
with kids a lot. I like that. So we practice
like throwing air darts at Miss Lewis's forehead.
They think that's really fun. But this is where
we definitely had to make sure everybody's articulation
was aligned because the whole band has the same
rhythm. And so everybody's got to be really,
really well aligned there. But yeah. As Lara
mentioned, that's important because horns and
tenor sax are holding on this long note and then
they immediately have to play the one, two, three,
and then they go back to holding one, two, three,
and they can't take a breath on that bar line.
So finding other sneaky spots to take a breath
or telling students you can breathe after these
two quarter notes, whatever it might be. But
phrasing is just one of the most important and
I think sometimes often neglected things to talk
about with younger bands. and it's just really
important. And I'm gonna, just a quick interjection
to that. I know Katie and I talk about phrasing
a lot, but we expect our students when we get
to music to know, like we practice so much, take
a two count breath, right, in our fundamentals,
in our daily drill, but we don't practice enough
realistic breathing, like when in music, it's
half count breathing, or a triplet, exactly.
So I do, exercise in my band hall with all of
our levels including beginners where we practice
playing a concert F for eight counts and I start
them at between 85 and 90 bpm but depending on
the tempos of the music that we're playing we
will adjust it and we do a rep of a two count
breath and playing a concert f for eight counts
and then the next time a one count breath and
then an eighth note breath one and two and three
and four breathe play and then the more advanced
bands will move to triplet and 16th so they're
physically practicing what it is like to take
a quick breath in the moment, and then we make
sure to transfer that knowledge to music. Like,
okay, this is a point where you're gonna take
an eighth note breath, or this is a place where
you're gonna take a triplet breath, or whatever,
and mark that in their music. But if you're not
practicing it. And I will mark it in with a breath
mark, and I will draw an up arrow above the breath
mark, indicating it's on an upbeat, and draw
the and really big underneath it, so the kids
get in, I do that. beginner band yeah just like
you're talking about because I write QB with
that's my nickname for it is quick breath okay
so they know quick breath QB yeah but either
way side note you should be teaching phrasing
rather than just saying oh well nobody can breathe
there okay well they don't they breathe exactly
you've got to teach them like exactly what you're
looking for okay so we're back to the piece so
we're doing these little hits like I mentioned
the flutes and the clarinets have the response
one two three four and one two and three four
full band three then the lows get it one two
three then the lows get the melody one two three
then everybody's accented and that's the end
so the whole group has these accents that have
to line up together so again we've given you
lots of options for that and then i would take
that part like where the flute and the clarinet
have the one two and three the little interjection
and then the lows have it i would have them play
that at the same time so you can hear if they're
matching their note length and guaranteed the
lows will not be too long but they'll hear it
when they play together. I did not personally
say this, but I agree with it. On one of the
judging panels I was on recently, we talked about
the fact that a lot of bands were performing
marches without march style. And so while we're
talking about a gallop, it's important that even
if there's no accents written in, you're still
playing eighth notes lifted. Yes. It's a march.
That's what march style is. Yeah. So then we've
got this little like now the mids get this cool
part. They come in on four and one and they don't
have them. melody but they get this little moment
at 17 going into 18 the melody is in trumpet
one or all trumpets sorry I forgot no split split
parts trumpets only and this is a great place
to talk about phrase shaping they have one two
three one and two three one two and three four
so teaching them like to to crescendo through
half notes to lead into the next measure yeah
more and then underneath that we have this cool
clarinet and sax line that's do it like kind
of sounds like it's blowing in the wind it's
in his hairpin dynamic hairpin dynamics over
and over yeah and so it's just really well written
again there's uh there's about four different
parts here but still it's well balanced in the
dynamic kind of go along with the balance. And
I very much appreciate, Jack Wilds does a great
job of this. There are a handful of composers
out there, Robert Sheldon is like this as well,
who are super intentional about the dynamics
that are written in the individual parts. It's
not a copy paste. The ensemble is going to be
forte here. Like he does a really good job of
saying, okay, clarinets are going to be piano,
but we want the low brass to be mezzo forte.
Like that is written in the parts. So holding
the kids accountable to that I think is really
important. Yep. The xylo and bells parts are
really important in this piece, too. You cannot
get away with not using them. And they are not
the same. Yeah, and they are not the same. In
fact, the xylo part is really cool later on.
And we had our xylo player play with really hard
mallets in the part where he's got his little
rip, just so it could be heard over the ensemble.
So we used the white ones. I don't know. That's
just, I just, that's all I know. I'm not a percussionist,
so. But a harder one is a good thing if you want
it to be heard a little bit better. And then
the lows get to have like a little conversation
with the trumpets. They still have the melody
and then lows go two and three, three and four.
So they have like a little talk back and forth
moment. And then we're building it up again to.
25, everybody has accents again. That theme keeps
coming back with one, two, three, right? Or in
this case, one and two, three. Yep, and then
there's a big sforzando on beat three. So really
teach the students that that's different. And
then it decrescendos into 26. 26, the middle
people get the melody finally. So it's horn,
tenor sax, clarinet. And this is where the xylo
gets those little... Glissandos. Yeah, I'm sorry.
I said rips. Yeah, they had the glissando and
you really want to lean into that because that's
a cool Moment that makes it sound like a jester
like dancing around I think it really makes it
sound cool if you can hear that over the ensemble
instead of just like Making it be something you
don't even pay attention. Yeah, I think it's
I think it's really effective then in the upper
woodwinds This is this I think is really tough.
They are playing descending notes and they're
supposed to crescendo in quarter notes So one
two three four one two three four and so that
is and it aligns right with the glissando in
the xylophone So it it works really well, but
their tendency is going to be to go three four
heavy light heavy light and it's just the opposite
of that. The snare drum is also just like continuing
to be very active in this section and it needs
to be very light because you know we've thinned
out just a little bit we don't have as much trumpet
here but they do come in on the melody in a moment
with the horns and the clarinets who had already
started it. The low brass is kind of crescendoing
up to again another Sforzando beat 3 in measure
29. Then the whole band does a subito piano.
And so we're going to build it up. One and two,
three and four. One and two, three and four.
One, two, three, four. And then it's silence
for a whole measure. Then they come back in and
it's staccato and piano. So it's soft. One, two,
three, four. And on beat four, there's this little
cute triangle and bell hit. So your bells are
important and your triangle is important. It's
very cute. I told the kids. I thought of like
those little like how jesters have the little
bells on their little on their little shoes.
I don't know. Yeah And I was like, it's like
he kicked his little foot out bing So I you know,
whatever you got to tell the kids to make them
think it's fun Then on beat three the lows get
a forte piano So they come in and play strong,
kind of like a response to the little Elks shoe.
And it has to be a forte piano. So you might
play around with this. Like if the students are
struggling to physically make the forte piano
happen, then what I would do is I would pick
half the section to just play da and the other
half to play the half note piano so that you're
like faking the effect. Yep. It's tough to do
at the tempo. Right. Because it's a half note.
And it's only a half note. Yeah. It's tough to
do. the tempo so play with that if your kids
can do it fantastic if not there are workarounds
at 36 now we're piano again and we've started
over kind of building it up the flutes and the
oboes have the melody this time with bells and
xylo and i want to interject i'm sorry okay i
haven't said anything about the snare part but
the snare part instead of going one and three
and and one and like it was doing before now
we have one and two three and into one and into
three and four into one and so that light touch
like don't Don't be afraid to talk to your percussion
director and have the kids experiment with different
snare sticks to help with the articulation to
be as light as possible. I mean, certainly you
don't want them playing with something fat and
heavy like a marching stick, but even just a
traditional stick might be a little too heavy.
So just experiment with that, but this articulation
and the snare drum part is tough. Um, so we've
got like our typical three parts again, the melody,
the little harmony kind of going up and down
in the background and then the baseline, the
altos and the trumpets add in four measures later
to kind of help build it up. 44, we're back to
what we had before. One, two, three, then the
flutes have the melody. Everyone, then they have
the response. Everyone, then the lows have the
melody. Yeah. And then it literally is just like
the beginning. So we've, we've built that up.
Then you have. one two three immediately slower
just like the beginning yep and then but harder
because like the beginning it's the first three
notes right so this is coming like you're pulling
the emergency break that's exactly that's a funny
way to put it I didn't tell my students that
but yeah it's like pulling the emergency break
and then at 53 it's gonna do this really fun
ending and gallops are super fun because you
can kind of do whatever you want right so I didn't
personally do this when we played it with our
non -varsity band but I think it would be really
fun to slow the tempo down and then do a gradual
um a cello rondo to the end it's not written
to do that but you could if you wanted to just
do something extra fun with the kids um because
it's it's getting louder in dynamics but it's
like doing it in two measure phrases so it goes
one two three four one two three four one two
three four one three One, three. And so it's
like this real cute ending. I mean, yeah, it's
very concert to me. But it would be fun. It would
be really fun. Yeah, it would be hard, but it
would be something fun to do. And it's all accented
at the end and the beat twos when I did the.
sound, that's the timpani. So the timpani does
all the beat twos and then they have a big roll
when everybody else is doing the, you know, the
whole note at the end and then everybody hits
the last beat. Make sure you make it long. Don't
make it too short. I think the word tone whenever
we do the last note and then everything dampens.
So it's a short but super fun piece. If you choose
to like add the little cello around it, which
I think that's a great idea. You know, next time
I play this, I'm going to experiment with that.
You'll have to be real mindful, just like we
talked about earlier, that if you're going slower,
they are gonna want to change the length of the
note. Yeah, it's all accents. Yeah, be really
intentional about the style of the note, even
if you're going slower and then speeding the
tempo up. But this is such a, it's such a fun
piece. Yeah, and again, very versatile because
you can literally play it as a UIL piece, or
you can play it as a march on UIL. or you can
play it as a march on a fall concert. Absolutely.
Just so many options. You can add percussion.
You want to throw a vibra slot in there. You
want to throw a whistle in there somewhere. I
thought about that. I was like, that'd be kind
of fun. Yeah, my gosh. You can totally explore
and have some fun with this. But it's very versatile.
And the kids think it's really fun. Yeah. Well,
we hope you will program Just Your Scallop in
the future. And thank you for joining us on this
episode of Band BFFs. you