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 doing a
Texas PML grade two entitled Blue Ridge Reel
by Brian Balmages. Cheers to starting the conversation.
All right, we love Blue Ridge Reel, but it is
a pretty challenging grade too. It is in the
key of concert E flat for most of the piece.
It does transition to the key of F towards the
end. It's about two minutes and 45 seconds long.
It's in cut time, and it has a fair amount of
percussion. If you don't use all the percussion
parts, Katie and I were discussing, like it has
a wero part, a washboard or optional wero part
that really adds to the flavor of the Blue Ridge
Reel. had to leave it out, you could get away
with playing this with five percussionists. It
has split. Flute, clarinet, saxophone, trumpet,
and trombone parts, and you really need strong
and confident clarinets. Your percussionists
need to have a really solid sense of time. Really,
I think your flutes need to be pretty strong
as well, and trumpet. So this is a great piece,
but your band needs to be pretty good in order
to pull this off. They need to be top -notch,
yes, especially percussion, as she mentioned.
We performed this in our band halls and whenever
we started it, we did it in 4 -4 first. Yes,
we did the same thing. We started it in a medium
-fast 4 -4 with the goal of getting it to cut
time. quickly even if you have to be in a slow
cut time so the kids get the feel of two but
we definitely started in four. And going back
in time now based on some experience that I've
had this year with other cut time things I would
probably set my metronome to be in the like if
it's let's say it's 50 you're gonna be going
100. I would put it at 50 the metronome and put
it in the clicking so that they're still getting
used to the That's right the cut time foot tap
because I feel like that's the hardest thing
for students to transition if you don't do it
quickly enough if they've already learned it
with their foot tap going you know 90 miles per
minute it just and also on a stage when they're
Yeah, that's nobody's friend. So yeah, I think
that that might be what I would do if we were
to play this piece again Yeah, I agree. I think
I think that's I think that's really smart to
me The important thing is get to cut time as
quickly as possible right and even maybe learn
how to count it a Little bit of both like so
the kids the very beginning clarinets have one
two and three four Maybe teaching them that it's
actually One and a two and. Because that would
help the verbiage when you're going faster if
you're trying to verbalize or count or anything
like that. Right. But that would just depend
on you and your kids and if they have that ability
to flip in their brain. So anyway, let's dive
right in. This piece is super fun. It has a spirited
groove is what it says at the top, which is 108
on the metronome. So it does go pretty quick.
You also will want to make sure that at the very
beginning, your clarinets have an opening statement
for eight measures alone, along with a vibraphone
part. And it says with motor off and medium cord.
It's it even says like specifically the like
vibe you're looking for get it and then But this
clarinet thing is so critical. Everybody has
to sound exactly the same So I know that we've
spent a lot of time talking about the exact style
There's there's like a staccato on beat one another
one on beat four a lifted note on the on beat
three So just making sure that the clarinets
from the get -go really focus in on the style
and you don't let them get away with doing it
wrong, even when you're slower, because then
when you speed it up, it's gonna be really hard
to clean that up as you get further in. Now,
the one thing I would say to that, and I agree
with what Katie's saying exactly, I would just
make sure that at the slower tempo, they are
not being too short on the staccato notes, because
it's going to automatically get shorter when
they go faster, and then you run the risk of
just hearing tongue with no tone behind it. So
it's a delicate balance. But the technique in
the clarinets needs to be very clean, very clear,
they do have to cross the break a fair amount
in this and be able to move their fingers really
well in time. They teach it all tongued first.
Absolutely. And then add in the articulation
later. At measure nine, they continue on with
the same statement, but you will want to level
them down to a mezzo forte. And the flutes come
in with kind of the same thing that the vibes
had before. And then alto sax has these cute
little statements. like they're trying to like
converse with the clarinets. And then the clarinets
keep going. So it's like a cute little combo.
And then the spoons add in, which is, again,
real fun, adds to this little feel. You can use
actual spoons if you have them. You can use castanets.
We bought spoons. We did the same thing. We bought
spoons. I mean, it really adds to the character
of the piece if you can do that. But if not,
castanets work as a substitute just fine. On
this little part where the flutes come in here,
they're split, split flute parts, and they're
just little punctuated, ta, ta, ta, ta, ta. They
need to shimmer with as much vibrato as they
can, but be really firm with the articulation,
otherwise it sounds muddy. Yeah, and they need
to sound exactly like the vibraphone. That's
exactly right. They're just doubling that part.
The marimba also comes in with its own special
part, so this isn't one of those pieces where
like marimba and vibraphone are doubled and you
can just get away with not having one there has
to be a different player for each one that rhythm
is really important to kind of adds again to
the groove so this goes on for another eight
measures at 17 the clarinets stop having the
melody and now the whole band or not the whole
band but trumpet trombone flute and oboe have
another little punctuated thing kind of similar
to what the vibraphone had before but now the
vibraphone is getting to go back and forth between
the ostinato rhythm and the punctuated conversation.
So clarinets and tenor sax are having little
pieces of the conversation with each other, but
it's not a constant conversation like it was
before. That's the way that I taught it to my
kids. These are just little conversations going
back and forth. And there is all of these in
the trumpet, the trombone, the flute and oboe
parts. These are all marked as accented and it's
real important to feel that. just firm articulation
at the front of that and making sure those notes
have shape so that the rhythm comes through clearly
which is different than what's happening in the
mallet percussion so so many totally changed
yes and it gets even more complicated complicated
in a minute at 17 the washboard adds in you can
play it on the wiro but also it's really fun
I've heard it from several bands at different
UILs where they actually use a washboard. We
didn't do that when we played it at Moss, but
I love it. And so if I ever play this again,
I would go ahead and purchase a washboard. It
just looks fun too, and the kids feel really
cool playing it. We've done this twice, and one
time we did it without the washboard, and one
time we did it with the washboard, and the kids
thought it was a blast. That's fun. You don't
get to do that very often. So then about five
measures later, we start to... to add in the
rest of the band. So we're thickening up. Yep,
everybody's got that same little rhythm. It's
almost like you're getting ready for a party
and the excitement is building and building.
The clarinets come back in with the tenor sax
and they have the like little conversation part,
but now it's a little bit more drawn out. And
then at measure 25, we have now not everybody's
in again. So now the party is only flute, oboe,
sax, and now they have the melody with the clarinet
and the clarinet has now switched and they have
the ostinato part that the flutes had before.
Now leading into this part at 25 this is the
first time we have the full band playing and
we're not all playing the same parts. This is
a part that I would spend time bopping to make
sure that everybody that you can hear very clearly
where everyone enters because they don't all
enter at the same time, but everyone's entrance
is really important. Then, finally, we get to
25 and we have that recurrence of the melody
that, like Katie said, the clarinet stated at
the beginning. It should not be too loud here.
We have plenty of time to build and add energy
and excitement. This is just ta -ti -a, ta -ti
-a, ta -ta -ti -a, ta, just nice, light, lifted,
playful even. And again, with percussion, just
keeping the groove steady as they can in the
background. And this vibraphone part is really,
really tricky. So you have to make sure that
you have a top notch person on the vibe part.
Their rhythm is completely different from everybody
else's at 25. And it's really cool. It's very
syncopated and it's super important that it's
heard. Then the snare drum adds in here too at
25 and they get to play with brushes. So it needs
to be just light and like Laura said, like playful.
It's got little accents on the E or sorry, on
the and of one and on the and of two, one and
up. No, one and two and three and four. Yeah,
sorry. So that takes a lot of like finesse to
go that speed and not have it be too loud and
to not let it slow down. So again, this is a
percussion. like your progression need to be
really good. Now I would tell you and you also
need to make sure that the person who's on snare
drum just has a not just a good sense of time
but they understand the feel of this because
it is I have heard it played more than once where
a snare drummer got the beats reversed and did
the accents on one and three which just I mean
it makes it makes everything feel completely
off it'll mess up the rest of the wind players
as well so just making sure that they can groove
and feel feel that agreed so four measures later
the horns come in with like this little punctuated
accented cord they're just gone It makes me think
of like a little banjo hit. I don't know why
I always thought of that So they come in and
they're holding but they're gonna quiet it down
like a forte piano Your percussion still grooving
your flute oboe and saxophone are still playing
the melody and then at 33 we go back to the same
people having the melody But now the little extra
conversation is in tenor sax and clarinet So
the regular melody stays with the same people
and we've now changed over to having this little
conversation with them and the conversation gets
a little bit more I don't know just longer in
length so instead of it just being a little tiny
punctuation and it's got a little bit longer.
The lows are having those chords that we had
before making sure you're still continuing to
accent them. Now we've added in the tambourine
and percussion. So again, it's tricky because
you're flying by the seat of your pants and if
one percussion instrument enters and they are
not on time, it can really make the whole thing
go off the rails quickly. And like Laura said,
I've heard that happen before and that's terrifying
when that occurs. Right here at 33 where we add
in the low brass, the trombone, euphonium, bassoon,
not all the low reeds but many of the low reeds
add in those tenor low reeds and tenor voices
add in on this part. It's in open fifths and
it is this way throughout most of the piece.
I think it's really smart writing in terms of
helping with intonation but it can make the balance
like those people can smother some of the other
parts because they're in a very comfortable range.
There are notes that they're really confident
and comfortable about. Their parts are not as
technically challenging at all. They're just
locking down these fifths. And that's one of
the things, the couple times that we have played
this, we've had to be really mindful of not letting
those people get too loud. Don't get too excited
too quickly. Yep, layering them down. That's
a good point. About four measures later we have
the trumpets coming in with a little New idea
a new little melody doo doo doo doo and then
they add in the same chords like Laura said we
want to make sure that they're not louder even
though now the trumpets have added in and We're
leading up everybody in percussion is playing
at this point We're all active and then we get
to 41 and the whole band comes together with
the same rhythm except percussion everybody's
got to play this exactly the same. Yes. So play
it on a concert F first, make sure you've got
the exact same style, then you can play it on
the chord. But it's got to be a hundred percent
in its accents followed by staccato notes. So
we taught our kids to put more length and more
weight on the accents and then make the staccato
notes lighter and more cutesy. So that's just
a fun little thing. Alto and Tenor has this adorable
little... in like conversation a little bit and
it's fun if you don't hear it you kind of miss
it so make sure that that's kind of brought out
we've got back and forth between snare and spoons
here too so it's still a conversation but it's
more like the full band playing with like interspersed
Tiny little conversational things with like sax
trumpet has it next So this is more like the
2d full section This is the first time that the
full band is in and it's forte So we may we had
full band a little bit earlier, but now this
is the first time where we're really forte I
am picturing like if you're at a you know You're
at a dance out at the barnyard or whatever and
now everybody is out on the dance floor at this
point Right. Yep. So the party is starting to
really jive when we get right here the kids Kids
can sometimes be too aggressive too quickly here.
So even though it is forte, like a lot of it
just happens organically because we have everyone
in at this point and there's harmony and all
of that going on. So just be mindful not to get
too loud too quickly. But the most important
thing in this section for me is what Katie has
touched on already stylistically, making sure
that the accents and the staccatos are super
clear. Yep. Then we kind of in that section with
everybody playing two accented half notes you
want to line that up and then at 49 we come down
again not as many people playing but also we
just come down in volume right it's like we've
taken a break from the dance floor now this little
group has gone off so now the the trumpets get
the melody so it's kind of like the brass gets
me the stars here as opposed to the woodwinds
and and euphonium you have trumpet euphonium
and tenor sax so this is like like we talked
about the technique in the upper woodwinds, especially
needing to be really solid, you've got to have
some brass players that can move their fingers
as well. And their tongue. Yeah, exactly. Yep.
The little interspersed ostinato is a little
bit different here. Now it's just literally little
staccato quarter notes. But they have the melody
for eight measures, and that's important again
that you can line up that style. This would be,
again, another great time to use a melody sheet
like Laura has mentioned. so many times on our
podcast, because everybody basically is going
to get this melody at some times. So that'd be
a good point. That's how we've taught it. So
you can have the style set up for everybody when
it gets passed around. Then at 55, the lows get
to come in and they get a little conversation
piece. So it's like bassoon, bass clarinet, bari
sax, tuba, and trombone. So it's fun because
it's kind of changed like the texture of the
band. the low voices as opposed to all the upper
voices. Then they end again with the same two
half notes that we had before with accents. And
so that ends kind of full but not as full as
we were back before. Alright now we're at 57
and this is a percussion break and oh my gosh
this is so important. This is like this section
right here may be the reason that you either
choose to do this or not to do this. Side note
I have made it a rule that I will not play this
anymore in the moss band hall because when we
played this the one year we did this section
made me want to lose my lunch every day because
it was like if your percussion do not get it
and are not a hundred percent on not saying anything
bad about my percussion but like it can totally
get messed up it will stress you out yeah so
okay the snare drum on the brushes is laying
down that groove And it has to be rock -solid.
But then, remember... That's right. Marimba comes
in with this little ostinato and it has to be
super, super clear. They have to make sure that
like they're using good enough mallets, hard
enough mallets that we can hear the articulation
in what the marimba is playing. That helps the
alignment with snare and marimba. And then we
add the vibes in. It's like so hard. And the
vibes are playing similar what they played earlier
in the piece. But again, it's so exposed. yeah
so as you're working on this with your percussion
what I would do is I would break it down into
two measure chunks and make sure that they land
on beat one together so one two one two stop
were we all on beat one together okay now let's
do it again so they get the feel of what the
groove is and really this is most important at
most of the time I hear the snare drummer and
the marimba be able to lock in pretty solid It's
the vibe player that will rush and anticipate
the syncopation. It's very difficult. Yes, it
is. It is. So just like work with this group
of this trio of students, break it down into
two measure chunks, make sure they can lock in
that feel. And then it's just a matter of copy
paste, copy paste. Yep. then they, so they get
to, they actually have like a little, they start
loud, they have a decrescendo after four measures,
then they're at mezzo forte like an echo, and
then they get even softer. Then we continue it,
but now we're quiet, and the flutes add in. This
is another point when I have heard bands go off
the rails, where the flutes like start to rush
really bad here, and then they tear away from
percussion. And this is, the flutes are not playing
the same melody that we had before, so now we
have one E and a two E and. And if they do not,
what Katie said about rushing, like this is why
it's so important to start tongued and then add
the slurs later because their fingers will get
away from them and they will rush especially
on the syncopation. Right there, they start to
rush like crazy. So this man, you have to spend
the time on this. And this is why sectionals
are so important. Because the rest of the band,
I mean, is percussion and flute, that's it. The
oboes come in four measures later and just add
in with the flutes, they have the same thing.
The altos add in four measures later and now
we get this cute little trumpet. I love this
little, it's like a... Sorry, we both think this
is such a cutesy song, which it is, but it's
hard, it's hard. So we have the three people,
the sax, flute and clarinet holding down the
new melodic line, new material. trumpets coming
in and having this little statement your trumpet
needs to be pretty confident because they have
to play what like the vibes had a second ago
sort of it's not as hard as the vibe part but
it's very syncopated and they're all alone on
that part and it's first trumpet only and it's
marked mezzo piano so imagine you probably have
three two three maybe four if you have a huge
trumpet section you maybe have that many first
trumpet players and your entire flute section
oboe section and alto section playing all this
other stuff. So don't be afraid to thin that
out to make the balance exactly what you want
it to be. Yep. Then they finish with an accented
half note, a last little statement. Then the
full band comes in at 81. This is my favorite
part. This is my favorite part too. We're still
having the same people on the melody. but now
we've added in extra stuff. So we have the melody,
it's still grooving, the percussion is still
doing the same thing, but now we're adding in
these cute little interspersed chords. So they
have, this is definitely the barn style dance,
like you said. It's still not very loud, it's
only marked mezzo forte, but it's just written
so thickly that you have to, again, balance and
make sure like the brass. you're like, oh, I
finally get to play. Okay, but you're not gonna
play very loud. And everybody's parts are so
independent. Yep, yep. So we continue this groove
for a while, again with trumpet having a different
part, but now all the trumpets are playing, including
the seconds. And clarinets have a new, the new
idea here is, da, da, da, da. Da, da, da, da.
Right, it's a new little idea and trumpets will
come in with it here shortly as well. So it's
You want to make sure that we're hearing the
new little thing that comes in Which is tough
because again, it's so thick. Yep, and it's up
high for first clarinet at the top of the staff
Yeah, it's in octaves. So for most of that So
you may want to I mean like if you don't have
first clarinet players that can play in tune
with the second clarinet players I would pick
one. That's what we did pick one to play the
octave and put everybody else down. Yep. Then
we get to 89. This is where the whole band has
the exact same rhythm and the crash cymbals crash
on all the big accents. So the whole band has
one, a, and, and, two, one, a, and, and, two,
and, one, and, uh. Yep. Sorry. So we're just
singing it because we like it, but it's like
very colorful. There's lots of cool like color
chords here. But again, Everybody has to match
the exact same style on a more tricky rhythm.
So this again is a great thing to do on concert
F first to get the right, like a little bit of
space. D, D, D, D, D, D, D, D, D, D, D, D. And
like sometimes it ends with an accent, sometimes
with a staccato. Staccatos need to be super light,
softer than the accented notes, all the things.
The snare drum comes in three measures later,
but now with sticks instead of brushes but it
doesn't need to be loud and take away from the
rest of the band and then we kind of end with
everybody on a long note going into 97 now we're
softer again and that's another big full moment
that's a forte because the whole group is playing
so that's like the begin the like big finale
97 the lows finally get to a different set of
lows get to move around so it's still euphonium
again but now it's horn and this horn part is
not easy no and tenor sax so they have Different
new melodic material So they they're having to
go all the way up to like a C in euphonium There's
big jumps in French horn like it starts on a
B flat goes all the way down to a D goes back
up to B flat It's it's not ridiculous, but you
have to be real accurate and at a very fast tempo
Yes, so your horn players need to be practicing
this like from the get -go Yeah and this man
this is something I would practice slower to
make sure that they are getting every single
solitary note I had and when we did this this
year most recently like we would have students
who would leave out notes when you would like
go down the row and hear no no no you're leaving
out the and of one yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah so
again it is like man if you're afraid of syncopation
do not play this piece it is all over the lows
the like the tuba and the low low reads they
get the chords now and just making sure they
really do the accents because the melody lines
up and has an accent on the end of two also that's
so important to the like groove of this section
it's also thinned out to only wash bird and marimba
here so they can really help with that pulse
but it's back and forth one actually notes the
same rhythm but between both of them. So that
will help. Continue to make sure that this grouping
doesn't rush and on on the marimba Just being
really careful that they match volume hand to
hand They will likely play right right left right
right left right right left right and their right
hand is probably gonna be a lot heavier than
their left hand so just making sure that volume
matches on both of that and then in this section
what I find since to get most bands is the drone
the longer sounding notes underneath it way overpowering
everything else it needs to be a piano that's
exactly we wrote it in forte piano every single
time yep at 105 now we're back to that same new
melody on flute oboe clarinet and sax They are
the most important part. The secondary part is
that part that just finished playing euphonium
horn and tenor. And then we get these cool little
interspersed conversations with trumpet and the
same chords still underneath from the lows. Percussion
has gone back to a groove. It's not quite as
difficult as before, but they need to again stay
underneath the band. And then we are like kind
of building this section back up because everybody's
playing at 105. We have a little bit of a crescendo
going on. into 112 and then we have the key change
and it's the same melodic material but just in
concert now instead of E flat so now the trumpets
are a little bit higher on D and B natural I
know when we played this gosh our trumpets just
had trouble like hearing their partials and like
playing those like those chords together and
then now the horn is going up to upper C so over
and over and over you're gonna have to make sure
your trumpets can play those upper C's in tune,
where they're not sharp. So those are things
that we dealt with in our band hall that I remember
from when we played. Also one thing that's a
little bit different in this section, again with
the key change, man the skips I think just slot
a little differently for the brass and this key
than they do in E flat, right? For sure. We had
trouble with C's and horns locking in tune. So
like we'd have to go down the row and find Okay,
trigger C is most in tune for you. No trigger
C is most in tune for you So just spend time
with the kids individually so that they you know
Can sound really good together the lows have
a little bit more of an active syncopated here
part here, too It's not the melody but it's a
groove with each other So you may even want to
like work with just them together low reeds and
low brass making sure that that really locks
in this is the most complicated rhythmic section
of the whole piece because everybody's kind of
doing different things that all have to line
up otherwise it just sounds messy and then again
make sure you tell the students who's most important
so that way we don't have like just a cacophony
of sound like my mentor always says like you
don't want it to sound like everybody's yelling
at you you still want to know who's having the
conversation and then at the end of that section
everybody has a half note that's accented again.
That comes back, it's a theme in the piece. And
now we're kind of quieting down. So at 121, the
trumpet gets the melody, the same one from before
with clarinet. The little back and forth conversation
is between flute, oboe, and sax. And this is
new. So this little part in the flute, oboe,
and sax, we have whole note. We had to cut this
way down because it can sound shrill up there.
So making sure. The sax is above. That's right.
They're all playing a concert, they're playing
concert C, which we know is not great anyway,
so saxes, I mean all the instruments, flute,
oboe, sax, they need to use vibrato. That will
help to mask some intonation issues, but the
pitch obviously needs to be really solid, and
then making sure that it's balanced correctly,
like we had, we would hand pick the kids that
were gonna play the whole note part, and then
everybody who could play the technique would
do the C. I think that that is very important,
definitely something to do. The horns come in
with the little same chord from the beginning,
then the euphoniums come in with the same thing.
We're continuing on, we're kind of still layering
down. The horns come back in with that same,
dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, with
tenor sax. So we're layering in a whole nother
voice again. Then at 137, we have the same thing,
but the lows have now added in with a little
ostinato part in the back. same style considerations
as before but this is the end of the piece so
everybody's in we're really excited but the last
two measures are super fun it's just trumpet
and sax everybody so it's a cutesy little ending
It is, and listen, this is 144 measures long
and it goes by in two minutes and 45 seconds.
So you gotta think, that's fast, that's a lot
of notes, it's a lot of parts. The style is critical.
A lot of layering, a lot of rhythm, yeah, it's
a pretty tough piece. Yes, I think it's a pretty
challenging grade too, but worth it if you have
the right group. That's exactly right, and I
think it's a great teaching piece for that stuff.
But I wouldn't use it as a teaching piece in
contest season. But if your kids are really,
if style is their strength, then this is a great
way to showcase them. But man, they need to be
solid. They need to be solid. Well we hope you
will program Blue Ridge Reel in the future and
thank you for joining us on this episode of Band
BFFs.