Welcome to our podcast, Dan BFFs. The podcast
where we make your music selection less complicated.
On today's episode, we are going to be discussing
Hypnotic Fireflies by Brian Balmages. Cheers
to starting the conversation. All right, this
piece is fantastic. It sounds like movie music
to me. That's what I think of when we played
this. It is split clarinet, I'm sorry, split
flute parts, split clarinet parts, alto, trumpet,
lots of percussion. There is a split trombone
part as well, sorry. There is a piano part that
is really important. You need to have a piano
player for this. I would not program this unless
you have someone who can play piano because it's
really important. Lots of percussion. Parts and
we have that we brought in a special guest. Are
you ready introducing? Nathan Lewis. Hey, how's
it going everybody? So here's why we brought
him in. This piece is cool and it has an amplified
slinky part in the percussion. And I remember
back when Nathan was a band director or a percussion
director, he actually made a slinky for this
piece. So you're going to take us through what
you did. Right. So you want to go to like Home
Depot and get one of their big buckets. And to
prepare for this, like you're going to on one
side of the bucket, you're going to cut out like
a square that's roughly the size that a slinky
could fit through without having to do any shenanigans
and then opposite of that hole on the other side
you're gonna drill a small hole the hole needs
to be just big enough that you can thread the
slinky through and you're gonna basically thread
the slinky through this the bucket is gonna be
sideways and you can figure out a creative way
to mount it we put a we drilled a small hole
in the bottom of the bucket and mounted it to
a symbol arm and what this turns into is like
basically megaphone for the slinky so you set
it up sideways the slinky hangs all the way down
to the ground through that square hole that you've
cut and you can play this part with it and you
don't need an amplification system for it you
can just use this giant megaphone if you want
to amplify it obviously you could do that too
but okay so let me make sure I have this correct
Nathan the square hole the bigger hole is on
the bottom of the bucket no it's the square hole
is going to be on the side So imagine that bucket
is turned sideways. So the slinky is threaded
horizontally through the bucket, not vertically.
Yes. Got it. Okay. I was envisioning it the other
way. I understand now. So when you play it, it
bounces up and down and vibrates. It comes out
as like a megaphone. And you want, yes, you want
that bucket faced like a megaphone towards the
audience. Thank you. Thank you, Nathan. Okay.
So back to this piece, as Laura mentioned, it's
marked at the beginning as mesmerizing at 144
and this piece is fun because it has so many
little like sound effects moments that sound
like fireflies or hypnotic like it just sounds
like it's going and going and going which you'll
hear throughout the piece. Now what I think makes
it, they do love it, but what makes it challenging
is that there's not always a melody to latch
on to, right? Because it is just this pulse kind
of going through all the way. So the whole piece
starts out with, and you do have to have a lot
of percussion. Sorry, we mentioned there is a
lot, but you've got to at least have one, two,
three, four, five, six, seven, probably six to
seven, maybe even more. And then a piano player.
Not counting your piano player. Right. So it
starts out with just piano, and they're doing
the same little chordal thing over and over.
The piece changes time signature a lot. A lot.
That stays in the key of F, and I don't think
I... Yeah, it does it stays in the key of F the
whole time just changes meter so I want to talk
for just a second before we dive in when you
play something with piano like where I set a
piano up where you so like yeah, I Anytime I
play something with piano I set the piano up
between the podium and the front row So the piano
player is literally right in front of me We put
the amp if it's not a a an acoustic piano. We
put the amp next to the podium so that like the
volume of it is easily controllable and the piano
player can see me there's no doubt about that
so um only one time have I put a piano player
off to the side and it did not it was not successful.
So I moved it to right in front of the podium.
Where do you put yours? I put mine off to the
side. They play along with the percussion section
with the mallet instruments always. So they're
always on the same side as where my mallets are
so that that way they're having the same pulse
as them. And in this piece it makes sense to
have it be with the mallets because it's kind
of doing percussion plays for a long time alone
which we'll get into in a second. But in other
pieces it might work. in the middle because it's
more like melodic with other sections but I mean
you do whatever is gonna work best for your group.
Absolutely. So, and again, when I've played this,
I've always done it with an actual keyboard with
an amp. I never rely upon a venue to have a piano
just because you just never know how it's gonna
feel for the kid either. So I always have the
kids play it on what they've practiced it on.
That's just a... Like we would for all musicians
except percussionists who are expected to play
on different instruments every time. Yeah, which
is, unless you take all your other ones. But
anyway, but anyway. Yeah. So the vibraphone comes
in after the... along with China symbol and then
triangle has like a little they're having a little
like chiming effects the vibe part is really
important and make sure you have them on strong
enough mallets where you can hear the articulation
because it's like a syncopated part yeah so we
have in bells one two three one two three and
then the vibes one and one and one so that effect
one two and three one two and three is what you
get and like what Katie's saying that mallet
choice is really important At measure eight the
flutes come in on a low E trill one person so
it's just supposed to sound very like Far off
and a little bit like what's happening or first
flutes? So yeah, you have to have more than one
because they can't yeah Yeah, so they're holding
a long note and then the clarinet firsts come
in and they stagger breathe and they're trilling
Fluttering adding adding in new percussion each
time. This is where the amplified slinky comes
in at measure 14 so you can do whatever to make
that happen but that's a really cool effect because
when you can hear it it sounds like just real
tingy and like vibrating E and it makes you go
what is that? It sounded like a laser like I
when we did it because we created our own not
as fancy as what Nathan was describing but we
did our own too but I remember thinking that
like it sounded like a laser. It's very cool
so make sure that you actually Make it be amplified
enough where you can hear it. Otherwise, it's
like why are you even going through the trouble?
Piano part is still continuing to the same thing,
but the left hand comes in at measure 13 as well
Now they're playing some like longer and more
deep chords Along with what the vibes are doing.
Yep, and then at measure 18 we start to have
the saxes come in and the full band full band
comes in on a piano chord very quiet and holding
but the saxes are doing one and two and and three
and one and two and three and and you will want
to do like a crescendo crescendo there. Yep and
then at 21 we finally have our first like melody
and it's in the clarinets and then the the response
the one and two and three and response that comes
back over and over in this case is in the flute
and the saxes have the one and so it's almost
like little just reverberations. It's cool, it's
written so well. So it comes back again, clarinets
build it up again, flutes and saxes have the
response. And then it moves to brass. And 29.
The brass kind of do the same type of thing.
Now we have the trumpets coming in with that
and the low voices supporting and clarinets.
Horn. Yeah, horn is, yes, and then clarinets
and altos are doing the noodles. One and two
and three, yeah. So we're kind of building it,
building it, building it, and then the piano's
still doing it. eighth notes, we are not peddled
anymore though. I don't remember when we, or
were we ever, yes, peddling the whole time until,
I think it still was 13, that's peddled. I'm
sorry, we're just checking to see if we're right.
I don't think it's peddled anymore at some point,
at 21 I believe, yeah. At 21, we go back into,
we're not 8VA anymore. We go down, and I don't
know that we're pedal, but maybe we are still.
Sorry. I think we are. I'd have to look at the
part, but it's not as high anymore. And so now
that we've added in the low people, the piano
part has come down an octave as well. So we're
building up to 35, and then we're back into 4
-4. We were in 3 -4 for quite a while. And this
is like a really cutesy little part where the
flutes and the clarinets are kind of conversing
with percussion. One and two, one and two, three
and four, one and two, three and four. Then the
trombones come in with the melody. So they're
gonna back off, trombone, two, three, four, one,
two, three, four. And it's got accents on it.
So this whole part so far has been like cute
little fireflies in the glowing dark and like
little effects, but then the trombones get to
come in and have that first little accented part
along with euphonium. On the upper woodwinds,
while they're doing that one and two, three and
four, one and two, that just continues over and
over and over, I would make sure that your vibrato
instruments, your flute and your oboe are giving
a little vibrato weight to the quarter note to
keep from clipping those notes short. They don't
get one and two, three and four, one and two.
They don't need to be lifted that way. One and
two, three and four, one and two, three and four.
The staccato part is obviously marked in saxes
instead of the upper people. The upper people
are playing it just like an ostinato. Trombone
euphonium have the accents then the trumpets
come in with a response one and that same response
from before Then the trombones keep going the
uppers are still not playing anything louder
than them Then the euphonium comes in with the
trumpets one and four and one two three So this
part is accented and it's got to be very stylistic.
You have to make sure that that is the melody
We're still not to a forte. We're just building
it up than the Lowe's tuba berry. bass clarinet,
get a little moment, one, two, three, four, and
then it gets quiet again. With just marimba.
With 46, just marimba. One and two and three
and four and one and two and three and four.
And then the little slinkies. So then the slinky
plays again, you've got vibraphones doing one
and the response with clarinet this time in flute,
and then a little trumpet, one, one and, and
then we're back to quiet little moments, one,
two, three, four. two, four, and the trumpets
have these little responses. Interjections different
than everybody else. And those to me are like
little fireflies making their appearance. Just
to hear it is, hey, look at me, look at me. Then
the flute and the clarinet have the one and four
and one two three the same part the trombones
had a minute ago But not accented this time way
softer. It's like it's in the distance. It's
just a reverberation Then the trumpets take over
with pickups or beat four playing on measure
53 And then we've got little interjections again
from the lows trumpets are continuing to have
their little moment Then we switch and 56 The
mallet percussion is still playing the eighth
notes, keeping the pulse. Now the piano comes
back in and it's got chords, so it's helping
with pulse two. And we have this little hypnotic
part where it's one and two, three and four,
and this time it is short. It's marked staccato.
And it's opposite. So altos are going one and
two, three and four, and clarinets are going
rest two and three, four and one, two and three.
And it has to match. It has to match. to sound
balanced like exactly the same then you have
this to me is the trickiest part of the whole
it is tricky sounds good yeah because we're we're
very thinned out here flutes come in with the
one and and they're holding and there's lots
of effects happening in the percussion here like
just little triangle hits a little finger cymbal
hits little sling just all these little colors
like these little metallic colors coming yeah
are supposed to sound like Yep at 64 the flutes
continue on the oboes join them and then we have
these little inner tiny soft interjections and
the trumpets and the lows Everybody is playing
very short, but very it's got to be a beautiful
chord or whatever it is, it's gotta be exact.
Everybody together, everybody quiet enough, everybody
balanced, everybody the same length. That's hard.
So making sure that you take time on that, because
it comes back over and over where we're just
gonna go back and forth. This happens several
times in this section, is that right? Yep. Yeah,
and then making sure, percussion wise, that everything
just lays nice and in time. We add in this suspended
cymbal part, so marimba is still keeping on with
one and two and three and four and just holding
down that pulse. Then we add this... suspended
cymbal part, one into two and three into four
and one into two and three. And it's cool, but
it can't be too loud. That's right. But it's
like it's driving everything forward. And it
has to be clear. We have to be able to hear it.
We've got, you know, you want all of the stickings
totally even. You don't want to hear anything
louder or accented. And then all the wind players
are continuing the same idea that we had before.
Still, everything is mezzo forte. We are in the
land of mezzo forte, not letting it get out of
control. As we lead into measure 72, Now we have
something a little bit different. We have this
little Woodwinds the flute clarinet and and alto
one and two and three and we've added a slur
here and what is gonna happen? Yeah, you're gonna
clip The time signatures are changing often.
Yes. So making sure that we're full value. T
-I -T -I -T -I. I would have them slur everything
and then add a light tongue in later. And low
voices have trumpets and low voices really still
have these same little interjections again. So
firm articulation making sure we're moving together
in time. Everybody lands on a double whole note
together with percussion keeping our pace. And
they get to be really important. And piano are
really, really important here. They get this
little chromaticism. And you want to hear that
over the chord of the band. Then the flute and
oboe and sax take over that part and now they're
playing it along with them. And then we've got
the one and again from trumpet, horn and clarinet.
This gets passed through. And we're more accented
here. One and one and four and one. And at the
2 -4 measure, we're all playing together one,
two, and then we've got another whole note. So
it's like a really strong section here. This
is a good moment where we're all building up.
And all of these dotted quarter patterns that
we have, this little hemiola rhythm, I would
treat every one of them, especially here, like
forte pianos. Yeah. Because now we're forte,
we're at a stronger dynamic level, we want really
firm fronts to the notes, and da, da, every one
of them. And then soft, because then the next
group comes in. That's right. You've got to hear
each of those reverberations throughout. Then
we've got lows on a long whole note. We're decrescendoing
for four, but then we're crescendoing for four
too. That's a cool effect and moment, so make
sure that you make that happen. And then at 86,
we're soft again. We've all gone away. We've
got the little suspended cymbal groove again.
Clarinet and sax have that back and forth moment
again, but this time... With no staccatos. Right,
but this time the euphoniums get to have the
little interjections instead of the trumpet.
We're getting lower. and then we're kind of building
it back up. Again, as Laura mentioned, no staccatos
here. We're playing more connected. Our suspended
cymbal is back, laying that. At 94, we're playing
pretty strong. This is getting towards the end.
The trumpets have the melody, and they have every
quarter note has accents on it. So making sure
that that sounds different than before. The flute
and the oboe have it with them, but they're the
more important part. Saxes are secondarily. important
but not very loud they have like that same little
chromatic key thing that the xylo had before.
Ensemble dynamic here is fortissimo but ensemble
dynamic does not like not every individual needs
to be playing fortissimo. And you want to hear
this cool horn and tenor sax part at measure
96 so it's it's passing back and forth you've
got to make sure you can hear the moving part
so the lows come in first and then you got to
hear trumpet and flute and oboe at 95 and then
at 96 on beat You got to hear that horn, alto,
tenor sax. Three, one, three, four, one. And
then we start it again. Then it's the trumpets
first. And then just bringing out all the moving
half notes with the accents. Everything is accented.
Again, if you see it on the page, you need to
hear it, right? Yep. And then the accents go
away at 102. And we're back to a little bit more
just like firm articulation, but not accented.
The trumpets have the melody again. The horns
have a little bit of a cool. after them and we're
kind of thinning out. So we reach the pinnacle
right? We landed at that fortissimo and now we're
backing off everything's getting softer as we
get to the end. Yep we're thinning out at 108
now we have nobody playing it's just like the
beginning except not piano this time it's chimes
vibraphone and wind chimes and at 108 we've got
a flute trill again then the lows come in the
low brass come in at or 110 with the low reeds,
and they just have like this really mellow half
note line. It's the melody, but it's not accented.
It's really just like a harmonic foundation.
Yeah, you're just hearing the end credits. And
it's really pretty, but it's hard to play in
tune, especially when the kids are tired at the
end of the piece. So just making sure that they're
playing in tune. They're not breathing on the
bar lines. They're not all breathing at the same
time. It's just supposed to sound Yeah, like
little chords playing to the end. Then it gets
softer and it's slowing down little by little.
So they're doing the same thing. The low people
are playing these chords together and there's
not like a piano part helping you with the tempo.
So they have to watch and play together. You've
still got the trill going on. Then they get even
softer and keep going. Then we're down to pianissimo
again at 123. earlier, only now. Yep, and the
trumpets get to play with a cup mute. And this
was at the beginning too, they had a cup mute
at the beginning. With piano playing again, but
now we've got these little like, sighing chords
is what I always call it, like... You're just
like kind of holding and getting softer and softer
Then we're exactly half as fast at measure 127.
We're in three four and we've got we've retard
on doughed enough This is a like a hard skill.
This is really hard. Yeah, just going 1 2 3 4
1 2 3 4 1 2 3 Yeah one. Yep The piano is now
playing the same thing. It looks like it's faster
But they went one and two and three and one and
two or one and two and three and four and one
E and two E and three Yeah, so just telling them
you're playing the same thing. It just looks
different And then there's all these cool little
effects again in percussion underneath the slinky
is back Vibraphone is marked to play random notes
at random a B flat a C and an F just in whatever
order and it's meant to be twinkle the same thing
yeah and you don't want it to be too crazy it's
marked soft but they're little twinkles like
Laura said then we got our last moment of melody
with clarinet and sax it's just beautiful and
rich sounding horns kind of have a little response
and then at 132 we're getting even slower the
piano is gonna help with this because they've
got the moving part it's hard for them to hold
their air and oh my gosh yes this dynamic level
like it's something you'll need to practice yeah
to sound really good. For sure. And then our
last little moment of melody again is with the
clarinets and saxes then the whole band basically
at 135 comes in on beat two and plays the last
chord that we're gonna hear and then at 137 it
says optional repeat fade to nothing. And it's
just the piano and percussion playing us to the
end. This piece is so much fun. I love it. It
really is like movie music. It's great. Your
kids will love it. Well, we hope you will consider
programming Hypnotic Fireflies in the future.
And thank you for joining us on this episode
of Band BFFs.