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
Dark Lens March by Randall Standridge. Cheers
to starting the conversation. Darklands March
is a great standard piece. It is in 4 -4 all
the way throughout. It's pretty brisk tempo.
It starts in the key of concert E flat. It modulates
to the key of concert F. It does have split clarinet,
alto, trumpet parts in typical standard fashion.
Lots of percussion, which of course you could
choose to pair down if you wanted, but I think
this one needs six percussionists to kind of
take care of it. of all of the needs. Doesn't
change tempo, stays similar style until you get
to what we would consider the trio section, right?
But great piece. We love Standridge. Yes, and
this piece is very versatile because you can
play it as an actual march at your UIL contest.
You can play it at your fall concert as a march.
You're introducing the students to march style
because it is a lot like a march with like the
same, you know, format of a traditional one,
but it's got more of like a dark feel to it.
So it's really versatile, which is great. It's
got great styles as well. So the whole piece
starts out with upper people having the melody
and it's a dotted eight sixteenth rhythm. And
this goes on and on throughout the whole piece.
One, a two and three and, and the three and is
marked as house top accents. So the whole time
you want to teach the students to play that the
same style all the way throughout one a two and
three and and same with the dotted eight sixteen
there's not a single time in this that the dotted
eighth note should touch the sixteenth note right
not a single time yep there's a lot of dynamics
that get Really really soft and then you build
them back up or it's forte for two measures and
piano for two measures So really challenging
your kids to do all those dynamics is good, too
So as I mentioned the flutes and trumpets clarinet,
they kind of start out with the melody Then the
whole band at measure three drops down to mezzo
piano and we have accents and we're building
it up to the end of measure four and At the end
of four the low people bass clarinet Barry trombone
and tuba have three and four and one and three
and one and then they get softer snare drums
getting softer and softer as well And then we
get into measure seven and seven is the the melody
portion and we have a first and a second ending
here. Okay now I want to talk for just a second
about we've talked already about Katie addressed
the house top accents on beat three of those
eighth notes and then the style of the dotted
eight sixteenth. I would spend time playing that
rhythm one two and three and on a concert F with
everyone in your ensemble or sizzling. We do
a lot of that in our band hall so I can hear
their air. And then I can also hear the strength
of articulation on the 16th note. That is something
I feel like I'm constantly having to work on
with my students. They get lazy on the articulation
on the 16th note. So either practicing it on
a concert F or sizzling, hearing them go down
the row or whatever, just sizzle. If that is
gonna be super helpful. And a quick way for you
to address something that happens 3 .5 million
times in this piece. Yeah, and they have it over
and over even in the first, like in the measure,
they have one, a two, and three, a four, and
so you have to do it multiple times even in one
measure. So the first time through at seven,
the melody is the... The people that I just mentioned
it's just clear It's just trumpet and then the
second time through the flutes and the oboes
and the clarinets join the trumpets So first
time through just the trumpets you have to make
sure that you're teaching them to not breathe
on the bar line between 10 and 11 One two and
three a four and one and two and three and don't
breathe one a two and three So teaching them
to be sneaky with their breaths either breathing
after the dotted eight between the dotted eighth
and the 16th or between the two 8th notes, wherever
it is, but don't let them breathe every two measures.
They need to have no breaths written in. The
way this is written, I really like the way Standridge
writes this and he does this in a lot of his
pieces. So like first time through, we're featuring
trumpet, right? Second time through, even though
we've added other supporting cast instruments
on that melody, really the important part is
the counter melody, which is a new part that
comes in on horn and alto. He does that a lot
in this piece. So it's really good for teaching
and like again, Katie mentioned that this really
is the format of a traditional march. So you
can teach that, like, okay, first time through
on the first string, we want to feature this
instrument, and second time through, we want
to feature this instrument, just like you would
do on a traditional march. But I think keeping
that same formula and making sure as you attack
this piece that we are prioritizing correctly.
Absolutely. The lows just have the same kind
of ostinato rhythm, one and three, and one, two,
three. four, one, and three, and that beat four,
having the tenuto marking is really important
to teach that style. I also like this march because
the Tuba Berry Sax Bass Clarinet gets to do cool
stuff every once in a while. They just have like
little eighth notes leading into the next measure.
Three and four and one, and it's like kind of
chromatic -y. So that part is really neat whenever
it comes back. It comes back multiple times,
but in this case it's in measure 10 leading into
measure 11. Like Laura already mentioned, second
time through we're gonna feature the horn and
the sax and then we take the second ending with
a hard cut off on beat four from the whole band
which I would mark in their part a slash off
on four release the time yep at 16 we come in
and we're soft this is true like a traditional
March we're gonna do quiet for two measures loud
for two measures it's the melody is in the flute
in oboe and then the saxophone has a counter
melody and you the phonium is also playing again,
kind of like a traditional march. Then the trumpets
come in with a response and it's loud and it's
forte. So it's like kind of creepy is what I
taught the students, like kind of like you're
in the background. One and three and four and
one and two and long. Then the trumpet bum, bum,
bum, ta, dum, dum. So it's like different styles.
I would also, the way that this is written, the
woodwinds play one and three and four and one
and two and three. It's all slurred and it's
an eighth note release followed by an eighth
rest. Like I would write on my kids' parts, A
-H, to remind them like that needs to end in
a vowel sound, ah, ah, like don't clip that note
short, make it as long as possible, ta, ta. Lift
and keep it open throat release and don't Like,
it looks like it should be short, but it shouldn't
be. Yeah, definitely keeping it long. And then
the trumpets come in and they have that cool
little moment, and then we go back. The lows
have another three and four and one going into
the next part. So they're pretty important in
this piece. Then we go back to the upper people.
They're quiet again. They have the same little
moment. The trumpets now get joined with the
flute, oboe, and clarinet on the melody when
it goes forward. again then we do the same thing
a first and second ending on the second ending
we all have accents and then we come back into
the same melody from before at 25 with trumpet
flute oboe clarinet on the melody sax and horn
on the counter melody now snare by the way we
haven't addressed what's happening in percussion
but percussion is doing a lot of the same rhythm
one a two and three a four and one a two and
three and a four that the melody has in this
particular section here at 25 so use that like
have the snare play along with the the melody
players and match articulation and make sure
that they are moving together the mallet part
has that as well but also make sure it's not
loud yeah you know you have to be careful just
like on a march you don't want the snare drum
to be super loud even though it's active then
we end this little melody section with 1, 2,
3, 4, 1. And we have a key change. We go from
E flat to F. And it just goes straight into it.
And this is like the trio section. So the lows
kind of have 1, 2. three, four. And I would think
of that like this, it's staccato quarter notes
for the accompaniment all throughout this section.
This is all softer. I would think of that like,
I would teach my kids, think about that like
you're tiptoeing. You're trying to sneak, be
real sneaky. So just tiptoe. Otherwise that can
end up sounding like the psycho, and that's not
what we want. We want delicate tiptoe. Yep. And
then we're getting softer. And then the clarinet.
euphonium and tenor sax comes in with the melody
and it's lyrical so we have the soft Tiptoeing
like Lara mentioned behind them and then we have
this really flowing beautiful melody I would
absolutely feature euphoniums here definitely
and if they can use vibrato great if they cannot
that's okay, too But you want to do like a two
measure crescendo to measure decrescendo They
have the melody over and over and over throughout
this section trombones are having to play e naturals
and a naturals on the accompaniment So just making
sure that we're in tune That's something I remember
was kind of an issue for my band when we played
this. This color grouping in the melody of the
euphonium, which Katie said should be the lead
voice, and I agree completely. And the clarinet
section is... way below the star clarinet is
playing in the shallow register which i love
that color combination of shallow mo clarinet
with euphonium and then there's tenor sax and
it's in a really easy middle comfortable range
for tenor sax but it will be easy for your tenor
sax to dominate that texture and that's not what
you want make sure that euphonium is lead i would
put clarinet second after euphonium and then
just a little smattering of tenor sax in there
yep uh then at 42 a bunch of the high people
come in on beat four and now we have this like
flowing section again they're the melody everything
is really connected you want to make sure that
everybody is you're either making a choice for
them to all breathe in the same spot, or you're
stagger breathing. I stagger breathed whenever
I played this piece. It's one and two and three,
four and one and two and three, four and one
and two and three. So I told like, you're the
A's, you're gonna breathe on the even measures
after beat three. Y 'all are gonna breathe on
the odd measures after beat three. And that's
exactly how I would approach this, because otherwise
it sounds incredibly immature. You will have
everyone breathing every measure. and two and
three, four and one and two and three. Or every
two measures. Yeah, I mean, it just sounds choppy.
Yep. Then there's a little half note counter
melody underneath it, which also needs to sound
flowing. Then the lows get to be staccato still
underneath doing the tiptoe. The bells have the
melody here as well. And then we're all off again
on one, two, three, short beat three. And then
the trumpets come in with the melody again, one,
a two, and three. and the clarinets have clarinet
one has it with them or both clarinets and then
there's a little trill that starts on beat four
you can cut it down so it's not too much or if
you aren't super loud that's okay I remember
the alto would being really loud whenever I played
this piece it's up on an F sharp and it just
like it kind of cut through but it could have
just been the kids you know and we're playing
the whole ensemble when you have these trills
so like trumpet horn clarinet one two and three
trill one two three and the whole ensemble lands
together. And those trill instruments, I think
it's really important to practice that because
they don't always come out of the trill in time.
Yeah, and it's those same house top accents from
the beginning. Exactly, exactly. Snare again
is... Continuing to be extremely active this
whole time. So just making sure that it's not
overpowering the group Then we have the kind
of like a recap from the very beginning like
the intro everybody has the melody or the rhythm
together in 55 56 we get down to mezzo piano
again 57 58 we're growing up 59 it's the same
as before the trumpet the oboe and the flute
have the melody counter melody in the horn and
sax Lots of accents this time though Again, same
thing don't breathe on on long notes. Make sure
you're holding all the way through trumpets should
not be breathing on the bar line It's literally
the same balance here is not like everyone's
playing and it's now the second or third time
that they have had this bar so low the trombone
part is more featured here and that's It's like
how a traditional march would go to, right? They
need to be brought out. It's the trombone, euphonium,
tenor, sax part. But again, focus on trombone
at 59. They have the more important melody. The
trumpets and flutes can kind of come down a little
bit. And we've heard that part. Yeah, we've already
heard it, right. Then we have the flowing part
at 67 again from the upper woodwinds. The tenor
voices go back to playing things tenuto. Again,
not breathing in the same spot. This is a part
where it needs to sound very seamless make sure
even your lows on their half notes You're saying
you're gonna breathe in 67, but you're gonna
breathe in 68 and making sure that they're all
breathing in different spots Then we kind of
come out of out of it in the end of 73 with an
accent on beat 4 we go back into the accent and
style 1 2 3 4 1 and 2 and then the lows again,
so it's always the the low low reads and tuba
that have that 3 and four and then we're all
quiet it and we're gonna lead up one two and
three four and and then this horn part comes
in with the last cool thing four one three rest
two and then lows one and two and three and four
and one two and three and and that's the end
so This is such a great piece. The kids love
it. Everybody gets to have a special part as
we've already mentioned. There's not just like
one melodic part that's more important. The percussion
is kept busy. So this would be a really fun piece
to program on your fall concert because it's
kind of spookier sounding. It would be a great
march to do for UIL as well or any time during
the year. Especially if you're wanting something
that's not traditional but still has some good
- teaching elements, right? Absolutely, yeah.
Well, we hope you will consider programming Darklands
March in the future and thank you for joining
us on this episode of Band BFFs.