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
Byzantine dances by Carol Britton Chambers. Cheers
to starting the conversation. This piece will
be a blast for your students to play. It's high
energy, lots of fun, like the title kind of conveys.
It's in the key of concert B flat throughout,
no key changes. It does have a tempo change,
split clarinet parts, split trumpet parts on
this. The trombone and euphonium part are not
the same, but you don't need really great low
brass to play this. Six percussionists minimum.
in order to pull off all the percussive elements,
I think, on this, right? Yeah, and then the piece
is written in kind of like this... Byzantine
style, like Roman Empire. So like just the harmonic
structure of the piece adds a lot of like accidentals.
It sounds a little bit like... It's very Turkish.
Minor -esque, yes. So it's really fun and it's
got different styles of dance to it too, which
makes it really cool. It's kind of like written
in an ABA style. The fun upbeat dances at the
beginning, then there's like a slow soloistic
type dance in the middle and then it's back to
the fun dance at the end. It's got claps, it's
got a fun, yeah. Like that scares some people,
but you know, I think as long as you. teach it
properly for sure. There's nothing to be scared
of there. Yes. So the piece starts out very quick
at 152 to 160 is what it's written at. It's got
a very active snare drum part and a very active
tom part as well as a tambourine part. So you
want to put some good percussionists on those
parts where they can keep the tempo going without
rushing it, without dragging, without overplaying.
They're just trying to keep the the vibe going.
And the key in the snare part I want to say is
making sure that their unaccented notes are really
low. Like really just have the accented note
to be what's kind of driving the momentum forward.
Keep their unaccented notes really low. If they
try to play all of that too loud, number one,
it's going to be too noisy and it's going to
slow the tempo down big time. For sure. So the
whole band starts off together. We kind of have
this like one, two, three, four back and forth
part. where half the band has half notes on 1
3 1 3 and the rest of the band has quarter half
quarter quarter half quarter so that it sounds
almost like back and forth so make sure you're
tonguing really firmly and then we want to bring
out the moving part which is like trumpet and
upper woodwind then we have a long note trumpets
are on a trumpet one is on an upper D flute is
on a C so we'll want to watch the cross Tuning
on those instruments got a little accented moment
from the lows make sure that that comes out of
the mix Everybody releases on beat three and
then there's a tambourine roll and a in a strike
the the suspended cymbal with a mallet and a
bass drum hit. So that's what happens on beat
four. Yeah, it's like a big percussive moment,
like here we go. So that is something that would
need to be isolated in practice, right? Make
sure that the winds are very clearly releasing
on beat three so that that beat four percussive
hit is effective. Yes. At five, the lows and
the accompaniment need to come down a lot in
volume. The whole band is written at mezzo forte,
but you'll need to either go through the parts
ahead of time and mark them in. and change that
to like a piano or a mezzo piano the melody is
in trumpet one flute and clarinet one so that's
not very many voices when you think about it
and the range is pretty low here at the beginning
too so it's not even it's not going to project
as easily right right which is good because you're
those groups together can sound really pretty
because it's not written like really high or
anything but yes everybody else will have to
be light and soft and the rhythm is one and four
one and four for everybody else so you have to
make sure that that lines up, that the style
lines up how you want it. It should probably
be a little bit short and right, not like long
or anything, just to kind of keep it going. In
the melody, there are staccatos written in, so
obviously that helps. The cool little grace note
in the melody makes it sound more fun, and it's
got an accent. So, one, two, three, four, one
and two and three. So that's really fun because
it does the grace note into beat one with the
accent, and then those short staccato notes following.
But it's important that the melody is lined up
really well stylistically here because it's going
to come back with a lot of people later. Yeah,
this happens. This melodic idea happens a lot.
And the tendency is going to be for younger players
to want to play it in two bar phrases because
it ends on a half note. So you have to do not
let them. from the beginning do not let them
get away with that. Which is hard because you're
not gonna start the piece off at 152. That's
right. But you've got to like mark it in their
parts and tell them like this is something we're
gonna think about later on down the road so you've
got to get used to not breathing there. Add the
little vibrato symbol on the flute part as they
carry through there so that way they can help
push it forward. I would draw like a little micro
crescendo so that they lead through the bar line.
continues on and on through the same part all
the way to measure 13 again just making sure
that the style is matching but trumpet is the
focal point and again not letting percussion
overtake the the band as we're just all 2d playing
here yeah and then the accompaniment part that
what I would like consider the motor one and
four one yes and for keeping it way underneath
this the horn and tenor sax, sorry not the horn,
it is horn, sorry, horn, tenor sax, second trumpet,
oboe. They come in with like a little harmony
part at measure nine. So at nine they come in
with a different part and it gives it a little
bit more interest. Everybody's not on the same
part anymore. Just make sure that whenever kids
have like the same note over and over that they're
tonguing really firmly so you can hear the rhythm.
That will just help line it up harmonically with
the melody. So at measure 13, we're still continuing
on with the same melody voices flute clarinet
one and trumpet one We still have that harmony
part it measure that we had at nine same voices
like oboe clarinet to trumpet to alto tenor Porn
and then the accompaniment is still happening
in the low brass. Then we have a new idea at
15 the timpani and the lows have a beat one entrance
and then everybody else comes in on beat two
and then lows again on three and and then highs
on four and so this conversation one conversation
and it's more kado accents here so this like
notably firmer articulation. Yep one two three
and four and one two three and on the one two
three there's a trill and the upper voices and
the mallets. So do what you will with that. I
told Laura. Katie loves the mallet trills. I'm
just not a fan of mallet trills. When they're
written in my kids parts I just tell them to
leave them out. So it's up to you if you really
love a a bell's trill. Leave it in, sounds good.
But don't let it be loud, everybody. And then
there's another like beat four entrance with
those same percussive instruments at measure
16. And that leads us into the next section at
17. So at 17, the upper woodwinds, now flute
is up an octave with the same theme that we had
before. One, two, three, four, one and two and
three. But now the response is in the trumpet
and let's see second clarinet they have and and
euphonium ends up having a little response so
not the exact same melody but just some eighth
note articulation we've taken less of the people
off of that motor accompaniment which is kind
of nice because you have this new idea still
very medium level volume the upper woodwinds
come out of the texture a little bit here but
everybody else just nice mezzo forte and on the
upper woodwinds it's just flute oboe and clarinet
one so it's not like a ton of voices and alto
so just be careful to make sure that the that
those four voices balance correctly with the
conversational part between the trumpet horn
euphonium like Laura just mentioned so making
sure that the volumes match and it's not like
the response is way softer. We talked before
at the very beginning about the fact that you
don't need really strong low brass to play this.
Now the range on this is a little high, like
the trombone part goes up to an E flat, even
the euphonium. So I mean the range is a little
high but rhythmically and melodically they are
not being tasked with a lot. But I did want to
just clarify that the range for those instruments
does get a little high. Because the euphonium
like she mentioned is different from the trombone
part and it kind of mimics like the horn part
more often in this piece, which is fun so we're
continuing on with those upper woodwinds having
the melody and We have some accidentals as we
mentioned before just because of the the harmonic
structure of the piece And then making sure that
whenever the kids have like a dotted half note
followed by two eighth notes that you stagger
that in your kids parts so like 21, 23, 24 there's
dotted half notes followed by two eighth notes
in all these parts and you want to make sure
that you mark in like A, B breathing or something
like that where they're not all breathing in
the same spot because like Laura mentioned they're
all gonna want to either breathe every two or
every four so Here this is a great spot where
you can say, okay you two you're gonna breathe
in 21 you two You're gonna breathe in 23 and
then those first people can breathe again at
24 or whatever it is But marking it in in your
kids parts or during sectionals Assigning it
everybody does it differently. I even do it differently
myself half the time I used to just be like,
okay a B a B you're an a you're a B But then
I realized like okay, but like what if my kids
aren't all on the first part right on a different
piece So now I actually go through and say, you're
gonna breathe in this measure. And I say, you
two are on third clarinet, well, you're gonna
breathe in this measure and you're gonna breathe
in this measure. Make sure that the part is always
sounding. So going through that extra detail
step while it's more work on your end, it's gonna
make it so much easier when you're in rehearsal,
knowing I've already preplanned where they're
gonna breathe, so I should not hear a big hole
right there where everybody's taking a breath
at the same time. Sorry, that was a little tangent,
but I think it's important. And then at 25, we've
got the same people just kind of finishing out
the melody. We have a crescendo from the full
band, and percussion goes down to pianissimo
and then does a crescendo, so we want that to
be like driving it forward. And then we get this
big moment with the lows on beat one and four,
and everybody else has this fun rhythm. And three.
and and three with accents and then everybody
has accents one three four one off on three and
the kids are gonna want to once again shorten
that half note though they are gonna want to
go and and three And three. So make sure that
that half note is pushing all the way. It's a
great place to draw an arrow to the bar line.
Definitely. And we vocalize. I know we've talked
about this before, but we do a lot of vocalization
in my band hall, so that would be a place that
we would stop and everybody would say, and I'd
make them pulse with their voice so that we know
exactly where we're supposed to stop. So that's
a little trick. Yep. to help align that and then
if they're taking a good breath in 28 that part
that she was singing they should not have to
breathe again so making sure that they don't
take a breath in 29 either that you just get
really good front fronts to the notes with the
accents Then we start a new spot. Nobody plays
on beat four that time. That's the first time
percussion hasn't had a beat four to start a
new section. So now we're at 31. The lows get
their little too much just a brief moment. Yeah.
So they play like one, two, three, four, and
now we're slowing down. So we're getting slower.
We're retired on doing where we're day crescendoing.
We're just trying to bring the pulse down. Percussion
is not active here. So Everybody's gonna have
to look up in the low voices to change right
with you There is a hard cutoff on beat 3 and
measure 36 and there's a gong roll through it
Which is pretty cool sounding adds to that exotic
feel And then at 37, it's marked 80. So you've
basically gone half time down. So at 37, this
is a new dance. So before, it was like a fun
group dance. Imagine everybody, right? Yes. And
this one is a soloistic dance. It's a Turkish
soloistic dance. And the solo is personified
through alto saxophone. Obviously. There's like
little cool finger cymbals here. You can imagine
like a little dance or whatever. Yes, exactly
So that's kind of the vibe here. It's supposed
to just sound really pretty and fun The accompaniment
is way thinned out. It's like just the low reeds
behind the alto sax solo or solely So you can
kind of choose, you know issue. Do you have a
kid that's strong enough or do you want it to
be? beefed up a little bit. It says cues in the
bassoon part. for the, or sorry, the bassoon
plays, but it's got cues for the tenor part.
So if you don't have a tenor sax or you don't
want to add it in and you want it to be more
thinned out, you can really do whatever you want
here with these low reeds. You can honestly make
it just be a sax choir and leave out bassoon
and bass clarinet. It just depends on your kids
and the color you're looking for. And I love
the tom part here. So there is a tom part and
obviously, you know, this part is important.
It's really the only beat or pulse that you're
getting. this section too so this is a this is
a really cool section it's not very long yep
but the snapping this is where the snapping comes
in and there is some choreography like she's
very specific about how you're supposed to hold
and and I think if you're gonna play this for
this this piece is versatile you could play it
for an all region band which I have seen Done
multiple times. Yes, you could do it at UIL.
You could do it at a spring concert at a fall
concert Whatever either way you want this cool
like element It says like snaps both arms overhead
palms facing the audience to make the snaps be
loud going outward so, you know, you have to
take some time to talk through it with your kids
and Show them exactly what to do. So it looks
effective and you don't have those lamo, you
know kids that think they're too cool for school
like barely raising their arms or snapping their
lap or whatever like if you're gonna do it like
commit yeah and if you have a kid who can't snap
because I'm sure that that exists all over the
place they still need to put their arms up and
just like do the motion without making a sound
yeah And then the castanet gets to play here
with the snaps, which is really fun This is a
great introduction to those different kinds of
accessory instruments and percussion that we
don't always get The saxophone solo continues
on with the band just doing the little snaps
in the background quietly then clarinet one Takes
over the solo and it's written up above the staff
a little bit at the top of the staff and above
So you'll want to make sure that you either have
one really good player it's not marked a solo
but it could be or two that can really play in
tune and beautifully in that range of the instrument
for sure because it's gonna kind of just take
over that lyrical nature from the saxophone Then
we get to the end of that little section with
the saxophone finishing out the melody and we
add in the brasses now Yeah, now 45 and it's
marked to go just four minutes faster. Yep Yep,
go ahead. Just picking up the pace a little bit
so you can feel the energy starting to kind of
circle back to that faster tempo. But trumpets
take over, a new idea here. Low brass are kind
of conversational with what's happening. Now
we've got low reeds that are still, the low reeds
have continued playing the entire time. We've
just taken out the upper woodwinds. The mallet
part switches to brass mallets here to make it
just be that more like tingy Sound like the finger
cymbals and things like that. So that's kind
of fun Just make sure that you you know, tell
your kids not to like overplay. It's marked mezzo
piano But brass mallets make it, you know a little
bit louder and then the upper woodwinds Kind
of join in with the trumpets like flute and oboe
at measure 49 We're still continuing and this
is all gonna be really connected by the way I
didn't mention that before but there are staccatos
written in only in the accompaniment part before
45, then no, nothing's written in. So we're gonna
keep this really smooth and full value. Tonguing
firmly when you have slurs, make sure the second
note of the slur is still long and connected
to the next note. I think it would be really
easy for trumpets to play. One, two, three, and
one, and two, and try to make the eighth notes
really short, but it's gonna be da, da, da, you
know, really connected. So just make sure you've
written in arrows reminding them where not to
breathe, especially in the trumpet and flute
part. And then the low brass gets to help us
crescendo a little bit going into 53. We're getting
stronger as a full band. Everybody's coming in.
have this one and two, three and four, and that
should be long. It should not be one and two,
three and four, one and two. Yeah, so like don't
let them make it all short and disconnected.
It needs to all be leading in and like flutes
even have ta, ta, ta. That all needs to be long
and connected and then at 55 we've all got a
forte The timpani has a forte piano Snare drum
has like a little rhythm and that's what's going
on here Everybody else has a long note and we
have one bar of two four and then we hit our
new tempo again. Back to the original tempo.
Right, so the snare drum is really the one that's
gonna drive this new... Changed your tempo. So
then the full band cuts off right whenever it
goes back to the full tempo 152 to 160 at 57
You're gonna have that beat for entrance again
from percussion with the tambourine roll hitting
the suspended symbol with a mallet so it's kind
of like Timpani bass drum or drum are one two
three and then we get four. Yes, and then Just
percussion has a little break for two measures.
Yep And then we start with hand claps instead
of snaps now and the claps should be held at
head height So that you can see them from the
audience So you don't want to have them just
clap down at their legs where you can't see it
again. It's choreographed It's supposed to look
really fun. You should a hundred percent make
sure you teach the kids how to clap Yes, it doesn't
matter what you want to do. You might like the
like lower sound You might like the higher sound,
it doesn't matter, you choose, but you need to
make sure it sounds the same. That's right, it's
got to be practiced. We talk about when we do
clapping in music or in my band hall, we talk
about a golf clap, right? So like if you were
in a golf tournament, they don't clap at a golf
tournament like you clap at a football game.
So we talk about a golf clap. fingers on the
palm type of clap whatever you want is fine right
but the point is it has to be taught everybody
and it has to be that's right has to be executed
the same yep um and then at 62 the clapping continues
but the kids uh i've seen shout out to kim bean
she played this piece with our region band one
year and she had the kids um either she had the
kids half the kids move their hands down to where
they weren't as loud like behind the stand or
she said like half the kids don't clap at all
but it was very effective because you heard the
claps before like we moved on and then it was
just softer whenever the melody came in at 62
so you can experiment depending on how many kids
are in your band or whatever you could either
have them pull their hands down behind the stand
to block the sound or have half the kids sit
out from clapping, that's not as fun. They probably
want to clap. But there's lots of ways to do
it, but just make sure the claps come out of
the way at 62. Making sure you can hear the melody.
Yeah, and the tuba and low reeds, because they
have that driving part again. We want to make
sure we can hear the tuba part, because it's
kind of alone here, along with Barry Sax. But
the melody here, it is exactly like what it was
at the beginning. So no new musical ideas here.
No, but it's back to just the upper woodwinds
this time, no trumpet. it yet. So real thinned
out again same things we mentioned before making
sure you're leading through measures. Then at
70 we have the upper flute clarinet one and sax
have one two and three four same thing we had
before. Then we have a conversation with the
lows. back and forth one two and three four percussions
kind of helping out then at 72 the trumpets are
back to the melody this time with saxophone everybody
else is now on the motor parts we're done with
clapping they have to be way softer it's just
like the beginning except we have a new idea
in the upper woodwinds here so the trumpet and
alto have the melody and then flute oboe first
clarinet have like a little counter melody back
and forth same thing the trumpets and and horns
had earlier yep We've just switched roles. Yes.
And then we're continuing on. At measure 80,
we have accents again. Same thing. One, two,
and three, four uppers. One, two, and three,
four. Full band has a mezzo piano, kind of like
a forte piano. Everybody gets really soft and
builds it up. We have the recap from the very
beginning. Recap like the beginning, exactly.
And then two. And and three don't breathe and
and three don't breathe and then ever I get soft
again one two three four one three one and then
off again for big percussion big timpani and
then one big percussion timpani on four full
band it's just like a you know typical ending
off on beat three with percussion driving ahead
while the full band is holding big timpani part
and then on beat four everybody yells hey And
you have to make sure that you practice that,
too. That's right. Everybody's in the same, like,
tessitura of voice, not, hey, you know, I'm not
her. And something that everybody can do. You
have to commit to it. Yeah, yeah. So this piece
is so fun, just under 100 measures, not. Super
crazy difficult, but just a lot of fun to play.
Yeah kids will kids will enjoy it for sure They'll
be singing the melody. Yes, you know walking
out of your band. Oh for sure Well, we hope you
will consider programming Byzantine dances in
the future and thank you for joining us on this
episode of band BFFs