Welcome to our podcast, Band BFFs. The podcast
where we make your music selection less complicated.
On today's episode, we will be discussing Serengeti
Dreams by Robert W. Smith. Cheers to starting
the conversation. All right. Now, this piece
is old. It is probably older than many of you
band directors out there. written in 2000. So
definitely older than many of you young band
directors out there. 25th anniversary of Serengeti
Dreams. But I was just telling Katie very jokingly,
but sort of not. Serengeti Dreams, like if you
are a young band director or you have a young
or more inexperienced band, I feel like Serengeti
Dreams is a standard to that genre the way that
Lincoln Sherposi is. for high school directors.
It's like everybody's played this at some point
or another. Doesn't mean that it's easy. It's
got a lot of tricky stuff, but it's a fun piece
and the kids love it. And the kids will love
it. So it is in the key of concert B flat. It's
in 4 -4. It does not have split clarinet. It's
one clarinet, one alto, one trumpet part, a combined
trombone, euphonium, bassoon part. There are
lots of percussion. The percussion are really,
and the percussion are important because it's
what, the percussion instruments are what give
it the African feel with all of the equipment
that's required, the gear that's required. So
you need, I mean, five to six at least, percussionists,
you can have more. If you have a bigger percussion
section, you can add more kids on more parts,
more instruments to kind of beef up some of the
stuff. Which is kind of cool, yeah. So this piece
is super fun. and like I just said the kids love
it it starts off it as majestic style at 104
is what it's written at in accents with the full
2d band this is like Definitely old school band
writing because it's very beautiful like color
chords You do have like a lot of different like
jumps and leaps and like the trombone part The
trumpet part so it's not super steppy. So you
just have to make sure kids know what that feels
like what that sounds like But it has accent
half notes in the measure one and then it goes
one two Four one and then the whole band has
a crescendo going into measure four That's something
everybody needs to do with a beautiful sound
and not crescendo past your best tone quality.
Which is really hard, and the way the chord is
written doesn't always make that easy either.
So it's something that we write, like every time
I've played it, we've written in a forte piano
crescendo, and then practiced it, making sure
that they understand, and even going through
and saying, okay, no, I need less of this instrument.
You don't get to crescendo at all. Third of the
chord, I don't really need as much of you or
whatever it is, yeah. At measure four we're leading
into four and four is a trill and flute oboe
clarinet and sax and then there's like a little
intercession with the percussion where they're
like doing like the Yeah, like it's like a ritualistic
like groove for a second and this where they're
the trill is in the upper woodwinds They cannot
take a breath between the trill and the note
that comes after it right cannot take a breath
there so I would even have and I know this is
like a sin and music sin to have them breathe
at the end of a crescendo, but for the woodwinds
that trail, I would have them sneak in a quick
breath between measure three and measure four,
ensuring everybody else gets their sound to the
downbeat so that it sounds seamless, but they
get to take in that quick breath before the trail.
Yep. And then we come in again. So then that's
the same thing. Full band comes in with half
notes and then one, two, four, one. And then
trail with the percussion doing a different little
groove and then full band again now We're like
playing like everybody's a little bit lower range
on their instrument, which is nice At 9 we all
have the same rhythm again, then we've got another
color chord a flat in the trombone part And then
we do the same rhythm again at 11 and then we
have the same Rhythm at 12 again with color chord
on the long note percussion every time we have
a long note they're doing the the the word is
not intercession I don't know but I mean what
you said like interruption yeah like a statement
yeah a statement percussion yeah yeah And then
at 13 the full band has the same rhythm again.
Then we have a rallentando at 14 and this is
tricky for kids, but it's written well because
it's just everybody has a whole note and you're
looking up and there's no percussion and you're
gonna memorize measure 15 and you're gonna change
all together and then percussion comes in and
then it's just immediately faster at 16 at 152.
Okay now on this rallentando the way I would
treat this the rallentando is written at measure
14, like Katie said, right? And normally you
might start a Rolentondo early or start a Ritardondo
a little early, but I think because he has written
it here at 14, I actually don't even start the
Rolentondo until measure 15 here. It's like an
80 BPM or 82 or whatever, so whole note, two,
three, four, now we slow down, two, three, and
four, one. to practice that ad nauseum until
the kids can do it and nobody should be breathing
anywhere between 14 15 or 16 so they need they
need to figure out their breathing plan or you
need to plan to make sure that like if they have
to they can sneak a breath or you just don't
have to slow down too much if it's like a low
like a sub non or non varsity band and that's
exactly part of the reason why I wouldn't start
the ralentano until measure 15 right and then
at 16 like I mentioned it's like basically double
time and there's a conga solo in this This is
really important and this groove goes on forever.
Now this cabasa part comes at an 18 and I had,
oh gosh, I have some memories of this cabasa
part. You can hate your life if you program this
piece and you don't have a kid that can play
this cabasa part. That is exactly right because
they can start in time and then it can slow down
and then it's like the flutes are gonna come
in in a minute and it's like. Gosh, I hate my
life because they're so slow already so I You
have to have a good kid on the kibos part and
they have to be able to play in time Quickly,
yes, and they cannot slow down and they have
to be able to play it kind of like soft. They
do. It's just a beat. It's literally the metronome.
It's the pulse. It's the pulse throughout. If
they struggle on the kabasa, you can always sub
in a shaker. Egg shakers. Yeah, like an egg shaker
can sub in on that and some of the kids can control
the sound and the volume a little bit better
on an egg shaker. That works as well. You can
also split the part between a couple of players
that can kind of help with time. If you have
enough kids and they're strong enough and good
enough to do this where, you know, it's four
measures for one player. pass it to the next
player for four measures to the next without
it like stumbling exactly with it being seamless
so it's layering in like i mentioned the congas
start out at 16 and this is a long percussion
break so that's why we're taking some time talk
about it so they come in first and then the capacity
just the pulse and then marimba And this is just
a groove that we're setting down. It starts strong
at 20 with the marimba, and then we're fading
out going into 24. And it says optional xylo
too, so again, if you have a big percussion section,
put one on marimba, one on xylophone. And then
at 24 we have the first moment of melody. It's
in... flute and then the second time around it's
in sax and horn added in but the first time it
is just your flute section it is flute only and
they need to have they have to be loud and confident
and vibrato and beautiful like you want beautiful
rich low sound and as much vibrato as you can
perfectly for for a young flute section it starts
on a regular old b -flat and it's like it's low
on the flute there are lot of long notes, but
you can easily write in their part where half
the section breathes in measure 26, half the
section breathes in 27, so that the long note
doesn't die away. That's right. Each time that
they have the melody, it's then passed along
with another statement from the clarinet. So
it goes, you can sing the clarinet part. OK.
1, 4, and 1, 3, 4, 1. Da da da. Notice that I
got softer on my long G because she came in with
the cool part. And the cool clarinet part is
also written in a great part of the clarinet.
It's low and it's fun and it's like chromatic
-y. And it doesn't, again, doesn't come in until
the second time. So like the first time you play
all of this, this is all just flute, right? It
is just flute. So your flutes have to shine.
Yes. They have to, I mean. It's just percussion
and flute. That's it. no lows, no nothing. Oh
my gosh, I forgot about that. It's very exposed,
so you need to make sure that your flute section
sounds really, really good. And again, breathing
is a big thing because I've heard this piece
played several times where everybody breathes
in the same spot and it just sounds really immature.
So whatever you do for the flute section though,
copy paste and do the same breathing plan for
your altos and horns when they come in. That's
exactly right. They have this little melody all
the way from 24 to 32, and then at 32, the clarinets
join the flutes and play, or no, they don't join,
they play their little... They play a different
counter melody. So they come in and they play
a little bit with the flutes, the percussion
is still grooving, and then the oboe and the
trumpet come in for the last two measures of
this moment. Okay, and I want to say something
about this clarinet part for a second. In measure
32, the part that they enter where it says play
both times, they come in on beat two. Right.
And it's written, there is a quarter note written
on beat one because they will have played at
the second time. It is a weird entrance and it
confuses kids until they grasp it and really
understand. And their little part goes two, four,
one, two, rest two. and they have to push that
dotted half note all the way to the rest, crescendo
through. It's kind of like a flute and clarinet
duet. That's exactly how I think of it. I think
of it like a duet and the flute line needs to
be shaped musically and the clarinet line needs
to be shaped musically. And their eighth notes
are like... not at the same time, clarinets have
them on beat two, flutes have them on beat three,
so they're just like interworking with each other.
And then the trumpet and the oboe finally come
in at measure 38 and the percussion kind of stops
this like trance -like part and now they're doing
something a little bit different at 39 because
now we're gonna go back, all the way back to
24. And now we've added in, like I mentioned,
saxophone and horn on the melody with the flutes.
The clarinets also, everybody comes in the second
time, low, low, lows, like tuba, low reeds, not
trombone euphonium yet, and not trumpet right
now, but everybody else is playing, and not oboe,
sorry. The clarinets, again, have that cool part
that Laura and I sang earlier. They're not gonna
be loud on the long note, but they're gonna be
loud on their little counter melody. That's right,
and this now, the clarinet part is what needs
to be featured. Right. So even though you have
beefed it up, you've got altos joining, you've
got horns joining. it is the clarinet line that
needs to be featured. Tuba and Barry Sachs bass
clarinet are playing a motor part. They're playing
what the marimba is doing. It's more similar
to what the marimba was doing. So it's nice to
have that motor part, but the clarinet part is
what needs to shine. Yeah, for sure. On the repeat.
It's new. Yep. And then they keep going and then
they even keep going to the part that Laura and
I talked about where they come in on the sneaky
beat too. They're just continuing on now. We're
keeping the same dynamic levels happening and
then we have the same little moment at 38 where
the trumpets and the oboes come in and they play
again. And then, oh they only play the second
time only. And this is the second time, that's
right. So this is leading into measure 40. Yeah.
And then at 40 it's like a new thing. we have
everybody is like it's like a joyful section
the first part I always think about like it's
like an African ritual where they're literally
being put into a trance like it's like swaying
a little bit it's mysterious the percussions
like I love all the little stories you come up
with yeah it's like an African like tribal like
yes ritual and then it's like at 40 you're out
of the trance And it's like it's like big and
strong and then the percussion keeps going So
everybody comes out of it with two quarter notes
for real the whole band and then we keep going
with the groove and the cabasa and We have these
this really neat part with sax and horn But it
is really hard, but it's a part that needs to
shine and it cannot have cracks And it cannot
be out of tune. It cannot be out of tune, friends.
It cannot be out of tune. It is C sharp for the
alto. And it is up to a high B, not a high B,
but a B, third line B and horn. It's not hard.
It's really pretty. But you just have to make
sure that those sections have the ability to
shine and not detract from the band. There's
accidentals in this section right here. And it's
major. The before is minor. Now it's... And then
everybody goes again, and then it goes back to
the horn and the sax part Now D a high D and
horn a So easy yeah, so it's like You can find
a kid or two if you can find a kid or two on
horn to play that well great if you can't Like,
maybe you just let that one measure be a saxophone
thing. And I'm gonna tell you, this is a trick
that I have used before. You have to have the
right kind of player to do this, but if you,
like, if you are struggling, even in that one
part with your horns, I have had a trombone player
fake a horn part. by just playing with their
bell, like we wrote out the part, transposed
it correctly, and in the correct octave, and
then had the trombone player play with their
bell a little closer to the stand, so it wasn't,
and it worked really, really well. It was not
like muted trombone, it wasn't anything like
that, but it masked and... played the part of
a horn really, really well. So, I mean, if you
needed it for that measure, because the horns
can't play a high D or whatever, right? Well,
it's not even that they can't play it, it's that
they can't play it beautifully. Yes, right, exactly.
I mean, that's just an A for a trombone, which
is nothing for them, right? That's just a part
to look at for sure and figure out what works
best for your kids. Lots of accidentals in this
whole section and all the parts. Then we repeat
again, back to 40 again. So then we've got the
bum, bum. It's the out of the trance, the fun
part, pretty, pretty. We keep going. It's literally
the same thing. The second time, it's different.
Kabasa stops. So now we're out of the trance.
We're out of the trance and everybody comes in
with a whole note in the upper woodwinds and
they get soft and then they trill and they get
louder and it's almost like the ritual stopped
for a second and now it's coming back and then
at 50 we have everybody's back in. We're back
to the trance. So the percussion, a djembe comes
in or a tom -tom and the percussion is getting
a lot more in depth in the Sorry, we're looking.
And the conga part. So now the conga part is
more like, just a lot more rhythms. One, two,
and four, and one, and two, and four, and they
can't slow down. And it's interactive. So it's...
It's not easy. It's not. The percussion parts,
like I feel like your flutes, your percussions,
and your horn, your percussions, your percussion
and your horns are the sections that need to
be pretty solid for this piece, right? But the
djembe, this is another opportunity where, like,
I think it's really cool. If you get to play
a piece that uses African percussion... Do your
best to, yes, try to actually get the African
percussion. I think that's so cool. You can add
more djembe players if you want. Like it doesn't
just have to be one. Add more djembe players.
Give more kids the opportunity to experiment
with that music. I love this section at measure
50. This is one of my favorite parts of the piece.
This is where we start to kind of, it thickens
up a little bit. We start to add everything together
now. So now that melody that we had at the beginning
is back. It's in the flute and oboe. It's in
the alto, it's in the horn, but in the flute
part, it's up an octave now. So depending on
how many flutes you have, like you may even want
to keep some of them down. And that would put
them in the same octave as oboe, which I would
absolutely do for a lot of kids if needed. Everything
else here is pretty much going on the same. The
trumpets come in now with the cool clarinet counterpart.
The clarinet has it again. But this trumpet part
does jump, so it goes... E, F, E, C, B, B flat
A. So that's like, that's kind of, that's kind
of a big leap. Yeah. And making that sound not.
Relaxed. Yes, not crazy town is something that's
not a skill for everyone. So it's really fun.
It keeps going. It's the same interaction between
those same parts. And it keeps going for a long
time because we're in our trance. And then at
64. Percussion drops out and our trance is gone.
Now, just the upper woodwinds are playing again
with trumpet, upper brass on beat one. They're
decrescendoing again like they did before. This
section right here, this four measures reminds
me of dance celebration. Oh yeah. The way dynamically
and harmonically. Yeah. Anyway, I'm sorry, go
ahead. And then at 65, or sorry, beat three of
64, the lows come in. So they're decrescendoing,
lows come in with half notes. that are leading
down and crescendoing that's the focal point
bring that out it does say to crescendo in flute
oboe clarinet and trumpet back up to the downbeat
of 66 but I would probably just make sure that
the the crescendo comes mostly from trumpet and
a little bit less from the upper woodwinds a
hundred percent agree with that and then they
release and we've got the same effect like it's
almost like an echo now the lows are doing the
crescendo or the decrescendo whole And then we're
crescendoing up again like the beginning with
a trill in the upper woodwinds 68 is a different
section Okay, so before we get to 68 a couple
of things on this section and like we have an
episode on dance celebration, too And I know
we talked about this then but here's the thing
the the dynamics here the tone quality and the
tuning is More important than the dynamics your
trumpets are hanging out on an a as they crescendo
Like it's already a super sharp As they crescendo,
it's going to be, it's going to get obnoxious,
right? Your low brass, like they're on, if you've
listened to the podcast before, I hate fourth
position. I hate fourth position on trombone.
I hate it, I hate it. And they're sitting there
having to make tuning adjustments on a fourth
position note, which already is nasty. So don't,
I think sometimes you can look at a piece on
paper and go, oh! I've gotta overdo the dynamics.
Because the judges at contests are going to care
so much about it. Well, not if everybody is out
of tune. No, you've got to sound good. Or out
of tone. Yeah. And I think this is deceptive.
You see whole notes. Oh, this is easy. I totally
agree with you. Now it's really not. These four
measures are a little bit interesting, yeah.
Tough. OK. And the timpani is on a D going, dum,
dum, dum, dum, dum. So if your trombones aren't
in tune and then your timpani is, it's just like,
it's so not good. So 68. We're back to a new
trance now. Kabasa's back in on the on the pulse
and marimba and the djembe and the toms are still
interspersing But now we have a new part in sax
and horn again But this time it's like this cool
little it gets built up built up built up, but
it's got accents one two three four one and two
and three and four and one two three okay, obviously
we like it so It's fun, and it's not written
too high. This is just going up to B flats. It's
between A and B flat on horn and it's B to C
on sax. Also this is a great opportunity to teach
Psyche C on saxophone so they're not flipping.
And then like flute, oboe, clarinet have these
little interspersed moments where they go three
and four and one and it's like a little chromatic
and they do it over and over. Each time the horn
comes back in they are supposed to get softer.
So you build it up one, two, three, four, one
and two and three and four and one, two, three.
One and two and three and four and one. And then
they come down again and it's a new spot. Yeah,
so now it's in half notes. Yep, and then the
lows start to go. And the whole band at 75 is
doing eighth notes and we're leading up. I really
wish you could have seen Katie's dance moves
she just did. There was a dance move that accompanied
that. I'm really sorry that you missed that.
That was joyful. Thanks. You're welcome. I had
a lot of fun doing it. OK, at 76, there's a Sforzando
piano. So it's supposed to kind of sound like.
drops out of it. It's a bit like, if I'm remembering
correctly, it's kind of a weird chord. Am I remembering
correctly? It's a unison. It's a unison concert
D. Yeah, it's a unison concert D, which... Not
weird. Definitely a normal note. Yeah, but I
mean you got to make sure that everybody's in
tune on it. We've got this this Sforzando piano
with a trill and the upper people again leading
into 77 and then the horns and saxes go back
to their little halftime groove and this time
the flutes get to be featured with their little
three and four and one three and four and hold
out from the full band one two three and and
that's how the piece ends and it's so cute and
There's some accidentals in here from 77 to the
end that, you know, changes the harmonic structure
a little bit. You got to make sure that everybody's
really comfortable with that. Place those accidentals
correctly. Yeah, and then this part right here,
because you have some people going half, half,
you have some people going dotted half, quarter
dotted half, and then of course you have the
flutes with their fun thing, making sure that
you hear every single one of those notes in Yeah,
right and then everybody ends on the same rhythm
one two three and with accents including kabasa
and everything And it's really important here
that nobody's breathing on bar lines That's like
the biggest thing that I remember having to teach
My kids when playing this piece was like I know
you all want to breathe right there like they
all want to breathe between 78 and 79 no no no
no So just marking in their parts ahead of time
who's gonna breathe where is really important?
but This piece is so fun if you have a good flute
section and a good horn section and a big percussion
section that needs challenge. This is a great
piece for you. Well we hope that you guys will
consider programming Serengeti Dreams in the
future and thank you for joining us on this episode
of Band BFFs!