Welcome to our podcast, Band BFFs, the podcast
where we make your music selection less complicated.
On today's episode, we are going to be discussing
Basilisk by Tyler Arcari. Cheers to starting
the conversation. Basilisk is a brand new piece.
2025. Published this year so it is not on any
PML and full disclosure Katie and I have not
played or rather that's not true we did play
a little bit of it in the 580MU reading band
at our convention. We've not conducted taught
or evaluated this piece but we really enjoyed
it it was really cool I think this is a piece
that would be super cool if you're like doing
a region band or it's got a fall concert theme
to it with the title Basilisk which is like a
mythical snake. Very cool piece. This is in the
key of E flat or C minor. It does have split
clarinet split trumpet parts and a slew of percussion.
Really you need I would say eight percussionists
if you want to cover most of the parts. It has
an optional chime part so if you even have nine
or ten percussionists you're gonna find some
for them to do in this piece. It's in 3 -4 and
4 -4, 3 -4 most of the time. It does have, am
I making that up? Doesn't it go to have a little
section of 4 -4? Is it just 3 -4? It's 3 -4.
It's 3 -4. Never mind. Okay. But it has a tempo
change. That's what I'm thinking. I'm sorry.
Thank you. Yeah, so there it starts very moderate
tempo and then speeds up to 144 after the first
15 measures. I also love it starts with this.
Okay. Let me tell my story. Alright, so we played
this. That's why she said, oh wait, we did play
it for the Texas Bandmasters Association Conference.
for 2025 in our Phi Beta Mu reading band session
which shout out if you're from Texas or live
around Texas go to that convention and go to
this session because every year Laura and I get
so many personal ideas for what we might want
to play with our students but now also we get
to share with you guys all the pieces that we
enjoy and think would be very fitting for younger
bands especially like middle school bands like
she said region And even though we haven't conducted
it, we get to play it. So it's kind of neat to
see it from the kid's perspective, right? So
it starts off, and my part got to do this, you
have to be prepared. It has a written plastic
bottle part for your flutes, your oboes, or an
optional flute two part if you don't have oboes,
saxophone and trumpet, both parts, and horn.
That's a lot of water bottles. It's an empty
plastic water bottle and you're gonna take it
in your hands and just kind of crinkle it gently
side to side and roll it. And it makes this crackling
effect that's pretty loud. And so like my sweet
friend took a video of me doing this while I
was on stage because I was like, oh, this feels
very loud. But it did because there were so many
people playing the part. So even if you thought,
oh my gosh, this is like a little bit aggressive
like I did, maybe like don't have the brass do
the crackling, just have the front row do it
so that parents can kind of see it too. That's
kind of fun. But again, if it's not overwhelming,
let everybody do it. It's a mood setter and it's
effective. It's an effective mood setter. sounds
pretty cool starts with a rain stick and a thunder
tube and then yeah it sounds like I mean it's
meant to or an optional ocean drum yeah it's
meant to sound like rain so I mean like you're
just totally setting the the stage yes you know
metaphorically speaking yeah so 82 is what it's
written at so it starts off like ominously is
what it says we've got the rolling going in the
crackling effect the clarinets have the first
opening statement with some low reads rest two
three one two and one three one It's very pretty,
it's very soft. Written well, it's under the
staff, except for tenor sax a little bit higher.
But just this is a great moment to teach phrasing
and not everybody breathing at the same time.
Maybe mark in parts like I want you to breathe
in measure three, I want you to breathe in measure
four, so that way it sounds very seamless. The
tuba comes in and measure four with like a little
with bass clarinet 1 2 3 1 So tuba is not playing
at the beginning. It's just a woodwind feature,
but then they add in here, which I think is kind
of a cool effect Just the tuba, yeah And then
you have cues in trombone and euphonium, but
the bassoon at five plays kind of this low part
with the tenor sax. The clarinets continue on
with their melody. We're continuing with the
crackling. And now the horn comes in with like
that little line, kind of how the tubas had it
before, two. And alto. Yeah, horn and alto. And
then mallets have this too. And it's different
here, but they come in on beat two. They get
a new little spot two three one two three and
one So it's kind of like in response to like
what the clarinets were playing clarinets are
now a little softer not playing the melody anymore
That's the new melodic line and then we get to
measure ten the trumpets now come in and have
What look what looks to be a little bit like
a like a counter melody counter melody clarinet
with the clarinet? Yep We're lit. We're kind
of all building up. It's marked crescendoing
starting here at 10 and we're leading up and
adding more parts Then finally the flute and
oboe come in No more water bottles. We're all
playing long notes. The timpani starts rolling
along with bass drum tambourine Tom comes in
and Tom is really the part that's gonna change
the tempo That's right. Cuz it has a two measure
ritardando right here before 16 and you you can
either I assume treat that as like a like a ritardando
one two and three and fast or if you wanted to
you could do one two and three and one so that
they know where the where the tempo is up to
you and your level of ability in your band I
would slow down I would too but I'm just saying
that if your band isn't very good at yeah like
hearing a tempo change and coming in together
it would be a good idea to give them that tempo
ahead of time At 16, everybody comes in, gotta
be all together, and on the fast tempo, one,
two, and three, one, two, three, one, two, three,
one, off. And this is the melody part in trumpet
and alto sax. Now the way I would rehearse this
here is I would take the trumpet and the alto
out, and I would rehearse everybody else and
lock into that one, two, three, one, two, three.
One, making sure that they're articulating, that
we are playing in time, we're playing that note
the same length as everybody else, then go back
in and add that melodic line in. And it does
not need to be, like there's no style markings
on here, so I would do full value. And the low
people, the people with the accompaniment that
Laura was talking about, those notes are accented.
but soft. Percussion is kind of chilling here,
like they're not playing much, just doing the
hits along with the accompaniment part. At 20
they continue on trumpets and alto still with
the melody still the same accompaniment, but
at 22 Snares are going on they were off before
and now we're leading up into 24 now There is
a rhythm that happens in here. This is a a publisher
grade 1 .5 and we Absolutely agree with that
and part of the reason is because of some of
the rhythmic challenges that are in this this
syncopated statement 1 2 and one, happens a lot
throughout here. It happens a ton in percussion,
it starts in percussion, but then it happens
in the low voices, it happens in the melodic
instruments as well. So that rhythm, one, two,
and one, is really important and it doesn't always
stay on one note. Sometimes it's moving around.
And it's marked with the accents, da, da, da,
da. So we've... led up into 24. The trumpets
are still going with alto, but now flute oboe
and clarinet have added in on the melody along
with mallet one. They're still continuing to
play everything long and connected. We've now
got a large woodblock. We've got a triangle.
We're getting a lot more of percussive elements
here. And then the low brass instead of now playing
like quarter notes that are accented, we're playing
a more chordal type of accompaniment. Everything's
a little bit more smooth. connected not all breathing
in the same spots but the whole band is playing
here and then we're leading into 30 and at 30
he marks and bring out for the low people trombone,
euphonium, bassoon, bari sax one two and three
so it's like kind of like the basilisk I guess
is like coming out of the Think of like Harry
Potter like here comes the snake coming out of
the pipe in the bathroom with money Myrtle Sorry,
but I mean I would think that's where the it
rears its ugly head there you go So at 30 here
comes the basilisk and then it's just those people
and it's Accented and exciting everybody else
is getting out of the way Then we start to all
crescendo up at 31 that same thought is Accented
the whole time while above them all the other
melodic instruments are playing really really
smooth and connected so it's supposed to be kind
of different. Now there's this wild thing in
here leading into this next new little idea before
the before we end this section where most of
the ensemble is crescendoing over this little
three or four measure phrase leading up to the
climax where we go one two and and one as the
full ensemble but then there are some instruments
the low voices not all the low voices the voices
I should say Barry Sachs and tenor voices are
decrescendoing as they lead into this so I like
and just like you know the writing of bring out
before like he's obviously been intentional about
Okay, I want this instrument to do this. Oftentimes
composers are not. We talk about Sheldon is really
good about writing to that, right? So I like
that he's been real specific. Yep. At 34, the
full band has that rhythm we just spoke about,
one, two, and, and one, and with accents and
everything. So you'll have to, this is a great
thing to add into like your daily exercises,
right? Like you can play this on a Remington
to make sure that the style is completely accurate.
They have it. multiple times in a row together.
Then 38, we start a new spot. This is a big percussion
moment. Castanets, bass drum playing on the rim,
a shaker, bongos, triangle, like all kinds of
cool percussion stuff. Timpani, mallets, yeah.
And then it's a woodwind choir for four measures.
The flute oboe clarinet one lead it. Clarinet
one is up higher in the staff, only up to about
an E, but still up a little higher than before.
We have little cords happening. You can add some
beautiful shaping from the low reeds and the
sacks then at 42 Low brass comes in just to add
some cool portal type things, little counter
melody in the trombone, euphonium, bassoon, and
then we're back to that same rhythm leading into
46. Now in this little section I would be careful
the upper woodwinds have this three, one, two,
and three, one, two, and three, one, two, and
three, and the two and three is slurred. Because
of the notes and the amount of physical movement
that has to take place in their fingers they're
going to rush the eighth notes like crazy. The
tendency is going to be to go ta ta ta ta ta
ta so I like I would make them tongue this at
first until the rhythm is really solid and then
go back in and add that slur. And the oboe's
on C's like the whole time so just watch the
tuning there too. Once we have built it up to
45 we've got another little one two and and one
and two and or one and and 46 when they land
the lows have like their little I don't know,
like a little basilisk theme again. One, two,
and three, and one, two, and one. So it's passing
back and forth between lows and highs here. Highs
are not as important. Lows need to be featured.
Like it's active. They're moving around. They
need to be able to articulate, move their fingers,
and move their slides. Slides like, yeah, really,
really well. And then this continues on until
54. This was the section, by the way, as Katie
and I were re -listening to this, that we looked
at each other and we were like, this is not a
grade one. This is okay. Yeah, it is a grade
one point five hundred percent. Yeah Yeah, it
gets a little bit just more challenging lots
of dynamics written in follow them true to form
Because they're written in well and then at 54
we've got the same thing lows are continuing
on We've got little interjections from the upper
people But there's now a new cool little horn
parts and this is what needs to be brought out
here Yep, you're gonna bring out one two and
three one and that little part is just neat and
different. It's up like on C, D, C in the horn
part. That's what made us look at each other
like, oh, that's getting up there a little higher.
Dada, or no, C, D, B flat, G, G. So getting up
to C is not horrible, but still there's a couple
little Accidentals being added in at 59 and 60
like an E flat bass clarinet D flat and the tuba
part a flat in the horn We got a lot of the one
two and and one two and and 162 we hit flute
oboe Trumpet have the melody with sax and bells
as well And so now they have the melody There's
not very many accents in here, so everything
should be connected unless you have an accented
beat one. And it's usually on beat one, right?
So in this one little thing, another style rehearsal
strategy that might be helpful. So like this
measure 61, this is not the first time this has
happened, where the full ensemble has one, two,
and, and one, and the accents are happening on
the one and the and. What I would do is I, that
is an easy motion for a snare. drummer because
the accents are happening on the right hand so
I would have the snare drummer play right left
right left right and low strokes in the left
hand accents in the right hand and then have
the winds echo the drummer on a concert F da
da da da so they really get it in their ear what
it sounds like to have the accented note and
then unaccented note that's easy on snare drum
yep So 62 flute oboe sax trumpet again. They're
continuing on with this melody But now it's a
bit more back and forth one two and three and
then lows come in one two three back to trumpet
one two and three one So it is very much like
when you have the dotted half note you back out
of the way When you have the moving notes you
bring them out. So this is a good opportunity
to teach that Conceptual thing to all of your
students and that continues on till 70 at 70.
We they have the same people One, two, and three,
one, lows, lows, lows, lows, lows. So we're still
doing a little bit of a conversational piece,
but it's not as long value. Now we just have
quarter notes and eighth notes happening, and
all the percussion is basically playing together
here. Mallets are with upper woodwinds, but then
percussion's all playing two and three and one.
They're not playing differing types of rhythms.
Upper people are still continuing on the melody
and then we have a Chord again with an accidental
at 76 this time. It's a G flat in the tuba a
flattened horn a flattened trumpet So it's a
little bit of a chord probably you'll have to
spend a little time Tuning arriving at making
sure we're all good and again as we've already
You know said many times to feel free to rewrite
it like if that's a bad note on a certain instrument
change the chord a little bit. Yeah, I guarantee
you your students don't have G flat major tonality
in their ears. Are you sure and then? 77 is the
same rhythm again one two and and one and then
we have an arrival at 78 Upper yep upper woodwinds
go one two and three one two and three like they
did before There's a slapstick that comes in
on beat three each time here leading up to the
end The trumpets are playing a long chord along
with horn and alto and then lows come in doll
doll doll doll cord doll doll and then the horn
and alto. Have a cool little interlude at 82.
And 83 and then full band at 84 including percussion
one two and and one and we all end it together
So this piece is very programmatic fun Yeah,
very programmatic lots of fun cool effects good
things to teach but not like overly Ridiculous,
right just moments like chunks of measures. Okay,
let's really stress this eight measure phrase
or whatever, right? But fun piece your kids will
love it. It'll be an audience pleaser for sure
Anytime you bring out the tub of empty water
bottles and start passing it out to your ensemble,
the audience sits up a little taller, right?
So cool, so cool. All right, well we hope you
will enjoy programming Basilisk in the future
and thank you for joining us on this episode
of Band BFFs.