Welcome to our podcast, Dan BFFs. The podcast
where we make your music selection less complicated.
On today's episode, we're going to be discussing
Whispers in the Wind by Robert Sheldon. Cheers
to starting the conversation. This piece is a
gorgeous grade one on the Texas PML. Super pretty.
Very pretty. Great for teaching lyrical style
and phrasing. It's in the key of concert B flat
throughout. It's about two minutes in length.
No split clarinet or trumpet parts. The low brass
part is, the trombone, euphony, and bassoon part
is the same. Very limited percussion, so it's
great if you have a small percussion section
or if you pair it with a piece, another piece
that has more intensive percussion requirements.
Just bells, suspended cymbal, timpani, and certainly
you can double like on marimba, something like
that if you have too many players. Yes. So this
piece, as Laura mentioned is just absolutely
gorgeous and it's a great teaching tool for lyrical
playing and also like phrase breath markings
like you're gonna breathe on the odd measures
you're gonna breathe on the even measures so
it's a good teaching tool throughout any point
in the year so that your kids can really learn
how to be more musical and play things that are
more sustained and also like how to balance and
how to listen for those moving lines and things
like that. And we were just discussing like this
is, you know, I tend to shy away from doing things
that are very lyrical and pretty with a younger
band. But if you have a really strong younger
band, the piece is two minutes long. It might
be something that you try at a fall concert or
a winter concert or certainly with a varsity
band great early in the year to get them thinking
with these with these longer phrases and like
Katie mentioned balancing and all of that I just
it's so so pretty yeah that's well written too
and it's it's there no individual part is technically
challenging at all it really is all about the
phrasing and the balance yep yep So at the very
beginning, it starts off with Mark Tree and the
low people come in, like tuba, bari, sax, bass,
clarinet, along with the flute. And then you
get this beautiful little first moment of line
from alto, sax, and trumpet. And then you get
the same low people play 4 -1. And this motif
comes over and over and over in the piece. Four,
one. So you're teaching the kids four leads to
one. And you can teach about like many crescendos,
you know, where you're gonna lead from four to
one with just a little bit more air so that the
note is always leading somewhere. That is super
important in a piece like this where people have
whole notes and things. You wanna make sure that
everything is going somewhere. I also really
like that the way he has written this almost
everywhere in this piece. where you have an instrument
grouping that has this four one there is another
instrument grouping that has two half notes yes
so it's always overlapping which I just that's
just smart right it is and that way if you have
young players that like don't really understand
like my half note has to go all the way the bar
line you've got something else kind of covering
it up that's right yeah but this is great like
just the best teaching piece for this for sure.
Once we're in measure three, we have the same
little line except now it's more like the tenor
voices. So horn, trombone, euphonium, bassoon,
tenor sax, clarinet they come in on beat three
and do a little line and then clarinets take
over the melody going into measure five they
have the melodic line with the horn and the saxophone
doing kind of like a little counter melody line
the trombone and euphonium and bassoon part is
again fairly easy and it's like a lot of just
like F and E flat and G there's a couple ranges
really range is very attainable so that that
way when you're playing this piece, you're not
focusing on like technical things. You're focusing
on, okay, and I just played this piece with my
band at my fall concert. That's why we're doing
it today, because it was a good teaching piece
for me, for teaching the kids like, okay, we're
gonna play these eight measures. Which part do
you hear moving? And then it was like, was your
part moving? No, then you're not the melody.
So I kind of used it at the beginning of the
year to teach kids like what to listen for instead
of always having to spell it out for them. Like
here's who you bounce to. But again, we also.
Like talked a lot about how you make an accompaniment
part not be boring Yeah, because that's that's
a hard skill for young players, right? Like they
see like a bunch of whole notes and they're like
well I'm just gonna play some whole notes, but
whole notes can be beautiful too, right? So Anyways
back to the piece this, you know whole idea the
counter melody line again with horn and sax They've
got half notes and then every once in a while
they have quarter notes three four And so when
you have those parts you want to bring that out
more from the mix then the melody because that's
like the little part that's moving it into the
next measure. Then it leads right back into the
clarinet melody. And then the clarinet melody
has a dotted half note in measure eight. So then
the tenor line with tenor sax, trombone, euphony,
and bassoon have this little like scalar moment
where they go F, E flat, D, C, B flat. So they're
leading us into the next moment. then clarinet
takes over again and then trumpet to alto and
tenor sax have another one of those little quarter
note lines going into measure 11 while the clarinets
are kind of holding long notes and Then the whole
band is kind of building up into measure 12 Where
the flute oboe and trumpet take over the melody
with the clarinet? So in this whole section one
of the things like a rehearsal strategy Katie
talked about already You know trying to get the
ears to the moving part. So a rehearsal strategy
that I have used with a piece like this, first
of all they're moving at all different times.
So like you may have a part that goes quarter
half quarter and another part that goes half
half so you're hearing the notes change on every
beat. You can certainly bop it which I think
is great for vertical alignment but sometimes
in a younger band if you are bopping a piece
that you eventually want to be played very smooth
and connected that can have the opposite effect
that you want. One of the things I have done
with a piece like this is told my kids, okay,
we're gonna go this eight measure phrase and
I only want you to play when you have a quarter
note or an eighth note. That's it. You're only
gonna play when you have a quarter note or an
eighth note. So it might be that they're entering
at an odd time, like they're playing on beat
one and beat four. But then you clearly hear
where the moving part is throughout the whole
entire ensemble. And play it the way you would
play it in your music, so long connected. But
then you end up hearing those moving notes throughout
the whole line. And that can sometimes be helpful
to kind of draw the band's ear to where it needs
to go when the full band is playing. Yep, that's
a great idea. Back at 13 so now the melody is
again in trumpet flute and clarinet not clarinet.
Sorry flute and oboe Now the clarinets have gone
to what I call a doodly part. So now they're
just doing like little arpeggios Underneath,
but they're not hard GE GE GE. It's not like
it's difficult And then they're part of the accompaniment
and then the trombone euphonium is kind of doing
the same thing horn has the same little counter
melody line, but now with tenor sax and then
alto sax takes an even further back step in the
balance of things but there's like a good five
different parts going on at 13 so you really
have to teach the kids how to prioritize that's
right and like teaching that skill can be difficult
you know especially when it's like a lot of seventh
graders where last year they just tried to play
almost everything like pretty strong all the
time you know so now and it's not just melody
or not melody It's like melody. and then like
counter melody, and then like maybe a little
counter melody light, and then an accompaniment
line, and then a bass line, you know, there's
like, there's a lot more things to listen for.
We'll use numbers to prioritize that stuff. This
is a, this is, you know, something that I got
from David Dunham years ago, where, okay, you're
the melody, your part is a 10, all right? You
are the counter melody, you're a seven, you're
accompaniment, you're a three, okay, you're a
counter melody, but you're the harmony, you're
a six, right? underneath that, or your harmony
to the melody, you're in eight. So just kind
of layering it in those numbers so the kids kind
of, they understand that. Ten is the melody and
where am I in reference to that. So we're continuing
on with that same melodic line. Then it gets
a little dotted quarter note. That's the most
difficult rhythm in the whole piece. At 18, one,
two, three, and one. And I called that whispers
in the wind when I was teaching it. I have no
idea if Mr. Sheldon wanted that. But that's what
Miss Lewis did. Yeah, it seems to me like you
probably did. I mean, it makes a lot of sense.
So when that part came back over and over, I
was like, well, we got to hear the whispers in
the wind part. It's the title. So that's you
can steal that if you want. Oh, by the way, we
forgot to mention this is a new PML grade one
piece in Texas for this year So this would be
a great choice if you're looking for something
for your upcoming program So the horn and alto
line get a bit more exciting and fun at 17 their
counter melody line is a little bit just more
eight And so you'll want to bring that part out
as well at 20 the tenor voices take over the
melody Then there's an a cello rondo. So, you
know just a little bit They're gonna help pump
up the tempo a tiny bit. They have quarter notes.
So they're gonna watch you. Yep and so there's
an a natural right before you hit the 21 and
so that note was pretty like, you know, we just
got to make sure we're all the way And there's
no percussion helping with time Percussion is
either doing melodic or they're doing the wind.
Little timpani roll or a little suspended cymbal
roll. There's no pulses from the director and
the children. So at 21 now that like I mentioned
the tenor line has the melody plus French horn
and then flute now has this cutesy the cutesy
little like one two three four one two and clarinet
has it too. You want to make sure that part is
not overwhelming just because you know you're
gonna have a lot of numbers of flutes and oboes
so bring that down. I love this low voice lead
here it's really pretty it's in a very comfortable
range like you know Katie talked about that earlier,
this is not an extreme range for any instrument.
So you can really focus on making your most beautiful
sound. And I really like that. I think sometimes
with groups, we get so caught up in, wow, this
sounds cool and this is really active, that players
end up sacrificing their tone quality, which
we never want them to do. But this tenor line
is beautiful, beautiful. And like my mentor,
Melody Mello always says, this piece makes you
sound older because if you play it well because
it's in such a nice range it's just gonna make
you sound just professional you know so I think
it's it's a great choice at 22 the bass line
has this cool little moment that you'll want
to bring out a little bit while the melody is
chilling on a dotted half note 23 we're back
to the melodic line and then at 24 the bass line
gets another little cool like conversational
moment With the melody so I always like to bring
that out whenever tuba gets something fun. I'm
like, let's bring that out, you know At 25 they're
continuing on that melody There is a moment where
they're gonna all want to take a breath in 25
Because it's a half note at the end of a slur
and then they're gonna do quarter notes going
into measure 26 You're not gonna want everybody
to breathe there because then it's gonna be this
huge gap. The elbow is the only that plays on
beat two after that half note. Everyone else
in the band has a half note and alto plays on
beat two so it's gonna sound really young and
exposed if you. So we talked about some of you
are gonna breathe in 24 after your half note
and some of you can breathe in 25 after your
half note. So just again taking the opportunity
to teach them about you know. Like special breathing
considerations and where you're gonna do that
the Alta line then takes over as Laura mentioned
at 25 And it's really beautiful. That's like
a tiny little moment for them flutes a little
bit important at that moment, too And then we're
leading into 27 where there's now a roll in Tondo
So we're getting a little bit slower again. The
trumpets get the leading line here And then 28,
the trumpets take over the melody from the beginning.
And now we're back to our first tempo. And it
sounds just like the beginning, except instead
of clarinets having the melody, it's trumpets.
The tubas and the bass line are doing the same
thing. The little flute and clarinet part. the
little accompaniment cutesy part. And then 32
horn and alto get this cool moment with like
a little scale. One, two, three, and four. One,
two, three. So just bringing that part out makes
it sound a bit older while trumpets are just
chilling on a dotted half note on their melody.
At the end of their phrase, yes. And then we
have another Rolentondo, the same like phrase
consideration at 35 where everybody's gonna wanna
breathe after the half note. So just make sure
again you've talked about some people get to
breathe in 32 Some people can breathe in 33.
So that way it's not a big gap There's another
Roland Tondo at 34 And we have our only accents
in the whole piece. Um, in this measure, uh,
it's just a little like last moment. I told the
kids it's like a big, it's just a statement on
three and four, three, four, one. And then we're
getting softer and slower. And then at 36, we've
hit exactly like the very beginning back to the
tempo 80 from the beginning. Again, starts out
with the Mark tree again and the flute and the
baseline. trumpet and everybody I called this
like the sighing moment they come in on beat
three and go three three just kind of sounds
like a whisper in the wind you know and then
the ending is exactly like the beginning the
last little moment of melody is at 39 with the
clarinets they go three four one and everybody's
got a chord for the most part and then the whole
band does come in for a final fermata chord at
41 and just that skill in itself right like you've
slowed down so much They all have sustained.
They all have to look up at you We all have to
start at the same time our chord has to be perfectly
balanced We have to breathe together. We have
together to enter together Yeah, so just like
those those skills that sometimes I think we
all take for granted like oh the kids know how
to do that No, they don't not all like we didn't
teach them, you know And so this is a great piece
and it's just gorgeous. It will make your band
sound old it will make them sound mature as long
as you you know as long as they have developed
tones because of the range yeah um it's it's
just a really really great piece to show off
your lyrical playing so we hope that you will
consider programming whispers in the wind in
the future and thank you for joining us on this
episode of band bffs