Welcome to our podcast, Band BFFs. The podcast
where we make your music selection less complicated.
On today's episode, we will be discussing Triumphs
by Joshua Hinkle. Cheers to starting the conversation.
This piece is in the key of concert B flat. It's
four four throughout. It's really a fanfare,
right? It is three minutes long It does not it's
pretty straight ahead It's got split clarinet
part split alto parts and split trumpet and trombone
parts Percussion is really straight ahead five
percussion parts There is a relatively active
percussion two part, but it can be covered by
one player The timpani part is very important.
You can't leave that out in as in a normal fanfare
Yes, and the snare drummer you need the snare
drummer. It's a really fast piece. We're going
about 144 BPM here So you want to make sure your
snare drummer is really solid and has got nice?
Touch a control at that tempo and even the mallet
part is pretty active as well. Yeah. Yep So,
um, as Laura mentioned, it's a fanfare and so
it's pretty standard in that regard. Lots of,
you need pretty solid brass, um, especially you
need solid high brass. Yeah. Trumpet horn and
alto. Yeah. And Laura and I were saying this
would be a great piece for like a spring concert
for a top band where you could kind of put it
together, top middle school band where you could
kind of put it together pretty quickly, or it
would be a great piece that you could work on
for a while. with like a non -varsity group that
has good high brass. Or this would be great for
a fall concert for a sub non -varsity or non
-varsity high school group as well. It's just
it's a wonderful well -written piece without
a ton of just difficult rhythms and things like
that. So when it starts out active percussion
like Laura mentioned The woodwinds are kind of
just doing like an accompaniment part, setting
up the pulse at the very beginning. It's all
staccato, so it just kind of sounds like... They're
just setting it up, but the rhythm is easy to
count. At measure five, high brass comes in,
trumpet, horn, and sax. The way that it's written
in the introduction, the rhythm in the flute
and oboe is slightly different than that of the
clarinet in order to make sure that you hear
straight eighth notes all the way, but they are
given a little bit of a... break and I would
not personally especially the range where this
is written clarinet is up high both parts are
over the break we've got the first clarinet on
G above the staff and the second clarinet on
the register C the third space and the xylophone
is playing the same part as this so work to get
those upper woodwinds to match the clarity of
articulation that the xylophone has I don't think
you have to be overly concerned with how crisp
it is just that the first of the fronts of the
notes matches the same articulation in the mallets.
Yep. So the timpani, again, has an important
part in measures three and four as the intro
is closing. Five, the first melodic section comes
in, again in high brass and saxophone, just a
dotted quarter note rhythm, one and two, or sorry,
one and three, one and three, four, and it goes
up to a top. line F for trumpet. Big skips in
the trumpet. Both trumpet parts, trumpet one
and two, they're unison here. So you have to
have a pretty good trumpet section that can do
that. Again, it's not split here in harmony.
The horn part is not difficult right now, they're
just playing the chords underneath. One of the
things that will help make this skip in the trumpets
better, it goes from a G in the staff to a top
line F, so that's a pretty significant leap that
you want to play with control. but it's nice
because the high F is articulated. So they are
not having to slur up that distance. They at
least get to articulate, which will help. Yep.
And then at nine, the low brass comes in kind
of like a big, you know, with the bass drum,
like a big bomb, you know, everybody comes in
and holds. Woodwinds are still doing the exact
same thing. 13 oh timpani has the little last
response at measure 12 13 now the high brass
go to the accompaniment part and the bells flute
oboe clarinet and sax all have the melody and
again clarinet one and two alto one and two everybody's
on the melodic line so there it's not like a
harmony part everybody's playing up high saxes
go to above the staff a clarinets are all again
mostly over the break on the melody. Flutes are
going up to C above the staff. So you just have
to be careful about especially some cross tuning.
Yeah really I think it's the tuning issues between
the flute and the saxophone especially are going
to be things on those longer value notes, the
half notes that you have that you're going to
need to be mindful of. I do also think the clarity
of articulation, the xylophone stops playing
the eighth note pulse at this point and so that
pulse is just brought to you by the trumpets,
horns and tenor sax. So I think you are going
to have to be a little more mindful about the
clarity of articulation. especially in the horns
to make sure that they match the trumpet and
the tenor sax here. And then I would also say
be really careful or I guess mindful, thoughtful
about where the kids are going to breathe. Yes.
Because it's going to be common for them to want
to all breathe after three measures because it's
after a half note in the melody. So I would like,
you know, assign A's and B's or whatever odds
and evens to make sure that everybody's not breathing
at the exact same time during the melody, whether
that's no matter who has the melody when they
do, just make sure everybody's taking different
staggered breaths. Then again, we have another
drone, like Laura said, at 17. Everybody comes
in and holds. The trumpets are the only ones
with that eighth note accompaniment now. Another
big timpani moment at 20, along with some chord
changes in the middle and tenor voices going
into 21. So it's setting us up for this new idea
at measure 21. At 21, we kind of get this bold.
Accented statement. This is really where a lot
of times fan fairs start with a big fanfare statement
This really has a pretty lengthy introduction
and 21 is the first part that I really feel like
you get that fanfare. And it's accented. It hasn't
been accented until now. Now rhythmically this
is really straight ahead. It's accented on every
note for every part. The rhythm is really easy
but the range like the first trumpets are sitting
on E's and F's at the top of the staff and of
course that means flutes are on D's and E flats
above the staff so and and the clarinets again
are in the same range as those first trumpets.
So cross tuning considerations as well but big
thing for me, and Katie addressed this a little
bit earlier, this is written where you have,
it should be a four or eight bar phrase, but
you have a half note for everybody at the end
of the second measure, and that is going to be
a place, and there is no percussion that's kind
of helping to cross the bridge over the bar line,
so making sure that they are playing in those
longer valued phrases, and at 144 BPM, that really
should not be a problem, right? And then after
this first statement at 25 the snare drum comes
back in kind of takes over a little bit of the
like activity The drone people kind of come back
and everybody's got a tied note while only the
upper woodwinds keep going on the fanfare So
it's just flute oboe all clarinet clarinet is
now in octaves So that's a tuning thing. You
got to pay attention to as well and then bells
and speaking of octaves The low brass have the
same part here, also in octaves. So again, just
be mindful of that. These are not difficult notes
or anything, but you just need to be aware that
tuning may be something that you need to spend
some time on, especially if it's a younger ensemble.
At 27, it changes to into con amore. So it's
still written in four, but you can conduct it
more in two -four. It's got more of that flowy
feel. Yeah. So that's fun that we said the exact
- I can't believe we just said flowy feel, I
know, yeah. We did not plan that, everybody.
So we've been doing this too long. I guess so.
Yeah. So - It's softer. This is definitely a
little more lyrical. It's mezzo -piano. Yes,
it's definitely lyrical. Only the horn has kind
of like the counter melody line with like sax,
tenor sax. low reed. There's no other brass playing
here. The melody is in flute, oboe, and clarinet.
And the clarinets are all on the same notes as
well as flute and oboe. So no harmony. They're
just, they're playing the melody. And it's really
just drone harmony behind them. Yeah. And again,
you want to talk about breathing because they're
going to, again, want to play a four measure
phrase and breathe. In this case, the tenor sax,
alto, and horn do have like a line where they
could cover the breath if you wanted. them to
all breathe after four measures, or you could
tell the kids to push through the phrase and
take a sneak breath in like 32 and 33, which
is what I would do. That was exactly what I would
do as well. I would try to avoid that bar line
breath as much as possible. I would too, but
they're, you know, too thorough. Yeah, that's
exactly right. Yes. And then in 34, as we're
going into 35, which is the next box number,
the lower voices, low brass come in on beat three,
and they kind of take over. over that harmonic
structure that the sax and horn were doing before.
Now the horn and the alto go to a true counter
melody line with the flute, oboe, clarinet, and
now adding in the trumpet on the melody. So bringing
out that line I think would be pretty cool. The
range on the melody now in the trumpet, flute,
and clarinet is much more reasonable. It's lower,
it's in the staff. So it is set up, the range
for the counter melody however is a little bit
higher. So yeah, we've got the horns going all
the way up to a high F. It's gonna be easy to
feature that counter melody because of the range.
But again, just making sure that your altos and
horns can blend really well together. We don't
want this in the horn part to sound forced. This
should sound relaxed and just, again, it's mezzo
piano, so relaxed and just really pretty. Um,
as we, there's like a little Mark Tree moment
at 42. Percussion has been out. Percussion is
just chilling. And it's like a chorale feature
for the band. Um, at 43 now the bells come back
in. Um, I don't know if it's bells or xylophone
at this moment. I think this is bells. I think
it's still bells too. Yeah. So they come back
in and they, they have the same thing as flute
and oboe, which is just playing two, three, four,
one, two. It's just back and forth, not important.
The melody is an alto saxophone solo. So if it
were me, I would probably make the flute and
oboe part either be one on a part or maybe two
flutes and one oboe so that that part's not overwhelming
if not everybody can play soft enough to feature
a saxophone. All the other woodwinds have, which
is just bassoon, bass clarinet, and clarinet,
they have just chords underneath, no brass. I
agree. I think your options are either thin out
the woodwind accompaniment in order to hear the
saxophone solo or make it a saxophone solee.
Right. If your saxophone section can play, and
this is not rhythmically, it's not hard, even
tuning wise, it's really not crazy. There's a
couple of things above the staff you might have
to be mindful of. But for the most part, you
could make this a saxophone solee and probably
fix your volume issues. But there's also no harm.
at all if you want it to be a solo, then just
thin out the accompaniment. I do think you will
probably need to do one of those two things in
order to hear the clarity in this line like you
want. Yep. Then at 51... There's, we have another
kind of like, I would call it like the drone
again, sort of, a bunch of people come in on
beat one and hold, then we're getting softer
and softer, low brass comes in. And then in 53,
there's a little tiny flute solo for two measures,
then a little clarinet solo right after that.
So we're kind of featuring some of the upper
woodwind parts. We pass this little line one
for one. And then the trumpet one has the solo.
last in the quote unquote in two section. Then
it's marked at 58 to go back to in four because
now the style is changing back to what we had
at the beginning. Now I think in this more lyrical
section that we had before also the drone like
Katie mentioned the drone that the low brass
have there in fifths a lot of the way through
there. So tuning wise that should be and they're
all relatively secure notes. You have a D flat
thrown in there a G flat D flat I think somewhere
in there that you might need to be You know G
flat G. Okay, there we go But but for the most
part like it's they're locked in in fifths. So
harmonically that should be relatively simple
Yep, then at 59 we come back with the same thought
from before flute oboe clarinet and xylo have
the one and two and three and four and again
They continue on snare becomes more active timpani
is featured again just like the beginning 63
we have for the first time the low brass get
the melody so they take over and low reads all
the woodwinds are now doing these like contrary
motion eight notes so like flute and a bar going
one and two and one and two and and clarinets
are going one and two and one and two and so
it's the background part but you know you want
to make sure that that doesn't clash or sound
too loud and then some of the other parts like
sax, bassoon, bass clarinet they just have one
and They have these little like staccato rhythmic
hits. Now the bells doubles what's happening
in flute and oboe and the range that it's written
in for bells plus what it's written in for flutes
plus the contrary motion range that the clarinets
are in. You may experiment with only having one
or two of your flutes play it in the octave it's
in and taking it down. You might have your bell
player take it down an octave. or your clarinets
just really project because where it's written
with bells and flutes doubling in that same octave
they will overpower the clarinets. That's right.
Yep. So this again is the low brass feature and
by low brass I mean trombones. Because euphonium
and tuba have the same part as bassoon and bass
clarinet. And trumpet. And technically bass clarinet
and tenor sax have the melody along with trombone.
But making sure again we're not all taking breaths
after the three measures of the melody so that
it sounds seamless is important. We come back
in with our hit at 67. I'm doing the motion.
I'm sorry. I'm sorry you're missing it. And so
everybody's got that little drone there. And
then 68 is just the same thing. Active snare,
we've got a little harmonic change at 69 going
into 70. 70 is the timpani getting a moment again.
Now we've got another new little moment at 71.
That trombone tenor line melody is now in flute
oboe clarinet, but there's an alto sax solo again.
And it's kind of like the melody, but it's like...
Is it a soli? It's a soli, yeah. Sorry, but it's
just in the first alto part, so if you only have
two altos, it would be a solo, unless you wanted
them both to play or whatever. It's kind of like
the melody, but it's like fancy melody. Yeah,
it's like a decorated melody, but it does have
the skeleton of the melody before. But you would
want it to be brought out for sure. And I was
just thinking, if I were to play this at my spring
concert, I might let the alto saxophone section
or soloist stand up because it's just like at
my spring concert, like that might be kind of
fun. If you're playing it again at like a fall
concert, you could have the soloist stand. I
mean, there's no rule against that or whatever,
make them feel special and featured. So you could
do that to feature the flute and the clarinet
and the trumpet solo that happened earlier during
the middle section if you wanted to. I mean,
why not? in with sleigh bells here which is kind
of an unusual color to add at this point it's
interesting sounding but totally different it's
one of the things that I think makes this one
it's it's like a little four bar it's very short
but kind of a unique little interjection into
this whole fanfare idea after that idea we go
back 75 we've got a chord trumpets are back on
the little staccato accompaniment part like we
spoke about before timpani has another moment
again leading us into 79 we're back to the accented
bold section one two three and four one two three
don't breathe one two three and four and the
trumpets are trumpet one is Up at the top of
the staff and they're playing G above the staff
flutes are above the staff So this is gonna be
a cross tuning thing This is exactly like what
we had before with the low brass and octaves
kind of moving down a B -flat scale and then
that cross tuning like we mentioned before with
the the true fanfare type section here, it's
exactly Exactly like what you had before out
to one horn have a little like counter melody
moment at 82 going into 83 and 84 there's a trill
that comes in in the upper woodwinds I would
have that be either one on a part or marked piano
and then at 85 we it is marked heroically and
now the trumpets continue on in the melody the
horns and altos have a counter melody line at
like 88 89 that you'll want to bring out and
then the upper people are doing something different,
but it's basically the same thing as the beginning
where it's like one, and two, and three, and
four, and but this time it's just one, and two,
and three, and four, and they're just changing
different intervals. Yeah, there's bigger skips
here than it was at the beginning, and the trumpet
part is slightly different. Same rhythm, same
idea, but slightly different, slightly different
notes. We're just building, you can tell, I mean
this is building to the finish. We're building
it up to the end, yep. 89 flute oboe clarinet
take over the melody everybody else is on just
like changing chords so you'll just want to make
sure you balance that correctly where you can
still hear the tuba 91 starts a cool little bell
tones section yeah um each part that comes in
is marked forte piano, and with an accent, so
you'll have to work on making sure that each
new entrance is heard. I'm sure Laura and I both
do this, we'll usually bop this. That's exactly
what I was gonna say, I would bop it. To where
you can hear the front, and make sure that each
entrance is just as strong as the section before
that, which sometimes that can be difficult,
like on the first one, it's tuba, bari, sax,
bass, clarinet, second one, bassoon, tenor, sax.
euphonium might be a little more difficult to
hear who knows. Next one is trombone only. Yep,
and then the next one is horn and alto so that
trombone only one Might need a beef up like you
might either need to have them play it stronger
or maybe have tenor sax join them You know I
always kind of mess around with writing if I
can't hear one of the entrances I might say okay
tenor sax you come in there instead or bassoon
you come in there instead so that each one you
always hear one three one, three, and you can
hear each of them the same way. And relate this.
I'm sure many of you do concert F around the
room with your band. Relate this to concert F
around the room. Everybody's entrance needs to
sound the same, right? You need to match volume.
You need to match energy. And then, of course,
once they get that, you can work on the piano
part of the forte piano and making sure they
stay out of the way. There is a crescendo written
right before measure 95. And so add that in.
But the difficulty is, especially those people,
those to the very bass clarinet that come in
four measures before, because this builds over
the course of four measures, making sure that
they sustain at piano the entire time until we
get to that crescendo measure. So don't overdo
it. At 95, everybody comes in with accents again,
one and two, and then four, one is like tuba,
bari, sax, bass, clarinet, timpani, and then
horn has a written like F G, but it's written
where you can also play it up an octave, which
if you've got a stellar horn section, that'd
be fun because you can kind of feature them a
little bit with the saxophones. Yeah. Yep. And
then we're closing out to the just a big one
and two. Again, another horn alto moment kind
of in response to all of this. They are the ones
who fill in the gaps. Everyone's holding a half
note tied to a whole note and the horn and alto
are moving on half notes there. Just a nice finish.
Upper voices, it's really divided in two where
we have upper voices and middle and lower voices.
Big statements on beat one and then three, one,
three from everybody else. until you end with
a big chord, all accents, you end with a forte
piano crescendo. eight beat chord building to
your stinger with just snare drum and timpani
and timpani big timpani doing cool stuff at the
end yeah and then a little last chord for everybody
this is it's three minutes long so uh you know
maybe slightly a little bit longer than maybe
the average fanfare but really good i think it's
written very well um if your players if you've
got strong players like katie mentioned at the
beginning especially in the high brass uh section
i think this could be a great concert opener
and something fun for your kids. Or even closer.
That's true, yeah. All right, well we hope you
will consider programming Triumphs in the future
and thank you for joining us on this episode
of Banned BFFs.