Welcome to our podcast, Band BFFs. The podcast
where we make your music selection less complicated.
On today's episode, we will be discussing Skedaddle
by Timothy Loest. Cheers to starting the conversation.
Okay. This piece, we covered it briefly as a
part of an episode about a year ago, a year and
a half ago or so, um, for new music that had
been released and we did a multi -piece episode.
We thought this piece deserves a little more
standalone. Yeah. There you go. A standalone
episode. Skedaddle is in the key. It's by Timothy
Lewis. It's in the key of E flat four, four throughout.
It's about two minutes long. Um, it is really,
really cool, high energy, fast. It has, ideally,
you need seven percussionists to pull this off,
but you can do without the bell part, so if you've
got six, that's totally fine. We were listening
to it just to review it a minute ago, and I said
it kind of sounds Mackie -esque at the beginning.
Much more simplified. Yes, way more simplified
than normal, for sure. But it's got a cool sound
to it that I think the kids will gravitate towards
really quickly. I don't really feel like it.
There's a section of the band that you need to
have be a rock star section. The range on it
is perfectly comfortable. It's a grade two on
the Texas PML. But it does have some exposed
clarinet stuff, some exposed trumpet stuff and
percussion. It opens with hi hat and like all
by themselves setting the pace. And the piece
is called Skedaddle because it's meant to invoke
really fast. So your hi -hat player needs to
be a really, really solid timekeeper. And it
even says, it's marked at the beginning, cut
and run tempo. So it's like, you're supposed
to go really, really fast. Like 168 is what it's
marked at. So this, again, this piece would be
so fun for either a UIL contest or perhaps for
a spring concert as something fun for the students
to work on because it's got a lot of like cool
stuff, but it's not super difficult. to put together.
I played it for my spring concert last year and
my kids loved it and it went together real easily.
That's awesome. So at the beginning, like Laura
mentioned, it starts with a closed high hat and
it says to use nylon tip sticks on it just to
make it give that like clarity of articulation.
And then the low brass comes in with like a beat
one and measure three. And then we start in ostinato
for the first time with the clarinets, but it's
written as like a regular under the staff D so
it's nothing like ridiculous and this rhythm
comes back all throughout the whole entire piece
one two and and four and and three and four one
and and and four and and three that comes back
over and over yep and so basically you could
just do a rhythm sheet where everybody learns
how to play it everybody learns how to clap and
count it and then that way when it comes in their
music you've done it and there's a lot of like
cool style markings on it like each whatever
the first beat is sometimes it's one sometimes
it's and, those are always accented. So it's
supposed to sound like you're running and it's
like keeping up with the pace. Now I will tell
you on this rhythm that you have what the tendency
is gonna be, what I found with my students, when
it starts with that one, two, and, and four,
beat four is a quarter note, they're gonna wanna
clip it and make it like the other eighth notes.
One, two, and, and four, and, and three, and
four, that's wrong. One, two, and, and long,
and, and three, and long. Yep. Every time that
happens. And that's what Katie just mentioning
a rhythm sheet. I think that's like you do that
with a full ensemble and then drill that in their
ear before you even start the piece. Yep. Or
like in their parts when you're marking their
parts ahead of time You can draw a tenuto on
all those notes at the beginning That way they
remember that they're gonna do that throughout
the rest of the piece Then the lows come in again
with some more hits and measure five and then
in six This is what made me think of Mackey because
he likes to do this Like it's kind of quiet and
then all of a sudden the whole band has a chord
And so everybody has that on beat three It's
marked fortissimo and the upper woodwinds go
and upper trumpet three and four in and then
it's quiet again and it goes back to just the
clarinets and the low hits. So it's got lots
of cool energy. Yeah, it's meant to be a surprise.
That's exactly right. And then the next time
when we have the hit on beat three, the high
people are going down this time three and four
in. So it's just got like kind of a cool groove
at the very beginning. That mallet on the moving
notes, the three and four and that's happening
in xylophone as well. So I love I love when we
have that mallet and wind player thing line up.
You can tell your wind players to listen to the
articulation of the xylophone player. So have
the xylophone pick the mallets that you want,
that you like the articulation there. And then
your wind players can match the articulation
of the xylophone player. And it really makes
that super clear. Yep. At 11 now the low people,
low reeds and low brass join the clarinets in
the same ostinato rhythm. But this time it's
marked mezzo piano. So it's like, because more
people have come in, it's a little bit stronger.
And then the Trumpets, horns and alto and tenor
sax come in and they have these like little,
just like little, I don't know, wind, wind whispers
or something. I think of them as little swells.
They're a little half note. One, three, one,
three. Makes it kind of sound like Mission Impossible
or something, you know, a little bit. So that's
fun. And of course you can draw in the dynamic
shaping for that. Or you can have the kids draw
it in on their own music, but that's something
to make it sound more musical. They continue
on on the ostinatos? In measure 15, this little
part right here, the upper voices, the ostinatos
continuing on like Katie just mentioned, and
the upper voices kind of go back and forth with
one and three and one and two and. And that is
an issue like the kids want it to be one and
three and every time. So just making sure that
they understand how they fit. Just be confident
in their rhythm, clap and count it, whatever,
pencil band it, click with their pencils. on
the stands, whatever, to make sure that they're
really confident about that rhythm. At 19, we
go back to thinning the texture of the band out
a little bit. Clarinets go back to being the
ones with the ostinato. Now the like little half
note line is in flute and oboe. It's an ascending
line. It's an ascending line. Yep. Instead of
up and down and then horn and alto, the mids
join them in halfway through. Lows are still
doing some hits down below. And then they again
have a big beat three where the upper people
again go three and four in. So that's another
little like transitional area. Then there is
this does have China symbol in it and so you
have to be really careful because you know Everyone
loves the sound of a china symbol. Kids love
to play it, but it can be way overdone So just
be careful with that right here at measure 23
the lows get a little four measure Melody rest
two and three four rest two and three and four
rest two and three four rest two and three and
four So making sure that I mean that's really
important making sure that it's locked in very
clear articulation They're moving their fingers
and slides together all that kind of good stuff.
Yep fun percussion in this This is just all these
we have all these to get it. Yeah. Yep at 27
we go back to like the theme from the beginning
It's just the the symbol again and this time
the clarinets don't come in with an ostinato
This is the first time in the piece where the
ostinato is basically gone. So right here it
changes tonalities we go to a major it's been
in a minor tonality now it switches into a major
tonality the clarinets and alto saxes the hi
-hat is laying down the same groove they have
been doing one and two and three and a four and
and now we have this one two and and four and
two and three and four one two and and four and
two and three and four so it's different not
the same ostinato but it's now like this new
melody trumpets have a muted part that is just
meant to be a response to this rest two and three
and one and two. And so making sure that your
trumpets have mutes or that they're playing,
you can always kind of have them play into the
bell of the stand. Have you ever done that? No,
I usually use a mute, but I mean, you could do
that. If you don't have a mute. Yeah. We'll have
them put the bell almost up to the music stand
or whatever. And it gives a similar type of effect.
Xylophone is doing those hits along with the
trumpets. And then there's like a little timpani
moment. in here. It's like in response to the
trumpets. That's exactly right. Two and three
and one and two and four and one. Yeah. So it's
part of the conversation and it's important that
you cannot leave out the timpani part. You need
the timpani part. Yeah. That's right. And then
there's like little, you know, rim, like playing
on the rim of the snare drum here, which to me
would sound like, you know, you're running or
whatever, like little fast footsteps. So lots
of cool just like effects here. Straight Mutes,
always an effect for sure. Absolutely. At measure
37, the flute and oboe and horn and tenor sax
come in with now a new idea. Everybody else,
this is all about layering. This whole piece
is about layering. So it's good for teaching.
Hey, when we add this new idea, bring your volume
down. The flutes, oboe, horn and tenor sax come
in rest two and three, four and one. So it's
a new idea that we haven't heard before that
we want featured. Yep. And then the timpani continues
doing the kind of responses to the trumpet part.
That's continuing on as well. Now the flutes
and horn and sax are going up a little bit higher
on their instrument. But again, nothing is written
out of the range. That would be easy to sound
beautiful on, which is awesome. Then we get to
45 and it drops down immediately again to piano.
So we were kind of building it up, building it
up, getting louder and louder again. Now we're
back to Now the low people have like this like
kind of half note bass line and then horn and
tenor sax and clarinet to an oboe have the counter
melody to the flute clarinet and alto sax having
the melody. And the snare part gets a lot more
active here at 45. And now it's on the head.
The snare has been playing on the rim. Now it's
on the head. This section right here, the melody
is written to be tongue, tongue slur tongue,
tongue slur tongue, tongue slur tongue. and everything
should be really legato sounding in this section.
So making sure that they follow through with
their air on those slurs and we aren't clipping
them. Ta, ta, ta, ta, ta, ta, ta. It needs to
be air follow through all the way through all
of this. And luckily the tenudos are written
in to kind of help at least with the quarter
notes following through. Then it gets a little
bit stronger, a little crescendo into 49. The
trumpets now join in with the melody. Same thing's
happening in the low brass part and then we crescendo
going into 50. 53 is where the cowbell comes
in and it is helping keep the tempo for the entire
percussion section. So it's like the metronome
and the rest of the percussionists are out. And
this section really does sound to me, the trumpet
horn and alto saxophone take over the Austin
auto one, two and, and four and, and three and
four. And it's now we're still in that major
tonality. And like we were at the beginning and
the cowbell, it really does make it sound like,
like a rock. song. Yeah, it really does. You
just want to clap along at this part. Hey, that
would be fun to do on a spring concert. Like
you could turn around and have the audience to
clap. Yeah. Or like have your percussionist that
aren't playing do like stick clicks above their
head. Oh my God. That'd be so cute. In here coming
up. So that's adorable. Yeah. You heard it here
first, everybody. There you go. Um, and then
again, they're continuing on with the ostinato
and the, again, the accents are important. So
make sure you're making sure the kids do that.
Cause that just helps with the groove. um then
the lows come in it's like you know like a big
rock moment and they're just holding these chords.
You know? Yeah. So that's really fun. Kids love
when they get to have cool bass parts like that.
And then at 61, we go back to the same idea we
had before with flute oboe clarinet, doing the
rest two and three, four and one and two. So
it's like their, their little melody comes in
and like Laura mentioned, everybody else layers
down so we can hear it. And we also add in the
cabasa that gets up with the timekeeping. This
is the only right here where the bells have something
that is unique, that is not anywhere else. And
I know we talked about the bell part not being
super important, but your xylophone player could
cover the bell part right here because it's only
bells. So you would still just need one player
for that. But the bell part is important here
because it is a little bit different. Kind of
like it's it seems kind of like an electric guitar
part or something. You know, yeah, like riffing
at sixty five. The whole band is in the lows
are doing those cool chords. Trumpet horn trombone
and alto sax and clarinet to and bassoon are
doing the ostinato flute. Oboe clarinet are the
melody. So we want to bring that part out a lot.
Bells are still doing the different thing and
cabasa is still going. So we're just kind of
grooving. And right here at measure sixty nine,
this format I love this. Cowbell goes away. Cowbell's
out. This is where the stick clicks are. So we
have stick clicks on two and four for four measures.
This little section right here sounds to me,
it sounds to me like an ice cream truck. It's
like the entertainer. One and two, three and
four, one and two and four and one. And with
the stick clicks and the chromaticism and the
other voices that are kind of moving up, building
that energy and suspense. And then everybody
has a big fortissimo. hit at 71 and then it immediately
drops down so subito piano and then crescendo
again that ostinato is continued in the low voices
um and then we build build build until we get
to measure 75 where we're getting to like the
big the big finale yep And then the ostinato
continues with the mid voices like clarinet,
sax, horn, back to that minor tonality. Yep.
And then back to the same thing we had before
with the big hits on beat three and the upper
people going three and four in. And then we continue
that on. And then at the very end lows get to
have another moment of glory. But the key center
is different here and it's got A naturals and
B naturals. So this is like a section you will,
this four measures, you will slow down and like
lock in those fourth position B. natural. Yes.
Everybody's favorite. Yes. Lots of accidentals
and everything. Yep. That has to be really solid
and in tune and confident. Yep. And then, so
they're doing their little moment. And then the
last measure is just them two and three, four,
one, and everybody ends on one. So that's super
duper fun. And timpani of course gets to do one,
two, and four and one. So solo with the, yeah.
Yeah. So that this piece is so fun. Sounds really
fun. There's fun stuff for every part. Everybody
gets to play the ostinato at some point in the
music. There's fun percussion. Everybody loves
a piece that the audience can clap along to.
But really, this goes together relatively quickly.
If you're doing this with a younger band, there
is so much good teaching material in it. I love
the dynamic contrast. Once they get the ostinato
rhythm, then the rhythms are not... difficult.
There's a lot of syncopation, but once they get
the basic ostinato rhythm, the rest of it is,
is really kind of lays down. Yeah. Like you said,
it's all about the layering. So that's, this
is a great teaching piece. If you haven't really
taught that a lot yet with a younger band, you
could, you know, you could teach, Hey, listen,
literally when you have this part, you got to
go down and then everybody else gets to come
up. So yeah, great way to teach, uh, to, you
know, talk about balance. Yep. Well, we hope
you will consider programming Skedaddle in the
future and thank you for joining us on this episode
of Band BFFs.