WEBVTT 00:00:06.639 --> 00:00:10.740 Welcome to our podcast. Band BFFs. Podcast where 00:00:10.740 --> 00:00:13.619 we make your music selection a little less complicated. 00:00:14.019 --> 00:00:16.460 On today's episode, we are going to be discussing 00:00:16.460 --> 00:00:20.260 Dragon Dance by Michael Storey. Cheers to starting 00:00:20.260 --> 00:00:24.579 the conversation. Roar. Like a dragon. Like, 00:00:24.579 --> 00:00:28.089 I mean, a very small dragon. A teensy one. A 00:00:28.089 --> 00:00:32.289 little one, to be clear. So we were just talking 00:00:32.289 --> 00:00:36.070 about, we feel like, sorry that these pieces 00:00:36.070 --> 00:00:41.609 are kind of short, but we are on our fuse, our 00:00:41.609 --> 00:00:43.969 little fuse right now in our band jobs. I mean, 00:00:44.109 --> 00:00:48.210 just like limping to the end, right? I'm sure 00:00:48.210 --> 00:00:51.289 many of you feel the same way. We tried to term 00:00:51.289 --> 00:00:54.810 a, wait, coin a term, coin a term. We figured 00:00:54.810 --> 00:00:58.670 band prole. Was about as close as we could get 00:00:58.670 --> 00:01:01.149 I just saw something on social media that someone 00:01:01.149 --> 00:01:05.450 said and I can't I cannot for the life of me 00:01:05.450 --> 00:01:08.989 remember. I'm pretty sure that April rivals October 00:01:08.989 --> 00:01:12.409 in band world, especially middle school band 00:01:12.409 --> 00:01:16.969 world. I completely agree. And my coworker just 00:01:16.969 --> 00:01:19.489 had a baby, which is awesome and incredibly exciting. 00:01:19.489 --> 00:01:21.269 And I got to meet him today for the first time 00:01:21.269 --> 00:01:24.750 and he's precious and perfect. But yeah, that 00:01:24.750 --> 00:01:27.370 just makes things even like more crazy in this 00:01:27.370 --> 00:01:30.950 season, right? When you're even... down a staff 00:01:30.950 --> 00:01:34.849 member. Yay, April. Yes. But now technically 00:01:34.849 --> 00:01:38.750 we're in May. Yeah. And so it's the slow. The 00:01:38.750 --> 00:01:40.569 slow decline to the end of the school year. Yeah, 00:01:40.769 --> 00:01:43.510 it really is. It's actually just limping. Yeah. 00:01:43.769 --> 00:01:47.370 Yeah. But we are so excited to talk about Dragon 00:01:47.370 --> 00:01:52.530 Dance. This is a great little beginner band slash 00:01:52.530 --> 00:01:57.430 possibly sub non varsity band piece to do in 00:01:57.430 --> 00:02:00.450 the fall. It just uses the first six notes on 00:02:00.450 --> 00:02:03.769 each instrument. Therefore, it makes kids feel 00:02:03.769 --> 00:02:07.019 very successful when they perform it. It is in 00:02:07.019 --> 00:02:08.939 the key of concert B flat. It's a minute and 00:02:08.939 --> 00:02:13.340 a half long, so very, very short. No split parts 00:02:13.340 --> 00:02:15.599 anywhere, very simplified percussion. And one 00:02:15.599 --> 00:02:17.599 of the things that I like about it, the snare 00:02:17.599 --> 00:02:19.520 part is written for the snares to be played off 00:02:19.520 --> 00:02:22.340 on tom. So if you're doing this with a beginner 00:02:22.340 --> 00:02:24.879 class and you have a larger percussion section, 00:02:25.259 --> 00:02:28.979 you can throw several people on that tom part 00:02:28.979 --> 00:02:30.879 and it's not going to overwhelm the ensemble 00:02:30.879 --> 00:02:36.479 as opposed to if it was snares on. easily overbalance 00:02:36.479 --> 00:02:38.900 an entire group but that's kind of a nice thing 00:02:38.900 --> 00:02:40.439 for the percussion because there's not a lot 00:02:40.439 --> 00:02:43.479 of percussion you've got snare bass some cymbal 00:02:43.479 --> 00:02:47.199 triangle fun and bells that's it yeah but very 00:02:47.199 --> 00:02:49.740 very playable for everyone it does have some 00:02:49.740 --> 00:02:54.080 some skips in yeah the brass that you know I 00:02:54.080 --> 00:02:58.099 think can offer a challenge but otherwise very 00:02:58.099 --> 00:03:03.030 straight ahead yep so Key of B flat, super easy. 00:03:03.229 --> 00:03:05.689 We start off with low brass, actually kind of 00:03:05.689 --> 00:03:09.169 giving a little bit of a pulse. The dragon part, 00:03:09.189 --> 00:03:13.009 I would guess, one, two, three, four, one, two, 00:03:13.050 --> 00:03:16.129 three, four, one. And then the upper people are 00:03:16.129 --> 00:03:19.449 just doing half notes on top of that. There is 00:03:19.449 --> 00:03:21.870 an accent written on the last note, which is 00:03:21.870 --> 00:03:23.710 measure three. And there's like a little percussion 00:03:23.710 --> 00:03:26.370 break, very cute. And with like a little gong 00:03:26.370 --> 00:03:29.889 part, which is fun. And then at measure seven, 00:03:29.960 --> 00:03:33.560 trumpets come in with the melody alone, lots 00:03:33.560 --> 00:03:36.900 of Ds on this piece. So this is a great opportunity 00:03:36.900 --> 00:03:41.719 to teach or review kicking out on Ds with your 00:03:41.719 --> 00:03:44.780 trumpets, making sure because at the ends of 00:03:44.780 --> 00:03:48.039 every phrase, they're usually playing a D. So 00:03:48.039 --> 00:03:51.500 it's just a great way and tool for teaching the 00:03:51.500 --> 00:03:53.659 students about how important that is, how that 00:03:53.659 --> 00:03:56.039 affects tuning between not just them, but also 00:03:56.039 --> 00:03:58.599 other instruments across the ensemble. I also 00:03:58.599 --> 00:04:01.319 think this is written the melodic phrases are 00:04:01.319 --> 00:04:03.960 written obviously in in four measure chunks but 00:04:03.960 --> 00:04:06.099 every two measures the melody has a half note 00:04:06.099 --> 00:04:09.280 at the end so this is a now he has written this 00:04:09.280 --> 00:04:12.159 really well where the accompaniment part is always 00:04:12.159 --> 00:04:15.120 covering quarter notes when the melody ends on 00:04:15.120 --> 00:04:17.600 a half note but it is a great opportunity to 00:04:17.600 --> 00:04:21.300 insist that your young players push across the 00:04:21.300 --> 00:04:24.019 bar line and play in full four measure phrases 00:04:24.019 --> 00:04:27.800 and not break that phrase up into two measures 00:04:27.800 --> 00:04:29.750 and again Again, that goes along with what Katie 00:04:29.750 --> 00:04:31.949 was saying about kicking on those Ds, because 00:04:31.949 --> 00:04:35.889 most of the time it's on that concert C. And 00:04:35.889 --> 00:04:38.949 like the low brass and low reed part is literally 00:04:38.949 --> 00:04:42.290 just a concert C. And so they have to also learn 00:04:42.290 --> 00:04:45.170 how to articulate really firmly. They just have 00:04:45.170 --> 00:04:51.449 C, C, C, C, C, C, you know? And so that's a great 00:04:51.449 --> 00:04:54.529 way to teach students like, hey, sometimes you're 00:04:54.529 --> 00:04:56.910 going to see repeated material in your part and 00:04:56.910 --> 00:04:59.050 the composer does... want it to sound like a 00:04:59.050 --> 00:05:01.569 whole note. Right. They want the rhythm to be 00:05:01.569 --> 00:05:05.040 there. tonguing firmly, making sure your tongue 00:05:05.040 --> 00:05:06.660 is sitting in the right place. That's going to 00:05:06.660 --> 00:05:09.480 help everybody to sound even better as we're 00:05:09.480 --> 00:05:12.100 playing as a full ensemble instead of just our 00:05:12.100 --> 00:05:14.319 class. And the trumpets are the only melody right 00:05:14.319 --> 00:05:16.779 here at measure seven. There's no woodwinds other 00:05:16.779 --> 00:05:21.199 than low reeds that are supporting there. So 00:05:21.199 --> 00:05:23.199 I mean, your trumpets need to be really strong. 00:05:23.279 --> 00:05:25.720 They need to be confident. It's a unison trumpet 00:05:25.720 --> 00:05:29.360 line, no split parts. So that helps. But yeah, 00:05:29.579 --> 00:05:31.519 lots of the trumpets need to be confident for 00:05:31.519 --> 00:05:36.290 sure. At 15, the saxophones, tenor, and alto 00:05:36.290 --> 00:05:40.250 join in with the trumpets on the melody. And 00:05:40.250 --> 00:05:42.449 then there's a cute little counter melody with 00:05:42.449 --> 00:05:47.829 flute, oboe, clarinet, and bells. And their part 00:05:47.829 --> 00:05:50.990 is marked forte just like the melody part. So 00:05:50.990 --> 00:05:53.389 this is, again, another good opportunity to teach 00:05:53.389 --> 00:05:55.850 students like, hey, we've already heard this 00:05:55.850 --> 00:05:59.149 melodic line. Now the cool thing to do is to 00:05:59.149 --> 00:06:01.310 have that melody and the trumpet back down a 00:06:01.310 --> 00:06:04.180 level. and we call this layering. And then the 00:06:04.180 --> 00:06:07.300 flute and oboe and clarinet line can layer up 00:06:07.300 --> 00:06:10.300 and be the more important part. So again, this 00:06:10.300 --> 00:06:13.720 is great for just teaching because they're all 00:06:13.720 --> 00:06:17.379 playing really similar lines. It's a good first. 00:06:18.129 --> 00:06:20.910 foray into layering and balance for the kids. 00:06:21.029 --> 00:06:23.350 This would even be something that you could potentially 00:06:23.350 --> 00:06:25.769 do with beginners at the winter concert, just 00:06:25.769 --> 00:06:28.250 because the range is not. There are, like I mentioned, 00:06:28.329 --> 00:06:31.350 a couple of skips. There are some skips in all 00:06:31.350 --> 00:06:34.149 of the instruments of a sixth, where it goes 00:06:34.149 --> 00:06:37.790 from a concert G to a concert B flat. So just 00:06:37.790 --> 00:06:39.910 being mindful of that. I don't think that that 00:06:39.910 --> 00:06:43.769 is too much of a stretch, but again, it's a teaching 00:06:43.769 --> 00:06:46.370 opportunity, right? Like the clarinet part doesn't 00:06:46.370 --> 00:06:48.990 go above A. Neither does the trumpet part so 00:06:48.990 --> 00:06:51.490 if we can use the opportunity to teach right 00:06:51.490 --> 00:06:54.310 hand down on a for clarinet Like we just said 00:06:54.310 --> 00:06:56.589 with kicking out on D and these are all good 00:06:56.589 --> 00:06:59.149 things to review with a sub non varsity band 00:06:59.149 --> 00:07:02.610 in the fall So that might be a good opportunity 00:07:02.610 --> 00:07:06.430 To program for as well. There's not too many 00:07:06.430 --> 00:07:17.000 slurs, but there are some in the melody Just 00:07:17.000 --> 00:07:20.379 also keeping everything long but but allowing 00:07:20.379 --> 00:07:22.980 them to know that even when they do the slurs 00:07:22.980 --> 00:07:25.199 That they have to keep the second note of the 00:07:25.199 --> 00:07:29.920 slur long to keep it in style. There are no dotted 00:07:29.920 --> 00:07:34.839 rhythms in this and most of the time that the 00:07:34.839 --> 00:07:38.560 eighth notes are Articulated they are the same 00:07:38.560 --> 00:07:42.060 note when not all the time. Yeah. Yeah when the 00:07:42.060 --> 00:07:45.740 notes change they're slurred. Yeah, so Again, 00:07:45.899 --> 00:07:47.120 just something - Most of the time. Yeah, most 00:07:47.120 --> 00:07:50.399 of the time, yes. So we just finished out that 00:07:50.399 --> 00:07:52.519 little melody line and counter melody line in 00:07:52.519 --> 00:07:56.660 the upper woodwinds at measure 22 and we're gonna 00:07:56.660 --> 00:07:59.339 teach the students to push all the way to the 00:07:59.339 --> 00:08:02.500 bar line at 23. There is a breath mark written 00:08:02.500 --> 00:08:05.240 in for the melody part which is clarinet coming 00:08:05.240 --> 00:08:07.879 up at 23 and the counter melody line which is 00:08:07.879 --> 00:08:10.899 an alto sax. Those are the only two voices playing 00:08:10.899 --> 00:08:13.839 at 23 along with triangle. Very thinned out. 00:08:14.660 --> 00:08:17.339 So the clarinets take over the melody they do 00:08:17.339 --> 00:08:19.600 have some eighth notes here, but again, they're 00:08:19.600 --> 00:08:22.519 changing, but they're under a slur. There is 00:08:22.519 --> 00:08:24.920 one set of eighth notes that they have to change, 00:08:24.959 --> 00:08:28.740 but it's D to C where they articulate. After 00:08:28.740 --> 00:08:30.920 those four measures, they get to take a breath 00:08:30.920 --> 00:08:34.740 again. And then we all come in the flute and 00:08:34.740 --> 00:08:37.860 the oboe joining in on that part with the clarinets. 00:08:38.200 --> 00:08:41.120 And saxes change over to also having the melody. 00:08:41.679 --> 00:08:43.899 They were just like a harmonic foundation before. 00:08:44.299 --> 00:08:48.809 Now the trumpet takes over that. that. Roll roll. 00:08:48.889 --> 00:08:51.169 Yeah, and the bells come in as well triangle 00:08:51.169 --> 00:08:54.409 keeps going again It's very thinly scored just 00:08:54.409 --> 00:08:57.250 basically what there is not a while motor going. 00:08:57.330 --> 00:08:59.710 Yeah, there's no snare Yeah, I mean, it's just 00:08:59.710 --> 00:09:01.950 not even a baseline Exactly triangle and then 00:09:01.950 --> 00:09:04.850 bells when they add in so no pulse or motor in 00:09:04.850 --> 00:09:07.529 the percussion here and then at 30 the you know 00:09:07.529 --> 00:09:09.750 We're starting to add everybody back in again. 00:09:09.750 --> 00:09:11.889 It's marked mezzo forte You could even take it 00:09:11.889 --> 00:09:14.090 down to mezzo piano to kind of build up the suspense 00:09:14.090 --> 00:09:17.659 here the low brass come in with one two three 00:09:17.659 --> 00:09:21.879 four and one but on the same note again and then 00:09:21.879 --> 00:09:24.059 we're just kind of all building it up for two 00:09:24.059 --> 00:09:27.519 measures a crescendo everybody gets to breathe 00:09:27.519 --> 00:09:31.980 together on beat four of measure 31 and then 00:09:31.980 --> 00:09:35.440 at 32 the low people get the melody so now the 00:09:35.440 --> 00:09:37.419 low reeds and the low brass get the same part 00:09:37.419 --> 00:09:40.440 that the trumpets had before but this time it's 00:09:40.440 --> 00:09:43.539 in a round which is fun yeah so like the low 00:09:43.539 --> 00:09:46.320 brass low reeds start the same melody idea that 00:09:46.320 --> 00:09:49.919 we have before and then one measure later the 00:09:49.919 --> 00:09:52.620 trumpets and the altos come in and one measure 00:09:52.620 --> 00:09:55.159 after that the flute oboe and clarinet comes 00:09:55.159 --> 00:09:58.039 in so again Katie mentioned this layering idea 00:09:58.039 --> 00:10:01.460 this is another really important opportunity 00:10:01.460 --> 00:10:04.580 to teach that hey this new thing is come in let's 00:10:04.580 --> 00:10:07.179 make room for the new voice and that means when 00:10:07.179 --> 00:10:09.399 you don't have it you can mark it down that's 00:10:09.399 --> 00:10:12.779 right and you know if you are a fan of marking 00:10:12.779 --> 00:10:15.000 your parts before you give them to students like 00:10:15.000 --> 00:10:18.529 we are I would write in their part after the 00:10:18.529 --> 00:10:21.049 two measures of the melody I would change the 00:10:21.049 --> 00:10:23.990 dynamic to mezzo piano so that the students know 00:10:23.990 --> 00:10:27.629 okay, that's why I'm doing this is because Miss 00:10:27.629 --> 00:10:29.509 Lewis wants to hear this part come out more or 00:10:29.509 --> 00:10:32.830 whatever Then we start the kind of the round 00:10:32.830 --> 00:10:36.590 idea over again at measure 36 It gets a little 00:10:36.590 --> 00:10:39.029 bit quote -unquote busier here because there's 00:10:39.029 --> 00:10:41.049 other stuff going on everybody's playing at this 00:10:41.049 --> 00:10:43.970 but the melodic material is still in the low 00:10:43.970 --> 00:10:46.730 people part and Um, and again, it's being passed 00:10:46.730 --> 00:10:50.110 around from part to part again. Um, and then 00:10:50.110 --> 00:10:53.029 we kind of finished that out, that idea out at 00:10:53.029 --> 00:10:56.750 measure 40 and we start off again with kind of 00:10:56.750 --> 00:10:58.669 something similar from the beginning. It's just 00:10:58.669 --> 00:11:00.929 like what you have at the beginning. And then 00:11:00.929 --> 00:11:04.970 we end with a cute little cha cha cha and keeping 00:11:04.970 --> 00:11:08.289 the last note long and there's accents on the 00:11:08.289 --> 00:11:12.649 last note. So just a really short, you know, 00:11:12.690 --> 00:11:17.480 43 measure. piece, but really great for teaching 00:11:17.480 --> 00:11:22.940 or refreshing a lot of those musical ideas that 00:11:22.940 --> 00:11:26.340 you need to teach again in a younger band. Yes. 00:11:26.399 --> 00:11:29.279 Yeah. Well, we hope you will consider programming 00:11:29.279 --> 00:11:31.559 Dragon Dance in the future and thank you for 00:11:31.559 --> 00:11:35.360 joining us on this episode of Band BFFs.