Welcome to our podcast, Band BFFs. The podcast
where we make your music selection less complicated.
On today's episode, we will be discussing Zydeco
Cajun crawdad dance by Roland Barrett. Cheers
to starting the conversation. I dare you to say
that fast five times. No, I had enough trouble
with slowly one time, but thank you. What a fun
piece this is. This is very programmatic if you
can't tell by the title. Yes. It is just under
three minutes long. It's in cut time. It does
have a little section in 4 -4 but cut time and
a fast cut time. It is in the key of concert
B -flat and then it goes to F and then returns
back to the key of concert B -flat. This is definitely
something that is a little bit meatier. It's
more rhythmically complex. It's more melodically
complex, articulations, style, style, style,
split trumpet parts, split clarinet parts. Lots
of percussion. It calls for a wash. We were just
having the discussion. It calls for a washboard.
I mean, it's very this is meant to be very Creole,
right? Louisiana style music, but the washboard
is really important in this. If you don't have
a washboard, you could sub that the washboard
part for a Weero. It does call for a Weero in
a separate section of this, but you could choose
to not cover the actual Weero part and instead
just use that as a substitute washboard if you
had to. Yep. So as Laura mentioned, it's a brisk
120 marked in cut time. It starts off with like
a little flute trill and just like bells playing
and suspended cymbal. And then we have the first
statement of the little zydeco melody, one and
two. And then the next measure, another group
one E and two. Um, so it's just kind of doing
this little introduction to the melody and then
two E and a one E and two one E and two. So it's
just kind of passing back and forth. Lots of
accidentals written in, um, go, uh, concert a
flats. Um, so just got to be kind of aware of
that again, as Laura mentioned, lots of style,
lots of accents on beat one. So to kind of give
that, you know, feel of like one and three being
brought out. and then everybody kind of joins
together. So it's kind of like imagining like
a party, like you're getting ready for a Cajun
party. And everybody's just like interjecting
that part over and over. You know, that sort
of thing. And they end up on a long note like,
and they hold out that note. So just like teacher
kids. Well, first of all, I would not try to
learn it in cut time, right? Oh, of course. So
start learning it in a fast four four. Now I
know that there are different schools of thought
on this, but because it's eventually supposed
to be 120 in cut time, I would try to go faster
than 120 in 4 -4 so that you are not learning
it in half speed or less than. It is way more
difficult to really help the kids capture the
feel of the piece like that. So I would start
it at 130, 140 in 4 -4 time just to get them
comfortable on of the more syncopated rhythms
which we're coming up to in just a second and
then as quickly as possible shift it to cut time
even keeping that same tempo 140 and 44 okay
now we're going to go 70 in cut time so that
they can start to get the feel of what it's like
in cut time. I'm also currently doing a cut time
piece and I did the same thing once we got to
140 I switched it over but I did teach it from
the get -go that the kids were not going to tap
their in 4 -4. Yes. And I made them do a rhythm
sheet on our piece and we didn't do the rhythms
in 4 -4. I made them write in the rhythms in
cut time so that they would learn how to count
it in cut time so their foot tap would be in
cut time so that when we finally eventually made
that shift into the faster feel they weren't
going I don't know what we're doing anymore or
like one two three four one two three four you
know their foot can't keep up with that so that
I think is a good idea for for just any piece
that's gonna have cut time teach them to tap
their foot that way the whole time yes yeah i
think that's really important yep um after the
long note everybody gets to go one and two one
and two and uh and two and yeah I don't know
I'm sight reading this piece but uh it's very
very syncopated yeah one e and two and a e f
three or a two and yeah one e and two and a e
a two and yeah so that rhythm comes back a lot
so I mean obviously I would make sure that they
know how to count it in cut time I think that's
important um playing it on one note uh so that
they have the idea of what the rhythm is and
then putting it on your pitches and the way that
uh Roland Barrett has written out the articulations.
The slurs are really, they actually, I think,
make it even easier. And it has a little bit
more of that like back beat feel. So that's cool
because he probably wrote it to keep it like
really stylistic too, which I think is awesome.
So there are two big primary melodies that happen.
This one here at the very beginning. And that's
what we're getting into right now. We've set
the whole piece up, we get to measure 23, and
the flute and the clarinets are the ones that
are establishing that first little melody. We
have motor parts going on. The motor part reminds
me of the little like, boom, boom. Like the little,
what is that? Yeah, I know what you're talking
about. I wish you could see her face so you could
see what she's. What is that thing called though?
Like a. Like a jug. Yes. Is that what it is?
Yes, yes, yes, yes. Yeah, like where you blow
on the jug across like a flute, like you blow
across the jug hole and it goes, boom, boom,
jug. I don't know. What do you call it? We need
to be more educated on Creole music. Sorry everybody.
But they does that too in the part. It's like
it's tuba in euphonium and they're going boom,
boom, boom, boom. They're all on the downbeat
and then we have some of the others that are
on the upbeat. Yeah, it's cute. So we've got
like the - Yeah, the jug band. Yes. Well, yeah.
I'm gonna just shift and we're gonna pivot and
pivot, pivot. Okay, thank you. Our friend's reference
will always help. But they are on the downbeat
tubas, bass clarinets, bari. They are on the
downbeat and then we've got trombones and euphoniums
that are filling in on the upbeat. So they're
like playing the role of a French horn in a march
and just making sure that that locks in. The
woodblock, we didn't even talk about. percussion
besides the washboard and weero stuff, but there
is quite a bit of percussion and it's all really
important to add to the texture and the feel
of this. Woodblock is like taking the place of
snare drum in a lot of this, so you need your
woodblock player to be, you know, solid. So we
have this little melodic idea. This goes all
the way through in the upper woodwinds. We end
up adding oboe in eventually, but we repeat this
little melodic statement until we make it to
measure 31. Now those same instruments that were
playing the first melody now go into this accompaniment
mode on this little half note feature. And it's
slurred and just like flowing underneath the
melody which is in the trumpet. And trumpet brings
in the second theme that we hear in this piece,
um, one and two, uh, e and two and one and two
e, uh, one and two, uh, e and two and one and
two e, uh, so, and most of the band will have
one of those two themes at some point in the
piece, if not both. So Katie mentioning that
she did a rhythm sheet for that. This is a great
for a melody sheet because you can address the
rhythm, you can address the style, you can address
the notes and the whole band. it's gonna affect
the whole band. Yep. So we get to 39, the upper
woodwinds have that same first melody again.
We're back to the jug band feel at 39. No, I'm
not letting it go everyone. And the little woodblock
part comes back again, like we had before. And
this little melodic thing goes on for eight measures.
And then at 47, now the low brass get that part
that the trumpets had before. And now the trumpets
have gone back to that slurry flowy thing that
the upper woodwinds had before now the trumpets
get it and this is kind of like a brass feature
sort of but there's not even a tuba part yeah
so it's featured in euphonium and trombone and
there is not um a lot of times in this piece
where the whole band is playing there is well
i guess the better way to put it is section yeah
there is there is way more of this piece that
is small different color groups of instruments
even like in this area you know from measure
23 on So it's kind of cool to kind of experiment
with those different colors and give those sections
an opportunity to be featured for sure. Those
low reeds and low brass, the tenor voices, if
you will, are moving on with that part. And then
we get to 55 and we're back to the upper people
with that first melody part. Trumpets now have
kind of like a counter melody rhythmic line,
I would call it, along with snare drum. And horns
have like this really cool moment with saxophone
that I thought was neat to kind of feature a
little bit more because it's just a different
thought. little harmonic cool pretty part yes
we do have the full band in here playing at this
point. First time since the intro. But it is
that same idea that just in different color groups
moving throughout the band. Now we're getting
ready to come into a transition point where it
slows down. There's a ritardando and the full
band is moving in half notes together. We end
up on a fermata before we transition to 4 -4
time and much slower. This is just a little Two
bar, what is the word I'm looking for? Just a
little like... Interlude. There you go. Just
an in -between thing. Slow at 60 BPM. It's just
woodwinds, real pretty sounds, two, three, four,
fermata, other people playing fermata. And then
we get to the Cajun party. This is the party
dance area of the piece and I think it's really
cool. Timpani has a solo. They just like kind
of hit a roll. and then get louder and louder
and louder. And then everybody gets to just go
wild. Yes. Clapping, cheering, like all the things,
everybody, you know, clapping on the upbeats
or the backbeats, which are super important in
Creole music. Katie's so torn up about it. Yeah.
I'm very excited about the little, the woohoo
moments that like you could do, you know, like,
like a Cajun party. Yeah. They can have fun.
Yeah, you just shout out stuff random stuff while
they're clapping. So this is awesome. Percussion
is playing. We've got the washboard going. That's
really setting the I mean this to me. I'll tell
you if you have oh my gosh. What was that? What
was that? No, I'm not even gonna try and name
the movie because I'm gonna I'm gonna butcher
it. But that movie that came out last year. that
was so, it won all these awards and it was about
the zombies and the barn and they were doing
the, do you know the movie I'm talking about?
Have you not seen it? Well anyway, okay, so those
of you out there in the world who have seen the
movie I'm talking about and I'm totally blanking
on what the name of this movie is. But this reminds
me of the type of music. Blood Barn? No. I looked
up Zombie Barn. Oh Lord. No, I'm so sorry. I
should never have referenced it without having
the name of the movie right on the tip of my
brain. But anyway, that dance theme music, that's
what this is. So now you do need to make sure
that your kids can clap in time and that we can
keep everything - 28 years later? No. But you
have to give her an A for effort. She is really
- This is not a test? No. Zombies 4? No. Was
it about zombies? Um, yes. Something - I mean,
zombies may not be the right word, but in - No,
we need to give it up. I'm sure if someone is
listening right now and you know what movie we're
talking about, I'm sure you're yelling at your
phone going, oh my gosh, this is what it's supposed
to be. But right here, I love this part because
it gives every chance, every section or a couple
of sections a chance to be featured and they
pair them up in different ways. I mean, I would,
I'm currently working on this for spring concert
with my band and we've absolutely planned to
let the sections stand up and be, you know, stand
up and truly featured when they play this. But
we pass that melody that we established before.
And everybody else is clapping on the back beat
all the way throughout. So they kind of keep
going. Percussion is doing a really great job
kind of underneath with keeping the beat. Then
we get a new grouping of the sax family. um along
with the trumpet um so kind of the mid voices
and then after them we're still clapping and
going on at 95 we get to have the low voices
which also includes horn um and they take over
the same melody line everybody else is clapping
and then we get to a Back to the first original
key of concert B -flat and 4 -4 time. And this
is true 4 -4 and not cut time this time. So the
tempo is still marked 120 but you're actually
in 4 -4. Sinners. Okay. The movie is called Sinners.
Okay. She had enough time to look it up. Yeah.
Okay. There we go. Okay. So now we're in the
actual true 4 -4 moment at 105. And it is at
120 BPM. So it's the same tempo that you went
before. So basically what we've done is we've
augmented the melody. So it is the exact same
melody that we had before, but augmented. Now
the flutes and the first clarinets and the bells
are playing some kind of wiggly eighth notes
accompanying it. it's not the same accompaniment
that we had before. Melodies in the trumpet,
tenor sax, second clarinet, and oboe. And then
we've gone to snare drum here instead of washboard.
So it is definitely a little bit different feel
here, but it's the same concept, just augmented.
After this moment, we have another fermata. moment
and then a cutoff and a fermata um another little
timpani roll with the timpani and this time the
suspended cymbal looks like going into the cut
time feel again at 113 and it is back into true
cut time and it's just like the beginning with
the trill and the flute one and two another instrument
another instrument yeah so that kind of finishes
out to um the end it's just like the beginning
where everybody eventually comes together with
one en two and a en two and one two one en two
so cute just a cute little ending too Very fun.
Once you get the feel of it and you understand
that syncopated rhythm and everybody's locked
in on that, this is not overly challenging, but
fun. It'll appeal to audiences. The kids will
have a good time playing it. I think there's
lots of uses for a piece like this. Lots of opportunities
to play something in a different style. Yeah,
definitely. So cool. Well, we hope you will consider
programming. Zydeco Cajun crawdad dance in the
future. That was excellent. Good for you. I know.
I'm real proud of myself. And thank you for joining
us on this episode of Band BFFs.