TRANSCRIPT 🔗
WEBVTT
00:00:06.660 --> 00:00:10.320
Welcome to our podcast, Band BFFs. The podcast
00:00:10.320 --> 00:00:12.660
where we make your music selection less complicated.
00:00:13.099 --> 00:00:15.859
On today's episode, we will be discussing Upbeat
00:00:15.859 --> 00:00:18.719
by Randall Standridge. Cheers to starting the
00:00:18.719 --> 00:00:23.620
conversation. This piece is a blast. So cute.
00:00:23.780 --> 00:00:27.899
It is a publisher grade 1 .5. It's about two,
00:00:27.960 --> 00:00:30.059
two and a half minutes in length. It's really
00:00:30.059 --> 00:00:34.560
fast. Lots of energy, lots of repeated syncopated
00:00:34.560 --> 00:00:37.520
rhythm, massive amounts of percussion, of course.
00:00:38.579 --> 00:00:41.880
There is a split clarinet part and split trumpet
00:00:41.880 --> 00:00:46.380
parts. Everything else is pretty simplified except
00:00:46.380 --> 00:00:48.960
percussion. There's an optional drum set part.
00:00:49.119 --> 00:00:52.060
So like if you have a that can play that this
00:00:52.060 --> 00:00:55.079
this room this is like funk to me right so fun
00:00:55.079 --> 00:00:57.899
so a drum set would be awesome but you can also
00:00:57.899 --> 00:01:00.740
split that out amongst lots of lots of different
00:01:00.740 --> 00:01:03.439
players if you need to and it is not on the Texas
00:01:03.439 --> 00:01:06.959
PML and so Laura and I both said oh my gosh this
00:01:06.959 --> 00:01:10.159
would be so fun to do with a region band because
00:01:10.159 --> 00:01:14.219
it's just beefy enough but also not too out of
00:01:14.219 --> 00:01:19.560
reach so super super fun so the whole piece is
00:01:19.340 --> 00:01:23.780
it's marked upbeat rock, it's at 144, it's in
00:01:23.780 --> 00:01:26.060
the key of concert E flat, and it starts out
00:01:26.060 --> 00:01:28.859
with everybody having the same rhythm. One, and,
00:01:28.859 --> 00:01:31.640
and, and, and one. Little chromatism in there.
00:01:31.700 --> 00:01:34.379
And then like timpani and drum set. One, and,
00:01:34.519 --> 00:01:36.859
and, and, and one. Concert E flat, by the way,
00:01:36.879 --> 00:01:39.340
I forgot to say that, sorry. So at the beginning,
00:01:39.540 --> 00:01:41.959
the first time you have that little part for
00:01:41.959 --> 00:01:45.519
everybody, the final note on measure two, downbeat
00:01:45.519 --> 00:01:48.680
of measure two goes down. One, and, and, and.
00:01:48.560 --> 00:01:53.599
and won. then it goes one and and and and one
00:01:53.599 --> 00:01:57.439
and it goes up to the upper octave so the reason
00:01:57.439 --> 00:01:59.920
I bring that up is because just for teaching
00:01:59.920 --> 00:02:02.280
opportunities that's pretty cool you can teach
00:02:02.280 --> 00:02:05.280
like your flutes how to play the lower C and
00:02:05.280 --> 00:02:08.000
how to play the upper C with a good sound trumpets
00:02:08.000 --> 00:02:11.360
same thing D with the kick slide upper D without
00:02:11.360 --> 00:02:14.240
being out of tune things like that not everybody
00:02:14.240 --> 00:02:16.500
goes up and down the octaves it's just flute
00:02:16.500 --> 00:02:19.500
and trumpet but that's an excellent opportunity
00:02:19.370 --> 00:02:23.150
to always teach how to sound good in ranges of
00:02:23.150 --> 00:02:24.810
your instrument that you don't always go to.
00:02:25.469 --> 00:02:26.849
As you mentioned, the drum set part. And that
00:02:26.849 --> 00:02:28.870
unison octave, right? I mean, this whole thing
00:02:28.870 --> 00:02:32.110
is unison. A lot, a lot of unison, yeah. So then
00:02:32.110 --> 00:02:34.389
there's this little rim shot, little snare jump,
00:02:34.530 --> 00:02:37.610
digga digga rim shot. And then at five, it's
00:02:37.610 --> 00:02:40.250
so cute. It's a digga digga rim shot. Digga digga
00:02:40.250 --> 00:02:42.849
rim shot. Lots of cymbals too, which you know
00:02:42.849 --> 00:02:46.650
Standridge loves, so just use with caution. Yes.
00:02:47.590 --> 00:02:50.430
So then the... drum set part kind of keeps going.
00:02:50.889 --> 00:02:53.909
You've also got like a tambourine part like you
00:02:53.909 --> 00:02:55.789
really do just think of like a little. It is
00:02:55.789 --> 00:02:59.990
rock yes. At five the sax and the horn have the
00:02:59.990 --> 00:03:03.349
melody and it's got some accents one two and
00:03:03.349 --> 00:03:07.629
three four and one two and and and then at seven
00:03:07.629 --> 00:03:10.449
the low people come back in with that same rhythm
00:03:10.449 --> 00:03:15.370
one and and and one and and and one and then
00:03:15.370 --> 00:03:18.030
they play it once alone and then at eight the
00:03:17.800 --> 00:03:19.979
the upper people join in and play it with them.
00:03:20.759 --> 00:03:22.900
I told Laura before we started this, we're playing
00:03:22.900 --> 00:03:27.199
this right now with our Sweet Sub -Non -Varsity
00:03:27.199 --> 00:03:30.210
and they love this piece because... They're like,
00:03:30.409 --> 00:03:33.810
it's so hard. It's so fun. Cause it's the same
00:03:33.810 --> 00:03:35.909
rhythm over and over. And they're like, but there's
00:03:35.909 --> 00:03:38.069
a style marking on everything, right? So like
00:03:38.069 --> 00:03:41.090
there, I mean it does, it can look a little intimidating.
00:03:41.330 --> 00:03:43.169
The rhythm with all the eighth rest and then
00:03:43.169 --> 00:03:45.169
the accidentals and then the style, but it comes
00:03:45.169 --> 00:03:48.990
together so sweetly. So I, I just, I love this
00:03:48.990 --> 00:03:51.069
piece. So you're going to hear me sing it a lot.
00:03:51.069 --> 00:03:53.469
And I just think it's so fun. I come home from
00:03:53.469 --> 00:03:57.330
work singing it. So it's very catchy. Um, so
00:03:57.330 --> 00:04:00.009
then the horns and the altos. Take over again,
00:04:00.330 --> 00:04:02.889
same little rhythm. One, two, and three, four,
00:04:03.030 --> 00:04:07.050
and one, two, and one, and, and, and, and one.
Load full transcript
00:04:07.210 --> 00:04:09.669
So then everybody's got that. And then the lows
00:04:09.669 --> 00:04:13.830
get to keep going. Two, three, four, one, two,
00:04:14.030 --> 00:04:15.810
and one. Oh no, wait, sorry, we're not on that
00:04:15.810 --> 00:04:20.430
part yet. So right at measure 13, the horn and
00:04:20.430 --> 00:04:23.269
alto and second clarinet comes in with this little
00:04:23.269 --> 00:04:27.199
almost chromatic little lock down. One, three,
00:04:27.399 --> 00:04:29.579
four. Yeah, it's so fun. When the upper voices
00:04:29.579 --> 00:04:32.579
get the one, two, and three, four, and one, two,
00:04:32.660 --> 00:04:34.959
and, and. Yep, and then the lows got it again,
00:04:35.160 --> 00:04:36.379
then everybody joins them. It sounds like something
00:04:36.379 --> 00:04:39.120
from Sesame Street. I don't know. Do you know
00:04:39.120 --> 00:04:41.680
what I mean? Like, teaching you a, this is the
00:04:41.680 --> 00:04:44.680
word of the day. I don't know. Okay, well anyway.
00:04:45.180 --> 00:04:48.639
I just showed my age. I'll take that back and
00:04:48.639 --> 00:04:51.959
we can use that in the band hall on Monday. So,
00:04:51.959 --> 00:04:56.560
so fun though. So continuing on, we get a, the
00:04:56.560 --> 00:04:58.720
next little moment is with trumpet and flute
00:04:58.720 --> 00:05:02.500
and oboe at 17. They have the same thing. One,
00:05:02.500 --> 00:05:04.939
two, and three, four, and now we've got this
00:05:04.939 --> 00:05:07.579
cute little chromatic thing. One and two and,
00:05:07.959 --> 00:05:11.259
and then everybody has one and, and, and, and
00:05:11.259 --> 00:05:14.259
one, two, three, four, and those all, all those
00:05:14.259 --> 00:05:17.129
notes. have an accent on them when we're crescendoing
00:05:17.129 --> 00:05:20.110
up to 21. This is the melody I was thinking it
00:05:20.110 --> 00:05:23.430
was before. So now the trumpet, horn, and clarinet,
00:05:23.670 --> 00:05:25.870
and sax. And percussion, by the way, is super
00:05:25.870 --> 00:05:27.790
active all the way through this. Not only do
00:05:27.790 --> 00:05:29.550
you have that cool drum set part, but I mean,
00:05:29.769 --> 00:05:32.870
there's lots of cymbals. Lots of cymbals. There
00:05:32.870 --> 00:05:35.689
is some mallet percussion stuff that's going
00:05:35.689 --> 00:05:39.829
on. Cowbells, suspended cymbals being hit. And
00:05:39.829 --> 00:05:41.730
cowbells are pitched cowbells. Like you want
00:05:41.730 --> 00:05:44.459
two different pitches of cowbells. There's all
00:05:44.459 --> 00:05:47.860
types of some serious funk percussion happening.
00:05:48.540 --> 00:05:52.199
At 21, now we've got a new melody. One, three,
00:05:52.300 --> 00:05:56.699
four, and. Three, four, one, three, four, and.
00:05:57.019 --> 00:06:00.740
two three four one so it's so cute so catchy
00:06:00.740 --> 00:06:04.939
again a great teaching piece because you do have
00:06:04.939 --> 00:06:08.379
like inharmonic notes you get to talk about like
00:06:08.379 --> 00:06:11.259
oh it's an f sharp in this measure but now we're
00:06:11.259 --> 00:06:14.639
in a new measure now it's f natural um you know
00:06:14.639 --> 00:06:17.019
all those little things that you know are great
00:06:17.019 --> 00:06:20.879
to teaching moments yeah um There's the bass
00:06:20.879 --> 00:06:23.319
line happening underneath that as well with percussion
00:06:23.319 --> 00:06:26.759
just kind of keeping the groove. The melody comes
00:06:26.759 --> 00:06:29.259
back again. And this bass line in this section
00:06:29.259 --> 00:06:31.819
really is just like a something. A walking bass
00:06:31.819 --> 00:06:36.620
line, yep. Then we've got everybody reaches at
00:06:36.620 --> 00:06:40.759
28, one and two and three and off. And then 29,
00:06:40.920 --> 00:06:42.920
everybody has the same rhythm again. It's just
00:06:42.920 --> 00:06:45.240
like the beginning. And one, lots of percussion
00:06:45.240 --> 00:06:49.360
in between. Yep. 33, we go back to that same
00:06:49.360 --> 00:06:51.420
thing from before, this time with flute oboe
00:06:51.420 --> 00:06:54.279
and clarinet one only on the melody with bells
00:06:54.279 --> 00:06:57.000
only. And it's not accented in the same way it
00:06:57.000 --> 00:06:58.980
was earlier. You don't have those punches on
00:06:58.980 --> 00:07:00.899
one and three. Yeah, it's a little bit more like
00:07:00.899 --> 00:07:03.040
calm here. The low brass are doing something
00:07:03.040 --> 00:07:05.220
different. That's a piano, yeah. And they have
00:07:05.220 --> 00:07:08.720
like a cool little chromatic -y thing too. Then
00:07:08.720 --> 00:07:12.139
the horn and clarinet have a response. So they
00:07:12.139 --> 00:07:15.319
play first, upper people. One, two, and three,
00:07:15.339 --> 00:07:18.899
four, and one. two and and and then horn and
00:07:18.899 --> 00:07:22.600
alto one two and three four one and two and so
00:07:22.600 --> 00:07:24.720
now we've taken that same melody and just split
00:07:24.720 --> 00:07:27.379
it out between two different voices um then they
00:07:27.379 --> 00:07:29.519
we all kind of all join in together and lead
00:07:29.519 --> 00:07:33.699
up again to 39 lows get to have one and and or
00:07:33.699 --> 00:07:37.819
sorry one and and and and one then it's a percussion
00:07:37.819 --> 00:07:41.939
break then everybody one and and and and one
00:07:41.939 --> 00:07:45.319
percussion break again then a forte piano 43
00:07:45.290 --> 00:07:49.250
the lows have the melody one and and and trumpets
00:07:49.250 --> 00:07:53.810
add more people add and one then it's percussion
00:07:53.810 --> 00:07:58.310
break for four measures and now it's a ds all
00:07:58.310 --> 00:08:02.490
coda so you go back to five and you play basically
00:08:02.490 --> 00:08:05.689
the same stuff again so the same type of roadmap
00:08:05.689 --> 00:08:10.029
yep until measure 28 and then it goes to the
00:08:10.029 --> 00:08:13.329
coda and the coda has really similar stuff in
00:08:13.329 --> 00:08:16.350
it again everybody playing together. We bring
00:08:16.350 --> 00:08:19.509
that same theme back one and and and and one
00:08:19.509 --> 00:08:22.310
just like the beginning. Yep we've got the accented
00:08:22.310 --> 00:08:25.350
melody again one two and three four and one two
00:08:25.350 --> 00:08:30.889
and everybody one two three four and so it just
00:08:30.889 --> 00:08:33.649
has this cute little ending I mean this piece
00:08:33.649 --> 00:08:38.000
is just adorable and really easy to put together.
00:08:38.159 --> 00:08:41.100
Because it's so repetitive. Or depending on your
00:08:41.100 --> 00:08:42.679
group, right? That's right. Yeah. That's right.
00:08:42.740 --> 00:08:46.220
But just a couple of basic melodies to latch
00:08:46.220 --> 00:08:49.399
onto. And then it's about. That's right. That's
00:08:49.399 --> 00:08:52.519
right. Then it's about layering and balance.
00:08:53.080 --> 00:08:55.559
Exactly. And where's my ear going? Ear mapping
00:08:55.559 --> 00:08:58.360
it out correctly for them. Letting your percussion
00:08:58.360 --> 00:09:00.940
have some fun, but not get too crazy. And like
00:09:00.940 --> 00:09:03.679
people are always asking, you know, Laura and
00:09:03.679 --> 00:09:06.159
I for like advice on what should I. I program,
00:09:06.259 --> 00:09:09.259
blah, blah, blah. Recently, somebody asked us
00:09:09.259 --> 00:09:11.419
like, I need a piece with dotted quarter notes
00:09:11.419 --> 00:09:13.840
in it. I need to make sure my beginners understand
00:09:13.840 --> 00:09:16.759
this rhythm or whatever. This is a piece where
00:09:16.759 --> 00:09:19.799
you, it's literally called upbeat. So do you
00:09:19.799 --> 00:09:22.279
need some help with some syncopation? This is
00:09:22.279 --> 00:09:25.220
your piece, you know? And once they get it, they'll
00:09:25.220 --> 00:09:27.019
get it forever, you know? And they'll always
00:09:27.019 --> 00:09:29.120
be like, oh, remember upbeat when I learned how
00:09:29.120 --> 00:09:31.460
to play on an A and well, and I love that so
00:09:31.460 --> 00:09:34.440
many of those trickier rhythms are unison, right?
00:09:34.789 --> 00:09:37.090
The style is unison, the rhythm is unison, so
00:09:37.090 --> 00:09:39.389
I mean that makes teaching it so much easier.
00:09:39.409 --> 00:09:43.009
You could spend a week on the first four measures
00:09:43.009 --> 00:09:45.669
if you needed to because everybody plays the
00:09:45.669 --> 00:09:48.110
same thing. Yes, and it comes back over and over.
00:09:48.370 --> 00:09:51.149
But like I said, it makes kids feel really successful
00:09:51.149 --> 00:09:54.509
and they love it because it sounds harder than
00:09:54.509 --> 00:09:58.529
it is. And with the DSL Coda, it makes it seem
00:09:58.529 --> 00:10:01.450
longer than it is as well, which again is really
00:10:01.450 --> 00:10:04.139
fun for... Any kid to feel successful and excited.
00:10:04.159 --> 00:10:06.259
Yeah, it's 50 printed measures. Plus the CODA,
00:10:06.500 --> 00:10:08.340
of course, you know, which is another, what,
00:10:08.820 --> 00:10:11.059
20 measures or something. Oh, there you go, 62
00:10:11.059 --> 00:10:14.600
measures. That's so fun. Yeah. Yeah. Well, we
00:10:14.600 --> 00:10:17.240
hope you will consider programming Upbeat in
00:10:17.240 --> 00:10:19.379
the future and thank you for joining us on this
00:10:19.379 --> 00:10:21.879
episode of Band BFFs.