Brynnpark Productions

Level 1 Balconies Canyon by Timothy Rhea

Key:  Bb throughout

Time Signature:  4/4 

Tempo:  Allegro Moderato

Notes:  

Half note tied to an 8th notes in measure 4 (release on beat 3)

Measure 21 - Trumpets have rest for 7 beats.  Be sure and cue entrance

Measure 37 - Percussion break for 4 measures/Timpani pitches Bb and F (low to high)

Snare drum is quarters and 8ths

Lots of slurs on 2 8th notes throughout

No accidentals

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Info from the Yellow Board

Starts on third space c for the trumpets. 
Low c for 2nd trumpets 
First and 2nd clarinet parts both cross the break to C. Low B Nat shows up. 
Flutes clarinet pick ups on 234 while band has a rest on beat 4. 
Trumpet C-- G-- F a (c b) slurred intro and outro 
Main rhythmic idea is 1 2& 3 4 
Sometimes 1234& 
Slurs on eight notes 
Percussion is easy but poorly written. 
Timpani solo....F is the high note. 
High low high 
High low low high 
Exposed woodwind sections 
Non unified low brass part. Tuba is on their own. 
Bass clarinet follows trombone and baritone, not barisax tuba. 
There is an interlude with woodwinds and the bass line is only low reeds. 
1 R R 4 1 R R 4 
Tuba has dotted half notes on 1, beat 4 coinciding with trumpet pick ups after 7 counts of rest. 
Half notes and long notes tied to eights. 
Mature bands shouldn't have many issues, young bands will have trouble.

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More info!
Introduction is 5 measures and ends on a unison half note tied to an eight note beat 3 cut off.
2nd chunk of song -Clarinet, flute, trumpets and horn carry the melody. Btw I noticed this song has a very difficult horn part for young bands. It stays up in the A, Bb, and C region a majority of the time. Good news is that it doubles trumpet. Bad news is young players will miss partials. Also if kids are using single horns they are gonna have hell with the part.
3rd chunk of song- WW feature. bass clarinet, bassoon and Bari sax cover the only bass line in this section. We didn’t have a bassoon or Bari but a good bass clarinet should do fine.
Brass add back in after Ww feature.
4th chunk of song- right before this chunk is a hard timpani entrance for the kid so give a big cue. Then trumpets rest 7 beats past the rehearsal number and enter with a trumpet independent feature using middle of the staff notes ( a, b natural, c) They rest another 7 beats and then play another independent part with lower notes ( descending pattern starting on G going down).
5th chunk - percussion break 4 measures
Timpani needs to play strong here although there aren’t dynamics at the percussion break which is poor editing IMO.
6th chunk same melody as the 2nd chunk of the song for 8 measures. BTW the melody is very pretty and well written.
Ending chunk- 4 measures very predictable and logical ending except this is the first time in the song of he high voices see a dotted half to quarter note pattern and they might miscount. Song ends on Bb major chord and is preceded by a concert A natural in flutes and 1st Cl, 1st Tpt (B natural)
This songs Trb/Bar line is uncannily similar to last years SR lvl 1 - Flatrock Creek. (Tons of Half notes and quarters) (probably 10 A naturals total)
No Accidentals period.

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Level 2 - Paramount Fanfare by Mark Lortz

Key:  Bb throughout

Time Signature: 4/4

Tempo:  Allegro moderato

Notes;  Courtesy accidentals can be confusing to kids.  

Piece beings with half notes on all parts

Measures 4-5 are percussion break

Measures 3, 8 and 12 have fp on long tones

Measures 16-20 Flute soli with percussion break.  Must balance

Concert Ab and Db accidentals

Accents and staccatos all over the place

Measures 47-50 Flute has moving eighth notes while band has long tones.  Balance this

Measure 55 - Quarter note followed by dotted half in all parts except flute

Several long slurred phrases in piece

All watch out for accidental trumpets Bb on occasion

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Errata: Timpani - F, Bb is indicated below the first measure, but should be - F, Bb, Eb (there are 3 pitches on the part).  Please mark score and part.

 

Percussion 3 - there are no labels on the actual part that indicate when the triangle vs. crash cymbal are played.  The upper note on line 5 is the triangle, the lower note on space 4 is the crash cymbal.

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More information:

Should be called Accidental Fanfare
It’s written in Bb but there are so many concert Ab accidentals in Flute, tpt, cl, and trb, and bar lines that it leads me to believe it actually is in the key of Eb major tonally. Also, Alto saxes have b-flat accidentals, 2nd tpts, 2nd cl. see e-flat accidentals, and horns see Ab accidentals a few times.

Piece starts out with big unison half notes for two measures in fanfare style, but no percussion.
M.3 - drums add in and the half notes continue. There is a 2 measure drum break with exposed snare,bass, timpani (think Olympic fanfare) the band comes back in with big unison half notes and these contain the Db concert accidentals in horn, alto, 2nd tpt and 2nd cl, and that concludes the intro.

The first main phrase begins with cl, tpt melody. Low brass has relatively easy accomp. There is a small rhythm trap for drummers in this phrase. They have an awkward beat 2 entrance for snare bass timp. They have to be good rest counters.

2nd chunk of the song- Totally exposed flute riff. Snare and flutes play alone for 4 measures followed by big low winds whole note entrance. And another 4 measures of accomp to the flute riff.


3rd chunk of the song- clarinets and middle voices have a lyrical section it’s between C and A on the clarinet so doesn’t go over break.

4th chunk- the same lyrical passage is repeated but there’s one big trick here. Tpts play the same exact lyrical passage but offset by one measure! So you have a round happening basically. This works best if you cue the Tpts. Don’t let them just try to enter on their own.

5th chunk - Fanfare returns but now in moving Quarters. Flutes have independent part! Flutes have 6 moving eights in a row so this maybe hardest technical passage for them.

6th chunk - this rhythm becomes the main rhythmic motif - 1 2 3 4&. With staccato articulation on the 4&.

Last section- nothing to bad here except they throw in one tricky rhythm - quarter note followed by dotted half. “1 2——“

Overall fanfare at the start. Exposed flute. Lyrical mid section that becomes a round with the trumpets, then back to fanfare to finish.

Concert Ab accidentals everywhere and they carry through the measure.

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Level 3

Key:  Bb

Time Signature:  4/4

Notes from a director:  I don’t remember seeing any accidentals.  1st 4 measures are slow and pretty, the rest of the piece is faster.  Be careful not to go too fast.  Here are some of the tricks!  The 1st trumpet has a D while 2nd trumpet plays a B natural in a moving melody.  1st trumpet must get high enough.  They also have a pretty big skip to get there, something like F (bottom of staff), C (in the staff), D (in the staff). 

 

Flutes and Clarinets are required to come in on an upbeat 8th note after an 8th rest several times.  Their rhythm is something like - rest and 2 and 3 and 4.  The part has moving notes.  

 

Toward the beginning, Low brass has a repeated rhythm that goes something like - 1 and, and, and 4 and. 

Toward the end, there is a 2 part canon between the upper voices and the lower voices.  Trombones and Baritones will have to play the same melody that the upper winds are playing 2 beats apart from the upper winds.  This will make them think they are wrong if they are not careful.  Very difficult to get all of the tricks in this piece explained in 7 minutes.

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More Level 3 info:

Slow 4 measure intro. Fermata. Grand pause. Then Allegro with half the band entering on 1 then others on the and of one

Other than the syncopation issues, practice with everyone on counting long multi-measure rests and coming in on beats 2, 3, or 4. There’s even some back to back multi-measure rests (two rehearsal numbers ). There is a wicked page turn for the Director. Trumpets, of course, are resting forever as woodwinds play. Then they have an entrance on beat 4 on the far right of the page. You must cue them or you're toast. Page turn, and Boom, they have melody. I asked to see a trumpet part as I was writing my sheet to confirm the multi-measure rests and odd entrances.

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Level 4

Key: F
Time Signature: 3/4

Flutes and clarinets by themselves first 8 measures. 
Two fermatas.
Plenty of dotted quarter eighth rhythms. 
Percussion exposed after the second fermata. E naturals and A naturals throughout.

Thin scoring, exposed & isolated entrances throughout. This is the main challenge of the piece.
1st trumpets have to go up to high F# and G
Several instances of dotted quarter in one line against straight quarters in another
"Heartbeat" motif of te 1 (rest) (rest) te 1 in bass drum & timpani
Snare drum must maintain rhythmic integrity through ritardandos
Very pretty; actually a good piece of music
No accidentals that noticed

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Level 5 by Tim Rhea

Key:  Eb and c minor

Time Signature:  4/4 and 2/4

Tempo:  Andante to moderate

Slow 4/4 is lyrical. Careful with counting in trumpet part. Horns have a counter melody they must play strong. My horns kinda missed it. Rit. Into fermata and caesura.  2/4 stays in same key. Goes into minor key. Almost sounds Russian or polish. Eight rest then 3 eighths notes. In many parts. Upper woodwinds and alto have some scalier noodles.  1st clarinet doubles flute.

Lots of accidentals! Saw some concert f# and b.  Trombones don’t see too many accidentals. I think just concert f#

It’s actually a great piece. It was such a great piece kids were actually humming the melody.

Have to read it carefully and conductor must not go too fast

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Level 6

Key:  F and Bb

Time Signature:  4/4, 3/4, 4/4

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The piece can be broken down into three sections.  Begins in Concert F and 4/4 with a key change to Bb and 3/4 time for the middle (waltz section).  Third section stays in Bb but changes back to 4/4.  The piece is littered with accidentals throughout!

 

First section is fairly straight forward.  Biggest issue is the number of ties involved (this happens throughout the piece in multiple parts).  There are ties in numerous lines in the opening and closing sections.  The ties generally go from beat two to beat three, meaning there are lots of "te 4 te"  happening throughout the piece. 

 

There are a few small sixteenth note runs that happen in the upper woodwinds, horn, and 1st trumpets in the first and third sections of the piece, but they are playable.   He also throws in a triplet run in the upper woodwinds at the end of the first and third sections.  

 

The Waltz (second) section has a moving 8th note line that is covered in the 1st Flute, 1st Clarinet, and maybe 1st alto while the melody is being covered in the 2nd woodwind parts.  1st trumpets go up to a high Ab and have a sustained lyrical melody with ties that go across the bar line (kind of sneaky). 

 

The third and final section starts with a woodwind fugue with entrances every two measures and then he recaps everything from the first section of the piece (except now you are in Concert Bb).

 

It's pretty playable but has its traps.  Lots of accidentals and lots of ties!!!