Literature for a Pandemic
(and Beyond)
Let Me Be Frank With You by John Mackey
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Overview:
Key signature: Concert Bb Major Length: 3 minutes 15 seconds
Time signature: 4/4 (has a 2/2 feel) Style: Ticheli-Inspired Jazz
Tempo: Half note = 120 Dynamic range: p - ff
Grade level: 3.5 Scoring: 4 part Flex
Instrumentation:
Part 1: Flute, Oboe, Eb Clarinet, Bb Clarinet, Soprano Saxophone, Trumpet
Part 2: Flute, Oboe, Bb Clarinet, Alto Saxophone, Trumpet
Part 3: Bb Clarinet, Bassoon, Alto Saxophone, Tenor Saxophone, Trumpet, Horn, Trombone, Euphonium
Part 4: Bass Clarinet, Bassoon, Baritone Saxophone, Trombone, Euphonium, Tuba, Bass
Percussion: Tambourine, Drum Set, (optional) Bass Drum
**The preference is for the tambourine to be played by hand, but it can be mounted and played as part of the Drum Set part, if needed.
Special Considerations:
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This is the first piece John Mackey composed during quarantine. After months of not being inspired to write, the melody came to him for this piece. Initially, he was afraid that he had accidentally plagiarized Frank Ticheli, so he played the piece for him. Ticheli told him that it was not plagiarized and encouraged him to use it, hence the title, Let Me Be Frank With You. The piece is dedicated to Frank Ticheli.
There are several short solos in the piece, which provide opportunities to feature players.
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Rehearsal Suggestions
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Musical Expression:
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Teach ensemble members about the inspiration for the piece and play recordings of Frank Ticheli's Blue Shades and Country Dance from Cajun Folk Songs II. Compare them
with Let Me Be Frank With You. Have the musicians focus on telling a story through their performance. A story might be inspired by imagining taking a walk around New Orleans and hearing musicians playing on the street corners. The story could be entirely from the
imaginations of the musicians. Bringing music to life in this way is essential to creating a situation where the conductor, musicians, and audience all feel engaged, rather than simply conducting/playing/listening to music.
In order to better communicate these emotions with the audience, read Completing the Circle by Bud Beyer.
There are many wonderful exercises in the book from the world of mime and theater that will help conductors and musicians to connect with each other and with the audience. As conductors, we must be open to the emotions we feel from the music and we must
encourage our musicians to do the same. Every time we take a breath, we need to inhale the character of the music and exhale our emotions through the music.
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Tonality/Intonation:
Let Me Be Frank With You is in the key of concert Bb major, but accidentals are frequently used to give it a jazz flavor. In order to achieve proper intonation on chords and intervals within the piece, musicians must know how to listen and tune.
Edward Lisk is a master of the science of sound. In almost all of his books, including The Creative Director: Conductor, Teacher, Leader, he provides a thorough explanation of the hows and whys of the tuning process.
It is best to set a pitch from either a drone or a tuba (or lowest instrument in the band). A drone is advantageous, if possible, because it provides a consistent pitch. Using the Yamaha Harmony Director HD 200 keyboard is helpful for hearing chords in just intonation and tuning them accordingly.
Concert F is the best pitch for tuning all wind instruments because of the overtone series and where it lies on the instruments. The exception is Eb alto and baritone saxophones, but the benefits of F in all the other instruments outweigh this. After the winds have tuned to F, the drone or tuba should switch to Bb and all winds should join the Eb saxophones in tuning that note. Start by tuning principal players. After the principal euphonium is in tune with the tuba, they should continue to play and then the principal trombone player should join in. The process repeats through score order (ascending). After section leaders are in tune, everyone else tunes by listening to their section leader. Only one person in each section (who has not yet tuned) should tune with the section leader at a time, especially when musicians are first learning how to tune, so each musician can clearly hear themselves and identify if there are beats in the sound. Musicians do not need to worry about if they are flat or sharp. They only need to listen for beats in the sound. Tell players if they are pinching their embouchure to slow down beats, they are flat and if they are relaxing their embouchure to slow down beats, they are sharp. After that, they can adjust their instrument by moving the slide/mouthpiece/barrel in or out or adjusting the reed. Next, they need to identify if the beats got slower or faster. Faster beats means to go the opposite direction on the instrument and slower beats means to continue in the same direction until the beats have been eliminated. When musicians are perfectly in tune, their sound is indistinguishable from the sound of their section leader. They should keep playing as the rest of the section tunes. In addition to blending within the section, each section needs to balance within the ensemble. In general, this means musicians should listen down to the tuba or lowest instrument in the ensemble or the instrument playing the lowest part.
After musicians have completed the tuning process, they can play unison pitches around the Circle of 4ths from Edward Lisk's Alternative Rehearsal Techniques - Creative Director Series. As musicians become more comfortable with listening and playing in tune on unison pitches, add perfect fifths. Eventually, players can learn to play major, minor, and seventh chords around the Circle.
Because this piece has some unusual harmonies and dissonances, spend time playing it slowly and isolating intervals and chords that need attention (measures 117-119, for example).
In this case, start with second chord of measure 117. Have everyone play concert E and then have half of the players move up to the concert F. Find where the minor second is most in tune. There will still be beats because it is a dissonant interval, but musicians should strive to make the beats as slow as possible. Repeat the same process with the concert B to C# and find where the major second is most in tune. After that, tune the concert E and concert B. The perfect fifth should not have any beats. Next, have half the ensemble playing concert E and the other half playing concert B. Finally, half of the people on concert E should move up to concert F and half the people on concert B should move up to concert C#. Repeat a similar process for other unusual harmonies and dissonances throughout the piece.
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Let Me Be Frank With You requires musicians to play with a half note pulse of 120 beats per minute. Ensemble members need to have a strong internal pulse, otherwise the tempo will drag and the piece will lose its energy.
To develop ensemble pulse with my students, I introduce it as a game, based on Edward Lisk's internal pulse exercise (described in The Creative Director: Conductor, Teacher, Leader). To lead the game, hold your hands out with the palms up and count aloud 1-8 (at a tempo of quarter note = 60 beats per minute). Next, the musicians should count with you. Everyone should be counting with a crisp tone of voice and be focused on listening to the space between the beats. Players need to keep their bodies from moving during this time. The focus is on internal pulse, not on external elements like foot tapping, head bobbing, etc. After the pulse has been established, turn your hands, so your palms are facing down. When your palms are down, you and the ensemble members should switch to silently counting. During silent counting, everyone should keep their lips sealed, so no one is mouthing the numbers to themselves. Remind musicians of the internalization process or "thinking in your brain". Initially, only indicate one or two beats of silence at a time. As the musicians improve their internal pulse, keep your palms down for more beats. It is a fun challenge for musicians to see how long they can count silently and still come in on the correct number and with their voices exactly together. After musicians are successful at a pulse of 60 for the quarter note, you can also experiment with different tempos, including the performance tempo for this piece of 120 beats per minute for the half note.
After the musicians have performed the pulse exercise correctly, have them transfer it to playing around the Circle of 4ths. Start by having them play in unison on concert F on the Circle of 4ths for pulse 5. Ensemble members should be counting to five (internally) while they are playing for four beats, releasing on beat five, and then breathing and entering with the new pitch on the next beat. After they have played concert F, they should play concert Bb, then concert Eb, etc. At first, you can conduct a "one" pattern and indicate the entrances and releases. When the ensemble is secure in the internal pulse, stop conducting and let the musicians continue to play pulse 5 around the Circle. It is important to stop the ensemble when precision in entrances and releases is lost.
Remind musicians to breathe together and play together. Whenever the entrances or releases lose precision, name a new pulse (for example, pulse 3) and begin on a different note in the Circle (concert Ab, for example). With practice, the internal pulse of the ensemble and precision of entrances and releases will improve. As this occurs, indicate
pulses between 3 and 7 (or longer). Rests should also be added. For example, pulse 5 rest 3 would be "play, two, three, four, release two, three, breathe" and would be notated as a whole note followed by a whole rest.
Even though the piece is written in 4/4 time, it clearly has a feeling of two and the pulse is marked for the half note. Therefore, musicians need to understand how to count the rhythms as though it were written in cut time.
For example, parts 1 and 2 in measures 17-20, the rhythm would be counted:
Musicians also need to understand how the rhythms interact with each other vertically.
Ensemble members need to be subdividing the eighth note pulse (in this case, 1e+a, 2e+a). After everyone can read, count, and clap each rhythm, have them think and play one rhythm at a time on a unison pitch (starting on concert F) around the Circle of 4ths. Then divide the ensemble in half. Have one group play one (of the four) rhythms on a unison pitch while the other half of the ensemble plays a second rhythm in unison, perhaps a perfect fifth away. Next, switch parts, so everyone is playing a different rhythm from the first time. After that, repeat the process with the third and fourth rhythms and then with the first/third, second/fourth, first/fourth, and second/third. Finally, have the ensemble members play the rhythm that occurs in their part in the written music. Remind musicians to continue to subdivide and listen for how the parts line up with each other.
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Dynamics:
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Let Me Be Frank With You has dynamics from piano to fortissimo. Normally, I define dynamic levels using one hand to indicate a dynamic level pianissimo through fortissimo, where zero is pianissimo and five is fortissimo. In this case, use a five point scale, where one is piano, and five is fortissimo. Have musicians play around the Circle of 4ths and cue each note at a different dynamic level. Encourage everyone to only play as loudly or softly as they can play with good balance, blend, intonation, and tone quality.
Let Me Be Frank With You has many crescendos and one crescendo followed by a decrescendo. To teach gradual changes in volume, Edward Lisk recommends, in his Creative Director Series books, musicians count aloud the number of beats the crescendo or decrescendo lasts. After ensemble members can count the correct volume with their voices, they can play crescendos and decrescendos around the Circle of 4ths.
Decrescendos are usually more challenging to do evenly at first, so continue to draw attention to making sure the voice is correct and then apply it on the instrument. With time, players will be able to play crescendos and decrescendos of various lengths.
This example shows measures 77-82 in part 4. In measure 78-79, there is a crescendo from mezzo forte to forte. Because of the half note pulse, this should be counted starting on the "and" of one in measure 78, "+ 2 +3" (three being the downbeat of measure 79) with the voice increasing in volume from mezzo forte to forte.
For measures 80-82, the voice should start at mezzo forte and count "1, 2, 3, 2, 1", with three being forte on the downbeat of measure 81 and the last "one" being mezzo forte again on the downbeat of measure 82. After musicians can count the dynamic changes with the correct volume in their voices, they should think the same volume and play through the instrument.
There is a fortissimo piano in parts 1 and 2 at the end of measure 129. This should be counted on the "and" of beat two with the voice at fortissimo and then on the "a" of two, the voice should drop down to piano. Counts one and two would stay piano and then on counts three, four, and five, the voice would crescendo to fortissimo on the downbeat of measure 132.
Remind musicians not to whisper or shout when they count because that does not represent good tone quality. When they are ready to play on their instruments, encourage everyone to only play as loudly or softly as they can play with good balance, blend, intonation, and tone quality.
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Articulation/Style/Phrasing:
John Mackey uses slurs, accents, staccatos, tenutos, staccato accents, and tenuto accents to create interest as different musical lines interact with each other.
In measures 17-20, there are accents, slurs, and staccatos in parts 1 and 2.
In part 1, the accents add emphasis to the beginning of each melodic fragment. The slurs are smooth and end with a staccato, which means the last note is clipped, rather than full value. This gives space to lead into part 2. The staccatos in part 2 give it a light feel.
In measures 34-35, staccato accents provide emphasis, but each note is separated.
In this case, the staccato accents are serving as an interruption of the melody in part 2.
In measures 55-57, tenuto accents are played by providing extra emphasis to the beginning of each note and leaning into the note for its full value.
The tenuto accents are used here to draw full attention to the dissonance of each chord.
In measures 129-132, there are tenutos in part 3. This requires the player to learn into each note for its full value.
The tenutos in part 3 allow those notes to be brought out over the crescendo happening in parts 1 and 2. It also draws attention to the syncopated rhythm in part 3 interacts with part 4 in measure 131.
Edward Lisk outlines in many of his books, including The Creative Director: Conductor, Teacher, Leader, three natural laws for musical expression. If ensemble members
remember that short notes look for long notes, low notes search for high notes, and high notes search for low notes, they will be able to shape phrases in almost any piece. Using this in combination with the articulations and dynamics will create interesting phrases. Choose phrases and play them at half tempo, so musicians learn how to bring out subtle nuances in the energy of the line as the melody is passed between all the parts. Then play them up to tempo and re-create the same feeling of energy and direction.
Grace Notes:
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There are a few times when grace notes are used, for example in parts 1, 2, and 3 in measure 190.
Remind musicians that the grace note should happen exactly on the beat (not before). Depending on the instrument, alternate fingerings might be necessary. Woodwind players should have access to fingering charts such as The Woodwind Fingering Guide website. Brass players need to know the alternate fingerings/positions for their instrument or have access to a fingering chart with this information, such as the one on the Band World website.