Randall Standridge

The Dragon Lord by Randall Standridge

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Overview:

Key signature: Concert c minor Length: 2 minutes

Time signature: 4/4 Style: Adventure, Programmatic

Tempo: Quarter note = 72, 144 Dynamic range: p - f

Grade level: 1.5 Scoring: 4 part Full Flex

Instrumentation:

Parts 1- 4: Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, Bass Clarinet, Bassoon, Alto Saxophone, Tenor Saxophone, Baritone Saxophone, Trumpet, Horn, Trombone, Euphonium, Tuba

Percussion: Piano (optional), Mallets 1, Mallets 2 (optional), Timpani (optional), Finger Cymbal/Snare Drum/Ride Cymbal (part 1), Bass Drum (part 2), or Drum Set to cover parts 1 and 2, Suspended Cymbal/Wind Chimes/Crash Cymbals (optional), Suspended Cymbal/Anvil/Sleigh Bells/Tambourine (optional)

Special Considerations:

Randall Strandridge explains the inspiration for The Dragon Lord in his program notes. "A few years back, I created a narrative work for concert band entitled The Darklands Symphony, which told the tale of several characters and places that I have created over the years in my imagination through stories, art, and finally, music. All of the pieces were at the Grade 2-2.5 level, and were very well received. I thought I was done with the Darklands. I was wrong. New stories and new figures have populated that world and I felt drawn to the subject matter again. Thus, we are beginning a whole new volume, titled

Tales from the Darklands. Unlike the Symphony, the "Tales" series will not be one long story, but rather, small individual tales that give more back story and depth to the Darklands Universe. Also, the entire "Tales" series will be written at the Grade 1-1.5 level, opening up the Darklands to a whole new level of players. Each "Tales" piece will be accompanied by supplemental material online, which may be found at my website (beginning October 2020)."

Randall Standridge goes on to explain, "The Dragon Lord is a mythical figure from the Darklands, who is said to live in the mountains that border the kingdom. His shadow is occasionally glimpsed flying above the clouds, and more often, his lonely terrifying roar can be heard echoing from the ebony cliffs where only fools would dare to go. In this piece, we come face to face with this monstrous giant in all his fury and power."

In addition to all instruments being able to play any of the four parts, there are also alternate parts for tenor saxophone, horn, and clarinet in an easier range. This piece provides students with an introduction to chromaticism and the composer provides chromatic exercise sheets (which can be copied) in keys for all instruments. Click tracks and a percussion/synthesizer backing track are provided, both at a slow tempo and at performance tempo. The "dragon roar" sound effect is also available for download from Randall Standridge's website.

Rehearsal Suggestions

Musical Expression:

The Dragon Lord gives musicians the opportunity to explore story telling and creating their own adventure with the music. Teach players about the inspiration behind the piece and have them listen to The Darklands Symphony. Have ensemble members use their

imaginations to develop their own version of the Darklands Universe. Encourage them to explore it through writing, drawing, or sharing their story aloud with others. As they are learning to play The Dragon Lord, allow for continued exploration and story development

as they receive inspiration from the music. Remind musicians that each time they play the piece, they are creating a world and giving the audience a glimpse into their story.

Tonality/Intonation:

The Dragon Lord is in the key of concert c minor and chromaticism is also introduced.

In order to achieve proper intonation on chords and intervals within the piece, musicians must know how to listen and tune. This skill can be taught and developed, even with young students.

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, especially for a young band 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 Beginner's Row from Edward Lisk's Alternative Rehearsal Techniques - Creative Director Series. If they are able to play all of the pitches for a one octave chromatic scale, they can use the Circle of 4ths. As musicians become more comfortable with listening and playing in tune on unison pitches, add perfect fifths. Eventually, players can learn to play major

chords, minor chords, and intervals commonly appearing in the piece (such as minor thirds, major thirds, perfect fourths, and augmented fourths) around the Row or Circle.

Pulse/Rhythm:

The majority of The Dragon Lord requires musicians to play at 144 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 approximately 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, you can also experiment with different tempos, including the performance tempo for this piece of 144 beats per minute.

After the musicians have performed the pulse exercise correctly, have them transfer it to playing around the Beginner's Row or Circle of 4ths. Start by having them play in unison on concert F on the Beginner's Row or 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 Row or 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 Row or Circle (concert Bb, 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.

The rhythms in The Dragon Lord are not complicated, but sometimes more than one rhythm will be happening at the same time and ensemble members will need to

understand how the rhythms fit together and focus on rhythmic precision (measures 29-30, for example).

First, choose two of the three rhythms and divide the ensemble into two parts. Have

one group play one rhythm on a unison pitch, while the other group plays the second rhythm in unison, perhaps a perfect fifth away. After the rhythms have been played, the ensemble can rest for one measure and then play the rhythm again on the next pitch of the Beginner's Row or Circle of 4ths. Next, switch parts so musicians are playing a different rhythm from the first time they played. Repeat the process to play the first and third rhythms at the same time and then the second and third rhythms at the same time. The advantage of a full flex arrangement is that musicians can experiment with playing different parts. After they have used the Beginner's Row or Circle of 4ths to play all three rhythms in isolation and as part of the whole, then they can play all of them within the context of the music before returning to their assigned part.

Dynamics:

The Dragon Lord has dynamics from piano to forte. 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 four point scale, where one is piano, and four is forte. Have musicians play around the Beginner's Row or 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.

The Dragon Lord 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. For example, in measure 24, there is a crescendo from piano to mezzo forte.

Ensemble members should count aloud at piano on "one" and increase the volume, so their voice is mezzo forte at "four".

The process is the same for decrescendos, except counting backwards starting with the voice louder and getting softer. A four beat crescendo, followed by a four beat

decrescendo, would be counted "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1" (where one is the softest point and five is the loudest point in the phrase. 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.

Remind players they should never be whispering or shouting because that does not represent good tone quality on the instrument. After they are able to do this with their voices, they should play their instrument, while thinking the same volume with the voice in their head.

There are several forte piano crescendos in the piece (for example measures 15-16).

In this case, musicians should count "one" at a forte volume and then drop down to piano on the "and" of one (or where ever you determine the change in volume should take place). Then crescendo through counts "three" and "four". Count "five" (the downbeat of measure 16) should be forte. Because of the accent on the forte piano, it is another opportunity to remind players that they should not whisper or shout. Also, remind them that they should only play as loudly or as softly (or as short) as they can play with good balance, blend, intonation, and tone quality.

Articulation/Style/Phrasing:

Randall Standridge uses slurs, tenutos, staccatos, accents, and staccato accents to create different emotions and levels of intensity throughout the piece.

In measures 5-6, slurs and tenutos notes create a smooth, mysterious line.

Musicians will need to adjust air speed, air direction, and voicing (shape of the oral cavity and tongue placement) to achieve even slurs. Tenuto notes are played by leaning into each note and holding it for the full value.

In measures 11-12, staccato accents give a feeling of walking or marching, while the accented notes seem to announce the need to pay attention (possibly because something bad is about to happen).

The staccato accents are separated and give emphasis to each note. The accents bring attention to each note, but they are closer to full value, with only a slight separation.

In measure 13, the separation of the staccato notes is leading to the accented note and bringing attention to the longer notes in the phrase. In measures 59-60, the tenutos achieve the same effect.

Both articulations are supporting natural musical expression (short notes look for long notes), which Edward Lisk outlines in many of his books, including The Creative Director: Conductor, Teacher, Leader. 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.

Trills:

There are a few times when woodwinds trill to build intensity in the piece. Because of the flexible instrumentation in the piece, the trill fingerings for these notes will depend on what instrument is playing them. Make sure woodwind players have access to fingering charts that include trill fingerings, such as The Woodwind Fingering Guide website.