This piece is made up of three entities: 1) Proper dynamics 2) The Clavi performer 3) The ability of the low end to keep it light and moving..... If any of those becomes off, this piece falls apart into chaos! I remember performing this at the University of South Carolina Band Clinic and Conductor's Symposium in 1998. Man I love the low brass part. Best I have ever performed....PERIOD!!!
I'm reading the comments and all I'm seeing is freshmen playing this. And I'm a senior blown out of my mind knowing kids in their freshman year are playing this. Bravo!! #SeniorRespect
I love the flute solo in the beginning. It's one of my favorite parts of this piece. When my band teacher passed this out I nearly fell out of my chair.
Devin Hence The director always was like that. If I remember correctly, out of the four years that I was in that high school band, the only piece that he gave up on was called Il Guarany Overture, and he noted that the piece's key signatures (mainly concert G-flat major) were a little too much even for our group (the elite of the two bands at the HS).
This song and I have an interesting past. My Freshman year of Band I was in the concert band, I played trombone. We were heading to The Spirit of ATL competition and they needed a fill in percussionist, three actually I was one of the ones chosen. I played the Tambourine in this. It was so fun, and one of my fondest band memories! Every now and then I listen to this song, and I love it every time!
Thank you John Barnes Chance for this masterful composition! Thank you Tokyo Kosei Wind Orchestra for the remarkable performance of this composition! Thank you Pablo Leal for sharing this wonderful composition!
Played this in HS in 1976. I played the cymbals and claves as they don't overlap. Our whip was a couple of 1x4s about eight feet long joined with a hinge with handles on them all from the hardware store. our girl had to stand on a chair to use them. good times!
That ain't big enough dawg, band I was in had two 2x4s that were like 10 feet long and it took two people to play the non-solo part. The solo part was moved to a normal whip because out guy was LOUD with it
Hands down, I don't think it gets any better than John Barnes Chance. Elegy, Blue Lake, Variations on a Korean Folk Song, Introduction and Cappriccio...just a phenomenal composer for symphonic band. Sadly, the Arts in schools aren't what they used to be and fewer and fewer high school kids get to experience this extraordinary composer!
Actually, our program isn't half bad, and I can name over ten amazing band programs in the Atlanta area alone. Last year, our second band played Variations on a Korean Folk Song, and if my mother gets her way, our band will be playing Incantation and Dance within the next two years.
I’ll be I rising HS senior this year. We played Variations on a Korean Folk Song 2 years ago; and I must say, I loved it then and the ending still gives me goosebumps every time I hear it
Ah the memories of this song. Sightreading this as a bass clarinet player was hell but me and the other bass clarinet got this part down in the end and one of the most memorable pieces we played in wind ensemble.
Oh my goodness, I can relate! Me and my bass clarinet section partner were scared out of our wits as soon as things started getting overly sixteenth-note-ish... Gotta love those little solo and soli bits though! The crazy syncopation is absolutely lovely!
Oh I am playing it right and I practice about 1-2 hours each day. I guess it's because the other pieces we are playing are so much more fun for bass trombone
We hated this song at first. But playing it over and over and over again starting to come together and then we realize how cool it is..especially when we got to the end.
As a bass clarinetist I completely agree. My band director gave me the the solo parts out of the three in my ensemble and I've never loved her more than when we performed this at UIL and our concert lol
Sam Mattoso you mean sounds ;) Personally, I am saddened you can barely hear the bassoons and the timpani (I played timpani when my high school band played this)
I heard this for the first time last night, played by the Roanoke Valley (VA) Community Band. It was so exciting and I loved the rhythms. It seemed that all sections of the band got a chance to shine. So many surprises! The RVCB is fabulous. Ages from 16 to 92!
Played this a few years ago in high school and this is still one of my favorite pieces of music in existence. The percussion parts were awesome to play, but what really stood out to me was the horn part and the incredible runs with the higher instruments towards the end. So many good layers and mini movements within the song!
I’m literally crying 😭 this piece is such a work of art. It feels like exaltation, arms in the air, dancing!, fear, surprise, praise, joy, elation. I just became so overwhelmed. ♥️ 🎵 how can you not want to dance to this. Ya’ll idk why I’m crying but I fucking love incantation and dance
Playing the bassoon part my senior year was the best time of my life. The raw power of the low winds gave me chills with so much excitement that backed it. SO GOOD.
Oh my Goodness that bassoon part was soo challenging to get right when I first played it at wind band 6 counties wales last year!!! The bass clarinetist didn't turn up till the performance day so my fellow bassoonist and I had to do all his cues!! That tune haunts my dreams till this day I'm just fortunate that its an epic piece of music :)
Sight read it with our high school orchestra today... Didn't think it was legal to have so many accidentals in a bassoon part. And especially when bassoon parts now generally reflect the bass line, this piece was very interesting!
I got to rehearse this piece as a freshman, I was on the bass trombone part in regional band. Our conductor handed this piece and Melody Shop to the 9-10 top band, and got frustrated when rehearsing them was rough... lol he switched us to Satiric Dances instead. I love this piece though and hope I get to actually play it some day. The bass trombone and tuba parts are so awesome.
Played this my junior year of high school. The band director was a percussionist and he worked our percussionists hard on this one (but I was playing euphonium), and it sounded great in concert. I'd love to do this again.
Recently played this for a competition against a lot of other prestigious bands and won first place! The Tuba part in this piece is amazing! So lucky to play such an amazing part!
Played this my sophomore year in high school. Ooh, the memories of playing this on the flute. Almost lost my lunch first playing this, but came to learn breathing techniques.
This piece is so iconic! I played 2nd clari on this my freshman year of hs and I remember our director telling us not to look for scales in the runs bc they followed no scale known to man. This is what made me a strong clarinetist!!!
Man, this brings back memories. But listening to this again after several decades, I never realized that opening was an actual motif used later in the piece. I don't know why I didn't recognize that before.🤔 Amazing performance.
My high school band played this last year and then this year we are playing John Barnes Chance's Variations on a Korean Folk song. They are both so beautiful!!!!!!!!!!!
When John Barnes chance was asked to right a piece for concert band (this piece), he didn't at the time like right for band since he was into choral and orchestra, so he tried writing a piece so hard no one could play it
Alex Lay-Calvert this piece isn't that hard. There are tons of pieces harder than this. Not to mention that technical difficulty isn't the only thing that makes a piece hard. Musicality is one of the most important aspects of what makes a piece difficult and I believe that not enough people know that.
despite it being a bit repetitive, the french horn part is really good for this song. it's probably my favorite song ive had the chance to play, ever. so good.
I'm guessing it's more repetitive? It kinda sucks when that happens, but at least it's better than an entire song full of offbeats. The best parts are the triplet quarter notes towards the beginning and the end though, since my band director told us to belt them out as loud as we could. It was so much fun.
There were seven basses this past year in my band. Two of them were seniors and they left so now we only have five. There are two in top band, two in second band, one in third band and none in fourth. I'm one of the top band kids this year CX
I played this with the Boulder (Colorado) Concert Band in the 1980s. Very fun. At the concert we almost lost it, but our director just kept going, glaring a little, and we played "on the edge of our seats" and brought it off!
I remember playing this in honor band was amazing and we all loved the rigor and rhythmic difficulty, but when my school's wind ensemble got the music, it was an utter disaster thanks to unprepared bass clarinets...
+Joseph your comment really made me laugh. So true. Why is it always the bass clarinet? Same thing happened with me in my old hs band all the time. With this song especially and Northwoods of Might and Meetle. Did yours squeak often? I had half the mind to get up and adjust their ligatures myself.
+Meyra Kurtar Unfortunately, too often the last chair clarinets get shoved down to bass, instead of people to actually want to be there. I've specialized on bass for many years now, and a certain amount of passion is required on this instrument. Just got this piece in community band tonight. Let's just say the band didn't have to wonder if there was a bass clarinet ;) I'll have to check out the other piece you mentioned.
+Lori Sutherland In all honesty, I completely understand what you mean. When I was a freshman in highschool I was a last chair clarinet and my conductor tried to have me switch to bass. I personally loved my instrument and told him that I wanted to stay where I was. However, out of curiosity I actually ended picking up bass clarinet anyway. I always did the pit orchestras every year and decided that I wanted to play both. It was when I did West Side Story that I fell in love with the bass. I was consumed by the roundness of the sound and complexity when played by someone who did it out of passion- just like you said. In my last 3 years when I was first chair I'd look back to see the depressed faces of the bass players. It always broke my heart. You happen to be the first individual I've spoken to that has the passion for bass and it's extremely refreshing. I just listened to some of your videos and thoroughly enjoyed them. And they joys of community band! I really hope you enjoy playing I&D. Maybe you could upload a vid of the performance =) Let me know how you like Northwoods! Also check out Bayou Breakdown if you'd like. The beginning has an amazing bass solo. Lastly, if you ever have the opportunity to be in a pit for West Side Story do it. To this day it has been one of my fondest memories as a woodwind musician. I know you'd appreciate the musicality immensely. xx
+Meyra Kurtar I think part of the problem is that middle and high school band music usually has us playing what are essentially tuba parts. It can be hard to get excited about that ;) But when we get good parts (like in I&D), we have to take advantage of them! I've had a chance to play Bayou Breakdown - fun part! Would love to play in a pit again, especially for a show as wonderful as WSS. Thanks for your kind words re: my videos! I'll at least have audio of I&D eventually (our concert isn't until early December). If you haven't checked out Michael Lowenstern's work (earspasm is the handle he uses), do it. He's an amazing bass clarinetist. I love his new album!
+Lori Sutherland I know what you mean about Tuba parts (played Tuba since 8th grade, by choice mind you). Far too often, it seems that orchestrators don't take advantage of, or appreciate, what the bass instruments can do for a piece. Also Tuba tends to have same phenomenon of players being moved there from other instruments who aren't as passionate about playing it. Hearing good Tubists play good Tuba parts is life changing. Lookup STS (Southeast Trombone Symposium) if you wanna hear some top notch low brass playing.
