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Hazo’s Fantasy on a Japanese Folk Song

Posted by Riskybusiness on 12/18/2024, 4:25 pm

How approachable is this Hazo piece?

I want to program it but my gut says don’t do it. I’ve avoided lyrical pieces but know that I need to bite the bullet and just do it so I can grow as an educator.

Any advice for this piece?

Back story: band program took a huge hit from covid and we’ve slowly been building back up. Last year was the first year we attended uil as a 6A varsity instead of a nonvarsity group. we did pretty well (1-2-2). We are now 5A and while we don’t have to read two grade 4 pieces, I want to keep the level up because I feel we’ll be back to 6A. I’m programming Mackey’s Undertow for sure and would love to program this Hazo piece but I’m scared of a lyrical piece.

Re: Hazo’s Fantasy on a Japanese Folk Song

Posted by STBD on 12/19/2024, 3:29 pm, in reply to "Hazo’s Fantasy on a Japanese Folk Song"

This is a playable piece, and it is not as exposed as some of the lyrical grade 4 stuff. It is playable, but plan to spend time finding places for everybody to breathe.

I played this one three times, and one of the biggest issues is keeping the legato style while still maintaining a full volume. Best way I have found is to have kids work with a neighbor on the same part and scratch out a few notes in each section and changing them to breath marks. Very difficult to play this piece well if you try to breathe between notes. Better to leave notes out for breathing and play all the rest of the notes full value.

The oboe part is tough to play in tune, and it jumps around a lot. Consider writing some exposed oboe stuff for clarinet.

Re: Hazo’s Fantasy on a Japanese Folk Song

Posted by Me on 12/19/2024, 11:09 am, in reply to "Hazo’s Fantasy on a Japanese Folk Song"

Done it twice with a 4A variety, had success both times. Even made it to state with OPS.

I used a synthesizer for the harp. Get a good piano player, I only had the player change volume one time (toward the end when the band gets pretty loud)

Chord tuning could be an issue. If you don’t use “just” intonation, you’re toast. Learn to tune the chords and do a chord analysis.

A lot of the color tones are overwritten. Just cut some players on sustained “spicy” notes in those chords.

Overall, it is a beautiful piece and usually comes across very well. If you don’t have a good oboe or an oboe player at all, I found that rewriting the part for clarinet works well.

Good low reeds make this piece

Re: Hazo’s Fantasy on a Japanese Folk Song

Posted by Respectfully on 12/19/2024, 9:07 am, in reply to "Hazo’s Fantasy on a Japanese Folk Song"

Program for the band you have, not for the band you'll have next year or the year after - and not for the UIL requirements of the future.

Let next year you worry about next year.

If you're worried, you're right. Pick a lyrical piece that fits your band that is in the requirements.

Re: Hazo’s Fantasy on a Japanese Folk Song

Posted by dunnit on 12/19/2024, 8:10 am, in reply to "Hazo’s Fantasy on a Japanese Folk Song"

If you've got a great sounding flute soloist, a solid 1st trumpet player, a solid oboe, and a kid (and instrument) that can cover the harp part well, it's not so bad. For the full group, it's really tough to balance the woodwind 16ths with the brass chords at the dynamics asked and tuning at each dynamic extreme can be tricky for a lot of kids.

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