Score Analysis

Composer
Richard L. Saucedo was born December 2, 1957 and raised in Anderson, Indiana.
Saucedo did his undergraduate work at Indiana University and got his masters degree at Butler
University. He retired in 2013 after a 31-year career as Director of Bands at William H. Duke
Center for the Performing Arts at Carmel High School. Under his direction the Carmel High
School Marching Greyhounds were National Champions in 2005 and 2012 at the Bands of
America Grand National Championship and the Carmel High School Wind Symphony was
Indiana State Champion Concert Band in 2013. Richard L. Saucedo was inducted into the Music
for Alls Hall of Fame in March 2015 and was awarded Outstanding Music Educator in the state
of Indiana for 2010. Presently Saucedo stays very busy as Music coordinator and brass
composer/arranger for the Blue Stars Drum and Bugle Corps, Educational consultant for Music
for All and Bands of America, Member of the Conn-Selmer Division of Education. Saucedo is a
freelance arranger and composer for marching band arrangements, concert band and orchestral
works, and choral compositions. He travels throughout the country as an adjudicator, clinician,
and guest conductor for concert band, jazz band, marching band, and orchestra. He is currently
on the writing staff of Hal Leonard Corporation.

Composition
Nightsong is a slow, animated ballad for beginning band. The expressive, lyrical melody
is folk like. The unique yet beautiful harmonics of the piece create genuine musical moments
including the emotional peak achieved through the layering of instruments and the dramatic
dynamics.

Historical Perspective
Traditional ballads are considered folksongs that tell a story; the stories could be
histories, legends, fairy tales, animal fables, jokes, and tales of outlaws and star-crossed lovers.
Many of the ballads you hear in the United States originated in Europe. Many were composed in
the United States as well and continue to be composed for an audience eager to tell and hear
stories.
Despite the lack of text, the band world has taken the term ballad to label slow lyrical
wind band pieces that convey a story or idea. Most ballads for band will have a story attached to
it. Nightsong does not, this leaves the story telling up to the conductor and ensemble. It is
important for the conductor to have some sort of story or feeling they think of when performing
the piece in order for the conductor and ensemble to fully understand the style of the piece and
the piece as a whole.

Technical Considerations
Nightsong is considered a Grade 3 level in many state concert band lists. It requires
standard instrumentation. It also has an A Clarinet part but it is not necessary because it is almost
strictly doubled in the Bb Clarinet. There is also a Convertible Bass Line part but is not needed
because the Tuba, Baritone, and Trombone cover it.
The piece is written in a slow 6/8. This can cause the ensemble to push and pull at the
tempo. Most likely the piece will drag, internalizing the beat and subdividing will fix this.
Rehearsing the piece with either an electronic metronome or having certain students be the
metronome will help the ensemble feel the subdivisions. This in turn will help them internalize
the beat when the metronome is taken away. Telling the ensemble to listen back to the
percussion especially the mallets will also be helpful because they are a metronome throughout
the entire piece.
The piece ends in piano, this can cause the pitch to suffer, being aware of this will help
students to individually adjust their instruments to counter this. Telling the ensemble that piano
does not mean less air will also help with their intonation. Another technique is to have the
ensemble play the ending as loud as possible with good tone. Then have them play it as written
with the same amount of air. This will give them the consciousness of how much air they need to
make the passage sound good.
The transition from the B section to the A section has a strange modulation from Bb
major to G Major. This will be tricky for beginning band; practicing a G major scale and taking
the passage slow will help.
All of the parts are in reasonable ranges for the instruments. Clarinets cross over the
break but that is understandable for this grade level. They will just need to work on seamlessly
crossing the break. Flutes are required to trill a high G to a high A. They are also required to be
soft in their upper register which will be hard for them but with lots of air support they will be
able to do it. Percussionist have written rolls for snare drum, bass drum, and suspended cymbal.
They need to strive for even rolls.

Stylistic Considerations
The articulations for this piece are strictly legato. About 90% of the piece is made up of
slur markings. Even when a passage is not slurred it should still be connected and smooth to
serve the ballad style. The attacks of notes should still be strong to help the piece move forward
and to clearly hear entrances of instruments. The releases of notes should also be clear but not as
strong or heavy as the attacks. The conductor can insure this through their conducting. The
conductor could also use rehearsal techniques such as having the ensemble bop all the notes to
hear if entrances are clear.
The dynamics applied in this piece range from piano to fortissimo. Crescendos and
decrescendos are notated for all of the instruments vertically except for measures 59 and 60
where only the percussion has a crescendo. The crescendos and decrescendos are mostly used to
dynamically shape bigger sections of this piece. Although not written the conductor should also
dynamically shape the eight and four bar phrases that make up the bigger sections of this piece
through facial expressions, left hand, and the size and style of the pattern.

Musical Elements
Melody:
There are three prominent melodies in this piece. In the A section the melody is sung through the
upper woodwinds first through the Clarinets in measures 19 to 26 then through the Clarinets,
Flutes, Oboe, and Alto Saxophones in measures 27 to 34.

M. 19-26
M. 27-34

During the B Section, the melody is passed from the Alto Saxophones and Horns to the trumpets
in measures 35 to 42. In measures 43 to 51 a variation of this melody is passed back to the upper
woodwinds (Flutes, Oboes, Clarinets, and Alto Saxophones).

M. 35-42

M. 43-51

In the C section the melody is a call-and-response between Trumpets and upper woodwinds
(Oboe, Clarinet, Alto Saxophone) in measures 61 to 71.

M. 61-71
Harmony:
With a single melodic line accompanied by a chordal harmony Nightsong is homophonic by
description. Throughout most of the piece the low brass and low woodwinds provide the chordal
harmonic structure. The piece uses traditional triadic harmony with a few seventh and ninth
chord tones to add color, for example the concert F# and A in measures 75 and 76. The piece
starts off in g minor then it traditional modulations to Bb major. Then the composer takes an
interesting turn by modulating to G major. Then finally the piece ends in the original key g
minor. Due to the chordal nature of this piece the conductor will have to address balance and
intonation of the major and minor triads throughout the piece. Singing passages, tuning
individual notes, and building the chords would be good techniques to address this.

Rhythm:
This piece is in 6/8 but is felt in two. The rhythms throughout this piece are simple and
repetitive. They are made up of eighth notes, dotted quarter notes, and dotted half notes only.
The difficulty of this piece is the tempo. It is not slow enough to conduct every beat but the slow
two pattern can cause confusion and dragging. To avoid dragging, the conductor needs to have
clear, concise icti and rebounds that have a triple meter feel. The ensemble also has to be held
responsible for internalizing the beat and subdividing. The repeated eighth notes in the mallet
percussion can be used as a metronome because they are playing almost the entire piece.

Timbre:
The overall timbre and texture of Nightsong is a full, warm sound. The clever use of ostinato
patterns at the beginning with Flutes, Alto Saxophones, and Mallet Percussion start the piece off
with a sweet yet yearning feeling. Mostly presented by the clarinets in their Chalumeau range, all
of the A themes have a relaxed yet somber feel to them. The B theme is presented by the
Trumpets in Bb Major, a key that compliments the Trumpets characteristic bright sound very
well. The C theme has a heavy full ensemble chordal texture; it continues to move the piece
forward with the driving Timpani and Bass Drum rhythm as well as the eighth note call-and-
response between the Trumpets and upper woodwinds. To create the overall rich, warm sound of
the piece the composer utilizes the dark low instruments, such as Bassoon, Bass Clarinet, Tenor
Saxophone, Horn, and Tuba, for the harmonic structure.
Tracz Analysis