Blue Shades by Frank Ticheli Part 1

[ZubinHathiPercussion]

I play percussion, and I am going to be playing this with one of my local wind ensembles soon. I have all 4 of the percussion parts with me, but I have no idea which one I'm going to be playing. There are like 22 percussion instruments used throughout the entire piece. It's going to be...interesting... 

[Tiffawesomeness]

I played this senior year, with the wind ensemble at my high school. We worked so hard at it and were so grateful that we got invited to play it at Disney World. I played the kick ass bass clarinet solo :)

[metalmike04]

@Tiffawesomeness haha i cant wait were playing this and me and the other bass clarinetist have to decide who gets what solos haha

[shmittythepirate]

When this starts, the first few notes sound like they are going to be "Reverberations" by Brian Balmages.

[steven4931]

This song supports the cowbell theory: Any piece with cowbell is better than any piece without cowbell.

[baconmallinator]

Ticheli visited my composition class last week and said that this piece was commissioned by numerous high schools and that he planned for it to be performed by top level high school orchestras. The man could not stop talking about all the things that excited him in his works, it's amazing how passionate he is.

[MrBassTenor]

Los Banos High School is playing this for part of there field show!

[prog10123]

This is are marching band piece this year

[drkmge4]

the clarinet solo is really fun to play! I'm hopefully going to play it for my high school this winter

[Flippinpinoy09]

This piece will make you a great individual player. It requires precise counting with the rythmic scheme.

[fishoutofwater71]

This song is pretty great. However, it's overdone. Every band plays this. Besides that, this song seems tame compared to pieces like Asphalt Cocktail (John Mackey.) And I'm pretty sure it's a grade 5, not grade 6.

[drkmge4]

@fishoutofwater71 no, it is most definitely a grade six,

[djdapimp34]

our band played this song and got a 1+ :)

proud to say im a clarinet

[ejdatmacdotcom]

i love this song! i played this on flute for freshman year with my wind ensemble and it was great! the whole piece is so exciting and different!

[joliefille19]

anyone else notice at measure 69, Ticheli wrote "sultry"? (1:42)

[saxophonesuperpowers]

@joliefille19 I did! I played this as a high school sophomore on tenor sax, and the bari saxes and we were resting. So we were like, "sultry rests? I didn't know rests could be sultry!" Ironic that it's at 69.

[nutt1cl3]

awesom

[imnotgone144]

Just throwing this out there. This song is nooooot ment for middle schools. It was probably watered down. Because this is a grade 6. It's pretty freaking hard. We miiight play this for our prism concert. High school. But it's ridiculous!

[saxophonesuperpowers]

@imnotgone144 um, no, I played it in high school and it gave us all a run for our money.

[LucidDivinity]

I remember playing this in middle school, it was such a fun piece! I still have my music for it :D

[pbcrazy1]

yeah i totally agree! this song is extremely fun to play

[dearsushi15]

this song is wonderful !

i like to play it with orchestra.

[jceidem]

i play the contra bass clarinet part, and it freaking sucks! its like eighth grade music

[linkzelda4eva]

tuba part @ 1:23 is soooooo beast!!!! XD my section leader plays it all the time

[jayoster2]

ahhahahahaha ..... we have a contra bass clarinet too ZOMG with his crazy skills makes it 10 X better just saying lol

[linkzelda4eva]

i heard it somewhere too in this peice, and i'll have to agree. the fact that you have a contra makes it WAAAAAAAY BEATLIER too!!!! XD wish i played contra anything!!!!

[kier625]

This song is crazy I would like to play this class..

Anyone have the the clarinet part for this? ( any part is fine just want to experience playing it )

If you have it message me please it would be greatly appreciated :)

[petitex3]

Lol I'm playing this for school. It's fresh ;D

[Music135ful]

I've heard this piece like hundreds of times, but have never played it. I really really want to play it.

[iamnotafraid95]

My high school symphonic band is playing a Ticheli piece called Abracadabra.

I really like his work(:

[grecianxpiratex07]

last year my school played "Vesuvius" by ticheli. awesome piece :)

[jayoster2]

My school has played "vesuviuss", "ride" by tichelli, we are also playing this ... we just have straight up good music haha

[TheMightyIzakT]

@jayoster2 i dont think "ride" is by ticheli. thats by sam hazo. we played those two pieces. omg. you dont go to PAS do you?!

[rc1260]

We played this with Dr. Ticheli himself.. and this recording sounds a little slow >> but it sounds great!

[MusicJohnson]

All-Southern Wind Ensemble?

[sushidudeiscool]

The beginning doesn't really sound very blue to me, it sounds more red/orange with a bit of green near the end

[megamegan944]

were doing our indoor drumline show on this music

[aclaw115]

This song is what got me into your music frank ticheli! A great piece!

[azone37]

haha...-.-

[MrFrankTicheli]

Dear FrankTicheli1, Please remove your entry here as well. This will serve as my last request.

Thank you.

[Kyl3thebandnerd]

I pretty much love this song (: i wish my high school is skilled enough to play this :/

[Tiffawesomeness]

It is an incredibly hard piece, but your band should try it out. You can learn a lot as a musician from this piece.

[childoflight051]

Yay, I finally found it! We played this song last year in band, very fun! Hard, but fun!

[Smithinitup22]

We play this as one of our songs in marching band too, and it sounds really cool.

[sealdude36]

This song is so entertaining to listen to.

[crazygrainger2006]

I just played this piece today - I love the clarinet solo

[discoverysgraywolf]

For the MArching Band arrangement my Band director did, He turned it into a really high screaming Trumpet solo!

[crazygrainger2006]

Faaaaaark :O +1

That sound would be demonic (I've been exposed to a lot of screaming trumpets). I gotta have a listen to it sometime! (or see a video of it).

I think I should arrange this for jazz band.

[pian0freak]

omygad...this piece...im playing flute 2 for this in high school wind ensemble...

the syncopation is killing me x.x

[gswarriorsfan8]

i have trouble counting the rests in the mallet part.

[nerf15]

listen to the recording while reading your part; helps a lot

[TauntonConcertBand]

I think you are referring to bars 135-137 in which the horns are supposed to sound flat as indicated by the composer. Considering this piece is as the title suggest Blue Shades. The piece is influenced by the Blues "Blue notes" (flattened 3rds, 5ths, and 7ths)

[makmegs]

they start of fine and get flatter especially on the last note of that part, you try having perfect pitch...

[zackeey]

The piece is written for the horns to go flat at that part. Flatten 1/4 tone i think.

[Tokyo1021]

@makmegs ...It's supposed to be that way :p...

[makmegs]

@Tokyo1021 @Tokyo1021 it hurts my ears that way :( there is dissonance and there is just being plain out of tune...

[sixstringking6]

@makmegs

Those are called microtones....you dumbtard

[makmegs]

@sixstringking6 soz i gave up music years ago

[kiltboy1220]

played this as a horn like 2 years ago.  it was probably my favorite piece.

[asburke95]

I have to march this

[Smithinitup22]

our show is awesome!

[discoverysgraywolf]

SAme here!

[blkjock81]

This composition is kinda Leonard Bernstein-ish west side story? hmm? Played this in 3rd year college band

[brownsound545]

i play the timpani in this. its amazing. challenging. but jazzy to. amazing

[mnkysplayhoky]

i played timpani for this too, really cool :)

[phantomgirl7338]

Bass clarinet on this song is challenging but awesome. I'm performing it in two days! =]

[plushmoon02]

this song was the most fun our percussion section had since the goddess of fire...

[samsterrx3dare]

i agree. we are playing it now. i love this song.

[Qurosaki420]

there's many rest for 2 beat

[HelmGuardian]

The Timpani part for this is really hard... not because there are hard rhythms but becuase there are really long sections of counting where it is REALLY easy to get lost. I'm not trying to scare you... but be warned.

[plushmoon02]

haha, agreed. :)

[dcidrummer93]

My highschool just did this piece

[rocknsurfer16]

i love this piece!

[CoolJoolz]

It truly is! My daughter is in the wind symphony at her high school and they played it her freshmen year and the kids just LOVED playing it!

[Kevin053092]

woohoo It is quite awesome!!!

[munkeysrule]

this song is absolutely amazing!

so much fun to play,

[RangerLovingLonghorn]

Fun piece. Wouldn't mind playing it again :)

[Shellshok91]

My wind ensemble played this 2 years ago i think. It was pretty friggin sweet. I think at the same time they played it the junior college that is here was playing it too but i didnt get to hear them play =/

[GeckoProductions3]

im in 8th grade windensomble and play french horn we played Fortress by him and it kick butt! i hope in high school i can play this or shanandoa by frank ticheli his music rocks!

[xJasonOhx]

yay! just came back from band camp. we've started this piece, and enjoying it so far. loved the expression on the 1st clarinetist when he saw the solo ;)

[oucutiern]

My band played this my senior year in hs. The clarinet part was difficult but I loved it!

[XxGenEroCityxX]

aww you're lucky! I wante to play it my senior year. =[

[pimppinc6]

i played this song my junior year of high school is it one of the most amazing songs ever

[kj2013]

wow this is BADASS

[mollymarie333]

We are playing this song this year in our high school wind ensemble. I'm so excited!

[enobnala90]

played this junior year in high school, it was friggin sweeeeeeeeeeet!

[stfulaurenb]

we're going to try to play this in shen wind ensemble for a nysma competition! this is song is so awesome!

[salempit2007]

we are going to play this song in my wind ensemble class for festival, its awsome.

[memphis148]

I can't decide what my favorite Frank Ticheli song is. Either this or Vesuvius. Both have badass clarinet solos.

[nivpat]

bass clarinets FTW!

[memphis148]

not bass clarinet solos, bad ass clarinet solos. Bass clarinet is pretty sweet, but alto clarinet is my domain.

[pianodb]

there is a dad ass bass clarinet solo in Blue Shades

[TheOriginalMusicGen]

for sure. I am playing that bass clarinet solo this year for my school :D

as a matter of fact, i have a video of me playing a part of blue shades on my account ;)

[lostperfection09]

Agreed! We are playing this song for festival and it is killing me right now.

[ghsmrz4eva]

LOVE vesuvius!

[guthoriantony]

yummy

[Kevin053092]

I agree!

[Moiraine20200]

We're playing this in Winds Of Wisconsin! :D

[flyawayfromfate]

I am a senior in high school, and we are learning to play this song for our concert next month. I LOVE THE BASS CLARINET SOLOS :D go us! I finally get to play loud, and with vibrato :)

[Arlitto]

my teacher wants bass clarinets to play loud ALL THE TIME, regardless of musical dynamics. Lol.

[SteelVaginas90210]

this music is very excellently played great work omg u guys are pretty good I LOVE YOU (shh! who said that?) um... it was alright i guess

[diabeticcyborg]

2:07....xylo solo thats not supposed to be a xylo solo......whoops....

[thedashiii]

Haha!

Few measures early there, killer. LOL.

[marliegirlie]

godddd this song is amazing

[MaUrOiScOoL88]

Edinburg High School 2004 Texas state marching band finalists owned this song

[mdawg9498]

we played this for marching band in our blues show this season. we did awesome, and our whole blues show was amazing. we played birth of the blues, and a medley of in the mood/cool/sing sing sing, and then this. it was amazing!

[firefly16842]

we played this last year

oh god, page 6....flute part is hell (but fun)

[VilhamAnderson]

4:10 yaaay oboes

[wootx3]

ahh my favorite part of this piece is most definitely the cowbell! i forget whatt measure number itt is, and i'm too lazyy to go upstairs and get my music to check. but yeahh. Frank Ticheli is pretty muchh amazingg.

band dorkk prideeeeeee =]]

[ghsmrz4eva]

yay band! =] lol

[connorsax2012]

I love this piece! It doesn't really sond like a piece by Ticheli and that gives it a unique feel. I am always hooked when start to listen to it. It has a musical texture like nothing I've ever heard.

[skybean]

one of my favorite songs of all time

[mauric13]

God I love this song, played it in college.

[CurlyGirl5562]

We're playing this song in band right now. I'm on piccolo. It's a really hard song to learn!

[darthdude194]

I am Playing the Bass clarinet Part...

YAYYY Bass Clarinet Solos :D

[papasplaysthesax]

we played this for our high school marching band last season...it sounds better and extended here