summer dances by Brian Balmages

[19MIGHTYEAGLEBAND94]

I agree with @Alexbab95 ...it was easy...just the 180...but I love it...(cnets!)

[demob74]

I played this piece in High School, Such an awesome piece of music, i really enjoyed and i got emotionally attached to it

[ElRoosterCanadian]

the bass drum is so weak at the end

[idkimerick11]

yay I play piccolo on this... its so fun!

[islandboiskreation]

For once , our brass has finally had a moment ! Hahaha . UIL here we come .

[texasbackyardshed]

I play trumpet and this is HIGH for a trumpet to play! But I love this song and were going to play it for UIL this year.

[unicornbunniez]

Ah!! Stupid brass ppl in our band their the reason why were not gona play it

T^T i love this piece its so awesome

[celementra]

GO Euphonium~! :D

[zzApotheosis]

midnight on mainstreet is by far my favorite piece by brian balmages

[guuberluuber]

i cant hear the bass clarinet :/

[ChibinChibi]

WoodWinds: Yay

Brass: Nay and Gay

[texasbackyardshed]

@ChibinChibi brass is awesome and who takes over in this song? trumpets!

[TuttiFruitiShruti]

the saxaphone solo at 3:58 made me fall in love with the guy playing it <3 so. beautiful.

[SuperBeanie100]

I don't know why, but that part beginning at 4:58 gives me tingles :)

[extremelyawesome92]

TUBA SOLO!!! Man, this song was a finger fumbler. You just have to love it though.

[mmoney112]

@extremelyawesome92 + Bassoon

[Ormagoden1331]

Needs a shit load more trumpet to it though :P

[Preciousandpure]

I wish that iTunes had this song...

[BrittanyDaily]

Oh my god. This is so amazing! I play piccolo, but I LOVE the French horn! I wish I played French horn.. The solo is so pretty! :'D

[kacey215268]

I wish the sax solo/duet was louder :/

[PaintBrushify]

Ahh played this my last year in middle school. So amazing <3 I had so much fun practicing my trumpet parts :'D

[sViv4SHIZ]

French horns <3 ...I loved this song!!!!! We played it in my WindEnsemble high school band :D omg, I miss it so much.

The rips at the end ROCK!!

and I played the solo at 4:06!!!!!!

[EziosDisciple]

hmph no love for the bari, he has a solo with the alto

[Allissy47]

yeah clarinets!!! we did this song in wind ensemble last year and were doing it again for marching band this year but they cut out all the cool clarinet parts :(

[swizzy731]

It's a grade 4:)

[AEROPHIL100]

:'(

[Montopher]

@KimchiSB Or your gay and dont know what good music is, yeah bro I said it so STFU.. If you dont like this then dont fuckin listen to it dumbass, easy solution. Peace nig

[ZBud93]

This song is awesome. It is not often that the bassoon is given this much to do. GO 2nd BASSOON. 2 soli's. WE DON'T NORMALLY GET THAT LUCKY!!

[AEblondiechicka]

go clarinet parts!!! they are crazy hard!

[Allissy47]

@AEblondiechicka yeah we did this song with 3 clarinets, one on each part, that one part was so nerve wracking but it sounded awesome :)

[AEblondiechicka]

@Allissy47 us too!!!!!!! lol

[Alexbab95]

@AEblondiechicka Really? I thought it was pretty easy. :O But it took some practice to get the section at 180. :| Nevertheless, we got it down. :D Just practice, practice, practice.

[LowPulp09]

I bet every Clark Middle School has seen this at least once  -Bari

[saxophoneobsessed]

I LOVE this song :)

[sViv4SHIZ]

i played this for my competition! its so amazing :D i did the french horn solo :)

[LowPulp09]

I will find the one person who disliked this and eat their firstborn child

[LowPulp09]

I wish the bari sax played louder in the soli

[crazym16dude24]

Man, this piece is so EPIC!!! I loved playing this today!!!!

[teperc9702]

Westbrook Intermediate School Band is playing it for UIL this year (2010-2011).

Yep, a bunch of 7th and 8th graders.

[ZeronFXL]

@teperc9702 Same Situation here, Clark Middle School Symphonic Band (7th-8th) for UIL along with Shepard's Hey and The Big Cage

YEEEAAHHH

[sparkler52]

@ZeronFXL Hey, I'm at Clark!! Yes with Mr. Katz :D

[LowPulp09]

@ZeronFXL I am a bari sax. Guess who sent this message

[sweetnspice1221]

aww man.....i hear no bassoon :'(

great piece

[snickereffindoodle]

Mr Balmages conducted out district band this year, it's interesting to watch him at work after being a fan for awhile

[udayorama]

@snickereffindoodle lucky you

[udayorama]

SEVENTH GRADE ALTO SAX FTW

[MrDab45]

im playing this for UIL im in seventh grade i play the alto sax and i got the solo its so cool

[hellrider127]

Balmages just came into our class today to conduct one of his songs we're working on. He's amazing.

[MisterIHoward]

MrSkillerRush me too Im in 8th grade we played this I'm on the bari sac

[MrSkillerrush]

@MisterIHoward i played bari sax too :) loved my part even tho we rested most of the song :P

[MrSkillerrush]

we played this song my 8th grade year and i got the saxophone solo :) loved this song

[brendah96]

Were paying that in band right now! Go clarinets! :D

[SayAnything151]

@brendah96 Isnt that clarinet part mega cool??? I love it!!

[Potatos2121]

Fuck yeah go trombones! and not too many chicks play them, so i gotta represent

[maxedout2727]

i really like this song, we are playing it in school XD

[bendl2]

you can also count 6/8 like it's 2/4, or common time (it just takes two measures for one measure of common)

[theps3kid101]

we are playing this in band right now too, i play trombone.....because trombone rox!!!!

[soissauce13]

I'm in eighth grade n we're playing this for UIL.... its not as bad though after we played molly on the shore last year -.-

[Pkmnrocks08]

This is definitely a challenging piece. Tuba solo just adds the creaps. haha. Flute solos are amazing. We need lots of practice to even come close to speed. hah

[KrazyGurl0727]

@Pkmnrocks08 AAND piccolo solos too(:

[AaronLove2013]

We sight read this today (:

It's beastly. The oboe part is beastlyy.

We're going to be playing it for UIL concert and sightreading in April.

[lnmissgreen]

We're playing this in my band right now. :D

[coffeeclark]

clarinet all the way



[TheZstudios]

@coffeeclark sexyphones ;D

[marluxiaman]

I got the epic timpani part for this. It's honestly not too hard, great piece though.

[EABray0]

My freshman band is doing this. It is really hard and HOLY CRAP the freaking rests on the flute part make me want to die T-T" Right now it sounds terrible but we're working on it.

[KrazyGurl0727]

@EABray0 haha, so is my class too. i'm piccolo. you count it like 1,2,3,4,5,6 or 1,2,3. depending on how fast you're going.. Cut time isn't my best either. Hope you guys do well. [:

Tata fa now.

[irishluck1997]

I play trumpet and I'm in eighth grade. We are playing this for UIL in March or may I believe. I am so excited for this.

[emilyonfirst]

who has two thumbs and is playing the flute/piccolo solos in this piece?

this girl.

[KrazyGurl0727]

@emilyonfirst WHOO! Go piccolo players[: ahh, i'm rockin' this peice.

I've been playing since 5th grade on Piccolo. and flute. mostly piccolo. You?

[pwder7899]

I wish somebody can put this itunes. :D

[pwnagedood19901990]

@MonkeysForBullets cool, what district is your school in?

[pwnagedood19901990]

love this, my band is playing it for UIL. it has some pretty cool horn parts (which im playing ;D)

[MonkeysForBullets]

@pwnagedood19901990 So is my band! We're playing this for UIL :) I love all the oboe solos, since I play oboe :3<3

[TheLittlePurpleBow]

We played this song :) Its good stuff :) lol i especially like the oboe in the piece

[JdBassTPT]

My band (2nd band)played tis and got a one!

[xcvfr57]

my band director is actually thinking about doing this song

[BxMxTxH15]

@xcvfr57 i hope we actually do it

[EddTehCrazy]

where did you get the audio file? I really want a copy of this song.

[pa5436]

@EddTehCrazy i think i got the streaming file from the publisher website. its for RealPlayer. I pressed the record button while streaming P: i can't remember any other way.

[Euphonium1996]

@pa5436

here's an easier way for all your other songs that you will copy:

If you see a black media player that is loading a blue bar (small elongated rectangle about this size:

|_____________________________­___| (4x thickness)

then just right-click and save.

If you go on jwpepper.com to search for the title (which I highly recommend), then click "listen" on the song.

copy the text between "song_url" and "&song_title".

paste into your browser(use a new tab)

then save it like explained anove

[TrAnMu]

@Euphonium1996 Its not working for me. I dont see "song_url" and "&song_title"

[Euphonium1996]

@TrAnMu

look in the url.

use the mouse

select and scroll through

[TrAnMu]

@Euphonium1996 yeah I found the problem. it was the wrong type of player and so it didn't have the same type of url. thank you though. :)

[4brotherskids]

i love the ending

goooo flutes!!!!!!!!!!!!

[AFI432]

@FireClawofDuskClan That's true, haha. But once everyone gets it down it sounds amazing

[stevenk113]

This is my favorite (non-jazz) song I ever played throughout middle and high school.

[lolzatyahoo2]

dude we're marching to this song its gonna be very hard to play and march because we've only been able to memorize this piece of music for a week

[Kanogisdi]

i remember playing this years ago when it first came out. trombone here btw. balmages from what i've heard has been doing great. almost a new age robert w. smith. have any of you ever heard of invictus by balmages? i keep trying to find it on the web but so far no luck. if you haven't had the chance to hear it, you must. as far as i know, it's one of his tougher compositions.

[4brotherskids]

this man is such a genius!!!

[AFI432]

Played this in 8th grade last year. Canyon Vista middle school in austin, TX. All 1s at UIL! That 9/8 measure near the end is tougghhh for first trumpet!

[Dupre89]

i played this today in band, secont trumper!!

[petermaxjosh]

@1:40

[Juntcagio]

were playing this for floorshow. and i get to play this as a tuba. which means i get the melody with the trumpets! woot woot! Brass pwns all (except for percussion)

[stevenk113]

@Juntcagio you forgot to list bari sax with percussion.

[Juntcagio]

@stevenk113 ok bari sax too. and all the other sax's cause i want to play sax since i played tuba. i can play percussion also so i want to have the chance to learn from the woodwinds side of the world.

[ColeEckhoffMusic]

This is a grade four, not a six, to those of you who are confused.

[titanband2010]

Centennial HS Symphonic band is playing this piece, as well as Armenian Dances (which we got Straight ones at UIL) for our Spring Trip which is in 2 weeks from today! Totally pumped!! I have played this piece my 4 years ago, my freshman year, for our Spring Trip, and absolutely fell in love with it!! Can't believe I get another chance to play it! Nice recording!

[petermaxjosh]

We're playing this right now in Middle school. We have either a grade level 5 or 6 version. I think its 6. I don't mean to boast, but we have a wicked cool band.

We just got the piece recently though, so we're kind of failing currently.

[thebrassbeast]

Azusa High School is playing this piece...piece of pie =)...well for us brass cuz were AWESOME...woodwinds have some trouble though hahaha =)

[petermaxjosh]

@thebrassbeast Yea brass! I'm a trombone myself, what about you?

[thebrassbeast]

@petermaxjosh im a trumpet player...but i play all brass hahaha...im the Brass Captain at Azusa High School in Azusa California...how about you ??? lol =)

[petermaxjosh]

@thebrassbeast I just play in a middle school band, but we get all sorts of awards from different festivals. I play trombone in that and our top jazz band.

[JesusChristLives100]

my band played this as one of songs and it got us into the national concert band festival. we got to go to indianapolis.

[blakker16]

my High School is playing this for state contest in 3 weeks. i love this song so much it is a blast to play. i play base clarinet and the low parts are amazing. wish us luck in state! PCHS ALL THE WAY!!

[savvyandskye]

@blakker16

My band is playing this too, and I also play bass clarinet! This is one of the few pieces that we get an awesome part on!

:)

[laststep56]

we play this at contest this weekend. Not nearly this gud though.

[moonifiedracing]

Clarinets Ftw at 4:50

[mangoindistress]

@moonifiedracing clarinets ftw ALL the time :)

[PDWhandbook]

My school band is playing this at UIL this week. I love this song so much.

[nickcane6]

TUBAS FTW!!!!!!

[TolentinoChristian]

OMG I LOVE THIS SONG BUT I MESSED IT UP FOR THE FRENCH HORNS AT UIL. It was a simple B natural note. UGHHHH

[suprmacdaddy]

GO TUBAS!!!!

[AnDsaxplayer]

@geddylee62

yeah idk who came up with the idea that this is a grade 6...definitely a 4 and i dont think many 7th grade bands could play this...lol

[nlroandiro]

@AnDsaxplayer

we played this in our middle school band when i was in 7th grade :]

[petermaxjosh]

@nlroandiro I hope we do the same. I'm in 7th grade and we're playing it. Our adjudication is at Hershey Park in Pennsylvania.

[RJ18631863]

THIS IS A GRADE 6. I play tuba and were playing it this year. Im in 10th. It cant be played in 7th unless its the dumbed down version maybe. It was a little hard to play in high school much less middle school.

[nlroandiro]

@RJ183631963

we played this in 7th grade... not a thumbed down version. we were voted best orchestra and won UIL contest with this song in texas. :]

[kgfrog94]

love this song played it 9th grade year in our symphonic band at school go tubas!!!

[Sevault]

PLAYED TIS IN 2TH GRADE< NO JOKE GUYS

[pa5436]

no wayyyyyyy

[therookguy]

@pa5436 I agree no way

[willie34211]

@pa5436 yeah i agree yeah right

[petermaxjosh]

@Sevault Probably not the grade level 6 version.

[jigglypugz]

@Sevault that means u completely destroyed this song.

[ChunkyFunkyMonkey12]

it wasn't hard when we played it when i was in 7th grade

[Sevault]

right. Cause every 7th grade band can play grade 6 music.

...That sort of sounds like grade 6 music is meant for 6th graders, but to anyone not in the know, 7th graders play grade 2 and maybe grade 3 music. Grade 6 music like this is usually not played until 11th grade at a minimum

[geddylee62]

This is a grade 4, we're playing it for UIL this year in our schools wind ensemble

[Kanogisdi]

@Sevault only in america is the band standard set low. look at all the asian bands of middler schoolers. play just as well, if not better, then most college students in the states. kinda sad right? 

[atchannelchannel]

@Sevault

actually, our seventh grade band played two grade four pieces for contest my seventh grade year. and then a grade five for our concert. then the following year, two grade fives. so i think if their band is good enough, they could do it. :/ jussayen.

[TFToxixity]

@Sevault X( We're playing this in our 7/8th grade honors band. Seems pretty tough.

[DaZzLeMeDJ]

i agree most middle school bands cant play this song very well because it is at such a high level but some can if they really dedicate themselves to it...i played it when i was in middle school and it sounded amazing...no joke...it was better then most people would even expect for a highschool band to do...so while i do agree that most middle school bands cant play this song i disagree that all cant because we played it really well so dont go saying that all middle school bands cant play it

[TheBCarp]

this was fun, played it at the ohio band directors conference with brian balmages himself

[WhhsEagles2012]

I love this song but at our all district band clinic, we played this song a whole lot faster so this tempo makes it sound kind of boring..

[curlmofo85]

great song.

[darkguard712]

our director told us the stuff at measure 180, that is clarinets couldn't get it down, we couldn't play this song. we got it down! yay!

[a7xbeacon]

this song is a lot of fun, the first trumpet part is SICK, especially starting around 2:50. best part in the piece :)

[JoaeP2]

agreed!

[dirkiscool41]

Our Middle School Honors Band Played this for UIL and we got straight 1's!!!!And also we made the Midwest Clinic But not with his song A Longford Legend.

[goingdead123]

well. our school is a jr high.

and we arent having any trouble except for trumpets sooo shove it hookers(:

[nairblin]

goingdead123:

I'm not doubting your band's ability to play this piece, however, you should consider the different standards of a jr. high school band, high school band & a college / university band.

Just remember, a good band can play the notes & dynamics & articulation

but an EXCELLENT band can capture the emotion & excitement within the literature in the music. (and that's very tough to do).

But good luck with learning the rest of the piece!

[SWKandrewSWK]

Im pretty Sure not many Middle School bands do this aswell. When they do its out of key. Plus with it being 6/8.

Our H.S. Band is doing this song. One that qualified to state contest and we still have trouble playing this

[ilovenerds2000]

ah, i don't think middle school bands should play this song! it sounds sooooo bad when they do.

[goingdead123]

I'm learning this song for my spring concert(:

My band went to the national music festival

and is one of the first middle school bands there

:P

[marine12320]

I'm playing this right now at clarksville middle school. You wont believe what happened to my school! We made it to the famous midwest clinic! Now Brian Balmages wants to come to my school to work with me and the other students for FREE!

[nairblin]

Congratulations. Btw I heard Brian Balmages speaks with a lisp.

[ChemXu]

hey, my account got removed, and i dont think he speaks with a lisp but he does have a speech thing

[kabtjb98]

This song is amazing. I played it at Blue Lake Fine arts Camp in Michigan