Sound! Euphonium S2 - Episode 05
You know those instruments you missed? Well have I got an episode for you...
Previous S2 Eupho review(s):
Episode 01
Episode 02
Episode 03
Episode 04
I ended up making a blog as a unified location for all these Eupho writeups (cause it's hard to keep track of 13 posts for many people), so if you want a single place to check for these posts, or an easy way to refer people to them, they're at
https://thoraxes.wordpress.com/
Also a link to the neogaf post with the URLs for all 13 Season 1 episodes is
here.
To preface a little bit regarding the performance, i've not watched the movie cut of the full piece yet. I've only watched the TV version of the performance. From what i've been told, a lot of cuts from that movie edition made it into this episode's performance. So I look forward to experiencing what this episode has to bring to the table!
- Taki uses a common cutoff for conductors, which is a closed fist. If you're in band you know it means to stop playing. That the students don't keep playing after he gives the cut-off (a very common thing in young players to want to finish the phrase or keep going) shows that they've got their heads in the game.
- To comment on Taki's conductor stand and podium: The podium is the normal height and width. You'll notice he uses a chair in the back. Most conductors I've worked with use raised stools so that when they sit they can still be level with their score while taking notes, and relax their bodies a little bit.
The stand looks different from the ones the band members use because it's a conductor's stand. A conductor's stand is made to hold the music on top while the ledge just below that is for whatever the conductor wishes. Sometimes when they switch from baton to hand conducting a conductor will store their baton down there. Other times they'll set their writing utensils there (to pencil in what they're telling their band members to do; all the notes a conductor gives an ensemble are notes they have to keep track of, not to mention their personal notes on their scores for a good conducting job too!). The flat bottom piece is where they usually will store their other scores or reference materials. In a normal band season (not competitive season) you'll go through many more than two pieces for rehearsal leading up to a concert, so you would bring all the scores with.
- Horns at L refers to the (french) horns playing at rehearsal letter L. Saying more full notes means he wants more volume/body from them. A rehearsal demarcation (letter, number, symbol, etc.) is like a big designated spot in the music where something important happens (like a new phrase section, or a structural change occurs). It's an easy way to keep everyone on the same page across all the parts. For the euphoniums, saying he wants them a little higher tells me that they tend to skew flat (where the pitch is slightly lower than perfectly centered). For more on this topic, see my impressions from S1 Ep. 13 where I discuss A 440 versus A 442. Kumiko has the part down!
- Some observations on this top-down cut: Taki/Advisors use an electronic keyboard hooked up to an amp at the front of the room. This is likely to demonstrate parts players are messing up, fix intonation issues (intonation is basically the act of getting the pitch to be right in the center, not sharp or flat), or to give a tuning pitch for the clarinet so they can tune the ensemble. It's funny that they even went as far as to draw in the power chords going into the two sockets on the extension cable.
They use a traditional pyramid-shaped analog metronome in rehearsal. In my experience in ensembles, I've only seen electronic metronomes used, and those were typically hooked up to amps so that no matter how loud the ensemble played, the sound of the consistent tempo could be heard above all else (we were usually louder than the analog metronomes), and force players to adjust to a specific speed of playing.
Like last season, I like that they're all in socks because they're playing on top of blankets to deaden the sound. Even though the brass players are totally emptying their spit-valves all over the things, they still take their shoes off.
- Nooooooo, not Hashimoto and Satomi! All the kids seem bummed to see them go. Good thing Hashimoto is speaking last. He's great at cheering everyone up! I wonder just how big an impact he had on the percussionists that we even got a little crying from hearing about his departure. A good teacher can make all the difference.
- Midori's saluting seems to have rubbed off on others.
- The piece on the TV that's being performed by the band Kumiko's watching is Rachmaninov's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, from the beginning of the piece. This is interesting to me because it's totally a major piano piece on the level of a concerto (piano and orchestra in this case), but it's being performed by a band (there are lots and lots of orchestra to band arrangements, though few capture the true spirit of the originals, in my opinion). Now that's an arrangement i'd love to hear in real life, and judging by the lack of the sound of piano in the opening (the low brass was playing the piano's notes from the opening of the original), it's a band arrangement without a piano. I first performed the piece with an orchestra sitting 4th horn back in 2009 for a concerto competition winner's performance. The music, composer, and composition title immediately came back to me just from those opening six notes. It's an awesome piece, and you can listen to the full, original piece here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MuCBFKZeIW4
- Azusa is calling Kumiko? Neat. It's nice that they're talking about the competition. I get where Azusa is coming from though, with the whole don't talk to me tomorrow thing. The contests can get pretty stressful, and who knows what Rikka has going on at this point in time. I love how it's shown that everyone handling the stress of what's going on in their own way, or how different people are together through these times. Some of the expressions on the faces in the cuts tell the whole story of what their mental states are like at this point in time.
- Knowing what I do about Rikka... SILVER?! Woah... Was that following cut perhaps a tease for what could be a beautiful Rikka adaptation? I know i'm projecting, but boy do I want it to happen. The ensemble dynamics and the marching techniques are things i'm very versed in, and i'd love to share more about that in the future if given the opportunity.
- Seeing them in this situation now and the level of nervous anticipation... I can practically feel my stomach start to churn. The nervous breath to try and relax yourself, the nervous energy in the room, the levity of trying to calm down, and thinking of all the hard work you put in over the last few months... I've been there and I know what these guys are feeling right now. That state of consciousness during these moments right before it's time to go out and perform is like nothing else.
- Asuka wants to talk? This is uncharacteristic. Yes, Taki is the best! Though she's being really enthusiastic, I feel like that's probably the most genuine she's sounded this whole season, and probably the most responsible she's sounded so far.
- This Mizore/Nozomi and Kumiko/Reina stuff backstage is great. Mizore's being genuine, while Kumiko and Reina are being lighthearted about the whole thing. The way Reina is honest about what it'd end up like if she played for Taki was hilarious, and Kumiko playing off that banter was funny. Reina's frank honesty is something I appreciate about her character.
- Kaori, don't say that! You have to keep going! NATIONALS! C'MON!
- Look at Taki just soaking this moment in. The stage is probably super hot because of the lights, but the air behind him is cool. Being on that border between stage and audience is one thing, but standing in front of your ensemble up there is another thing entirely. I love how the second he puts his hands up you can hear all the instruments raising up to performance position. Really nice little attention to detail. The start of that conducting cut is so good too!
They nail the kinetic energy of his movements to what should be a strong first note. Look at the frames where you can see his mouth open slightly as he breathes in before the first beat of the piece. Conductors do this so that the performers know when to breathe together before playing their first note. Seeing the hands do this while simultaneously hearing the sharp intake of a breath from the conductor relays important information to the ensemble that's critical to delivering an effective, coordinated first note. Getting that start to be flawless is very important. Even the expression on Taki's face changes right at the end.
- Ah, so they skipped the required piece and are going to go right into the ensemble's choice. Should be the full thing then!
- Listen to the little sounds that are made when they shift their instruments. Nice attention to detail and it helps add a little layer of presence. I love the breath before the first attack too. You can hear all the breathing in unison!
- Before I mention some technical things let me mention the following: When I say 1 2 3 or any combination (i.e. 12, 13, 23) that refers to the valves being pressed. To really simplify it for you guys, 1 is usually closest valve to the body, 2 is in the middle, and 3 is the farthest out.
Slide positions for trombones go from 1 to 7; the exact positioning is something you'll have to look up a picture guide for, but basically 1 is closest to the body, 2 is between the 1 and the bell, 3 is at the bell, 4 is just past the bell, 5 is in this nebulous territory but you know where it is when you play the trombone, 6 is about as far as your arm can reach, and 7 is really stretching out.
As for the woodwind explanations ahead, just take my word for it. It's hard to convey exactly what they're doing with just numbers given the complexity of their instruments.
- [12:32] Reina's hands are playing the correct notes at the correct time, and are playing the correct fingerings, for the most part. Since she has a solo, that would indicate she's playing trumpet 1. So her notes would be G(0) F(1) G(0) A(12) G(0) F(1) E(12) E(12) F(1) G(0) E(12) C(0) E (0) D(1) (concert pitches F E-flat F G F E-flat D D E-flat F D B-flat D C). Now if you thought something was off in this previous sentence, you're correct. If she's playing the trumpet 1 part, or the top part of the divisi, Reina's E pitches should all be open fingered 0 versus fingers 1+2 because the trumpets are playing in the higher register (high (4th space on staff) E is 0, while low E (first line on staff) is 1+2). E could technically be played with 12 since it's at that point in the harmonic series, but it's definitely not typical at all unless it's a lip-trill.
The most likely explanation for the discrepancy would be that they used the fingering for lower pitched E. On trumpets, the E on the first staff line is played with 12. I surmise this is the most likey reason for this. The timings toward the last few notes of the cut are slightly off, but very hard to tell in motion. I basically had to go frame-by-frame to see exactly what was going on.
- [12:35] Timpanist starts with her right hand! You can see that she starts with her sticks nearly straight up, indicating that she wants to make a big hit on her initial strike. The first note she plays is a fortepiano roll into a crescendo (where the band hits the beginning of the held note loud, immediately gets soft, then raises the volume up to being loud again). It's easy to tell where she plays softer because the stick heights are much lower than if she were playing loud.
- [12:38/12:40] Look at the reflections in the bells of the trumpets. You can see the outer stage area's lights. So cool! With the next cut, I'll never get tired of seeing the trombones bring their instruments up to play. It's cool how it's not just some canned animation that all four trombonists do exactly the same robotic motion, but takes into account the individuality of each player as they bring their instrument up to play. When they play their first note all the instrument levels become steady and they stop moving as much. The trombone E-flat is correctly shown as 3rd position.
- [12:46] Taki's cue with his left hand (see more about cues from S1's write-ups) is powerful, indicating he wants loud volume from the horns in this part (as that's who he's gesturing to). I can tell because of the importance of their part.
- [12:48] How can that horn girl read her music with those pictures covering up everything?! (lol)
- [12:49] Kaori's fingerings in this cut should be D(13) D(13) E(12) F(1) G(0) A(12) G(0) A(12) C(0), not 2 12 0 2 12 0. It's short a couple fingerings from the start of the cut where the audio indicates trumpets playing. The timing is basically correct though, and this was another instance where I had to go frame-by-frame to accurately judge what was happening.
- [12:55] Just gonna copy/paste what I said about the bass drum roll cut from S1 Ep. 13 because it's just that good: This next cut is the best thing. This bass technique properly animated is so good! She does the single hits with her right hand and holds her arm over the drum with the left stick hovering above the bass drum head. With the left hand, between each hit with the right hand, the left hands beater is placed on the drum head to dampen the sound after each strike to avoid the reverberance bass drums are known for, making a clean, dry hit. And when she goes into the roll, the body positioning is perfectly animated! You can see the exact moment she switches the grip in her left hand to traditional grip (right hand overhand grip, left hand underhand grip) for the roll, as is correct bass drum performance standards. As the ensemble crescendos (gradually gets louder), the stick heights are also increased, which shows the physicality of the increase in volume as it would be on a real life performer. I LOVE the way this bass drum part is animated. She even has her sleeves rolled up as to not get in the way.
- [12:57] Horn fingerings, timings, and fingerings to pitches are all 100% correct. They are for notes E-flat(T1) D(T12) E-flat(T1) F(T0) E-flat(T1) D(T12) E-flat(T1) D(T12) C(T0) D(T12) C(T0) B-flat(T1) A(T12) B-flat(T1) C(T0) (the last note happens after it cuts from them) (concert pitches A-flat G A-flat B-flat A-flat G A-flat G F G F E-flat D E-flat F). The really cool part about these fingerings is that they observed how double-horn players play their instruments. When a horn player reaches their middle register (around mid-staff G-A), they depress their thumb-trigger, which changes the instrument to the B-flat tubing.
Ever wonder why it looks like a horn has so many tubes on it? Why it has two sets of tubes where the slides are? Since the B-flat horn's tubing is shorter than the F horn's tubing, pressing the thumb-trigger down when the horn gets into the higher notes allows the performer to play the higher notes easier because the air has less physical distance to travel through the instrument. Since the horns are playing in their mid-high range, it makes since that the B-flat horn fingerings are used versus the F-horn fingerings, which are totally different outside of the C and A in this instance. When the trigger is depressed, the instrument basically becomes an entirely new instrument pitched in a different key. This is a really awesome piece of attention to detail.
Minor history lesson: Horns back in the day didn't have valves, so the notes were played according to the harmonic series (all the open-fingered notes on the modern F horn), and the the right hand would open/close(stopped)/half-close (half-stopped) over the bell opening to adjust the pitch. To change keys (F horn, B-flat horn, E-flat horn, G horn, etc.) they'd change the tubing entirely. These pieces of tubing are called crooks. To change it they basically pull out this large crook out and put in the correct pitched crook for the piece they're playing. The modern F/B-flat double-horn is basically an example of technology eliminating what was a cumbersome process compared to what we have now. I studied natural horn for about three years, so i'm always more than happy to explain all of this! For an informational video, check out
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqbwGacYpew
- [13:00] The way Riko holds her tuba in this next cut is great because since she holds it upright like that, her left hand stays gripped to the tube on the back to leverage it up easier. You can see she does this. Goto too.
- [13:07] Midori's fingerings are all fine too, though I can't see her bow hand obviously. You can see which string she's playing on.
- [13:10] Shuuichi shows off his trombone playing, and we finally get to see an example of the thumb-trigger on a trombone being used. The thumb-trigger on a trombone (left-hand thumb) is much like the french horn's in that it changes the length of the tubing for the air to travel. On the trombone the trigger changes the instrument from B-flat tubing to F tubing. The notes and slide positions should be C(T1) B-flat(1) A(2) G(4) F(1) G(4) A(2) B-flat(1) B-flat(1) C(T1) D(4) E-flat(3) F(1). All the notes and trigger usage are 100% correct, which is crazy.
The way he holds the instrument is correct too, notably where his fingers are resting on both hands.The thumb on his left-hand is on the trigger while his index finger is near where the mouthpiece is inserted, which coupled with your shoulder steadies the placement of instrument in relation to your face.
The thumb-trigger on a trombone basically makes cumbersome notes a player would usually have to physically reach for more accessible. The pitch C (the C below middle-C) on a standard B-flat trombone is in slide position 6, which, depending on your body size, is roughly a fully extended arm. I have shorter arms so 6 was my max and I would have to twist my upper torso for slide position 7. The trigger gets rid of this large movement requirement allowing the player to stay in slide position 1, in as far as it can go.
- [13:13] Taki's conducting continues to be engaging too. When they had those big hits at the end of the phrase you can see his motions becoming more exaggerated, to give the ensemble emphasis on the volume that's appropriate for that section.
- [13:20] Can't really comment on the clarinets too much as you can't see their right hands, but the fact that the higher players have their left-hand keys depressed is correct for higher-register playing where their parts are currently at.
- [13:24] More good Taki cues. When this cut starts his left hand is gesturing towards the horns, emphasizing their importance about to come. With the way his hand is open, it indicates to the performers to be ready for their entrance, emphasizes the cue with his index finger, then drops his hand down to turn the page in his score with his left hand after cueing in the horns. Using a pointed index finger with a closed palm to cue the trumpets is a more direct cue to them since they sit in the back row near the percussion. Also take notice of the direction of his eyes as he gives each cue. You can see him look at the horns, then look down at his score, then look at the trumpets. He does this all while simultaneously giving his cues. Eye contact is a big part of effective conducting.
- [13:28] Reina's notes are E(0) D(1) E(0) F-sharp(2) E(0) D(1) C-sharp(12) C-sharp(12) D(1) E(0) C-sharp(12) A(12) C-sharp(12) B(2). The fingerings are all correct, however the timings from the first C-sharp to the third C-sharp are off slightly (the 12 1 0 12). It's hard to tell in fast motion, but if you go frame by frame with audio, it's ever so slightly off by like, milliseconds. Concert pitches are D C D E D C B B C D B G B A. Yet again, hardly noticable in motion at all.
- [13:35] Taki looks cool with the closed fist cue. Notice his fist is under-handed. If it was an overhanded fist it'd indicate a cutoff, whereas an underhanded fist raised like that indicates power of volume of sound (give me more sound!), likely for the low brass in that section where the development section starts to break down the thematic material.
