GAL Rehearsal Music

Here's some help with learning the GAL music.  Click on the various links to listen and play along. Songs are listed in alphabetical order after a "General Stuff" section that applies to all our music.

Links to the Brick House Street Routine and YMCA Street Routine are located with rehearsal notes for their respective tunes.

A brief marching tutorial and instructions on how to do the 8-Count Spin also available.

To download songs to your own machine

Right-click on the link to a song, choose "Save Target As ...", select the folder on your PC where you want to place the recording, and then click the Save button. The recording will download to the selected folder. You can play it back by double-clicking the downloaded file or playing it back in any of your favorite players. NOTE: This works for MP3 and WMA files, but not for RealPlayer files (which always live in the network on the server).

General Stuff for All Tunes (Be Sure to Read This Part!)

• We sound best when we listen to each other and balance all the parts across the band. Know when you have the melody and when you don't. When you don't have the melody, get out of the way!
• If you're playing a long note, someone else probably has the interesting part. Even if this note is part of the melody, bring it down in volume so that the interesting counter-melody comes through.
• Dynamics and articulations matter hugely! THIS is what gives the band "style". One volume level gets boring. When we shout and whisper together, it lends interest to the music. When we do that and match articulations, we sound fabulous. Accents, staccatos, hat notes, etc are what make a tune sound "cool".
• EVERYONE has to pay attention to dynamics and articulation. One section (or even one person) who doesn't decrescendo ruins the effect. One person who doesn't play hat notes or staccato notes makes the whole section sound blah. One person who misses a forte-piano makes the effect meaningless.
• When you're playing a melodic line, there are a couple of ways to handle accents. The obvious one is to play the accented notes louder. But it can often be more effective to stress the accents just a little bit, then "ghost" the unaccented notes so that the accents pop out -- much cooler!
• For forte-pianos, use a nice solid attack and then IMMEDIATELY drop the volume way down. The farther you can drop the volume, the better it sounds. If this is an fp with crescendo, DON'T start the crescendo right away -- wait until near the end of the note! There are two reasons for waiting: (1) it is often the case that some other section is playing a cool little part that needs to come through; (2) a big crescendo that happens suddenly is more exciting.
• Cut off the ends of long notes together. Holding a note into a rest sounds sloppy and probably buries some other part that needs to come through.
• Tune your horn! Spend a little time with a tuner, learn which notes on your horn tend to be sharp and which ones tend to be flat so you can compensate. This is especially important for the woodwinds!

Beer Barrel Polka

• At letter D, only the tubas and drums play; everyone else sings:

  Roll out the barrel, we'll have a barrel of fun.
  Roll out the barrel, we've got the blues on the run.
  Zing, boom, ta-rarrow, sing out a song of good cheer!
  Everybody roll out the barrel, 'cause the band's all here -- HEY!

• Band starts playing again at letter F. As we approach the D.S., molto accelerando (we see how close we can get to warp speed on any given day).

Birdland

Full arrangement (same one we listen to in rehearsal).

IMPORTANT: We play the first 4 measures a total of 3 times (this is DIFFERENT from the recording). First time is basses only; second time adds Trombone 2; third time adds Trombone 1.

Updated Alto Sax part: Since we're short on Tenor Saxes these days, I've cued the tenor part from measure 19 to measure 35 into the alto sax part. I'll bring parts to rehearsal; you can also get one by clicking here. Try using the sample sections below to work on the new part.

I've also produced a MIDI version of the tenor sax / baritone / tuba part between measures 19 and 31 to make it easier to hear and rehearse this tricky part. There are versions at full tempo (160 bpm) and at a slow tempo (124 bpm), and you can also hear it with and without melody parts. You can also see the score for the MIDI version so you can tell exactly what's being played in each part.

• 160 bpm with melody
• 160 bpm without melody
• 124 bpm with melody
• 124 bpm without melody
• score

Brick House

Note: We take the "short ending" (bars 49-50).

Full arrangement (recorded Feb 11, 2007 at GAL rehearsal)

• Bar 1: Percussion rock out here nice and loud -- but make sure you set the "funk" feel so that the band can jump right in behind you.

• Bars 5-10: Pay close attention to the rhythm in bars 5-10 (5-8 shown above); sooner or later everyone plays it. It sets the "feel" for the whole tune, so it's important to get it right. To get the "funk" feel, the hat notes MUST be short, the style must be light, and note placement must be precise. The trickiest part of the rhythm is placing the fifth note (the sixteenth note) correctly. Click here to listen to the phrase played correctly. The tendency is to play the sixteenth note just a little too late (in fact, it gets played as a thirty-second note instead of a sixteenth note), which produces a slightly jerky and "unfunky" feel. Click here to listen to a "wrong" version with the sixteenth note played too late. Can you hear the difference? Now go listen to the recorded version with the band playing. In bars 5-8, the low brass plays the note too late and it sounds just a bit clunky. In bars 9-10 where the trumpets enter, the low brass is still late, but the trumpets are playing it right -- and you can hear the difference in the attacks. Now skip ahead to the end of the recording (the short ending, bars 49-50) where the whole band plays this figure again. This time the figure is played well and has a whole different feel. We need to get this feel in our heads so that we can do it right from the top!
• Bar 5: Percussion drop down in volume behind the low brass.
• Bar 11: High winds, alto saxes, trumpets, horns - Lean on the "back side" accents here. (Just noticed these myself, we need to work on this since we don't do it on the recording!)
• Bars 13-24: The "important part" alternates here between the high voices and low voices every two bars. High voices need to get out of the way in 15-16, 19-20, 23-24.
• Bars 15-16: Melody people (tenor saxes, trombones, baritones) watch the articulations. Keep the short notes short, lean on the accents -- but still keep the light, groovy feel.

• Bar 18-21 (above): Watch the placement of the sixteenth notes in bar 19! They must be on the upbeat of 1; the usual mistake is to play them a sixteenth late so that the second one comes on the downbeat of two. Click here to listen to this lick played correctly. Click here to listen to the lick with the sixteenth notes shifted too late (wrong). Hear the difference?
• Bar 25: The lead moves to the high woodwinds and trumpets here; they're only playing mf, so everyone else needs to come down behind them. Melody here should emphasize the accents, ghost the other eighth notes to keep the "cool" sound.
• Bar 25-26 etc: In the backing line here (low reeds, low brass), keep the hat notes short, make sure you hit the accent that carries across the barline (this is the think that keeps the groove in this section). Listen to the recording, the band does a nice job there.
• Bars 29-32: Melody people pay close attention to rhythms here, especially in bar 32. Click here to listen to the rhythm in bar 32.
• Bar 33: NOBODY PLAYS ON BEAT 2 OF THIS BAR!!! No instruments, no drums, no tambourines - NOBODY! Beat 2 should be a gigantic gaping hole in the earth that audience figuratively falls into. Then on beat 3, the low brass and saxes come back in like the voice of God <grin>. You MUST be patient and wait until EXACTLY the downbeat of 3 to come back in; if you anticipate, the effect is spoiled. Listen to the recording, where this is done just right!
• Bar 34 etc: The rest of this section has the same feel as the section at 13.
• Bar 41: The tricky part here is the backing part, which starts in the flutes, clarinets, altos, trumpets, and horns, then moves to the other instruments in bar 45. The tied sixteenth must be right on time, not too early, not too late. The long note should be held all the way to the next bar. If you listen to the recording, the first group is playing the sixteenth note just a shade too early (almost sounds like it's on the upbeat). Listen to the way the low brass do it from 45-48, which is better -- right placement of sixteenth note, and a nice job of "stinging" it.
• Bars 41-48: The dynamics are tricky here since this is an 8-bar gradual crescendo across the whole band! Notice that in the backing part, the long note always gets soft. Each time this figure is played, it starts just a little bit louder than it did the previous time. The melody part also gets a tiny bit louder in each bar. In bar 45 where the instruments "switch roles", the low brass has to match the volume level where the trumpets and high winds finished so that we get continuity across the whole 8 bars. (One good way to do this is to listen to the alto saxes, since they have the backing part for the entire 8 bars and can set the pace for the gradual crescendo.) The percussion section can help a lot here by getting really quiet and then helping to lead the gradual build-up. If done well, the relentless drive through here creates great excitement. We don't do the dynamics very well on the recording yet; we don't get soft enough at 41 (should be a much bigger drop), and we don't finish loud enough. The result is that it sounds too much the same. (But we've done this well in other rehearsals so I know we can do it!)

• Bar 49-50: We changed the alto sax and horn parts here. The gliss up to the contrasting note in bar 50 now happens right on beat 2. See above for the changed alto part; the horn part uses the same rhythm.

Brick House Street Routine

Click here for complete description of all the steps in the Brick House street routine. (I moved it to a separate page so that it would be easier to print it out.)

Domino

Full arrangement (recorded Feb 11, 2007 at GAL rehearsal). This recording is probably a little faster than we normally play it.

Note: LBWW here means people playing the Low Brass & Woodwinds part (i.e., tenor saxes, trombones, baritones).

Note: Trash line, this tune should have a very strong emphasis on beats 2 and 4 in each measure, lay off of beats 1 and 3.

• Bars 1-4: Pay close attention to the articulations! Hat notes must be short (there is a tendency to play the first note in bars 1 & 3 and last note in bar 2 too long). Keep the running eighth notes smooth, not separated (this is hard for trombones) -- sounds much better and more like the original tune. The feel of the lick is DOT ... boo doo-doo-doo dot dot boo dah-DOT. This lick (which occurs again at bar 45) must have sound like Van Morrison since it's the part of the tune that EVERYBODY remembers!
• Bar 5: Need strong clean attack in the whole notes. Watch the long-short articulations in the descending eighths that follow.
• Bar 9: Articulation and precision of attack in the backing part (flutes, clarinets, altos) is critical in this section. First and last notes in each bar must be short, middle note must be accented. If you do it this way, it's a groovy little part that drives the band down the street. If you don't, it sounds like warmed-over oatmeal that saps the energy of the tune.
• Bar 9: Melody line (LBWW) must watch articulations to get the full effect. Shape the melody, make it cool. This is a place where ghosting the unaccented notes can help (see General Stuff section above). Be sure to keep the hat note SHORT in bars 10, 14; there's a tendency to play it as a full (long) eighth, which sounds dull.
• Bar 9: Tubas have a groovy little line here; be sure to hit the accent and keep the back end of each bar smooth.
• Bar 9: Trash line - a nice rhythm through here is: Rest on beat 1, two eighth notes on beat 2, rest on beat 3, one quarter note on beat 4. Use this rhythm through bar 34.
• Bar 17: LBWW are now the backing part, so bring the volume level down (stay behind the melody). Keep staccatos short, pop the accents just a little to keep driving the tune forward. Listen to how nice this sounds on the recording!
• Bar 17: Trumpets/high winds, it's your turn to shape the melody! Find the accents, ghost other notes so the accents stand out. Clarinets/flutes, don't get screechy!
• Bar 19: Watch the sixteenth note figure, keep it together.
• Bar 24: Make the crescendo happen!
• Bars 27 & 29: Long notes MUST get quieter after you hit them so we can hear the cool counter-melody in the saxes. (Listen to the recording -- which is pretty good, but we can make it come through even more!)
• Bar 30: The "hat" note must be SHORT.
• Bar 32-33: Altos and Horns bring this out; it's the melody line and you're the only ones that have it. After hitting the whole note in 33, get out of the way so that the counter-melody in trumpets and high woodwinds comes through.
• Bars 35: Treat this bar as a forte-piano. Waaaaay down, wait until halfway through bar 36 to come back up! Exceptions: Alto saxes and horns bring out your counter-melody part; tubas can emphasize the rising eighth note line.
• Bars 35-38: Trash line play all eighth nots in 35-36. For 37-38: Rest on beat one, one quarter note on beat 2, rest on beat 3, two eighth notes on beat 4. Use same pattern in 39-44.
• Bars 37-38: The high and low voices in the band trade accented notes on each beat throughout this section; it has to sound like a back-and-forth duet! Keep the long-short feel on the eighth notes.
• Bar 45: Trash line play quarter notes on 2 and 4 through here.
• Bar 45: EVERYONE is playing the lick together, so the articulations must match. See the notes for bars 1-4 to see how to do it.
• Bars 51-52: Watch the hat notes -- SHORT!!!

GAL Groove

This tune has some of the same feel as Brick House; i.e., that "funk-groove" kinda thing. (For example, the rhythm in the last part of bar 1 is the same as in the main groove of Brick House bar 5.) The section at 31 can be repeated as often as we like for additional solos; one solo is written into the Trumpet 1 part. Pay attention to the articulations - which notes are long and short; this will only sound cool if we all play the articulations the same way.

Full arrangement (MIDI only, but should be good enough to learn from and play along with).

Get Down Tonight

No notes yet, but here's the full Nick Baratta arrangement to download and play along with (recorded by GAL on April 6, 2008). If you'd like to get a better idea of what this will eventually sound like, here's a link to a 30 second clip from JW Pepper (RealPlayer required).

Gimme Some Lovin'

Full arrangement (same one we listen to in rehearsal)

• Alto saxes all play Alto 1 for this chart (we need that melody line). There's also a new part for Tenor saxes that doubles the Alto melody.

Hey Baby!

• As noted on the parts, we sing at 11 the second time through.
• Watch the rhythms from 28 through 36 in the counter-melody parts.
• Do NOT play the last measure ("no cha-cha-cha").

Hip to Be Square

Starts in Measure 2! (We skip the first bar, which is supposed to be a drum intro)

In Heaven There Is No Beer

Instructions for playing this are on the chart, but we've added some "business".

• Play intro, then play an instrumental verse.
• Sing verses 1 and 2.
• Play an instrumental verse.
• Sing verse 3 and then we cut off the whole band.
• For verse 4: Give us your best choir pose! Verse 4 is sung slowly and is directed. On the last note of the verse ("when our friends aren't heeeeeeerrrrreeee") we hold out "here", then the director cuts it off. The twirlers continue to hold the note through the cutoff. Director tries to cut it again, no luck. On the third (frantic) cut-off, we finally get them to stop singing.
• After a pause, play a delicate triangle hit (or often a gentle cymbal hit) on cue.
• Director then leads the last line ("WE will be drinking all their beer!") in the original tempo.
• Tubas/low brass play their normal last bar (duuuum-da-dum-dum-dum), which gets the band back in again.
• Play one last instrumental verse, finish with HEY!

Joy to the World

Starts in bar 2 ("Jeremiah was a bullfrog"); we skip the awkward bar 1.

Last Night

Full arrangement (recorded Feb 11, 2007 at GAL rehearsal)

Note: Trash line, this song has a very strong "2 and 4" feel just like Domino.

• Pay attention to the forte-pianos each time we have the long note (like in bar 1). Way down, keep it quiet for a long time, then way up at the end! On each of these, we do a bow and then take 8 beats to come back up.

• Bar 3: Tenor saxes, trombones, baritones, tubas - playing all these eighth notes legato as marked sounds lifeless. Go for a feel that's more like the articulation shown above. For this line, the staccatos aren't really short like they would be normally, just put a little space after each one. (For example: If a "standard" staccato is about 40% the length of the written note, make these about 70% the length of the written note.) Click here to listen to a short sample.
• Bar 3: Flutes, clarinets, alto saxes, trumpets, horns: Maintain the long-short articulation throughout.

• Bars 11-12: Watch the tricky rhythm! The first sixteenth note should get full value; the tied eighth note should get a little bit of an accent. Overall, you want the feel that's shown above. Click here to listen to the rhythm and articulation. (Note that the same pattern occurs again in basrs 23-24, and again for almost the whole band in bars 47-48.)
• Bars 11-12: If you have the long note here, treat it like a forte-piano with crescendo (i.e., shape the note so it's interesting.)
• Bar 15: Flutes and clarinets, keep it light through here! It's too easy for this to get chirpy, which doesn't sound good.
• Bar 25: Keep this note short! Percussion and trash line cuts out except for high hat clicks until bar 27.
• Bar 25: Whole band sings "Awwwwwwwwww -- Last Night!". The "Awww" starts right on beat 2 of bar 25 and continues through beat 1 of bar 26. "Last" is on beat 2 of bar 26, "Night" is on beat 3 of bar 26.
• Bar 27:Trash line - a nice rhythm through here is: Rest on beat 1, two eighth notes on beat 2, rest on beat 3, one quarter note on beat 4. Use this rhythm through bar 36. Note that this is the same rhythm that the flutes are clapping.
• Bar 27 - 37: Get out of the way of the soloist!
• Bar 37-38: Although it's not written this way, our soloist plays through these two measures. Drums and trash line be sure to cut out until bar 38.
• Bars 49-51: One more good fp, keep the last hat note short!

Louie Louie with a Groove

No detailed rehearsal notes yet, but here's a version you can listen to and play along with (played by my music editing program) to start learning the rhythms.

• The section from 25 to 42 can be repeated as many times as desired for soloists. Each soloist plays 8 bars beginning at bar 33.
• Chords are listed for the soloists; if you need help with "what notes go with each chord", see the extra line of music at the bottom of the chart.
• Bar 54 is SUNG, not played. (It's played on the recording because I was too lazy to make it sound different.)

Messin' with the Kid

• Watch the tempo (especially in standstills); this is better when its not overly fast.
• Low brass and other melody people: Watch the dotted-eighth/sixteenth figure in bar 21; make sure you wait long enough to play the (tied) sixteenth so that it doesn't sound "square".
• Bar 26: Soul scream on beat 2.
• Ending has been changed! Play bars 37-41, then play bar 40 (again) [this is the new last bar]. Trumpets and high winds can put a stinger on beat 4 of bar 40 the last time (tonic note -- C for trumpets, Bb for flutes, etc).
• No ritard in the last bars -- finish out in normal tempo.

National Anthem March

Full arrangement.

Shake Rattle and Roll

Full arrangement.

Soul Finger

• We often do this tune "with a vamp", which means we add an extended intro that the band plays while I talk to the crowd. When we do it with a vamp, we play bars 1 and 2 normally, then play bars 3 and 4 over and over and over again (softly) while I do the voice-over. I'll count you back in at bar 5 and the rest of the tune goes normally.
• Watch the articulations to get the "funk feel"; hat notes should be short, watch the long-short-long-short eighth notes in the low brass parts especially.

Takin' Care of Business

• At 35, we sing instead of play. We split the band down the middle and sing back and forth at each other:
  • Takin' care of business,
• Every day,
• Takin' care of business,
• Every way,
• Takin' care of business,
• It's all mine,
• Takin' care of business,
• And workin' overtime!
• Trumpets must make sure they play the pickups in the last bar before the D.S.; this is what gets us out of the singing and back into playing again.

Takin' It to the Streets

More extensive notes need to get posted for this!

• Don't play cue notes in the intro.
• Pay close attention to all the dynamic changes! This tune is much more effective when we make the dramatic level changes happen.

Full arrangement.

That's the Way (I Like It)

No notes yet, but here's the full arrangement to download and play along with (recorded April 6, 2008). PLEASE NOTE that this is NOT the original Doug Adams arrangement, but the Tolopka arrangement that's based on the Adams arrangement.

Wooly Bully

Full arrangement (recorded Feb 11, 2007 at GAL rehearsal)

• I like to look at folks in the crowd and raise fingers as we chant "Uno-dos-one-two-tres-quatro" -- it gets them engaged.
• Throughout the piece: The background eighth notes must be staccato, light, not too loud. They keep the energy high, but aren't the feature!
• First two played bars: Crisp attacks, then cut off the notes together (especially in bar 3)! Maintain separation between the notes in bars 4-5. We get a powerful start when we get these three bars right, otherwise, it's just blase. (This sounds good in the recording.)
• Whenever you have the melody, cut off the notes at the end of each phrase properly. Listen to the trumpets cut off together in bars 19, 21, 23. Again, this makes the tune tight and powerful!
• Big crescendo in bar 25 and into bar 26, then immediate drop in volume level back to mf.
• Bars 28-31: Note the long-short articulations in the flutes, clarinets, trumpets.
• Bars 33-38: Alto saxes and trombones have the melody, cut off ends of long notes together!
• Bars 40-41: Again, a big crescendo and then sudden drop to mf.
• Pickups to 47: HUGE drop in volume. This MUST include percussion and trash line! On the street, we kinda crouch and sneak along, then come back up 4 bars later when we crescendo.
• Bar 51: Tenor saxes, baritones, tubas have a big crescendo to get the band back to ff.
• Bar 54: Make the hat note SHORT.
• Bar 54: Clarinets and saxes need to wail on this lick. Hit the accents!
• Bar 55: Keep the hat notes SHORT.

YMCA

Full arrangment (uses MIDI instruments).

• At the beginning, be sure we don't get too loud too fast. There's lots of time to play loud later!
• Bar 27: These notes must be short and crisp. Same later on at 45-46.
• Bar 28: Melody people make sure to bring out these pickups.
• Bars 30-31: Trumpets and high winds keep this quiet; it's an ornament, not the melody.
• Bars 38-41: Again, the sixteenth note figure must not overpower the melody. Keep the sixteenths staccato, but the quarter note at end of phrase is tenuto (long).
• At 55: Sing lustily! Only instruments are the basses, plus the alto saxes on the SECOND HALF of each phrase ("You'll be makin' the scene ...").
• Trombones at 64: Make sure to play these pickups to get us going again!
• Bars 72-73: This is a "stack", with different instruments coming in on each beat. Play each note as a bell tone, then immediately get out of the way for the next note.

YMCA Street Routine

YMCA has a street routine that we used on the Pasadena Doo-Dah parade route. Click here for the full routine.

You're a Grand Old Flag

• New for 2007, we've started doing this as a vocal! Play through the song once (down to the first ending), then drums go into a quiet military cadence while we invite the crowd to sing along with us. I'll count you back in and we sing a verse with the crowd (with drums and tuba accompaniment), then take the repeat and play it one more time. Trumpets, play the last bar of the first ending as we end the singing verse (helps get us back into playing again).

You're a grand old flag, You're a high flying flag,
And forever in peace may you wave.
You're the emblem of the land I love,
The home of the free and the brave.
Every heart beats true 'Neath the red, white and blue
Where there's never a boast or brag.
"But should auld acquaintance be forgot"
Keep your eye on the grand old flag.

On the Street: 8-Count Spins

We learned this move for the YMCA Street Routine, but now we do it in the middle of parades just to amuse ourselves. Click here to learn the routine so you won't be left out when your row does it!!!

Parades: How to Turn Corners

We spend a lot more time working on music than we do on marching, but we can still use a little marching help now and then. This short tutorial contains the five Important Rules that'll have you turning corners like a pro in no time.

Last updated:  16 June 2007
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