Les nuances

Dynamics in Performance

There are not loads of dynamics in this piece, but as you can see, Mark Nightingale has marked MF at the start, mezzo forte.

Playing with Dynamics

So what we can do is:

• Play a bit quieter to contrast with the section that is coming up afterwards, which is forte.

Let's try playing it softly. This is another thing the Count Basie Orchestra were absolutely brilliant at doing. They could swing really hard, but play very quietly. The intensity of that swing and the triplet feel needs to still be there, even though we're playing quietly.

Experimenting with Crescendo

Let's see what it sounds like when we do that.

Okay, where are we going to now with that crescendo at the end?

You heard how before I did the crescendo, I did another bend. But in this case, on the music, we see that there is a marking of dip.

Understanding the Dip

Now, what's a dip? It's another way of writing a bend, really.

• You can also see that between those two quavers, there is a little line, like an inverted kind of slur marking.
• That is a bend or a dip, achieved the same way as we did the bends in the earlier part of the tune.

You probably noticed that there, as well as the dip on the long note, I used vibrato, as we've learned to do in the other pieces.

Transitioning to the Next Section

A slinky and a small step. That crescendo leads us on nicely to the next section.

We have a three beat rest.

Now, when we have a three beat rest like that, it's really important in swing music, especially this bluesy kind of style, that when we come in with that next entry, which is forte, it's going to let the whole world know about it.

We need to go on the beat.

So we go:

• D2, 3,
• Bab du Bo.

Maybe when you listened and watched my performance with the backing track, you heard me really dig into that beat.