They sound like a college level band. This was a superior performance for a High School ensemble.

It's not so much that the conducting was magnificent, but the teaching of this ensemble most certainly was! The characteristic sound of each instrument was allowed to pronounce the color of each pallet with the utmost glorious sound. Bravo to this fine teacher who cared about the student and the music to bond each other into one fantastic accord!!!

BASS CLARINET

That’s a spectacular performance! I love how confident all the performers are, and the bass and contrabass clarinet killed it! I’m playing this in community band on guiro and slapstick, and this is probably the best recording to practice with, except for the changes towards the end. The maracas were also awesome, haven’t seen many people play with 4 maracas at once before but it really works well in the piece, it’s an amazing maraca part. These guys did awesome!

One of our percussionists destroyed the temple block set, and we never started a concert with less than five whips on hand after the first playing. Finally made them of hardwood instead of pine planks.

CONTRABASS CLARINET!

Flutes were superb

I play the bass trombone part for this song, the clapping sticks scare TF out of me every time.

I’ve played this several times. Brings me back to my high school days. I can’t believe this is a high school band!

I totally appreciate this song as a bass clarinet player, you guys did so awesome! (;

My middle school played this. Of course we weren't that good but Id say it was pretty good for a bunch of 13-14 year olds

Holy cow, but that's an amazing performance. The only time I have had the opportunity to play this, I was studying music at the School of Music stationed in Norfolk, VA (I was in the Army, but the school served all the armed forces). This was the piece chosen by a Marine officer for his conducting course. He pulled the music out of us as if we were seasoned veterans... one of the most amazing experiences in my life.

We played this when I was in sixth grade, about 1967. Band was grades 5-7. I remember hearing that Chance was supposed to be one of the judges, but couldn't make it. I really like this earlier version, repeats and all. Magnificent piece (NOT A "SONG"). Can you imagine what Chance could have done if he hadn't died so young?

What a peice! I played tympani on this with the FLORIDA A&M SYMPHONIC BAND N 1977 AND THE FLORIDA ALLSTATE SYMPHONIC BAND N 1974

watching this over ten years later, shows how amazing this performance was. amazing job, love how the bass clarinets, especially the contra basses, really show through at some point. i am a brass and percussion player but if i was to learn a woodwind instrument it would be either bass clarinet, tenor sax or bari sax (i'm just a sucker for low instruments) but back to the main point. amazing performance, sincerely, a high school sophomore in 2020 :)

I played this back in 1999 and when first presented with the piece, we thought our music instructor had lost his mind. However, it became a quick favorite that we performed in a few competitions!! Good times.. I listen to it sometimes and daydream.

I played the temple blocks for this back in higschool. What a fun song!

Awesome job! I know how much hard work went into it, because I was in a high school band that performed this in 1969. A performance to be proud of for the rest of your lives! Congratulations!

We played this in high school over twenty years ago! one of my favorites! thanks for sharing!

I poked around youtube for a good half hour to find a good version of this song which I played in HS 5 years ago. These kids are amazing! Props!

Played the Barrie sax part to this my senior year, the director thought it was to easy and transposed sections of the bass clarinet, contra bass clarinet, and basson so I "wouldn't get bored". Once all my whole notes were gone it was a blast to play.

Absolutely fantastic!!! The runs were amazing to hear!

Wow! The only thing better than hearing the piece is seeing it played!

That guy on bass trombone nailed it!!

Im just astonished that this is a high school group. The clarity and precision is that of a collegiate group. I played this in college. i love this piece, and these kids slayyyeeddd

Awesome job! Takes me back!!! LOVE IT!!!!!

Wow, it shows the music is alive and well with our young musicians you don’t play this piece without desire and practice,well done

im doing this piece in middle school . 🥰

My mom played this in symphonic bands in both high school and college

Great job, esp the low reeds

Amazing performance especially from such a small ensemble!

This ensemble did an excellent job of playing this song!

We played this from manuscript several times during the 1961-62 school year in the Elkhart (Ind.) High School Symphonic Band. I love it that there are so many KZfaq recordings out with the full version, as opposed to the shrunken version that was published in the mid-'60s.

The percussionist with the maracas at the end is pretty funny

This sounds really good.... my high school wind ensemble also performed this song, and it was my favorite out of them all....great performance!

Wow, Hillsborough! The balance, tone, and rhythm are all executed very well! At performance tempo! Well performed, HHS Wind Ensemble!

Super, SUPER performance!!

That was superb

That's fantastic!

This is a command performance - especially for a high school band! Congrats!

Low reeds and brass, ASSEMBLE!

I played the whip part on this. Best part ever!

Playing this for my highschool's spring concert 👌

Awesome job!!

Wow. Very well executed. Some times you hear high school bands take on pieces "just to play them" and they fall short of the composer's intentions. This performance was of the highest caliber. Balance, blend, intonation and characteristic tone qualities abound! Bravo, percussion! Very well, taught, director!

6:01 BASS DROP

Amazing job on this!

They went from NC to IN Man I wish my high school Wind Ensemble got to do that

wonderfull man that was awsome. that in one word legendary.

My old high school played this earlier this year. Slapstick/Whip player, while it was breaking apart and slicing his hand little by little, still played the part. That's what I call commitment. XD

I played this in Disney World with my high school.. Such a fun piece

We're playing this now and the guy on the whip can't count to save his life. Coming in on beat 4 is too hard for him. It drives me nuts.

Bravo!

This is wonderful (:

hell yea boro percussion! i forgot how awesome wind ens was that year. this is the first time ive seen a video of the indy performance.

Great performance, although I would ALWAYS LOVE to hear more of that deep tone from the Bass/Contra Clarinets...

My MS is playing this for UIL. The Percussion part rocks!

thats sooo cool! :D

Omfg! This is awesome :')

Played this in HS and my freshman year at JSU

At 6:37 I hear what sounds like a collective breath to summon the needed energy for the end run. Well played!

This song is soooo totally pwnd!

Lovin' the bass bone around 403!

Can someone please play just the bass clarinet part? I want to just hear that

Great performance! The execution of this piece was firey! (if that's a word).

this video is a wonder maker i just heard my part at the 8:10 mark. Thank you youtube!!!!

you guys have some great brass players ;)

we played with in 7th grade. Sounds good

@jpmarano The part is written for Bb Contrabass, but I was able to transpose most of it into Eb pretty comfortably.

How about a standing ovation for the percussion section? They were superb and I remember how hard my high school band director had to work our percussion section on this very piece (but I played euphonium). It is not in any way, shape, or form easy.

my band teacher is showing me this during class

The slap stick guy must have had a good time

The MS Incantation and Dance is Nothing like the Chance original.

This was pretty good, the precision was really great and the group is tight and in sync. Good job! Just wish the audio was a little better :(

今まで聴いた中でいちばん好きな呪文と踊りだわ。

I love it at 5:32. You bass clarinets aint waitin for anyone to keep up. Drive us brass like slaves! Our band tended to slow down there. Wish I could've played utility percussion but the baritones had too good a part. One of my all time favorites and I played in my HS conductor's band for around 25 years in total. (long story). Sounds like Chance had a little at the end in his manuscript that didn't make the final editing process. I like the final version better.

@SeekingSanctity If I remember correctly, the trick is just adding three sharps and playing the music as written.

Not just the brass: There is not a musician there that is not outstanding!

This piece is rough on the percussion insruments. I forget how many whips our band went through, and the temple blocks just kept chipping off 'til we had to replace them. I nearly fell out of my chair in the trombone section when the timbales kicked in! The more I hear this recording, the more I like the arrangement, unexpected repeats and all. Remember, the version of "Night on Bald Mountain" we usually hear has been rearranged to the point Mussorgsky almost wouldn't recognize it.

My symphonic band is learning this piece at the moment. We have an average of 3 percussionists :/ wish us luck. This has a crazy percussion part. It's scary just to look at. These guys were pretty cool at it though.

I didn't hear anything different from what I played on a few concerts until around 7:51. And the guy explained at the beginning it was Chance's own manuscript they were playing. I think he has claim to the title 'original.' Though I like the published version better myself, but maybe only because it's what I'm familiar with.

we hav to learn this this year for hs ;-;

Cornet solo is my favorite part.

Bassoon part FTW

We're playing this in middle school

6:57 the guy counting the beats out loud 😂

7:58 is my fav part :)

Low brass getting it DONE

This high school band puts UF's performance of this song to shame.

4:13 sounds really cool

Holy Crap! You guys played this in '09? I'm at Athens Drive HS in NC and we played this piece in the same Festival this year! ('10) No offense, but I like our run better, but STILL! You guys sound pretty good! Kudos for making it to Nationals as well! Oh, and I played the Alto clarinet on this song! not as low as the Contra, but just as fun.

This is a great performance, but there’s like one flute that is riding just a bit flat and it’s pretty obvious in the beginning; the whole piece sounds great though!

What’s a horn angle?

3:54 that bass Trombone though😩

Sort of a Concerto Grosso for the percussion section.

5:55 = favorite moment

Imagine this piece but bass boosted

I - cant - - - - - - - - Dance

We're playing this piece right now... unfortunately, we have to cater to some who don't get that they actually have to practice. My friends and I were joking that at slower speeds it sounds like someone summoning the devil... no offense meant to anyone. Also, I'm rather surprised to see only one French Hon in there. Though the horn part IS redundant (trust me; I know. UGH.), usually without at least two the sound can't cut through. However, she did do a good job projecting.

hey quick question guys, why at the end did the piece go back to the section where the clarinets/saxes jump between the octave? in the piece i'm playing it goes right through to the very dramatic section with those weird chord progressions (i hope you guys understand what i'm talking about because i have no idea what else to call those sections)