When we were playing this for the first time, everyone just screamed at the haaa part like "haaAAAAAA _AAAA_ *_AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaAaaaAAaaAAaAaAAAAaA_* " and it was pretty great
As John Mulaney would say< "You know how some songs have a dip in the middle? You'll be like 'Hey, Great Locomotive Chase is over!' No, it's not. There's more."
This song basically got me kicked from band, true story. I LOVED the trombone's lines in the song and noticed something I'd NEVER seen in musixc before: PICK ANY NOTE with a fff dynamic (fortisisisimo). I had THE HIGHEST range out of everyone in the section and I went for broke. (Highest note I could possibly hit, slide all the way in) The next day I was called into the director's office for "not producing a band sound" 😂😂😂😂 it was well worth it
ohhhhh nuuuuu whoever wrote this piece gave kids who play this too much power lol! my conductor told us to change our mf to an ff and we were so happy as saxophones. once uin a lifetime oppertunity haha.
Things I love about this freakin song: • The poor snaredrum but DAMN IT SOUNDS SO COOL • the freaking flute cords omg it sounds exactly like a train horn!!! •the trills!!!!!!!! • the fact that trombone has a melody for once! PLUS it sounds freaking awesome • The endingggggggg That's not all I love about this song but those are my favorites
1:40 There’s a part in this where my band director tells us that we should act like a ballerina with a knife- STAB STAB *pretty music and twirling* STAB STAB STAB *more twirling*
I'm speechless... learning that Robert W Smith has passed is just so sad and hard to process. I had the opportunity to be conducted by him in the IB School Band Festival in 2016. I'm so sad. Rest in Peace 🙏
I found this song to play while I rob trains in read dead redemption 2 and seeing all these band kids talk about it makes me feel like I've stumbled somewhere I shouldn't be
I'm a band kid and I play rdr2.... how'd I not hear this in the game. Please tell me the mission this plays in. Edit: Oh wait nvm I just read your comment again oops hehe
I don’t think anyone has pointed this out, but the snare drum starts building speed, you can just barely hear little screeches in the background, like wheels on a train beginning to move. Add that to the list of why I love this song. Just the little details.
I have a peice of music being commissioned by him. I have the honor of meeting him and he is conducting our band and the song is premiering tomorrow in the all south Jersey band. The song is called “dream garden”. It’s pretty good!
in eighth grade i was literally obsessed with this song. i tried so hard to convince my teacher to let us play this song lol. one day i was absent and that day we were getting our sheet music for the annual spring concert. before band class, i asked a classmate what we did that day, and he told me we got sheet music for a song about trains. i was so ecstatic and then i found out we were just playing engines of resistance. i still like it though, unfortunately we weren't able to play anything because of covid :( edit: currently a junior and YALL WE’RE PLAYING IT THIS YEAR edit2: my teacher lied :( he chose into the storm instead
The teachers at my school didn’t line Robert W Smith, so maybe yours also. And I can tell you, this guy makes french horn banger melodies, but they are like 2 skill levels over the part’s skill level.
Think back to your reaction when you first got the THREE PAGES OF MUSIC FOR THIS IT WAS TERRIFYING AND IT LOOKED SO HARD but hey it sounded FRICKIN GR8
I didn't realize our director handed us three pages until people kept playing after the second page and I was like WHAT then I found the page behind the other two *facepalm*
we don't have a lot of percussion where i go to school so our director had me switching between marimba, xylophone, and chimes the whole song. it was brutal but it sounded absolutely amazing
my band was playing a song and i had to play the jingle bells the marimba and the tambourine back to back and at one point i had to play the jingle bells and tambourine at the same time
yeah same,my percussion section throws me on all the mallet/keyboarded parts and i ended up haveing glockenspiel, tubular bells, and marimba lol ngl i love playing mallet but goddamn XD
3:20 Its impossible to not bop your head to this. As a trumpet player i always smile at the trombones playing. It was sick, and i really wanna play this again hopefully my senior year-
I played this part on baritone sax some years ago, like in 11th grade or something :) been kind of a while now, maybe 5 years ago, but I still liked that song on bari sax and kinda go "lucky..." when bass clarinets get to play in that one 3/4 time part XD Oh and I'm trying to get better on F horn rn so maybe I can try out the cool stuff they get in this song in Uni band some day lol. Speaking as a music major
I remember playing this song last year, I sat next to a Bari sax who had that part and would spend the whole time that the director focused on them quietly fingering along after spending 30 minutes scaling it down for Bass Clarinet. And to the person above, yes I was a very lucky individual, that 3/4ths part was sick.
This song sounds like it belongs in the beginning of a movie. It also proves percussion is the best. It also proves the rest of the band is pretty damn important
@ThatInternet Dude I played this song in honors band, the specific notes we have to play have to blend into each other in a way, so we have to roll our hands and flute inwards or outwards to ‘note bend’. Basically we are transitioning from one note to another without moving our fingers...
Playing the chime part in this is so much fun. The last couple of measures it’s just chaos. Sure you only play 2 notes but you get to smack it as hard as you want.
My director used to yell at me because I never hit it hard enough. He then made me a wager to try and break the chimes. Well sure enough I won when the string holding up the high one snapped and hit the floor at concert lol
This song is dedicated to a staple in Civil War history. picture this: a Confederate train, the General, stops at a town called Big Shanty. "Next stop Big Shanty! 10 minutes for breakfast!" yells the conductor. 5 minutes later, the General takes off, full speed, hijacked by Union spies! A small group of Confederate men find a trolley on the track... And the Great Locomotive Chase begins! How do I know so much about this? I used to live in Big Shanty, or as it's called now: Kennesaw, GA
I have an old book from the early 1930's about this, although parts are slightly embellished for effect, it's still a great little story, one of my favorite books to re-read every now and again.
When people say percussion is easy... "Just hit a drum with a wood stick!" Me: BOY! You try playing constant paradiddles in 4/4 time signature in a Vivacé tempo. If you take that as faster/advanced allegro. It's as hard as it sounds. If that doesn't sound hard to you, then you either have some talent or just insane.
It's not paradiddles though... all the accents fall on the beat. if it were paradiddles, the accents would fall on the E of the beat, which would completely throw off the feel of the song. just straight 16ths with quarter note accents. the only actually challenging parts of the song are the accelerandos and ritardandos at the beginning and end of the song.
2:36 - This is such a beautiful section. The way the booming low brass harmonizes with the rest of the band SO WELL, the melodies produced are so awesome and they fit well with the piece too. All around amazing.
@@Beehive255 Yup. Imagine trying to navigate the partials if you can't even blow in it. I've said it once and i'll say it a thousand times, French Horn Players deserve more credit.
Our band was going to the adjudication at carowinds when I was told one of the judges was Robert W. Smith. Truly epic, and it made me think about this song.
Our director turned this into a marching show with the help of another composer and drill writer, we did fantastic with the piece in our marching show season a couple of years ago and everyone in the band loved marching and playing it! It is by far one of my favorite pieces of music because of our show!
Rest in peace Mr. Smith It was an honor to be able to meet him. This piece was my favorite to play with my school's concert band, and it will always hold a special place in my heart.
This is one of the greatest pieces I’ve ever played in all honesty. I had the pleasure of playing the French Horn for this and that was probably the most fun I’ve had in a while in band. Our entire group was 14 people including percussion and this piece is designed for ~35. We managed to score a superior on this and the joy all of us felt from that was indescribable. As a final note, we were down a few percussion members so I was given the train whistle and I remember how funny it was to place that thing in between two slots on my horn and quickly getting that part in between breaths
My band group was going to play this, but corona hit. And I tried to convince my director to let us play it this year. ... We don't have enough players in person to pull it off... But this is a amazing piece. I recommend trying to convince a band director to let you play it. Edit: we did play it as a full band before I moved to high school and my director moved States. It was wonderful and brings tears to my eyes all the time
Haha, a couple percussionists in my band did that too. And that, my children, is when my teacher turned his back on the percussionists. They are all now his least favorite students.
I'm 27 this year (2024) and I'd like to dedicate this to two very important people in my life. The first being my band teacher from middle school, Mr. Frank Chlorie, who passed away a few years ago. He was a big fan of Robert W. Smith. We played many of his songs, including this, but this is what got us straight superiors. We won the Blue Ribbon Music award, and it was the first time a middle school in my county had ever done so. He always believed in me and told me I was gonna be a musician of some sort and now here i am playing my melodica along to the trumpet parts from this, by memory 😅 I'd also like to dedicate this to my friend Mark Nichols, AKA Hobo Shoestring. He passed away recently but was a good friend of mine. I feel like he would have enjoyed this.
well there is a full orchestra version with strings so maybe that's what they mean it's not as good though www.jwpepper.com/sheet-music/media-player.jsp?&type=audio&productID=2466894
@@ga1ianoplays772 you are not wrong. The single or two parts you got is arguably the most important at that point in the music. It’s just the leading up to it that is not as…. Great, to say the least
My bands playing this song for their last concert of the year. So far I love it. Also I play the trombone. Gotta say this piece is hard at the trills, I blew my damn chops out multiple times
I just remember that when I was learning the end of this piece where every person in the band plays a note really loud, I looked at my director and I said “make it gross?” And he said “as gross as possible.” As a flute player, someone who plays melodies and the pretty stuff, being told to purposely blow a note out to it’s disgusting height made me so happy. I love this piece
When I was in 9th grade I did an essay on the great locomotive chase which took place during the Civil War. I'm 70 now so I don't remember all the details but I believe it took place in Tennessee.
@WildKat Doesn't hurt if you play it right. I like how everybody's assuming the snare part is painful, but it really isn't. If playing this song hurt you, you're putting in waayyy too much effort, that or you're just really tense while you play. Chillout. If you can't play the 16th notes then just diddle them.
I remember playing this my freshman year on tenor sax.....as a freshman who never played music before this was extremely difficult at first but now that I look back this is a piece of cake!
Played this for my Junior High concert, gotta love those flute trills! 😣 I really wish we could play this again, but our High School band has only 12 members... Oh well. Still a great song!
I’m not necessarily a classical music guy, but my friend was going to do a concert on this, and I wanted to listen to it. This was really good. Solid. 🔥
I played this piece in middle school but found out about five minutes ago it was inspired by a Locomotive Chase in the Civil War after a Union Spy stole a train and headed toward Chattanooga, damaging train tracks along the way and attempting to avoid capture by Confederate soldiers. So the spy theme fits
So true, so very true I actually played this in band today. It sounds nice, but it’s fr torture for me personally. A big part of it is that I am miserable in band and dread playing the clarinet. I cannot wait to drop
We had two French horns in our band. One quit after the first measure at 2:36. The other, my friend who is extremely shy, played all by herself. Her face was getting redder by every beat. Our director stopped our band. There was barely a second of silence. Everyone started clapping and cheering. Definitely one of the best days in band.
We played this song for our Fall concert. It was the first piece I had ever gotten a solo on. I was a French horn, and I studied for months to get both of the solos down. That’s right. There were two which meant I was only allowed one. The day before the concert, I auditioned for the solos, and I’ll never forget what my band director said that day: “Dane, you got both the solos.”
the mallets seem impossible for me (sixth grade first chair percussionist in honor band) but then again im a sixth grader (i could have potential but i really cant do four mallets; if i try to use the mallet on the farther side of the hand i tend to accidentally hit both mallets instead of one)
LuxTheOwl I’m doing the mallet part with 4 mallets and at first it is hard but there are only 3 different chords you need to know to play in the certain sections of music (and they repeat.) Now granted I’m an 8th grade first chair percussionist, but I think you could still do it.
I remember everyone losing their shit doing the “shhhhhhh” sounds at the beginning good times
lovesick doll bruh it’s so hard to remember to do it in time
My band just screamed "HAAAAAAAA!!!!" as that's what's written haha.
When we were playing this for the first time, everyone just screamed at the haaa part like "haaAAAAAA _AAAA_ *_AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaAaaaAAaaAAaAaAAAAaA_* " and it was pretty great
In our band class everyone just went shhhhHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
@@somerandompersonofficial my band didn't do it all😂 it was silent and embarrassing
Robert Smith to-do list:
Make band sound like train: Check..
Make band sound like a steamboat: Check
Make band sound like giant ocean storm: check
Make flutes sound like a whistle: Check
Make band sound like war: check
Make a band sound like ghosts: check.
Why is nobody talking about that killer mallet percussion and the chimes that sound like a warning bell? THEY'RE AMAZING!
What did you guys use Big Bell part at 1:42
*they're
Thank you someone finally notices us
I love when percussion is used as effects, some of my favorite parts to play
Kronos 08 I’m a percussionist we used a brake drum as it’s called
**everyone starting to clap at **3:03****
The band kids: *but wait...there’s more
There is another
@@jamesngamesgamingandmusic6676 ...page of music
there’s*
Lol I am in 7th/8th grade band and I play this
As John Mulaney would say< "You know how some songs have a dip in the middle? You'll be like 'Hey, Great Locomotive Chase is over!' No, it's not. There's more."
Measure 111 anybody? THATS WHAT GOES DOWN IN THE TROMBONE SECTION
YES!!!!! #tromboneswag
+Nathan Mooney Absolutely LOVE that part.
+Nathan Mooney It sounds awesome, I cannot wait to play it with my school's band:)
Don't forget your fellow Baritones I've played this its trombones and baritones
***** We have 3 trombones and 3 baritones 3 tubas and 3 barisaxes we are so evened out. (But I am literally the only one who plays in my section. XD
I remember getting the sheet music for this as a sophomore and being like “Woah, THREE pages?! IT BARELY FITS ON A MUSIC STAND!”
Chloie Kwirant i just got it last month
Same but I was in eighth grade lol
Chloie Kwirant my mom played one that was 8 pages long
i played this as a seventh grader... lmao
Same but im in 7th grade
This song basically got me kicked from band, true story. I LOVED the trombone's lines in the song and noticed something I'd NEVER seen in musixc before: PICK ANY NOTE with a fff dynamic (fortisisisimo). I had THE HIGHEST range out of everyone in the section and I went for broke. (Highest note I could possibly hit, slide all the way in) The next day I was called into the director's office for "not producing a band sound" 😂😂😂😂 it was well worth it
You just committed a pro gamer move
Where my C5s at?
Not producing a band sound??? Huh? Instrument make noise, that’s it lol
ohhhhh nuuuuu whoever wrote this piece gave kids who play this too much power lol! my conductor told us to change our mf to an ff and we were so happy as saxophones. once uin a lifetime oppertunity haha.
BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Song: pick a note
Me about to play a very loud high b on trumpet: I’m gonna do a pro gamer move
Mood
hey, I did Ab 5, not too bad lol
I always pick the high e (outside the staff) but that works too lol
That's like this one trumpet on our band
"I'm gonna do what's called a *pro gamer move* B)"
Things I love about this freakin song:
• The poor snaredrum but DAMN IT SOUNDS SO COOL
• the freaking flute cords omg it sounds exactly like a train horn!!!
•the trills!!!!!!!!
• the fact that trombone has a melody for once! PLUS it sounds freaking awesome
• The endingggggggg
That's not all I love about this song but those are my favorites
Hated playing the flute part. I could not get the horn sound down right.
Jessie Rosario this song is the best. I play the ehounium in my band and I have the solo
The snare drum part isn't that hard
@@lycanwolfslayer_1194 just buy a whistle, they're, like, 20 dollars
what about the bell kit parts? D? no?
**Ding ding ding ding**
"Hahhhhh"
**Audience goes wild**
yes!!!
Oh my god this is the best ending song to a concert ever!
+Campion Smith Not even at the end?
+That One Guy you do both in the music
Is anyone else thinking about the train from polar express when they hear this?
1:40 There’s a part in this where my band director tells us that we should act like a ballerina with a knife- STAB STAB *pretty music and twirling* STAB STAB STAB *more twirling*
lol that's a good band director
I can see the movements of the baton in my head
Just POKE POKE _regular movements_ *POKEPOKEPOKE*
I had a band director that said “you have to pet the kitty not KILL THE KITTY”
That's just the vibe of the flute part
Lmao, why is that so accurate
I'm speechless... learning that Robert W Smith has passed is just so sad and hard to process.
I had the opportunity to be conducted by him in the IB School Band Festival in 2016.
I'm so sad. Rest in Peace 🙏
Wait, what? HE DIED?
Rest in piece to the goddamn legend.
@@RO-GR Yes, sadly he did, he was the absolute best, rest in peace
@@mauricioubillusmarchena6660what happened
@@jacksonminchew4339 apparently complications after a heart surgery
@@mauricioubillusmarchena6660
O m do
That trombone part tho. Even as a trumpet, I love it to death.
I think the baritones play that part too
Computer Ghost
Yes we did
Pretty sure the Tenor Saxes play that part too
Every bit of this song is great also glad to see a fellow trumpet
WILLIAM STUART the trombone may be Supreme but let’s be real trumpets are the best in the band
R.I.P. snare player lol
It hurts so much
*cough* play xylophone or cymbals or something *cough*
fr it hurts
THATS ME AND ALSO IM IN MIDDLE SCHOOL(but im not as bad as you think hopefully i wont butcher it)
Specifically their arms
I found this song to play while I rob trains in read dead redemption 2 and seeing all these band kids talk about it makes me feel like I've stumbled somewhere I shouldn't be
You did
Yeah bud this is very special to us “needs”
It’s ok, most band kids are chill it’s the ones who praise communism big chungus and Keanu reeves you need to worry about
@@therealvaultyvaulty granted that's half of us
I'm a band kid and I play rdr2.... how'd I not hear this in the game. Please tell me the mission this plays in.
Edit: Oh wait nvm I just read your comment again oops hehe
I don’t think anyone has pointed this out, but the snare drum starts building speed, you can just barely hear little screeches in the background, like wheels on a train beginning to move.
Add that to the list of why I love this song. Just the little details.
That’s the bow being rubbed on a suspended symbol it makes a really cool sound an I agree it really makes the piece even cooler
I have a peice of music being commissioned by him. I have the honor of meeting him and he is conducting our band and the song is premiering tomorrow in the all south Jersey band. The song is called “dream garden”. It’s pretty good!
Ya I get to play the snare part as a 8th grader
That’s just how good we are! 🤣
The noise at 1:05? I heard that too
All you had to do was follow the damn train CJ!
Alexander Pentlicki love it
I’ll have 2 saxes, a sax large, a flute with extra squeak, a French Horn, 2 trumpets, one with mute, and a snare drum
@@sturmp you meant a clarinet with extra squeak?
@@obinnanwakwue5735 you heard what the man said
@@memesthemaker8429 okay we got a hard one and I don't know if a sax large refers to a bari sax or not
I played the "drunk" version of this.
*cough cough* The Great Steamboat Race *cough cough*
Avenostav I’m pretty sure he writes all his songs while drunk
Shakira Lawrence lucky
No way😂😂👍🏻
LMAO
Or bootleg
As a band geek, train enthusiast, and historian, this song makes me all too happy 😁
You have won in life when discovering this song tbh
in eighth grade i was literally obsessed with this song. i tried so hard to convince my teacher to let us play this song lol. one day i was absent and that day we were getting our sheet music for the annual spring concert. before band class, i asked a classmate what we did that day, and he told me we got sheet music for a song about trains. i was so ecstatic and then i found out we were just playing engines of resistance. i still like it though, unfortunately we weren't able to play anything because of covid :(
edit: currently a junior and YALL WE’RE PLAYING IT THIS YEAR
edit2: my teacher lied :( he chose into the storm instead
we playing it this year
The teachers at my school didn’t line Robert W Smith, so maybe yours also. And I can tell you, this guy makes french horn banger melodies, but they are like 2 skill levels over the part’s skill level.
Nice
IM PLAYING THESE SONG IN 8th GRADE RN
nope we literally played african bell carol that year so 😭
Think back to your reaction when you first got the THREE PAGES OF MUSIC FOR THIS IT WAS TERRIFYING AND IT LOOKED SO HARD but hey it sounded FRICKIN GR8
+Caitlib Wedge
Ikr! i was like htf am i supposed to do this!
i was wrong, it was pretty easy after a week.
I didn't realize our director handed us three pages until people kept playing after the second page and I was like WHAT then I found the page behind the other two *facepalm*
+AngelaTheWarrior sounds like something I would do tbh
Just played the 1812 overture, I'll live.
The honest truth
Band is love. Band is life.
you know it. tell them how it is
yes. yes.
Sander Hernandez heck yes
i agree
Better than Shrek
we don't have a lot of percussion where i go to school so our director had me switching between marimba, xylophone, and chimes the whole song. it was brutal but it sounded absolutely amazing
same we’re playing this song for 8th grade advanced band and i’m the only mallet percussionist in the band. i’m struggling😭
Homies we have over 15 percussionist who are manly sophomores and freshman and only one other that’s a senior
my band was playing a song and i had to play the jingle bells the marimba and the tambourine back to back and at one point i had to play the jingle bells and tambourine at the same time
same but i was surrounded by other 8th graders that didnt get to play half of 6th or th whole of 7th grade we struggled but we got there
yeah same,my percussion section throws me on all the mallet/keyboarded parts and i ended up haveing glockenspiel, tubular bells, and marimba lol ngl i love playing mallet but goddamn XD
Omfg nostaligia just hit me like a train. I played this in middle school for region band I think.
pun intended? 👀
YOU PLAYED THIS SHIT FOR ALL RAGION
Not even our state songs are this hard this is spring concert shit🤣🤣
@@luciflare5186 im playing this for a regular tour as a 7th grader
@@720cory yeah we did this piece for a normal concert in 7th grade. Memories
Robert W. Smith sure loves those trills...
+Aja Johns ---lol
Really...?!?
Ikr
He sure likes destroying flutes fingers! my fingers >.
+AjaJohns so tru
Those trills! I remember I was dying when playing them!
Our motto: You died playing, no breathing!
oMG SAmE ...
My favorite my band director said was "You can breathe when you're dead" still gets me.
Yo, that's actually so true
3:20
Its impossible to not bop your head to this. As a trumpet player i always smile at the trombones playing. It was sick, and i really wanna play this again hopefully my senior year-
as a fellow trumpet player, i agree 😌
Bro it gave me chills. Playing this part.
Band was awesome when everything sounds so good that u get chills like damn is this us rn? Are we this fire
I played this part on baritone sax some years ago, like in 11th grade or something :) been kind of a while now, maybe 5 years ago, but I still liked that song on bari sax and kinda go "lucky..." when bass clarinets get to play in that one 3/4 time part XD
Oh and I'm trying to get better on F horn rn so maybe I can try out the cool stuff they get in this song in Uni band some day lol. Speaking as a music major
I remember playing this song last year, I sat next to a Bari sax who had that part and would spend the whole time that the director focused on them quietly fingering along after spending 30 minutes scaling it down for Bass Clarinet. And to the person above, yes I was a very lucky individual, that 3/4ths part was sick.
@LilCrazy3797 I'm in 7th grade as a trombonist (or tromboner) right now, and we're playing this song for a concert soon lmao
This song sounds like it belongs in the beginning of a movie. It also proves percussion is the best. It also proves the rest of the band is pretty damn important
AS A BARI SAX I DISAGREEEEE
GODDAMN YOU EXPECT ME TO TRILL FOR 7 MEASURES IN A ROW
IK right, I just forget to stop trilling...
RIP to my index finger
@@hexdepression3129 for me my pinky
@tabitha Chang same but I'm an Oboe
7 and 1/8 measures
Robert W. Smith and his wife directed our district bands this year. It was a great experience
why do other districts get to do cool things?
Lucky
:(
omg wow thats cool
LUCKY I LOVE ROBERT W SMITH
If anyone is struggling with the train whistle on the flute I recommend rolling the flute inwards it work very well.
actually my band director was like "Flutes, just roll it inward"
@@mr.mrowmusic8255 same here
Our flutes were told to roll outwards
Lol like what even is "bending a flat" lmao
@ThatInternet Dude I played this song in honors band, the specific notes we have to play have to blend into each other in a way, so we have to roll our hands and flute inwards or outwards to ‘note bend’. Basically we are transitioning from one note to another without moving our fingers...
Playing the chime part in this is so much fun. The last couple of measures it’s just chaos. Sure you only play 2 notes but you get to smack it as hard as you want.
Yo same! We are doing this piece and I have chimes and bells. It is certainly an arm workout😂
I got to play the chime part too, it was incredibly fun.
Chime go brrrr
My director used to yell at me because I never hit it hard enough. He then made me a wager to try and break the chimes. Well sure enough I won when the string holding up the high one snapped and hit the floor at concert lol
This song is dedicated to a staple in Civil War history. picture this:
a Confederate train, the General, stops at a town called Big Shanty.
"Next stop Big Shanty! 10 minutes for breakfast!" yells the conductor.
5 minutes later, the General takes off, full speed, hijacked by Union spies!
A small group of Confederate men find a trolley on the track...
And the Great Locomotive Chase begins!
How do I know so much about this? I used to live in Big Shanty, or as it's called now: Kennesaw, GA
I have an old book from the early 1930's about this, although parts are slightly embellished for effect, it's still a great little story, one of my favorite books to re-read every now and again.
I live in Kennesaw! Didn’t know this story
LukeofEnder I LIVE IN KENNESAW TOO
I know even more.
:)
When people say percussion is easy...
"Just hit a drum with a wood stick!"
Me: BOY! You try playing constant paradiddles in 4/4 time signature in a Vivacé tempo. If you take that as faster/advanced allegro. It's as hard as it sounds. If that doesn't sound hard to you, then you either have some talent or just insane.
Ultimate Player I agree entirely
Bro I played the mallet part on this and it took me about a month to master it
Ultimate Player finally someone agrees lots of kids at my school says percussion is easy
Ultimate Player I learned the snare part in less than a day.
It's not paradiddles though... all the accents fall on the beat. if it were paradiddles, the accents would fall on the E of the beat, which would completely throw off the feel of the song. just straight 16ths with quarter note accents. the only actually challenging parts of the song are the accelerandos and ritardandos at the beginning and end of the song.
2:36 - This is such a beautiful section. The way the booming low brass harmonizes with the rest of the band SO WELL, the melodies produced are so awesome and they fit well with the piece too. All around amazing.
I know i love playing this piece (i play a baritone)
I am a French horn player and whenever my bd first showed us this song my heart melted at that part. I was just in love!
@@isabellakuhn295 nice i tried french horn but i couldn’t blow in the mouthpiece😅
@@Beehive255 Yup. Imagine trying to navigate the partials if you can't even blow in it. I've said it once and i'll say it a thousand times, French Horn Players deserve more credit.
@@isabellakuhn295 i dont even wanna think about it that must feel impossible
As a trombonist playing this song, my favorite part was always when the sheet music literally says “Play any note”
3:21 Dang, Low Brass!
+TheEnderGem ! SO BADASS!!
putting in that work
it's ssooooo tricky. guess it helps to be a high school leveled middle schooler.
+smartin yeah I am a junior in high school playing euphonium
+Clayton Cuthrell It's tricky, but definitely really fun.
UGH the trombones are astounding!!
We are great, thanks for the compliment
If only my classes bones didn’t only play blastissimo
Since were in quarantine still I’m the only trombone in my class on the days I go to school and I still haven’t gotten most the song down
@@warlord10100 blastissimo is the only acceptable dynamic for us trombones
I played trombone on this it was fun as hell
One of my most favorite pieces of music, Rest In Peace Robert W. Smith
Our band was going to the adjudication at carowinds when I was told one of the judges was Robert W. Smith. Truly epic, and it made me think about this song.
nah cause what’s your name bc we were 100% in the same class
@@madsiculz Andrew S
Our director turned this into a marching show with the help of another composer and drill writer, we did fantastic with the piece in our marching show season a couple of years ago and everyone in the band loved marching and playing it! It is by far one of my favorite pieces of music because of our show!
Is there a UA-cam video of it? That sounds really cool.
Is there a video anywhere?
If you've got a video of it, please link it. I'd absolutely love to see that.
I WISH we did this song for our marching show one year! We are playing it in concert band since marching season is over
That would be so cool
Listening to this song as I do my social studies homework about the industrial revolution. 👌
Too bad it wasn't civil war history! 😆
Yes same literally
LOL
5th comment and 112th like! Pure awesomness
Sameee
When you hear that low note and your spine shakes cause you love that sound and feeling
Rest in peace Mr. Smith
It was an honor to be able to meet him. This piece was my favorite to play with my school's concert band, and it will always hold a special place in my heart.
sounds like a background song for mission impossible train chase scene.
it is, its on a movie. i think the movie title is the same as the piece title
A movie based on a real life locomotive chase scene.
Does anyone else love the french horn solo as much as I do!? I play french horn so I loved playing it 😉
Kaitlyn Cunningham both are great and i like this song because this song has 2 horn solos
I play French horn too but the solos are so difficult! 😅
I loved playing them on my own time even though I was like French Horn 2
Best part
congrats on getting the solo
Feeling nostalgic played this in eighth grade for our last middle school concert and now I’m in my last year of college time flies
oh wow, we played this for our last eighth grade concert as well.
I'm was going to play this my last year of middle school, but you know how corona is now. Now we won't play it
This is one of the greatest pieces I’ve ever played in all honesty. I had the pleasure of playing the French Horn for this and that was probably the most fun I’ve had in a while in band. Our entire group was 14 people including percussion and this piece is designed for ~35. We managed to score a superior on this and the joy all of us felt from that was indescribable. As a final note, we were down a few percussion members so I was given the train whistle and I remember how funny it was to place that thing in between two slots on my horn and quickly getting that part in between breaths
those saxophone trills was satan for 7th grade me
jan Kisi they are the best part for me, do you play tenor or alto
omg righttt holy hell they were terrible
ahhhhhh i know
DUDE I KNOW OOF
I actually loved trilling
I like the clicking and clacking effect to make it sound like a train on track. Badass
Jayson Sumner that, my friend, is the snare drum. you don't realize that it can sound like a train until you hear this song
Braylan Black it is very scary how right you are.
Jayson Sumner thats the snare
Fnaf_is_life11 and bells :)
just a snare doing 16th notes and 8th note accidentals, kinda like parediddles
As a euphonium player the solo at 0:40 is absolute amazing
EUPHONIUM ON TOP 💪 💪
Fr fr
@@ItsShaderlet’s GO!
i play that as a tenor sax 😭
@@me-14 what
My band group was going to play this, but corona hit.
And I tried to convince my director to let us play it this year.
...
We don't have enough players in person to pull it off...
But this is a amazing piece.
I recommend trying to convince a band director to let you play it.
Edit: we did play it as a full band before I moved to high school and my director moved States. It was wonderful and brings tears to my eyes all the time
I like trains.
did you know the guy who created that died of cancer
Finley Donachie that went 0 to 100 real quick. Just like trains
you're wrong, he's still alive, There's another Robert W. Smith, but he's a writer not a composer. The composer of this is still alive.
You are dum Khory because he is actually in his coffin right now, six ft under.
Finley Donachie “dum Khory”
The first time my band played this, at the part where you make a sound like steam at 0:29, one of the percussionists actually said, "HA!" XD
Laura P that is a shear act of intelligence right there
Laura P the entire class did that to annoy my teacher
lmao same here
Haha, a couple percussionists in my band did that too. And that, my children, is when my teacher turned his back on the percussionists. They are all now his least favorite students.
can i get a hiya?
At 2:18 is the only time I hear my own instrument which is Bass Clarinet
Finally someone else who plays bass clarinet 😩 and same it’s the only part we really play alone
Bass clarinet is honestly the best
YAY! I play Bass clarinet and am the only one in my school/band!!
all the clarinet trills in this piece are worth it 😩😩
In the end, the snare has the hardest part. Props to you, percussion.
Very fun. I got stuck with hi-hat though.
I wanted the snare part but i had to play the xyxlophone part instead because no one else in my band could use four mallets at a time :(
Justin Christensen Bruh
Not even our best mallet player can use 4 mallets at a time
You've got a gift
Crazy Chocolate Monkey I main drums, yet I don't find 4 mallets at a time too challenging.
FireWarrior094 O.O I can barely play 2 mallets at a time
Who else just dies of love at 3:32 for the trombone part?
Exactly! Its so amazing! When I played it we had a very small band and didn't have anyone to cover that part so I haven't even heard it until now
I get to play it in a few days so I'm real happy about it
@@dargon6172 its bari sax and tenor sax too, the trombones in my band cant play that loud so the saxes cover it up
My trombone section is one for the history books of my school. We have about 13 trombones with me and two others on the 1st part
@@LSUbandfan3275 lol
2:27 gives me chills everytime, I close my eyes and I’m back in the band room. With the baritones giving it their all! Amazing piece of art
The solo part is a French horn I’m pretty sure as one my favorite part but the altos take it over so you can’t even hear me..
Really? For us its altos playing that part
I'm 27 this year (2024) and I'd like to dedicate this to two very important people in my life. The first being my band teacher from middle school, Mr. Frank Chlorie, who passed away a few years ago. He was a big fan of Robert W. Smith. We played many of his songs, including this, but this is what got us straight superiors. We won the Blue Ribbon Music award, and it was the first time a middle school in my county had ever done so. He always believed in me and told me I was gonna be a musician of some sort and now here i am playing my melodica along to the trumpet parts from this, by memory 😅
I'd also like to dedicate this to my friend Mark Nichols, AKA Hobo Shoestring. He passed away recently but was a good friend of mine. I feel like he would have enjoyed this.
Without band life would B flat
Pun intended
batman jr lol nice one
Nice joke, but the delivery was just a little flat.
This just took a sharp turn...
This pun wasn't my tempo
Sharp
I play the flute...but snare is the best part of this song. But my favorite is when the flutes do the train whistle effect😍
I play flute too! My fingers hurt after the trills
Sydney Holsomback Definately!
Haley Riggins is not flutes, it's called chimes
Agreed😌
We played this when I was in band. And I played flute all thru high school
I still hum the main melody regularly, by far my favorite song from middle school band so I come back to this video every once and awhile
I love this and no we can stop me from loving it 💪
I had the absolute fortune of playing the French horn to this song in the 8th grade. SO FUN!!!!! Amazing piece 💖
Trombone glissando is real!
yes omg
Lava S oh hell yeah
MY LEGIT FAV BAND ARRANGEMENT EVER!!! Loyal floutist here🎼
Me too!
+CraftyPiggy lowkey look at any string orchestra piece and all you'll see is violin players
+CraftyPiggy this is made for Wind orchestras, strings are not included
well there is a full orchestra version with strings so maybe that's what they mean
it's not as good though
www.jwpepper.com/sheet-music/media-player.jsp?&type=audio&productID=2466894
Floutist is such a fun word. You know great words.
For my fellow french horn players; main horn solo from measure 76-98 starts at the time stamp 2:27 :)
Lest you play in one of the solos, the horn part isn’t as interesting as the other parts
I'm alto saxophone and we get to play it because we sadly lost our horn player
@@Tlmsparky same, except we just don’t have a french horn at all 💀. (we’re a really small band)
@@xXoutcxstii It has some of the most importance though
@@ga1ianoplays772 you are not wrong. The single or two parts you got is arguably the most important at that point in the music. It’s just the leading up to it that is not as…. Great, to say the least
My bands playing this song for their last concert of the year. So far I love it. Also I play the trombone. Gotta say this piece is hard at the trills, I blew my damn chops out multiple times
I think the glass is the hardest part. I play the trombone too.
The glissando is an interesting part but the tatatatatatatatata repeated gets to all of us. My favorite is the ta tatata ta ta tata
"flute fam" "sick saxes" "Drum dudes" uhm... what about Piccolo people? None? I'm not surprised
Baritone boyzz
ITS SEXY SAXS
Ignis I play both flute and piccolo
Piccolo Pricks
The Great Zane LMAOO
I just remember that when I was learning the end of this piece where every person in the band plays a note really loud, I looked at my director and I said “make it gross?” And he said “as gross as possible.” As a flute player, someone who plays melodies and the pretty stuff, being told to purposely blow a note out to it’s disgusting height made me so happy. I love this piece
Rest in peace to Robert W. Smith, an absolute GOD at composing. He will be missed forever.
When I was in 9th grade I did an essay on the great locomotive chase which took place during the Civil War. I'm 70 now so I don't remember all the details but I believe it took place in Tennessee.
I'm the snare drum in my band, this is one of my favorite songs that I've played.
Bsteg Media yea but it hurts 😂
@WildKat Doesn't hurt if you play it right. I like how everybody's assuming the snare part is painful, but it really isn't. If playing this song hurt you, you're putting in waayyy too much effort, that or you're just really tense while you play. Chillout. If you can't play the 16th notes then just diddle them.
RIP
Troy Scar PREACH
I played bass drum on this one so i just grooved
Gotta love that trumpet solo at the beginning.
Saaaame
+Chase Whitfield ikr \o/ trumpets are awesome but 1 instrument alone isn't as amazing as the whole band
+Chase Whitfield That is Clarinet
yep
that's clarinet and flute then in a few measures it's Euphonium and, Trumpet
I remember playing this my freshman year on tenor sax.....as a freshman who never played music before this was extremely difficult at first but now that I look back this is a piece of cake!
Because high schoolers are high schoolers, we call this marvelous piece "Choo choo" or "Thomas the dank engine". It is beautiful.
I love the “pick a note” in this song, makes it sound so good!
I sure *WISH* my band would play this!! This piece is *beyond words.* I cannot explain how *absolutely AMAZING* this sounds! *masterpiece!!*
ItsCanaan ikr I wanna play this
It's fun
My band is playing this and it is harder than it seems!
Try Maslanka symphony 4!
it was actually a pain when playing this and when it came to concert, the baritone soloist didn't even come in and it was a disasterrrr
That melody at 1:28 MMMMMM
Fr bro
I love that part soo much
This song was so hard but so fun to play, one of my favourites!!
here comes choo choo
Thomas the train on drugs
AreezMomin Gaming ... YES hahahahahaha
Fuller's gunna GIT you!
Thomas the crack tank engine
Played this for my Junior High concert, gotta love those flute trills! 😣 I really wish we could play this again, but our High School band has only 12 members...
Oh well. Still a great song!
My band (JH) has a little less than 30
+Caden Cosme Yeah, my school's junior high band has, like, 25 at best.
+School Desk Ink. mine has around 60
+School Desk Ink. The first time me and my friend payed eyes on the trills, a big grin grew across our faces
Aw yeah, them trills! They were one of my favorite parts. The other was the train whistle at the beginning. X3
I’m not necessarily a classical music guy, but my friend was going to do a concert on this, and I wanted to listen to it. This was really good. Solid. 🔥
Why is no one talking about the horn lines???? They sound freaking amazing!!!
3:20 is sex to the ears.
Fishy lmao
Fishy I may not have played it, but that was the most memorable part for me. I was right behind the trombones too, so it was even better
im in front off the trombones
Same my favorite part and I play the snare drum
It reminded me of bob Ross
1:51 sounds like the opening of the mission impossible theme
I played this piece in middle school but found out about five minutes ago it was inspired by a Locomotive Chase in the Civil War after a Union Spy stole a train and headed toward Chattanooga, damaging train tracks along the way and attempting to avoid capture by Confederate soldiers. So the spy theme fits
@@jackroberts6648 that is cool
*1860’s edition*
My school band JUST played this song!! I can't belive I found this in my recomenddd
My favorite genere of music is getting instruments to sound like trains
Playing the clarinet for this song is intense! It was a workout for my fingers AND my face lol
I played a few days ago for the first time in a while and yeah it hurts ur face and fingers
Honestly it's a great part!!
accurate
So true, so very true I actually played this in band today. It sounds nice, but it’s fr torture for me personally. A big part of it is that I am miserable in band and dread playing the clarinet. I cannot wait to drop
Oboes!!!!!! so underappreciated
Kayla Sowell i know right?
Kayla Sowell OBOES UNITE!!
Oboe squad
Kayla Sowell you rang?
That’s me
This is where I got my fascination with trains and train history
I am about to play this piece in like 30 min wish me good luck
7th grade alto sax by the way
Ew
very late good luck!!!!
3:20 I LOVE THIS PART. I get goose numbs every time. Same with 2:36
This is my favorite band song I’ve ever played.
same dude cheers
3:20 is my favorite part
2:36 is horn
3:20 is kinda hard to play until you get the hang of it
We had two French horns in our band. One quit after the first measure at 2:36. The other, my friend who is extremely shy, played all by herself. Her face was getting redder by every beat. Our director stopped our band. There was barely a second of silence. Everyone started clapping and cheering. Definitely one of the best days in band.
I remember playing this in grade 6... Now I'm a senior in the high school band... Oh how time flies!
Chaos Box wait your 6th grade band played this? Your bamd must have a lot of talent lol
Also played it in 6th. Wasn't a particularly great band, but not bad by any means.
Strangeny It wasn't particularly hard actually. the worst part were the high B flats lol Our band direct was also incredibly supportive
I'm in ninth and were playing this what's that say about my band. Heh
Dang! It went by so fast....
playing an actual train whistle as a percussionist who has never done breathing exercises was fun for this
When you’re a trombone and have melody but remember that you’re socially awkward:
:)
Flutes? Where are you!!! Fluties FTW
don't worry, flutist here. ;)
✋😁
flute gang 😇
Yasss
I'm a flute.
CLARINETS UP IN HERE
Marianna Zoellin NOOO TROMBONES
Hahah found you
ya
marianna zoellin hey!!
marianna zoellin Heck yea
We played this song for our Fall concert. It was the first piece I had ever gotten a solo on. I was a French horn, and I studied for months to get both of the solos down. That’s right. There were two which meant I was only allowed one. The day before the concert, I auditioned for the solos, and I’ll never forget what my band director said that day: “Dane, you got both the solos.”
the percussion part is really fun (mallets and chimes)
joon size hell yeah
joon size I agree I play both on this song
the mallets seem impossible for me (sixth grade first chair percussionist in honor band) but then again im a sixth grader (i could have potential but i really cant do four mallets; if i try to use the mallet on the farther side of the hand i tend to accidentally hit both mallets instead of one)
LuxTheOwl I’m doing the mallet part with 4 mallets and at first it is hard but there are only 3 different chords you need to know to play in the certain sections of music (and they repeat.) Now granted I’m an 8th grade first chair percussionist, but I think you could still do it.
I'm going to state playing the 4 mallet part 😅😫