Bayolo
Olibel Music
Mach Show!
for wind ensemble
Armando
Armando Bayolo Mach Show!
Instrumentation
Piccolo
2 Flutes
2 Oboes
2 Clarinets
Bass Clarinet
2 Bassoons
Contrabassoon
4 Horns
2 Trumpets (in B-flat)
2 Trombones
Bass Trombone
Tuba
Timpani
Percussion (3 players)
1. Snare drum (solo)
2. Two tom-toms, hi-hat, suspended crash cymbal, suspended ride cymbal
3. Bass drum, sizzle cymbal, triangle
Commissioned by Washington and Lee University for the Washington and Lee University Wind Ensemble, Christopher Dobbins, director.
Written in March, 2024 in Florissant, Missouri and Urbana, Illinois.
Duration: 6 minutes
Program Note
In early August, 1960, The Beatles left their native Liverpool for a 48 night residency at Bruno Koschminder’s Indra club. The young band was far from the powerhouse performers they would become, and it wasn’t long till Koschminder called their manager at the time, Allan Williams, to express his consternation. Williams exhorted his musicians to, “make a show,” which Koschminder enthusiastically echoed in pidgin English as, “MACH SCHAU! MACH SCHAU!” At that suggestion, The Beatles almost immediately imbued their “schau” with an energy that, after two years of honing, would make them legends.
I’m a big Beatles fan and Koschminder’s charming portmanteau has stuck in my mind since I read of it in Bob Spitz’s 2005 biography of the band. When I approached Christopher Dobbins about writing a fast band opener for him, I already had my title.
Mach Show! is a study in energy, vitality, and speed. It draws inspiration from The Beatles’ Hamburg era repertoire, which was replete with covers. Specifically, the piece is built around the structure of the Elvis Presley standard, “I’m Going to Sit Right Down and Cry Over You,” which the Fab Four turned into an up tempo rocker with some impressive drumming from Ringo Starr. Mach Show!, thus utilizes the percussion section in a similar, virtuosic manner, while the winds weave a fantasia on blues scales and progressions typical of early rock n’ roll through a new music lens.
Mach Show! was commissioned by Washington and Lee University for the Washington and Lee University Wind Ensemble, Christopher Dobbins, director.
--Armando Bayolo Florissant, MO 4.3.2024
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a2 (campanae in aria, ad lib.)