JAMES M. DAVID, composer
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March Tumbao

March Tumbao
​for wind band with flexible instrumentation


Purchase score and parts through Murphy Music Press
$50 - 3.5 minutes
​
Perusal Score (opens new window)

jdavidcomposer · March Tumbao

Program Notes

March Tumbao is an amalgam of the rhythmic styles of the Afro-Cuban tradition with the American march forms of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The “tumbao” is the principal bass rhythm found in Afro-Cuban dance music and is also a term roughly similar to “swing” in jazz (i.e. the ineffable rhythmic sense of satisfying motion). This cross-cultural combination is far from new as the incomparable Jelly Roll Morton would incorporate Afro-Latin rhythms that he called “the Spanish tinge” into his works which used traditional march or ragtime form. Besides the tumbao, the cascara, son clave, montuno, and other characteristic rhythms are utilized throughout my composition. The form incorporates all of the typical elements of American marches and rags including a boisterous introduction, a syncopated binary first section, a tuneful trio section, the break strain or dogfight, and a virtuosic woodwind obbligato in the final trio statement. This work is dedicated to Bob Margolis whose Fantasia Nova inspired me as well as Dr. Richard Mayne (University of Northern Colorado, retired) who always loves a good march. 
​

Instrumentation

​Six wind parts may be played with any number of instruments as described below:
 
Part 1: Piccolo (optional), Flute, B-flat Clarinet
 
Part 2: Flute/Oboe, B-flat Clarinet, Alto Saxophone
 
Part 3: B-flat Clarinet, B-flat Trumpet, Alto Saxophone, F Horn
 
Part 4: B-flat Clarinet, B-flat Trumpet, Alto Saxophone, F Horn
 
Part 5: Tenor Saxophone, F Horn, Trombone/Euphonium/Bassoon
 
Part 6: Bass Clarinet, Baritone Saxophone, Trombone/Euphonium/Bassoon, Tuba
 
Percussion

Corrected Part 3 Trumpet/Clarinet

Corrected Part 3 Alto Sax.

  • Home
  • about
  • wind ensemble
    • Message from Arecibo
    • Flying Jewels
    • Urban Light
    • Troublesome Fire
    • Symphony no. 1
    • Ghosts of the Old Year
    • Call to Commitment
    • With Soul Serene
    • March Tumbao
    • Lookfar
    • Menlo Park, 1879
    • Zephyrus
    • Flexible Instrumentation
    • Heartland Verses
    • Swing Landscape
    • I Saw the Figure 5 in Gold
    • Concerto for Vibraphone
    • The Moorlands
    • Big Four on the River
    • All Dark Is Now No More
    • Temple's Grace
    • From the Shaken Tower
    • Two-Lane Blacktop
    • Sinfonietta no. 3
  • compositions
    • wind ensemble
    • clarinet >
      • all clarinet works
      • clarinet sonata
      • AUTO '66 - Clarinet Concerto
    • saxophone >
      • all saxophone works
      • Saxophone Sonata
      • L'oiseau dans l'espace
      • Saxophone/Percussion Double Quartet
    • trombone >
      • all trombone works
      • Trombone Sonata
      • Five American Dances
      • Song of the Valar
      • Bass Trombone Sonata
      • Partiels 2
      • Garden of the Gods
    • Other Brass Works >
      • Of Unsurpassed Heroes
      • Trumpet Sonata
    • Percussion >
      • The Dandelion
      • NOLA - BELA - SOWEGA
    • large ensemble >
      • Tin Lizzies on Old Fall River
      • LASCAUX
      • KAFKA - Sax Concerto
    • chamber ensemble >
      • Clarinet and Horn Trio
    • solo / electroacoustic
    • choral / vocal >
      • KUBLA KHAN
  • contact
  • Report Performance