Hazel Leach : Composer

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Bigband

Mark IV

One upon a time there was a piece called "Holy Jeez", written in 1992- the first piece I ever wrote for the United Women's Orchestra. It was quite a long piece (much longer than it is now) and was actually based on a school-exercise in metric modulation and altered harmony. After wrestling with it for a while, I eventually decided to split the piece in half: the first part is now called "Mark IV" (yes indeed.. this- the final version- is actually the fourth rewrite!). For some obscure reason we still haven't recorded it, but we'll get there eventually.

Line-up: ss, as, 2ts, bs, cl/bcl. 4 tp, 3 tb, tba, pn, bs, dm.
Length: er... depends on the solos.... I'll let you know after we've recorded it.

The music is an altered blues in F.. well, mainly in F. It's also one of the few straight swing pieces we do, with solo space for anyone and everyone.. I wrote some "birthday" lyrics for it when the UWO celebrated its 10th anniversary. However, as our guest singers keep changing, so does the key- for this reason I'm including the lyrics here.. we're just as likely to play it live as the instrumental piece it's always been.

Information about ordering the music can be found on the "contact" page- see link above.

**Links**
United Women's Orchestra: about the band	Mark IV's' other half: "Holy Jeez"
pdf file: Leadsheet	Lyrics to "Birthday Song"