After composing A Rather Noisy Fanfare for Don Miller and the University of Missouri-Rolla Bands, Don asked if I might write a similar piece for his woodwinds and percussion, so I began to compose a scherzo using the same materials that comprised my earlier work. Since the Csus7 chord is also a stacked 5th harmony (Bb, F, C, G), that quickly became the foundation for the subsequent music. An initial harmonic progression is presented in the mallets that is based on parallel motion of stacked 5th chords and the melody that emerges simply reiterates the notes in those chords. As the piece progresses, many of the motivic and thematic ideas from the earlier fanfare began to find their way back into this piece, including the lyrical melody mentioned above, so the two pieces quickly became inextricably linked and I chose a title that would indicate that relationship, A Mighty Fast Scherzo.