Layla Clark Made a Guitar Riff Sound Right at Home on Marimba
The first thing you hear in the clip is an AC/DC riff, clear enough to place without seeing the stage. Then the camera gives you the surprise: Layla Clark, in a Thomas Jefferson High School marching-band uniform, is playing it with two mallets. Her hands keep moving across the bars while the rest of the field waits to come in.
The line “What a flex. ‘Hold my beer while I play AC/DC on the xylophone’” gets at the joke of watching someone make an unusual choice look obvious. Clark is playing a marimba, and the wooden bars give the song a softer edge. The pattern still carries all the tension of Angus Young’s original guitar part.
Listen for the pitch that returns between the higher notes. It anchors the pattern while the melody keeps moving. On guitar, a note can sound without a fresh pick stroke. At the marimba, the bars are separate. Clark has to land the next strike in the right spot and come back in time to keep the pulse going.
The close-up gives you a view of the work a spectator in the bleachers would have to imagine. The mallets never travel farther than they need to. Watch the tips for a few seconds and the repeated movement becomes as recognizable as the riff itself.
In her CBS Pittsburgh interview, Clark said it had taken a long time to learn the part. She also told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that she was one of five mallet percussionists playing the opening. That detail matters. The video puts one player in the foreground, but the front ensemble establishes the sound together.
The performance was filmed during the Jaguars’ 2025 marching-band season. On a replay, pay attention to the space around the opening. The mallets have enough time to make the song recognizable, and when the band comes in, the music suddenly feels as big as the field.
Hear the band come in
A wider recording gives the percussion section some context. You can see the field behind the front ensemble and hear how a part built on short, sharp notes makes room for the rest of the band. The arrangement uses the familiar riff to bring a much larger group into the song.
What it took to learn the riff
Clark’s interview offers a contrast to the impression the clip leaves. From the audience, the riff seems to fall into place under her hands. From behind the instrument, it was a passage she had to work through over and over. That difference is what gives the little joke its punch.
