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‘Audio Sketch’ was originally called ‘Audio Sketch in Black and White’. I wrote this about 6 years ago while at Berklee College of Music. This composition, like ‘Broken Treaties’ also features some mixed meter, but for the most part stays in ¾ time. The reason I originally called this composition ‘Audio Sketch in Black and White’ was because of the way I composed it. For the first part of the composition, the bass line was composed of all the black notes on the piano, while the melody was composed of the white notes of the piano. I then switched the notes, giving the bass white notes and melody black notes, while at the same time taking away one 1/4 note from the bass line, making the time signature 5/4 (3/4 then 2/4). This alternates from 5/4 to two bars of 3/4 (note: when in 5/4 the bass has white notes. The two bars of 3/4 are the same as the first part of the composition, meaning the bass has the black notes), making the four bar phrase really one long 11/4  time signature that repeats 3 times.

Before the solos begin, I wrote an interlude that kicks off the solos. Nothing changes in the bass, but the horns are playing contrapuntal riffs that were composed from subdivisions and poly rhythms of the original bass line (3/4 bass line).

The solos are separated by the long 11/4, which was cued by the soloist.

Audio Sketch

‘Audio Sketch’ was originally called ‘Audio Sketch in Black and White’. I wrote this about 6 years ago while at Berklee College of Music. This composition, like ‘Broken Treaties’ also features some mixed meter, but for the most part stays in ¾ time. The reason I originally called this composition ‘Audio Sketch in Black and […]

Broken Treaties

Broken Treaties is a composition that was inspired by The Trail of Broken Treaties. This event took place from October to November 1972, where several American Indian organizations collaborated together to bring attention to American Indian issues. The main issues were living standards and treaty rights, or treaty violations. During this time, protestors traveled by […]