Mass Transit - I. Network Architecture
Sam WuPiece Duration: 2:35
About this Piece
(Movement I. is 0:00-2:35)
This piece evokes the shared experience of commuting on public transportation. Each movement takes us along a journey where we experience different moments or stops along our route.
Contrast / Text Painting: This movement plays with the idea of motion and rest, like a train traveling between stations. The composer alternates between arpeggiated chordal patterns and moments of restful, sustained notes.
Disjunct Motion / Interval: This movement is full of skips and leaps! Pause the video anywhere in this movement, and try to find the thirds, fourths, and sixths in each instrument part.
Harmonic Rhythm Map (See Notable Passages below):
-Intro: two measures
-Rehearsal A: one measure
-Rehearsal B: one measure
-Rehearsal C: two measures
Suggested Activity - Contrast / Text Painting:
- Ask students who travel to school on the bus how many stops they make each day on their way to or from school.
- Using a series of pitches from a pentatonic scale, ask students to improvise their commute on classroom instruments. Create moments of motion (when the bus is en route), and moments of rest (when it stops to pick up/drop off students).
- Perform the commutes as a solo, or combine students to hear their bus routes together!
Movements Featured:
I. Network Architecture
V. Interchange Station
Notable Passages
Description:
The chords change every two measures at the beginning of this movement. Can you follow along with the changes?
The instruments play legato, sometimes ending their line with just one staccato note!
Keywords: Articulation - Misc. , Harmonic Motion , Harmonic Rhythm , Legato
Description:
At Rehearsal A, the chords change every measure, alternating between middle and high range chords!
In this section, the first and second violins imitate each other on similar patterns. We often hear these patterns in the piano, too!
Keywords: Harmonic Rhythm , Imitation - Composition Technique , Imitation - Counterpoint , Range - Composition Technique , Range - Expressive Elements , Range - Texture
Description:
At Rehearsal B, the chords change every measure, this in the low and middle range of the ensemble. There is an extended chord at the end of the section that lasts three measures.
These chords are played staccato, and accents are heard in the piano!
Keywords: Articulation - Misc. , Harmonic Rhythm , Staccato
Description:
Harmonic Rhythm:
At Rehearsal C, the chords change every two measures once more, to end the piece! A slow descending melody is heard in the cello, who uses notes from each chord. The first violin enters near the second measure each time, with a note already established by the piano.
Keywords: Harmonic Rhythm