our streets

(Starts at 15:25. For shorter excerpts, use the notable passages below)

Ensemble: "our streets" is written for String Orchestra. This recording of the ensemble Sound Off: Music for Bail features a Nonet, with (left to right) two Violin I's, two Violin II's, two Basses, one Cello, and two Violas.

Improvisation - Form / Motif: This piece uses box notation, where each instrument is given a musical motif to repeat, ornament, and improvise upon. See if you can hear the motifs in each section!

Form: (See the Notable Passages below to hear any of these sections on their own)
Section 1: 15:25-16:40 - Extended Technique
Section 2: 16:40-18:22 - Motif, Improvisation
Section 3: 18:22-19:56 - Ricochet, Pizzicato
Section 4: 19:56-21:22 - Motif, Improvisation
Section 5: 21:22-22:00 - Chords / Crescendos
Section 6: 22:00-24:28 - Motif
Section 7: 24:36-26:36 - Bass solo, Pizzicato, Improvisation - Melody
Section 8: 26:36-27:23 - Chords
Section 9: 27:52-29:54 - Motif, Improvisation, Ricochet, Vocalization
Section 10: 29:54-32:17 - Motif, Improvisation, Vocalization

Program Note: "This piece was written for the 100th anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921. Following the American Civil War, enslaved Black people were gradually emancipated from chattel slavery. This included thousands of Black people enslaved by Indigenous peoples on First Nations and “Indian” territories. Some Black-Indian Freedman were eventually granted citizenship, as well as reparations (money and Land) that allowed them to generate wealth. 

On Memorial Day weekend, tensions rose as armed Black residents protected 19-year-old Dick Rowland from a lynch mob when he was accused of assaulting a young white girl. Fearful of Blackness and the threat of Black prosperity and “freedom,” white supremacist mobs attacked and killed Black residents; and destroyed the Black-owned Land and businesses of Tulsa, Oklahoma (a.k.a. “Black Wall Street”) over the course of two days. 

Neither completely an elegy, or “uplifting,” work (–nor is it celebrating 'Black Capitalism'), the piece moves through several moods, themes, and collections of gestures that arose during my research and reflection of the tragic and complex history. I wanted to remember and acknowledge both the pain and trauma of my people; as well as a stable and prosperous Black community – both of which have largely been historically misremembered, and/or erased." - Yaz Lancaster